{"id":1602,"date":"2010-05-29T15:57:33","date_gmt":"2010-05-29T07:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TravelWithPaulie.com\/blog\/?p=237"},"modified":"2011-11-23T00:34:41","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T00:34:41","slug":"west-bali-delights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulgoodchild.me\/blog\/west-bali-delights\/","title":{"rendered":"West Bali Delights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ngg_shortcode_0_placeholderLast week I wrote about my eastward Bali pilgrimage and just how <a href=\"http:\/\/paulgoodchild.net\/blog\/2010\/05\/east-bali-why-should-go\/\">much I loved it<\/a>.\u00a0 In a similar vein, I spent my final 2~3 days on the island travelling to and from, and staying in, West Bali and just as with the East, I highly recommend it as a place to visit if you go to Bali.<\/p>\n<p>[Update 30-05-2010] This article is the 3rd part of basic 3-part  series on  Bali: South, East, &amp; West.\u00a0 The 1st and 2nd installments  are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/paulgoodchild.net\/blog\/2010\/04\/bali-experience-kuta-seminyak-ubud\/\" target=\"_self\">The Bali experience \u2013 Kuta, Seminyak, and Ubud<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/paulgoodchild.net\/blog\/2010\/05\/east-bali-why-should-go\/\" target=\"_self\">East Bali and why you should go<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Not your typical tourist destination<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;d guess that 95{97de8d2e860196f43620abbbd870152438d0e1a3bef5042cd7be1942d94df9d0} of the tourists that come to Bali barely make it further than Ubud if they even make it that far.\u00a0 They have everything they came for provided in <a href=\"http:\/\/paulgoodchild.net\/blog\/2010\/04\/bali-experience-kuta-seminyak-ubud\/\">Kuta and Seminyak<\/a>, or perhaps south in Uluwatu and Jimbaran.\u00a0 Rarely, except in the diving resort towns, did I see any foreign tourists either in east or especially west Bali.\u00a0 I guess this comes down to infrastructure and convenience since getting to and from these places can be a little arduous.\u00a0 But the payoff is well worth the efforts to get there.<\/p>\n<p>West Bali didn&#8217;t seem quite a luscious as the east and that is perhaps due to less rainfall there, but they do have a fairly massive National Park into you which you can explore.\u00a0 On the Saturday we drove into the park near the point where they have the Bali Starling reserve and headed south\/south-west towards 2 of the temples situated along the coast.\u00a0 Now <em>that<\/em> road is arduous and it took approximately 1hr to make the ~12km journey.\u00a0 Not recommended.<\/p>\n<p>There are also trekking opportunities (that I never undertook) within the park, but it is strictly with the accompaniment of a guide or park ranger who require a &#8220;donation&#8221;.\u00a0 I asked why this was the case and was told basically, &#8220;Er, it&#8217;s our national park and we need to preserve it.&#8221;, but the cynic in me just couldn&#8217;t help point out (to myself) that it isn&#8217;t foreign tourists who are the real threat to the bird&#8217;s future &#8211; at one point they were down to 6 remaining birds in 2001!\u00a0 Anyway, the Starling population is on the way back so all&#8217;s well that end&#8217;s well &#8211; the same can&#8217;t be said about the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bali_Tiger\" target=\"_blank\">Bali tiger<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the national park also includes a marine sanctuary, but where exactly that is was never clear to me.\u00a0 I believe it included the small island just northeast of the park to which you can take diving and snorkeling excursions typically arranged from Permuteran.\u00a0 As with the starlings it comes a bit late after the cyanide and dynamite &#8220;fishing&#8221; of yester-year, but better late than never.<\/p>\n<h2>Bali and religion<\/h2>\n<p>Bali is an island in Indonesia.\u00a0 Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims in the world but the predominant (93{97de8d2e860196f43620abbbd870152438d0e1a3bef5042cd7be1942d94df9d0}) religion practiced in Bali is a form of Hindu &#8211; Agama Hindu Dharma.\u00a0 However, Christianity does exist here also and part of my trip west brought me to a place that was oddly the closest feeling to being &#8220;at home&#8221; as I&#8217;ve felt at any stage of my travels so far.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t quite figure out why exactly, but it did.\u00a0 It might have been the Christian (Roman Catholic) influence in the area, whatever that means, but I just don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n<p>As we drove along the streets here, one thing stood out as being very different in its &#8220;urban planning&#8221; than any other town\/village in Bali.