Indonesia? Yes, we’re going to be discussing a little piece of the nation of Indonesia. A lot of people don’t know a whole lot about Indonesia, except that there have been some travel warnings against visiting the country. The truth is that whenever a travel warning is issued, it’s done by some of the most conservative agencies in the world. If you can’t handle a little risk, then you might as well not even get out of bed, right?

Right. After all, you could get cut by your newspaper, drink sour milk, or even fall in the shower. Ouch. Given our choice of risks, we would rather check out the best that life has to offer, meet a whole new culture of people and otherwise expand our horizons, even though that sounds a little cliché. In other words, life is what you make of it, and that means that you should definitely check out Bali.  I mean, why let travel warnings stop you? If you’re from the United States, there are several cities that have been on international travel warnings for years — we’re looking at you NYC and we’re definitely looking at you Detroit, Kansas City, and Memphis. Does that mean these cities aren’t worth checking out? Definitely not. It’s a great time to travel; we just wanted to highlight Indonesia for a moment.

Bali is an island that is part of Indonesia. A lot of tourists actually think that it is its own country, but that isn’t the case at all. The capital of the province of Bali is Denpasar.

In order to understand why tourists are just so in love with Bali, we need to start with the geography of Bali itself. As we said before, it’s an island. That means that there’s plenty of water to be found at every corner of the island, but that’s not all. It’s situated roughly 8 degrees south of the equator, which means high temperatures are going to be the rule rather than the exception. The island is about 95 miles wide and 69 miles long.  That’s enough land to have a lot of neat geographical points of interest, like a huge mountain that’s also a volcano. Yep, that’s right — an active volcano exists right there on the island. It is Mount Agung, which is over 3,142 meters high. The volcanic soil has made the island very fruitful, giving the people of Bali great fruits and vegetables. This also keeps them from having to import so many items into the country. There is even a river — the Ayung River. It flows through the whole island.

There are beautiful coral reefs that surround the island, along with white sandy beaches in the southern part of the island. However, for all of you black sand fans there are also beaches in the north that have what you’ve been looking for. The more interesting part is that the Balinese have not yet developed the black sand beaches for tourism. You can still get to them, but don’t expect to find very much. This can be a good thing if you’re really trying to escape some of the “classic” tourism stuff on your vacation and get back to the untouched beauty of nature. We’re not saying that it’s completely undeveloped or that it’ll always stay that way, but there is a chance to enjoy a few things.

Believe it or not, there are only 3 million people that call Bali home. This means that when you come to visit the province, be prepared to meet a lot of different people. The island is home to most of Indonesia’s Hindu population, so be sure to show respect to everyone you come across — it’ll get you so much farther in the provinces than if  you’re yet another rude tourist!

If you’re a nature lover, you will love the wildlife that await you in Bali. There are nearly 300 species of birds, including many swallows and orioles. Many examples of the wildlife are kept on natural reserves where guests can even feed some of the animals and see them up close.

So, where do you start your Bali vacation? Well, that depends on what type of activities you want, what your budget is, and the type of scene you want to be around.

Well, we mentioned Denpasar, which is the capital of the province. It’s a very busy city, but it might not really cater to much of the things you want to do. However, if you want to really blend in like a local, this is a pretty low-key city to do that in.

On the other hand, you have high tourist areas like Kuta and Jimbaran and even Lovina. We like Lovina because it’s a little populated but it still sports that beautiful black sand and amazing coral reefs. So if you’re trying to stay connected to the gorgeous landscape, this is definitely one way to get that done.

For luxury hounds, you’re going to want to choose Seminyak or Sanur. Don’t worry if your budget isn’t first-class — you can find values all over Bali, especially with the rise of the Internet on your side.

How can we skip over the different types of food that you can expect in Bali? Even if you’re into the fast food chains that you’re used to at home, you might be shocked when you find out that the fast food chains in Bali serve up local versions of the classic fast food favorites. Going very local and avoiding the tourist areas is going to get you meals that are a lot cheaper and also a lot more flavorful. We’re big fans of really tasting the local cuisine of a region before you go back to the standard tourist fare. After all, if you aren’t willing to explore another country inside and out, you might as well stay home — that’s where you’ll find familiar food!

Speaking of food, what do the Balinese people really like? Well, given that it is primarily a Hindu region, beef is not on the menu very much. Pork is the meat of choice, with plenty of seafood options. However, if you’re avoiding pork, there is also great duck. Bebek betutu means “darkened duck” and it roasted in banana leaves over charcoal until it becomes “dark”. Tourists that have sampled it say that it really is an out of the world flavor!

There are plenty of other tasty treats waiting for you, but you’ll need to travel to Bali to find all of them.

A quick note about transportation — you’ll have plenty of different types to choose from. Unlike some island nations where public transportation is virtually unheard of, you do have buses and taxis available. You can also rent a car, but we recommend a rental car with a driver package. You might think that this is fancy living but it’s not. You can get a car with a driver for around 600,000 Indonesian rupiah — which is roughly 70 USD at the time of this writing. That’s pretty cheap when you think about how much it would cost to get taken around New York City by private car/driver!

If you’re worried about not being able to move around freely, don’t worry. Even though Balinese and Bahasa Indonesia are the two languages that dominate the island of Bali, that doesn’t mean that you have to speak them. As with most countries though, if you can get through learning a few phrases you will get a lot better treatment.

There’s a lot to do in Bali — between the beautiful beaches, great food, wonderful people, amazing festivals, and deep-rooted culture, you are not likely to get tired anytime soon!