Reflections on Bali

Selamat Datang or "Welcome" in Bahasa (the language of Indonesia). My Filipino readers will quickly notice its similarity to the Tagalog word, Salamat (thank you). This is just the beginning of the shared traits we've found between the Bali and the Philippines.

Every time I hear someone speaking Bahasa, I do a double-take because it has the same tone, inflections and some words as Tagalog, only its not. This intrigues me to figure out just how many words Tagalog and Bahasa have in common. Here's what I've observed so far:
- Shoes: Sapatu (Bahasa) and Sapato (Tagalog)
- Five: Lima (Bahasa and Tagalog)
- Pork: Babi (Bahasa) and Baboy (Tagalog)
- Child: Anak (Bahasa and Tagalog)
... the list goes on and on. The similarities between the Philippines also extend to the towns themselves which have the same feel, same level of cleanliness, and I swear all the Indonesians look just like relatives Jeng or I have. We've visited Kuta, Seminyak, Ubud and some of the small towns in between. They are all lined with little shops and the traffic is bumper-to-bumper with crazy motorbikes weaving through all the cars.

So how does this stack up with Thailand and Singapore? I don't plan to go through the same extensive rating system as my previous blog, but I will comment on the food and scenery. Foodwise, we have yet to be thoroughly impressed with one exception: Ibu Oka's Babi Guling. If you saw Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations Indonesia episode, you'll know about this place. We had the suckling roasted pig there today and it definitely was in the top 3 of our favorite meals on the honeymoon. I wanted to order another plate of just pig skin, but they ran out.

Another notable feature of Bali has been the scenery. A Hindu state in a Muslim country, Bali is unique. There are Hindu statues, temples and shrines dispersed among artisan shops selling amazing wood carvings, stone statues, furniture and other artisan goods. There are also cool rice terraces and monkey forests. (We have a great collection of monkey pictures we look forward to sharing.) And of course, the beaches where the waves are big and the sand is fine. All in all, not a bad place to end this memorable 3-week trip.

This concludes our honeymoon. Tomorrow night we hop on a red-eye to Tokyo for an 8-hour layover before crossing the Pacific to home. Unfortunately it won't be First Class Cathay Pacific so I guess Business Class American Airlines will have to do.