Today we woke up at 430am to catch a 730am flight to Denpasar, the capital city of Bali, Indonesia. I woke up feeling quite unwell so I didn’t feel like eating. I attributed my stomach problems to the noodles in my Laksa Soup, that I ate the previous day, being made of rice. I have developed a rather large sensitivity to rice, corn, and potatoes within the last six months.

The flight to Denpasaar was on a SCOOT Boeing 787-9, and took about 2.75 hours, which is a very short hop for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. SCOOT is a low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines that was started in 2012. It merged with Tigerair in July 2017. The airline was fairly “hip” and had electronica music playing upon departure and arrival, as well as a neat rainbow inspired lighting scheme.

After arriving in Bali we took a GRAB (think Uber) to our hotel; Ratan Hotel Uluwatu Pecatu, about 30 minutes (16km) away. The hotel was fairly nice for only $40/night, however they could have cleaned the room a bit better. The small private pool area was quite nice, but we never used it, because it was too cold. Haha. Before diving into our adventures let’s look at the history of Bali, Indonesia.

Bali History

Bali is a province of Indonesia, and is the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It was originally inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian’s who migrated originally from Taiwan. Culturally and linguistically, Balinese people are quite closely related to people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Tourism makes up for about 80% of Bali’s economy. Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in a Muslim-majority Indonesia, with roughly 87% of Balinese people adhering to Hinduism. Bali’s capital city is Denpasar, which is comprised of about 2.3 million people. Bali has a total population of 4.3 million people, which means over half the population lives in the capital.

Exploring Bali

After napping for about four hours we dropped off our laundry to get cleaned. Laundry is very cheap to get washed in Indonesia, typically costing about $1/kg. It was then time to get some dinner. We ate at Warung Boga Sari. Warung’s are typically where the local’s eat, and it’s cost is typically $3-5 and is based on the weight of the food served. We had a bunch local Indonesian dishes, including Tempe, which is fermented Tofu. It’s one of my favourites so far. On the way back we stopped in at Indomaret (Not Indomarket. Think 7-11) for some water, and a few snacks. We really struggled to stay awake, so that was the extent of our day.