NOVEMBER 13-16, 2025
Tasmania was experiencing the coldest weather in 80 years. We decided to abandon the remaining time there and fly to a warmer climate. Bali was the cheapest last minute flight out.
We made arrangements for a taxi to pick us up at the airport since it was going to be a late flight. Made was there to take us to our hotel in Kuta. What a pleasant surprise when we got there. There was a small pool. Our room was more than decent enough for $16.67 per night.
The next day we just relaxed. We took our dirty, cold weather clothes to the nearby laundry for $8. Washed, ironed and folded, thank you very much.
We then found a wonderful local eatery. It did not look like much from the outside, or the inside for that matter, but there was a line up of locals out the door. If the locals are lined up, the food must be good. It did not disappoint. We ate 3 meals a day there during our brief stay. At $2.50 – $3.00 a plate, how can you go wrong?
On the second day we took a taxi into Denpasar city. We found an ATM and got some more local money. The machine would only dispense $1,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah, which converts to about $88 CDN. We had to do several transactions to get enough money to buy things, as few places take a credit card. A bottle of water cost 7000 IDR (about 60 cents), but entrance to a temple could cost 100,000 IDR ($8.40 CDN). Although we walked around with a stack of cash, it hardly bought anything. It was really hard to determine what we were paying for anything when the price is in the thousands. We had to continually use our money conversion app.
I had been to Bali about 14 years ago. It changed a bit, but was still as lovely as I remember. People still put offerings outside of their door each morning.
A lot of ladies still wore the traditional outfits.
There are Temples and elaborate statues on nearly every corner.
Scooters were still the preferred mode of transportation. There are at least 20 scooters to one car.
We noticed these strange, but beautiful “penjor” all over the place. They are a long, curved bamboo pole (5-10 metres (16-32 ft) long), decorated with coconut leaves swirled and curled into shapes, and adorned with bobbles, stickers, and pompoms.
They were there in preparation for the upcoming Balinese Hindu ceremony called Galungan on November 19. It is a religious symbol of gratitude for prosperity and nature’s bounty. The locals told us it is a celebration of good over evil. We were looking forward to the festivities.
We walked quite a bit and came to several temples. As we entered the grounds we discovered that they were private homes or homestays. How strange. They did not seem to mind us wandering through their “yards”.
We went to the Bali Museum. We had a guide who explained what we were looking at. Like this basket used in the “baby first touches Mother Earth ceremony”. Babies are always held for the first 3 months. After this time it is deemed that the baby is ready to be introduced to the earth.
We saw elaborate paper dolls.
Decorative roof tiles.
And Balinese dance costumes.
That evening we took a dip in the pool to cool off.
The next day we made our way to Ubud, which was an adventure in itself. There is a separate blog on it here:
An Old Lady with a Backpack 
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