Balinese Culture

Bali is a truly unique island, even in Indonesia. It's predominantly Hindu, and Balinese Hinduism is a blend of Hinduism with elements from Buddhism and animist customs. This is why you'll see so many deity statues and trees covered in checkered fabric all around Bali.

You can find so many beautiful temples (puras) and local traditions that are still preserved today. You're usually required to wear 'modest clothing' to visit temples, but you can just carry a big scarf or sarung in your bag and wear it whenever you visit a temple to cover up.

Strong advice: keep your belongings safely tucked away in your pocket or bag when you visit any location with monkeys (Uluwatu temple, Ubud Sacred Monkey forest, etc). The monkeys are notorious thieves (worse than London phone snatchers), they will try to snatch anything you carry, including your sunglasses or spectacles. So be very, very careful with your belongings.

If you're unfortunate enough to fall victim, ask for help from a local or a temple staff member if any. Don't risk getting rabies over this.

Hiking

There are two popular mountains in Bali: Mount Batur and Mount Agung. It is verrrry far from Uluwatu, but the views are supposed to be amazing. There are so many other beautiful hiking spots usually more on the North parts of the island. There are bird-watching spots where you can see rare birds.

Surfing

There are lots of surfing spots in Bali, particularly Uluwatu which is where our wedding venue is. There are also many English-speaking surfing classes throughout the island.

Beyond Bali

Indonesia is composed of more than 17,000 islands (17,508 to be precise), with more than 30 provinces, each with vastly different ethnicities, cultures, and traditions. You can visit:

• Gili islands if you wanna get thrashed with Australians and Kiwis.

• Lombok island if you want to climb Mount Rinjani. Lombok island is predominantly Muslim. It's quite important to respect the locals, so we personally would be more mindful about wearing swimwear out in public.

• Komodo island if you want to see Komodo dragons. We took a boat tour once to go around a few different islands around Komodo and Badjo where we got to snorkle and see incredible marine life, and we highly recommend this experience. We went with Navila tour company.

• Yogyakarta if you want to visit the largest Buddhist temple in the world, Borobudur, or the largest Hindu temple in the world, Prambanan.

• Malang or Surabaya if you want to go to one of the most active volcanoes Mount Bromo.

• Borneo if you want to see true rainfall forests and wildlife, such as Orang Utans.

• West Papua if you want to see incredible nature and indigenous life.

There are so many things to do in Indonesia beyond Bali. If you have extra time, it would be worth checking out other places in Indonesia on your trip.