Central Bali: Unexpected Religious Moments, the Kind that Really Add to One's Trip

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this travel blog entry for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

Fresh examples of the small offerings put out everywhere. They usually included flowers, fruit, incense and some kind of a sweet biscuit.

View more photos 

While on our countryside tour we saw not only crafts, but also plenty of proof that religion on Bali is alive and well.  In one of our favourite unexpected moments of our time in Bali, we had to pull over while a parade of men in white came up the street.  Nyoman told us we were very fortunate to see something like this, that not many tourists get the opportunity.  We made sure to chat with some of the local children, all of whom were very cute.  I don't think there's such a thing as an ugly Balinese kid. 

Beyond that, proof of Bali's religious ties are seen everywhere.  Every village seems to have multiple temples.   Everwhere you look you see trees and statues with special sarongs wrapped around them, indicating that the locals believe there to be special spirits inside them.  One thing we particularly found interesting were all the small offering plates that were everywhere.  Literally, everywhere.  I guess they were to invite the good spirits in.  All businesses had them in front of their doors (you have to be careful not to step on them, which we mistakenly did a couple of times), as a way to foster good luck in sales.  All of this, of course, was quite different from what we're used to in our Christian lives, but we were still very interested to learn about what it all means to the Balinese people.

The Temple on the Lake. Very scenic.

View more photos 

Michael and Heather