Bali, Beyond the Beaches

I am so ecstatic for Vincent and Felicia's wedding--best excuse ever to go to Indonesia. Plus, I get to go with my closest friends from college, double win. While some of my friends peg me for a city girl, some know that I'm equally obsessed with the outdoors. I won't lie, sandy beaches are not a number-one-destination in my book, but some of these culturally rich, and deeply intriguing places, are currently topping the charts. Besides, Bali has more than beaches-- oceans, rainforests, history, religion, food. I cannot wait to explore all of it.

First, I'll start with the obvious- the temples, the shrines, and the holy places. Here, I've highlighted just two, because honestly, they show up in every list in the Bali-seeking-universe.

Photo courtesy of Extissimo Travel

The rock outcropping, Tanah Lot, is along the western side of Bali and is swimming with legend, mythology, and religion. The Pura Tanah Lot (Temple Tanah Lot) sits on these rocks, built in the 16th century thanks to the now-mythologized holy man, Nirartha after telling nearby fisherman it was a holy place. Pura Tanah Lot is one of seven sea temples along the

shore, paying respects to the guardian spirits of the sea. It is said that the sea snakes that dwell in the caves of the rocks protect the temple from evil spirits along with legendary sized snakes that swim the nearby depths of the sea. Blessings from a sea snake in one of the caves is one of the attractions here, I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I won't be the first one in line for that.

Photo courtesy of Mastahanky

The Goa Gajah (pictured at left) is also on my list of cannot miss places, the incredible "hellmouth" leading into the place of meditation is stunning. I have lots more research to do on this subject.

Moving onward. Next, we have the "wouldn't it be rad" destination. In all likelihood, I won't be visiting the Ghost Palace Hotel, also, more formally known as PI Bedugul Taman Rekreasi Hotel and Resort. On Atlas Obscura, the "know before you go" guide tells you where to hop the fence to avoid the guards... I'm not so down with hopping fences in other countries. Not even sure I'm about that in my own country.

Photo courtesy of photographer and traveler Anton Burmistrov

But, that doesn't change how fascinating abandoned places are. This hotel was commissioned by the youngest son of former Indonesia President, in the 1990's, but due to being jailed for corruption charges (he put a target on a Supreme Court judge convicting him of corruption, awkward) the funding was interrupted, so construction ceased. Anton Burmistrov can make it feel like you were there though-- he has an incredible photo journal and video that are completely immersive. So I'll just live vicariously through his adventure, and follow all of his other ones on his instagram account.

So, that leads me to this next gem-- the Ibuku complex of Green School and Green Village.

Photo courtesy of Ibuku

Since I still have 8 months, I'll be plotting and scheming on how to see some of the incredible bamboo structures designed by Ibuku, a group of designers, engineers, and architects working to push the limits of bamboo and working towards a more sustainable architecture, #goals. I just spent that last 3 hours sifting through their portfolio, googling all of the projects, and thoroughly creeping on their Instagram. You can visit the Green Village (pictured above) as part of a tour to see the Ibuku offices, tour the manufacturing process of preparing structural bamboo, and see artisans working at their craft, sign me up!

Major Nerd Alert here, you can even take workshop courses at the Green Village--I'll get

to learn about jointery and how to make bamboo architectural models. Or, you can do a 3-day session, learning how to build a bamboo home! So dreamy, you can read more about it here.

And, as if it all wasn't magnificent enough, all the homes in the Green Village are on Air BnB, so, naturally, I need to book my stay right this second.

So, perhaps this isn't the most typical list of places I hope to see in Bali. The temples are a given, I am not currently an expert, but I've got some time to sort all of that out. If you have any must-see places (that are different than the top 10 I'll find in whichever travel guide I buy), please, do share in the comments below!

#Bali #Indonesia #SouthEastAsia