\u00a0 Normally, you have the road that carves its way through the village.\u00a0 On either side of the road is the &#8220;got&#8221;, or the drainage system, and then immediately beside\/on\/overhanging this &#8216;got&#8217; you have the house\/shop\/building.\u00a0 Here, in Blimbingsari, the order was: road &#8211; 4ft grass lawn &#8211; &#8216;got&#8217; &#8211; (optional pavement) &#8211; building.<\/p>\n<p>So what?\u00a0 It makes a HUGE difference in the feel of a place.\u00a0 Normally houses and shops are practically hanging into the street or over the drains, but here, there was a peaceful separation between the roads and everyday life.\u00a0 Strange, but the difference really struck me and it holds in my memory as one of the nicest places I&#8217;ve ever visited in Bali.<\/p>\n<p>The Christian church in Blimbingsari was also <em>very <\/em>cool.\u00a0 A real fusion between the Balinese\/Hindu and an open-plan christian church.\u00a0 It was really very nice and I recommend if you go through west Bali that you take the detour out into this area.\u00a0 In another part of town was a second church, but this looked much more Western, with just a reminder of Balinese architecture.\u00a0 Not far from this church was a graveyard that was again one of the most peaceful and pleasant places on the island.\u00a0 For me.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not a religious person, and I don&#8217;t believe my experience here was spiritual but rather one that came from a feeling of well-being that existed in the community itself.\u00a0 Nearly 100{97de8d2e860196f43620abbbd870152438d0e1a3bef5042cd7be1942d94df9d0} of the people passing by would greet us with smiles and &#8220;hello&#8221;, some would stop to chat also and there was very little gawking.\u00a0 Nice.<\/p>\n<h2>Going West from the south<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s very straight forward to get there from the south.\u00a0 Head north for Tabanan and go through it, following the signs for Gilimanuk.\u00a0 It&#8217;s highly recommended that you don&#8217;t take the southern coastal route as it&#8217;s filled with trade-traffic heading to and and from Java as there&#8217;s a port in Gilimanuk.\u00a0 Instead, follow signs for Pupuan and you&#8217;ll hit a beautiful road with awesome scenery that takes you eventually to the north coast of the island.\u00a0 Once you hit Seririt, turn left \/ head west and eventually you&#8217;ll come to Permuteran.\u00a0 Here you&#8217;ll find a heap of accommodation options, starting from about Rp200,000 per night.<\/p>\n<p>I stayed in Man&#8217;s Homestay.\u00a0 I like this for several reasons.\u00a0 Firstly it&#8217;s locally owned &#8211; a husband and wife saved up and created a small outfit of 3~4 bungalows set in a very spacious garden looking up onto the mountains of the national park.\u00a0 It&#8217;s very nice.\u00a0 The service is personal and family run which is always preferable over conveyor belt style outfits that squeeze as many bungalows into their space as possible.\u00a0 It&#8217;s new, and so it&#8217;s very clean.<\/p>\n<p>If you want very cheap, right opposite Man&#8217;s is a lane that leads to &#8216;Kubucu&#8217; that starts at Rp80,000\/night.\u00a0 I haven&#8217;t seen the rooms so I can&#8217;t make any comments about the place, but if it&#8217;s budget you&#8217;re looking for, you&#8217;ll find it here.<\/p>\n<p>Most points referred to in this article are on my <a href=\"http:\/\/paulgoodchild.net\/blog\/paulies-travel-map\/\">Travel Map<\/a>, or at least will be.\u00a0 If you&#8217;ve visited West Bali or have any comments or questions, please use the section below.\u00a0 Any and all feedback is most welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I wrote about my eastward Bali pilgrimage and just how much I loved it.\u00a0 In a similar vein, I spent my final 2~3 days on the island travelling to and from, and staying in, West Bali and just as with the East, I highly recommend it as a place to visit if you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[431],"tags":[150,528,311,320,344,385,549],"class_list":["post-1602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cat-travel-tips","tag-asia","tag-bali","tag-blimbingsari","tag-christianity","tag-indonesia","tag-religion","tag-west-bali"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>West Bali Delights - Plog - Paulie&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/paulgoodchild.me\/blog\/west-bali-delights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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