Indonesia was a rather unfortunate trip. Only a couple of days in, during surfing lessons on Bali, I ended up with a cracked rib after getting hit by another future surfer’s board. I spent the rest of the trip, as well as the first few weeks back home, generally trying not to move too fast or breathe too deeply. The plans of hiking in Bromo and climbing Merapi had to be shelved, but I managed to see a few temples along the way.
Besakih
The Besakih temple was one of the few highlights of an overall average Bali experience. Bali was not what I had expected, although that was largely my own fault as this was a pretty spontaneous trip, motivated largely by the Bali brand or image, and I hadn’t done that much research.
Bali evokes, or at least used to evoke, the image of a tropical paradise, but if what you’re looking for is a small, quiet island with nothing but coconut palm fringed beaches and turquoise waters, Bali is not really the right place. It’s a very large island. Its main city, Denpasar, is roughly a million people and you get all the pollution, trash and traffic associated with it. Realistically, you do need a car to get away from the main cities and see and stay in some of the more interesting places. Also, since Bali is a Hindu island within an otherwise overwhelmingly Muslim country, alcohol is legal and available and the main resorts have turned into an Ibiza for Australians.
Borobodur
The largest Buddhist temple in the world. Dates back to around 800AD
Prambanan
Hindu temple complex in central Java
