Despite its popularity and fame, the island of Bali is far from being the most pleasant to visit in Indonesia. Indeed, it is overpopulated and lacks any attempt at urban planning or land management. This results in constant traffic jams. Moreover, public transport is scarce and does not allow to reach the touristic places. And everything costs four times more than in the rest of the country. However, the island has a very well-connected airport and a world heritage site, which makes it a must visit.

I visited Bali in February 2023, after returning from a trip to Flores to visit Komodo. We spent four nights and three days there. We were based in Ubud for the first few nights, a cab having taken us there from the airport. We shared the car with two other Québec tourists we met on Flores.

The next day, we walked to the Goa Gajah and Pura Yeh Pulu temples (both outside the core zone). Hindu symbology is rather difficult to understand for the uninitiated, but the guided tour of the second one gave us an interesting introduction. A short ride on the back of a motorcycle brought us to the first component of the World Heritage Site, Candi Tebing Gunung Kawi in the Subak Landscape of Pekerisan Watershed. There, we were lent a sarong for free, as it was the case for all the temples. You can ignore all the people trying to sell you one before the entrance. This temple is the most interesting of all those visited on Bali. The niches carved in the rock are impressive and the surrounding lush landscape of canals, rice fields and forests is very pleasant. The interpretation is poor though and you must come prepared if you want to understand what you are seeing (we definitely weren't prepared enough). From there, we walked to Pura Tirta Empul. This temple is the scene of elaborate ceremonies around water. It is interesting to witness it. The architecture and the sculptures are also very nice. In the parking lot, we found a driver to bring us back to the city, but also a driver for the two following days.

The next day, our driver drove us to the Pura Luhur Batukaru temple in Subak Landscape of Catur Angga Batukaru. The gateway framing the cloud-covered volcano summit and the structures with highly layered roofs was very pleasant. However, several areas of the temple complex were closed to visitors. After this short visit, we moved on to the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces. This is by far the best part of the World Heritage Site. We walked a long loop through the rice fields. The scenery is fabulous, and the trails are very well laid out and well marked. I don't know how unique these rice fields are (this was my first visit to this type of landscape), but I loved my experience in them. We ended our day with two visits outside the boundaries of the Unesco site, the ridiculously touristy and fake Pura Ulun Danu Bratan and the lovely Air Terjun Leke Leke waterfall.

For our last day of sightseeing, we met up with our driver to go to the Taman Ayun temple (The Royal Water temple of Pura Taman Ayun). This temple complex is again very pretty, with its many structures with multiple roofs. However, as for the others, the interpretation on the spot is weak and you don't really know what you are looking at without prior knowledge of the place. A small museum accessible at the end of the visit brings some answers but puts more emphasis on the royal family using the place than on anything else. Like the day before, many areas of the temple were inaccessible. We completed the day with a visit to Tanah Lot (outside the core zone) and a return to Denpasar. Our hotel near the airport was perfect for our early morning flight.

In conclusion, this site requires a lot of prior reading if you want to fully understand what you are visiting. The complexity of the Hindu religion and the rather abstract philosophy put forward by this site exacerbates this aspect. The temples are pretty, although it is unfortunate that large sections of them are off limits to tourists. The rice fields are undeniably the highlight of the site. I would have preferred to avoid the chaos and high cost of visiting Bali, but these are well worth all the hassle.