Colours of the world - Bali

The island lies at a latitude of 5 degrees south, on the South China Sea between Australia and Borneo. Politically Bali, with its 3 point 5 million inhabitants, is under Indonesia's jurisdiction but, for cultural reasons, seems to be a separate state.

This small island has superb beaches, beautiful mountains of volcanic origin and reaching 3650 metres above sea level, magnificent lakes, wild jungle, thousands of acres of rice fields in valleys and on terraced hillsides giving Bali this characteristic and unusual appearance, hundreds of villages 8211; almost each of them an ethnographical museum, a modern airport and the best hotels in the world. Its original architecture and culture makes Bali so unique and unusual. The people of Bali, practicing a local variant of Hinduism, are the most religious community in the world!

The entire daily life of the Balinese is imbued with mysticism and faith to such an extent that each segment of everyday life is under control of different deity. Majority of the Balinese still make sacrificial offerings to gods (fruits, flowers, tufts of ears of rice) several times a day. Therefore we have all these ubiquitous altars and wayside chapels, which appear in numbers unmatched elsewhere in the world. There are tens of thousands of them practically everywhere. Without exception several can be found in each courtyard, in hotels, offices, at the airport and in other public places.

Every village has several temples, own temple have Vishnu and Siva as well as scores of lesser gods. On the rice terraces there is a density of small chapels devoted to the gods and spirits that ensure good harvests. There is also a density of objects above the rice fields since one of the religious cult demonstrations on Bali is flying kites. Thousands of kites permanently moored 8216;hang' above the rice fields and villages as airborne altars for the gods of the boundless space! Hence the slogan used in all advertising campaigns promoting Bali: "The Island of a Thousand Gods"!

When we supplement this description with the ubiquitous, unique and endemic to Bali architecture the picture of this unusual island will be complete. The beaches of Bali are neither better nor worse than those of Acapulco, Seychelles, Mauritius or Phuket. The culture and architecture of Bali make it so original and popular. Fortunately the local authorities have not allowed Bali to be defaced with the unified Euro-American architecture. On the island there are neither skyscrapers nor any so-called modern buildings. Even the big, public service buildings (airport, hypermarket Cash&Carry) are built in the Balinese style of traditional materials (flat orange bricks, carvings on the walls, red ceramic-tiled roofs curving upwards at the corners) and decorated with religious motifs.

Another component of Bali's uniqueness is its population: quiet, always smiling, tolerant towards strangers. The notion of religious war is incomprehensible for an average Balinese. Followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, animism, and Catholicism live here, side by side, in harmony. Women dress in colourful wraparound garments similar to sari. Men use sarongs, checked garments worn like skirts and decorate their heads with characteristic kerchiefs. As can be expected, on such a mystic island there are frequent religious festivals, which often assume the character of colourful ceremonies. This is why every tourist, during only a week's stay on Bali stands a good chance of running into a colourful procession very often jamming up road traffic.

One more attraction of Bali is its nature; the island of volcanic origin was shaped by violent volcanic eruptions 8 million years ago. The resultant landscape is abundant in valleys, hills, ravines, and mountains. Few flat areas in the Southeast of the island have been used for densely sited building projects. There all the Bali8217;s resorts have been located: Kuta, Sanur and Nusa Dua as well as the island8217;s capital, the town of Denpasar (150,000 inhabitants).

Infrastructure is well developed: large international Ngurah Rai airport, dense network of good-surface roads, efficient telephone system (Polish Era and Plus are operational), tap water supply, hundreds of restaurants, all this makes for a comfortable stay on Bali. And what is more, the hotels on Bali are considered the best in the world!