It’s not paradise but it smell’s nice

Bali has a bit of a reputation, in my mind at least, of being a tropical paradise. Having thought on this over the past couple of days I’ve concluded that my idea of paradise would have better transport (I’ll cover bemaks & bemos in a later post), less people, and definitely less people trying to sell you stuff. Over the weekend I visited a number of temples (Bali is predominantly Hindu) and even in these beautiful & sacred sites there are hawkers – people wanting to guide you; sell you postcards, drinks or sarongs; or most depressingly children of 3 or 4 years old trying to sell you frangipani flowers (which I have to fish out of the pool at the hotel on a daily basis in order to swim a length unobstructed!).

The temple at Besakih

However my paradise may smell like Bali. The streets are pungent with the smell of incense which is left as offerings to the Gods all along the pavement. This mixes pleasantly with the smell of food cooking over hot coals and the aforementioned frangipani. So yes, Bali may not be my paradise in many ways, but it sure does smell like it!

An offering to the Gods on the pavement outside my hotel

BTW I now have an Indonesian mobile sorted, email me at my normal work address & I’ll send you the number