Singapore
Bali and Nusa Pineda
We went to Singapore, Bali and Nusa Pineda in April of 2023. It's our first time flying on a plane in 3 yrs since Covid started. Now all the Covid travel restrictions have been lifted in Singapore and Bali and high vaccination rates, we felt safe to travel abroad again. I started my new plant collection hobby during Covid and really wanted to see all the plants I grow living in their natural high humidity tropical environment in Singapore and in Bali's jungles. My favorite place to visit in Singapore was the magnificent Cloud Forest Dome which mimics a jungle. This greenhouse-like climate controlled glass dome has one of the world's largest waterfall and hundreds of rare plants on its tall plant walls including philodendron verrucosums, gloriosums, rare anthuriums, syngoniums, pothos, ferns and begonias. Singapore is a hot country year-round at 90 degrees with high humidity so going into the Cloud Dome and Flower Dome are great ways to cool off. There was a great Avatar display at the Cloud Dome with 6 stories of interactive fun with the Avatar 2 creatures. You can even fly a mountain banshee. I loved visiting the Singapore Botanic Garden and National Orchid Garden with hundreds of species of plants and beautiful orchids. I really was so amazed by the construction of the super trees at the Gardens by the Bay. We went to the OCBC Skyway during the day to see the city views and back at night to see the light show illuminating the tall trees with movie music. They plant tropical plants like air plants, syngoniums and vining pothos all over the trees. We dined at Spago Bar at the top of the Marina Bay Sands and saw a 360 view of the city skyline light up at night. The 51st floor of the Capita Spring Sky Garden also has gorgeous city views of Singapore. The Art Science Museum Team Lab exhibition was fun and interactive for all ages where you can draw your own sea creature and it moves on screen. The light beams, moving floral waterfall display was fun too. Another must do is eat Singapore's famous Chili Crab at Jumbo Seafood. We ate it at the Riverfront Point outdoors enjoying the beautiful river lights. We enjoyed the dimsum at Tim Ho Wan, Hainan chicken rice, and Ya Kun Kaya Toast. We went to many hawker centers around Singapore like the Maxwell Center and Lau Pa Sat Center that has alot of variety of delicious Asian food and drinks for a very cheap. Singapore is a melting pot of many Asian and European cultures like Malay, Chinese, and Indian with Buddhist and Hindu temples, mosques, churches everywhere. It's known as a "Gateway to Asia" and a "Garden city" as plants are grown on many high rise buildings to help cool down the city, provide beautiful landscaping and clear CO2. Most everyone speaks English so it's very easy to communicate. It was very easy to use public transit like the bus and MRT to get around town, which is very cheap. On the last day we visited Sentosa Island and enjoyed the beautiful beaches, bridges and rode the luge and zip lining down to the beach. The Wings of Time water light show was neat too with fireworks, water, and technical display of lights. We stayed at the Park Royal Pickering Hotel in Singapore. It has the most lush green gardens planted with syngoniums, pothos, flamingo anthuriums. You get to experience being in a urban garden in the middle of the bustling cityscape. It also has an infinity pool overlooking the city!
Nusa Pineda, a 45 minute boat ride from Bali, was a magical pristine island jungle with beautiful white sand beaches and coves and landscapes that look like Avatar. It's like paradise here one few tourists and all jungle landscapes with windy rough roads. I recommend hiring a driver as you don't want to drive the rocky roads yourself in 90 degree heat. We stayed at the beautiful bamboo huts Penida Bambu Green Villas sleeping with sounds of animals, birds, insects, chickens making loud noises and showering outdoors among nature. I recommend staying 2 nights in Nusa Pineda to see the whole island without rushing. My favorite was seeing Diamond Beach and Tembeling Beach. We stood at the top of Diamond Beach as the hike down is too treacherous and the line was too long. Getting to the secluded few tourists Tembling beach was an adventure of itself. You drive there, the 30 min bumpy fast ride on a scooter down hill fast with a local driver, then walk 30 min downhill to a swimming hole and gorgeous secluded beach. We ate dinner by the Crystal Bay beach with a group of hungry stray dogs under our table during sunset hour.
Bali is the 4th most popular travel destination in the world after Dubai, London, and Cancun. It's known as the Land of the Gods, with it's natural beauty of volcanos, rice terraces, waterfalls, and beaches. We mainly explored the central area of Ubud. Bali gets more tourists visiting than locals. In 2019, 6.9 million foreigners visited Bali vs. 4.2 million native people on the island. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful Hindu temples all over Bali constructed of stone and wood with gold leaf carving designs. Hinduism was is the primary religion of Indonesian people. You will see huge Hindu god statues all over Bali and Hindu art, traditions, and rituals celebrated. Temples in Bali follow the same architectural principles as in India. The Balinese word for “temple” (Pura) refers to a sacred complex that is often encircled by walls. We visited the Pura Tirta Empul to watch the sacred water cleaning ritual.
