Mar 18 - Bali is different than the rest of Indonesia, and certainly feels that way. It was its own kingdom from the 8th century up to the 14th, at which point it was absorbed into the Majapahit Kingdom (centered in east Java). This Hindu-Buddhist kingdom was near its pinnacle of power at that time, covering most of modern Indonesia and Malaysia. But by the 1500’s it had nearly disappeared, overtaken by the Demak, an Islamic-based kingdom. The vestiges of the Majapahit culture, traditions, and royal family fled to Bali where the influence remains powerful until today. Actually a small group of Hindus remained on Java (the Tengger), who clung to a small area by Mt. Bromo (visited on Day 345).
Bali, though fairly cohesive from a cultural standpoint, eventually fragmented into smaller kingdoms the 1600’s, and occasionally came into conflict with each other. Even though the Dutch became very active in the islands from the 1700’s, Bali produced only rice so was not of much interest to them. Their interest only brought them here in the 1800’s, when they were looking to dominate all of the islands regardless of exploitable resources. They invaded starting in the mid 1800’s and eventually took control of the island (as well as Lombok).
Bali retains a ‘first family’, a sort of royal family for the whole island, who now live in the town of Ubud, north of Denpasar.
Today we hire the same driver for a full day carting us around in this maze of traffic. I first direct him to Kuta, the district closest to the airport where we immediately see how different it is from where we are staying. Here, the streets are lined with tattoo parlors and souvenir shops, and even at 9:00 there are more tourists on the street than locals. I buy bus tickets for tomorrow, going to the port town of Ketapang on the east end of the island.
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From here, we take the excruciatingly slow roads back out, up to the northeast of Denpasar. Our original plan was to visit the Hidden Canyon (Beji Guwang). However, turns out it requires the visitor to submerge up to about chest level in an underground river, which we are unprepared for. We bail on this and go instead to the nearby Hidden Mini Zoo. I don’t know why they call these places ‘hidden’ as they are not really that hard to locate. Our driver was not familiar with them but we directed him referencing Google Maps.
The Hidden Mini Zoo was better than I was expecting, as it had a large and unusual petting zoo.
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From here we go north. The rivers flowing south down the side of the volcano have a number of waterfalls.
A ways up the road, but in a different valley, was Taman Sari Waterfall. This is the sort of place we were looking for. Just a few cars in the parking lot, cheap entry (IDR 20,000), and a quiet pool for swimming.
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From here back to Denpasar. The traffic proves to be even worse, probably because Hari Raya Nyepi starts tomorrow. We only get into our room at 20:30. I was unclear in planning, so many months ago, how many days Hari Raya went on, and which days meant what. In retrospect, it may have been good to just stay the first day (out of four) to see some of the processions. But of course the downside to any plan like that is the resulting urban congestion and closure of businesses. What I do know is that March 22 is the ‘Day of Silence’ where absolutely everything stops in Bali, including flights and surface transport. In fact, it is forbidden to walk on the streets and nothing is open anyway. Walking around this evening, looking for something quick to eat, we see a lot of statues and floats, waiting to be carted down the streets tomorrow at some point.
