Balinese greetings are smiles, bows, and frangipani flower necklaces. Balinese air is fragrant, and the land is washed intermittently in warm downpours and sunlight. In Bali, subtle pleasures and indulgences are delivered in myriad ways. Here you feel light and floating on air, like a flower petal.
I’m a fairly adventuresome person, but I don’t have that thrill gene—you know, the one that makes you want to sky dive and bungee jump and have sex in public places. But I’m also a woman in my forties, which makes me, if not more staid, at least more experienced with having done, well, a […]
While in the town of Kuta in Bali, we stayed for two nights at Bakung Sari Hotel, booked online at Asiarooms.com. On our last trip in 2008, we did not carry much electronics with us — only a digital camera, a new Kindle (they came out in 2008) and an iPod Touch. We had no […]
What a trip! Three flights from Los Angeles to Bali; with the help of modern chemistry we slept through most of the first 12-hour flight from LAX to PEK. I think I slept nearly 10 hours. I even fell asleep before we took off. Our flight was at 1:40am July 2nd. My cousins, Eric and […]
Traveling in Asia long-term is different than a week’s holiday in Hawaii or somewhere else close to home. One important thing to consider on long-term travel is visa requirements and how long you are allowed to stay in different countries. Travel with a US passport is generally easy; for our current trip we arranged a […]
A visit to the holy springs of Tirta Empul is a glimpse inside Bali’s spiritual heart. Almost devoid of tourists but brimming with locals come to take the holy waters, Tirta Empul is at once crowded, joyful, raucous, and deeply uplifting. Tirta Empul, the “Ganges” of Bali, is a centuries-old place of purification. The legend […]
Half a world apart, the North Shore of Indonesia’s Bali and the North Shore of Hawaii’s Oahu share the same laid-back atmosphere. Gorgeous weather, lazy afternoons, and beautiful grey sand beaches are hallmarks of Lovina, Bali.
Some places call for adventure—abseiling in Blue Mountains National Park, a safari in Sub-Saharan Africa—but other places are better suited for a different kind of sensory stimulus: serene relaxation. This is exactly why I recently landed at the St. Regis Bali.
Surfing in different parts of the world is one of my favorite things to do. Though the culture is somewhat universal with the tattoos and the laid back attitude, there is always something unique about every break. Nothing is truer than surfing in the remote town of Medewi in Bali. Two and a half hours […]