Bali is home to over 20,000 temples, each of which is dedicated to a different virtue like family, community, and village. The Balinese people are so kind and peaceful. They believe in reincarnation and supporting their community, they put high respect to the balance of humans and animals and plants that nourish their bodies. We had fun swinging on various shaped swings at Aloha Ubud Swing, visited the green Tegallalang Rice Terraces, watched locals carve wood statues and figurines, saw the Mt Batur volcano, and visited Cantik Agriculture Luwak Coffee and saw the cute luwak animal that eats coffee beans and poops them out in the forest floor. The Balinese showed us how they hand clean, peel, dry and grind the coffee beans. We stayed at the Ubud Village Resort & Spa a serene paradise overlooking rice paddies and plants. We visited the beautiful Kanto Lampo Waterfall and Tegenungan Waterfall, both very popular for swimming. You have to hike 15 min downhill to both waterfalls and hike back up. Most excursions require entrance fees too. We saw exotic butterflies and held huge moths on our hands at Kemenuh Butterfly Park. We watched the sacred Sanghyang Dedari Dance and saw a dancer stomp out fire with his bare feet. The ceremony is intended to ask for safety from a disaster or epidemic that attacks a village. This dance is different from other Balinese dances, where dancers must be conscious while dancing. The Sanghyang dance requires the dancer's body to be possessed by the Dedari. Overall we enjoyed learning about Balinese culture, traditions and interacting with the locals and nature in Bali.
Nusa Pineda, a 45 minute boat ride from Bali, was a magical pristine island jungle with beautiful white sand beaches and coves and landscapes that look like Avatar. It's like paradise here one few tourists and all jungle landscapes with windy rough roads. I recommend hiring a driver as you don't want to drive the rocky roads yourself in 90 degree heat. We stayed at the beautiful bamboo huts Penida Bambu Green Villas sleeping with sounds of animals, birds, insects, chickens making loud noises and showering outdoors among nature. I recommend staying 2 nights in Nusa Pineda to see the whole island without rushing. My favorite was seeing Diamond Beach and Tembeling Beach. We stood at the top of Diamond Beach as the hike down is too treacherous and the line was too long. Getting to the secluded few tourists Tembling beach was an adventure of itself. You drive there, the 30 min bumpy fast ride on a scooter down hill fast with a local driver, then walk 30 min downhill to a swimming hole and gorgeous secluded beach. We ate dinner by the Crystal Bay beach with a group of hungry stray dogs under our table during sunset hour.
Bali is the 4th most popular travel destination in the world after Dubai, London, and Cancun. It's known as the Land of the Gods, with it's natural beauty of volcanos, rice terraces, waterfalls, and beaches. We mainly explored the central area of Ubud. Bali gets more tourists visiting than locals. In 2019, 6.9 million foreigners visited Bali vs. 4.2 million native people on the island. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful Hindu temples all over Bali constructed of stone and wood with gold leaf carving designs. Hinduism was is the primary religion of Indonesian people. You will see huge Hindu god statues all over Bali and Hindu art, traditions, and rituals celebrated. Temples in Bali follow the same architectural principles as in India. The Balinese word for “temple” (Pura) refers to a sacred complex that is often encircled by walls. We visited the Pura Tirta Empul to watch the sacred water cleaning ritual.
Bali is home to over 20,000 temples, each of which is dedicated to a different virtue like family, community, and village. The Balinese people are so kind and peaceful. They believe in reincarnation and supporting their community, they put high respect to the balance of humans and animals and plants that nourish their bodies. We had fun swinging on various shaped swings at Aloha Ubud Swing, visited the green Tegallalang Rice Terraces, watched locals carve wood statues and figurines, saw the Mt Batur volcano, and visited Cantik Agriculture Luwak Coffee and saw the cute luwak animal that eats coffee beans and poops them out in the forest floor. The Balinese showed us how they hand clean, peel, dry and grind the coffee beans. We stayed at the Ubud Village Resort & Spa a serene paradise overlooking rice paddies and plants. We visited the beautiful Kanto Lampo Waterfall and Tegenungan Waterfall, both very popular for swimming. You have to hike 15 min downhill to both waterfalls and hike back up. Most excursions require entrance fees too. We saw exotic butterflies and held huge moths on our hands at Kemenuh Butterfly Park. We watched the sacred Sanghyang Dedari Dance and saw a dancer stomp out fire with his bare feet. The ceremony is intended to ask for safety from a disaster or epidemic that attacks a village. This dance is different from other Balinese dances, where dancers must be conscious while dancing. The Sanghyang dance requires the dancer's body to be possessed by the Dedari. Overall we enjoyed learning about Balinese culture, traditions and interacting with the locals and nature in Bali.
