Indonesia Vacation & Adventures

Indonesia Vacation & Adventures

Where Is Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located south of Sri Lanka. It's about 8 degrees south of the equator and lies between the much larger island of Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Bali is actually a series of six volcanoes that stretch from west to east and form the island and its varied terrain. The south and west of Bali are generally warmer and sunnier than the central and northeast, where the mountains and lush tropical vegetation are fed by frequent rainfall. The island is only a little more than 2,000 square miles, but the islands features many mountains and peaks, lush tropical mountainsides, craters, lakes, black sand beaches to the north, and white sand beaches and surfing to the south and west. Divers can find dive sites all around the island. Try to see maps of Bali and for more information.

Bali Island General Information

Bali Island - where religion is the source of traditional customs in everyday life. A vibrant culture, unique arts and ceremonies, a gentle and friendly people and spectacular scenery make Bali Island one of the premier travel destinations in the world.

Come to Bali Island to learn for yourself how beautiful Bali is. It needs more pages to describe the wonders and magic of Bali Island in words. Here is a glance info about Bali Island.

Bali is a land that seems to have a magnet at its very heart. It is a feeling that is difficult to understand unless experienced but once visited you are surely compelled to come back and you may even want to stay forever, such is its pull. Maybe its Bali’s beauty, maybe the friendly people, or maybe even the influence from spirits that certainly abide in this place.Bali goes under many names. Some call it the ‘island of the gods’, others Shangri-La. The ‘last paradise’, the ‘dawning of the world’ and the ‘centre of the universe’ are yet more names for this truly beautiful tropical island inhabited by a remarkably artistic people who have created a dynamic society with unique arts and ceremonies.Bali is small, just 140 Km by 80 Km and lies between Java, the most highly populated and influential of all the islands, and Lombok, one of the quieter and moderately slower paced islands. Like many islands, Bali has developed a world of its own. It not only captures what is special about Indonesia but also has a uniqueness of its own.
Daily life on Bali is culturally linked to satisfying and appeasing the gods, spirits and demons in the midst of breathtaking panoramas of cultivated rice terraces, impressive volcanoes and pristine beaches. Bali’s main volcano, Gunung Agung, is still active and sometimes explosive and is considered sacred among local people as it is believed to be the centre of the universe. Lying just 8o south of the Equator, Bali can boast a tropical climate with just two seasons a year and an average temperature of around 28o Celsius. It has a whole range of different environments and activities for the tourist, many of which are covered in these homepages.
Economically and culturally, Bali is one of the most important islands of Indonesia. Rice is grown on irrigated, terraced hillsides; other crops include sugar cane, coffee, copra, tobacco, fruits and vegetables. Cattle and hogs are also raised. The Balinese are skilled artisans, particularly in woodcarving and in fashioning objects of tortoiseshell and of gold, silver and other metals. The Balinese are noted for their traditional dance, the distinctive music of the gamelan and for their skills in weaving cloth of gold and silver threads, Songket, as well as for embroidering silk and cotton clothing.
Bali of today is one of the twenty six provinces of the Republic of Indonesia, divided administratively between eight districts that take their names and boundaries from the island’s old Hindu kingdoms.








Bali Island, Where, Width and Population

Bali Island is one of the 17,000 Islands of Indonesia, located between 8 and 9 degree south of the Equator.
It takes 3 hours flight from Singapore or 5 hours from Sydney or 4 hours from Hong Kong and 8 hours from Tokyo, those closest cities in the pacific. There are direct and some connects flights from Europe, North and South America as well as Africa.

A very narrow strait, called the strait of Bali, joins the Indian (Indonesia) ocean and the Java sea, separating Bali Island from Java Island.
Bali Island’s total area is slightly more than 2000 square miles. According to the latest census Bali Island’s population is three million five hundred thousand people.

Bali Island Topography, rice fields, mountains and beaches
Bali mountain range is from Batukaru in the west and Gunung Agung in the East while in the center there are lakes which divides Bali Island into two plains, the Northern and the Southern plains.

The Northern plain is much narrower, hilly and dry so that there is no much wet rice culture possible and yet the people here like in the rest of Bali Island live from agriculture.

The mountain in some places comes right to the sea, the coast is swampy in the West, alternately sandy and full of pebbles in the center and rocky in the East. There are few beaches here good for swimming as well as snorkeling and diving.





Bali Wood Carvings

Collection of Bali Wood Carvings in various themes; Hindu and Buddha religious theme, Ramayana and Mahabarta great epic, Balinese daily life, Animals, New style, and more...

The Gunung Batur is very active volcano. In this century it erupted in 1905, 1926 and 1963 when it kept erupting till 1974. One of its many craters once in a while emits smoke.

The highest Volcano - Mt. Agung was quite for more that 150 years, but it was certainly not dead yet. It erupted suddenly in 18 February 1965 when Bali Island was about to have a big purification ceremony, called Eka Desa Rudra, which is to be held every 100 years. The previous eruption must be 1811, because this was mentioned in the book, the history of Java, written by Raffles, when he was Governor General of Indonesia.

The center part of Bali Island are most fertile and in these regions the tourists can see the most beautiful rice field terraces. This part of Bali is, no wonder, called the rice belt of the Island. The South part lies white sandy beaches where mostly hotels are located such as : Nusa Dua, Jimbaran, Kuta, Legian and Sanur area. To the Southeast of central Bali lies the arid island of Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan which used for snorkeling, beaching by most of Cruises company.









Bali Flora and Fauna

Bali Island is though to be the last island of Wallace line that separates the flora and fauna of Mainland Asia and Australia, but in Bali Island there are no kakatoe birds, but one finds plenty of them in the islands East of Bali, e.g. in Sumba and Flores. A very few are found in Nusa Penida. There are more snakes and beautiful myna colored birds. The Australian flora and fauna are supposed to begin in Lombok, the island just East of Bali. In Nusa Penida one occasionally sees the white kakatoe and the Horned bill; a bird with very large beak, too big in proportion with the head, and the body.





Bali Religion

Most population of Bali Island (90%) are Hindu and the others are Catholic, Protestant, Moslem and Buddhist. The Hinduism in Bali mixed with local tradition and culture, thus almost everyday you can find ceremony or festival.

The Balinese will be accompanied by rituals from birth to death. The birth is celebrated through the "penyambutan" ceremony, The three Month ceremony when the child is allowed to touch the ground an given the name. Every six month celebrate otonan (birth day), after the adulation they have 'tooth filling' ceremony then wedding ceremony.

As we are Hindu we have also Cremation ceremony, if some one died we will cremate the death body. Common people said that through cremation the soul can go the Heaven.

Temples, houses and other building are celebrated every 210 days (6 month) as the anniversary ceremony. You can easily find ceremony almost everyday. This is one of the main reason why travelers come to bali.