I'm jealous! I spent a couple weeks in Bali some 20 or more years ago and have always wanted to go visit again. The people are wonderful and really connected to their environment. The whole island is green and lush, there a couple thousand years of history, magnificent old temples, what they consider everyday life most of us would find exotic and fascinating.

Definitely hire a guide because Bali is a maze of roads and dotted with small towns, each of which has their own specialty. One town is all wood carvers. Another just makes bricks. A third makes mattresses. Yet another is mostly dancers.

DO NOT TRY TO DRIVE YOURSELF! The roads are narrow and the horn is the main tool most drivers use to negotiate their way through traffic. It's pretty amazing there aren't more accidents, when you see two "bemos" (mini vans), two mopeds, a cow, several chickens, a couple pedestrians... all vying for the same two lanes of roadway! There are cabs that are cheap and often the drivers are happy to act as impromptu guides. On a day when we were on our own, without our regular guide, we hired a cab at the hotel to take us to the market in Denpasar... Once we arrived the driver insisted on parking and accompanying us around the market to show us the best shops and encourage us to try some local delicacies.

Speaking of which... I don't know if it's better now... but don't eat uncooked food (no salads!) and only drink bottled water (no ice cubes unless you know they were made from bottle water). Fruits that you peel to eat, such as ugli, "milk bananas" and "star fruit" are safe. AVOID bad smelling "durian" fruit! Supposedly they taste really good... but they smell really bad. And, worse, anyone who eats durian ends up smelling like them!

"Sate" is great... it's bite-sized, skewered barbecued meat of various types. You can get it from street vendors or in restaurants. Often a restaurant will provide a little barbecue grill where you cook it yourself.

Another thing I really liked was a sort of cracker made from shrimp paste. (But I really was happy to get a good old McDonald's hamburger in an airport on the return trip.... turned out to be Australian beef that doesn't taste much like American beef! I also was craving salads! )

A good guide will get you into all sorts of places... Ours took us to several temples, to a funeral (which can last weeks and featured a full gamalong band), to a wedding (where we were treated as VIP guests), even to his own family compound in the hills. His family had lived there for generations and it was interesting to see how a typical family home was arranged. It was a walled compound with a number of buildings, each serving its own purpose. There was a building they met in to eat... a couple more where they slept... a small building where meals were prepared had the only electric light bulb (all of 25 watts). Like you'll see everywhere, there was also an altar for daily offerings to the gods.

Speaking of which... the Balinese are Hindu and recognize three primary gods (and a host of more minor ones). They do not like to be photographed in groups of three... consider that to be an insult to the gods. You'll see offerings to the gods everywhere... in front of stores, at intersections, in homes and of course at the temples. There are many temples... the largest and most ornate situated on the flanks of Mt. Agung, the tallest and holiest volcanic mountain on the island. BTW, there is no East, West, North and South on the island. There is "toward Mt. Agung" and "away from Mt. Agung"... so depending upon where you are on the island, orientations can change.

Mt. Agung is approx. 40 miles (about 65 kilometers) northeast of Denpasar and most of the tourist resorts... So there's little concern about the volcanic eruptions that have been occurring occasionally since Nov. 2017. The latest, I think, was a minor one in mid-August. This might effect visiting "Besakih" (temple) Agung, though. The volcano is situated in the Central/Eastern quadrant of the island, with prevailing winds blowing any ash (should there be any) toward the East where it's more of a concern to neighboring Lombok island than it is to most of Bali. Over the past year, the latest in June and July I think, ash clouds have caused several interruptions of air flights in and out of the the airport, which is south of Denpasar.

I don't recall any waterfalls... Much of Bali is covered by jungle. An exception are the rice paddy terraces several places.

I carried several film cameras, 4 or 5 lenses from 20mm to 200mm, a couple flashes and took about 45 rolls of film there in the course of two weeks (with a short side trip to Singapore). I carried most of it on in a single bag that fit under an airplane seat.

I'd love to go back with digital gear! I would take a macro lens this time. Wish I'd had one! There's not a lot of wildlife so I wouldn't take a very long telephoto. I'd definitely take at least two cameras and a wide angle zom with a polarizing filter for scenic shots. And I'd be sure to have flash, too (I packed them in my luggage last time.... and one of them was smashed when I got home). Don't forget battery chargers and voltage conversion devices to be able to use them (I forget what the electrical standard was there). I would take lots and lots of extra memory cards... and either a portable backup drive or arrange for cloud backup storage.

Long-tailed macaques at the Monkey Forest...


Nature's umbrella...


Dancers take a break...


The Temple of Justice...


Besakih Agung (Mt. Agung in the background)...


You won't need a lot of clothes. The weather is very mild year round (there are two rice harvests per year.... and that's what the Balinese year is based upon, approx. the same as 6 months to most of us).

When you arrive, buy a sarong if you plan to visit temples. You'll want to wear shorts, but both men and women need to cover their knees to enter a temple.

An umbrella is also handy to have... there were rain showers periodically when we were there (which was in early January). But if you don't want to haul a brelly around while traveling, no problem... there is usually someone renting them there.

Again I don't know if it's still the case, but when I was there things were quite cheap.... a fancy restaurant meal for two of us was only about $20. Away from the resorts, you could get a massage on the beach for about $1, buy a bag full of clothes for a few dollars or feed a family of four for a week for $10. Or buy a house for about $3000. A cab ride was only a few dollars, including tip. A week with out guide only cost us about $70.... and we additionally tipped him very well, by his standards! We also gave him an English/Spanish dictionary we found in Singapore... he was one of about five people on Bali who spoke any Spanish at all and was very pleased to be able to learn more.

While we used Indonesian currency, we probably didn't really need to convert our money. Folks were happy and even excited to get U.S. or Australian dollars, too. In fact, at a tourist stand in the Monkey Forest, we saw Chinese tourists bargaining in U.S. $ with a seller over "new antiques" (another small town's specialty).

Speaking of which... for a few cents you can buy milk bananas at the Monkey Forest, to feed the macaques. DO NOT put any in your pockets! We saw a German tourist "lose" his shorts when a monkey went after a banana he'd put in his pocket!