BALI, Indonesia

Following a week in West Java, we flew to the small Indonesian island of Bali. Upon our arrival at the airport we were immersed in an entirely different culture. Bali is set apart from the rest of the Muslim country of Indonesia by its devout Hinduism. All throughout the island are ornate statues and temples, with every home, street, town, hill, beach or landmark requiring its own temple, and each day every home, business or workspace will set out a fresh offering basket of colorful flowers, money, food and cigarettes.

In Bali we stayed near Echo Beach, a famous surfing beach. I took 3 days of surfing lessons from local surfers at Batu Bolong Beach, and became more confident surfing and managed to catch some actual waves! In the afternoons we took taxi day tours and visited more temples and Alex and I rode our scooter doubles in the insane Bali traffic over 5 hours round trip down to Nusa Dua, and another 5 hour round trip up back to Ubud to catch a Balinese dance performance and buy kites from a local craftsman.

As usual, the highlight of this trip was the wonderful people. We encountered the warmest people in Indonesia, both Muslim and Hindu, Indonesians and foreigners.

Traveled August 2014. All photos by Renee Lusano (except photos of Renee by Alex Martin) shot on Sony RX1

SACRED MONKEY FOREST

No visit to Bali is complete without a stop at the Monkey Forest is Ubud.

Colorful offerings are everywhere on the ground.

On one of our last nights we watched a Balinese dance perfomance in Ubud