As excited as I was to go to Bali for the conference on community development, I also really wanted to get to explore some of the Hindu heritage of Indonesia that I hadn’t gotten to experience yet in the year I’ve been here. My friend Tirza suggested that we rent a car and explore Bali on Monday during the day before the 5pm kick off dinner…so that’s exactly what we did.

We started off by going to a traditional Balinese dance. It’s more like a ballet than other traditional dances that I’ve seen, because it’s not just about the movement or costumes, it’s about the complex storyline that gives you insight into the culture. Though I must say, the costumes were pretty cool…

Our next stop was to one of the largest Hindu temples on the island. 

While we were there we were able to see some of the ladies preparing for a ceremony later that evening…

On our way to the volcano view for lunch, we passed this tea plantation and had to stop to take a picture…

Right around lunch time it started to pour rain, so we stopped at a little restaurant with a gorgeous view. I miss being around mountains so much that getting to see this view was like medicine to my soul…

After this, Tirza and I made our way to the second largest Hindu temple in Indonesia.

While we were walking through we were able to crash part of a Hindu wedding. I got to see both the end of the ceremony and part of the wedding procession…

But first, let’s watch her take a selfie…

We ended our day of adventure by stopping by a coffee plantation, which has been on my bucket list of things to do in Indonesia since I first decided to move here. 

At the end of the tour we got to do a free coffee tasting, which was awesome!

 All in all, it was an awesome day…especially since it had been a while since I was able to do some cultural exploration.