May 6, 2026 • 45 mins
Episode Title: Episode 33: How Do We Do Worldschooling In Bali?
Hosts: Astrid & Clint, creators of The Wandering Daughter
(Intro clip sourced from 2:43 - Astrid and Clint comparing the size of Bali to Delaware while discussing the island's geography)
Worldschooling in Bali is a topic that comes up often among worldschooling families, and in this episode of the family learning podcast, Astrid and Clint break down what it actually takes to experience the island thoughtfully.
From navigating the notoriously bad traffic between Canggu and Ubud to understanding Bali's unique Hindu culture and the Tri Hita Karana philosophy that shapes daily Balinese life, this episode helps families move beyond surface-level tourism and into a deeper experience of the island. Astrid and Clint also share honest observations about overtourism, the gentrification of neighborhoods, like in Ubud, and how to engage with local economies and communities in a responsible way.
The episode tours Bali region by region, from the quiet northern village of Amed with its WWII shipwreck snorkeling and black sand beaches, to the cultural richness of Ubud's temples and family compound homestays, to the beaches and surf towns of the south. For families committed to learning while traveling, the episode provides practical tips on food, budgeting, scooter logistics, and standout experiences like the Kecak fire dance, Trash Hero beach cleanups, and a coral conservation escape room near Sanur.
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📋 Episode Chapters: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:00:21 – Worldschooling Q&A intro sequence 00:01:07 – Today's Question: How do I worldschool in Bali? 00:01:13 – Bali basics: geography, airports, and traffic realities 00:02:43 – ↩ Source of Intro Clip: Comparing Bali's size to Delaware 00:07:31 – Responsible travel in Bali: culture, overtourism, and tourist behavior 00:09:26 – Getting around: scooters, religion, and food logistics 00:18:24 – Key highlight: Amed, diving, and the WWII shipwreck 00:21:33 – Key highlight: Ubud, Balinese Hinduism, and Tri Hita Karana 00:26:34 – Homestays, local family compounds, and supporting local businesses 00:29:34 – The challenges of Ubud: gentrification, crowds, and yoga retreats 00:34:54 – Southern Bali: beaches, coral conservation, Kecak dance, and bars 00:43:45 – Outro and closing CTA
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Astrid Vinje (00:00):
I would say maybe it's like, if you're comparing
(00:03):
the US to Indonesia, maybe thesize of like Delaware,
Clint Bush (00:07):
yeah, get out a map right now. Look at the size of
Java. Don't do this if you'redriving. Get out a map. Look at
the size, the size of the islandof Java, and then at the very
tiny corner of it, you might seethe island of
Astrid Vinje (00:21):
holly. This is World schooling. Q and A. I'm
Astrid, creator of the wanderingdaughter. As a traveling family,
we've spent four years travelingfull time to over 18 countries
and six continents. Wherever wego. We try to learn as much as
we can about the countries andcultures we visit. While we
(00:41):
didn't coin the term, we like tocall this world schooling, using
the world as our classroom eachweek, my husband Clint and I
will answer one question aboutworld schooling and share our
experiences of traveling theworld with our kids. Ready to
get started? Great. Let's divein. You. This week, we're
(01:09):
answering the question, how do IWorld School in Bali?
Clint Bush (01:13):
So first disclaimer, yes, Bali is a part of
Indonesia,
Astrid Vinje (01:19):
yeah.
Clint Bush (01:20):
Case you did not know that Bali,
Astrid Vinje (01:23):
Bali is part of Indonesia.
Clint Bush (01:24):
It is not its own country. It is part of
Indonesia. All right. Now we gotthat all the way
Astrid Vinje (01:30):
well, so we decided to, we decided to break
this up into two, because Baliis so popular, yeah, for for
World schoolers and and I thinkit would have been hard to, like
condense it into the Indonesiaepisode, just because there's so
(01:50):
much that we can cover justspecifically to Bali.
Clint Bush (01:54):
Yeah, I think, I think it represents the amount
of tourism is proportionate.Bali kind of does stand on its
own. From that standpoint. I'mkind of joking at the beginning,
but a lot of people actually dothink of Bali as its own
country. So I think,
Astrid Vinje (02:11):
or they forget that it's part of India,
Clint Bush (02:12):
yeah, they forget that it's part of Indonesia. But
there's also, like, religionwise, culture wise, it does, it
is, kind of does stand separatefrom the rest of Indonesia, so I
think it's worth doing its ownshow.
Astrid Vinje (02:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Clint Bush (02:27):
Speaking of logistics and overview, what?
What are some things that peopleshould know about Bali?
Astrid Vinje (02:33):
Yeah. So the major, there's, like, one major
airport in Bali, and so theisland is, like, really, really
tiny, right?
Clint Bush (02:41):
You can't even see it on a map,
Astrid Vinje (02:43):
no. I mean, you can barely
Clint Bush (02:45):
visible,
Astrid Vinje (02:45):
but it's like, tiny compared to, like, the
whole, I would say maybe it'slike, if you're comparing the US
to Indonesia, maybe the size of,like, Delaware,
Clint Bush (02:55):
yeah, get out a map right now. Look at the size of
Java. Don't do this if you'redriving, get on a map. Look at
the size of the island of Java,and then at the very tiny corner
of it, you might see the islandof Bali,
Astrid Vinje (03:09):
Bali. So anyway, so there's one airport, and it's
located in den pass out in thelow and the southern part of the
island. And then, yeah, and thenservices like it's an
international airport. So youcan get direct flights from the
United States, from,
Unknown (03:28):
you
Astrid Vinje (03:28):
know, countries in Europe, from Australia. So it's,
it's easy to get to. When you
Clint Bush (03:34):
say direct flight, it's not really direct it
usually goes through Singapore,Japan first, and then flies
into,
Astrid Vinje (03:39):
I think there is a derelict flight, yeah.
Clint Bush (03:41):
Oh, I stay corrected,
Astrid Vinje (03:42):
yeah.
Clint Bush (03:43):
I guess. I think the other thing there is a smaller
airport that they have sincebuilt in North Bali. So like
Astrid said, den Basar is in thesouthern part of Bali. The
northern airport, I believe, iscloser to Ahmed, yeah. And
interesting to see how thatchanges the time, yeah, go the
island. I guess the reason whyit's worth mentioning that is
(04:05):
because if, if you think you arefly, if you are going to go to
Bali and spend your time inAhmed, and we'll talk about
Ahmed, why, why that might bethe case, it might behoove you
to fly into that airport. Theonly reason why is one logistic,
we mentioned this in Jakartaalso, but one logistic you have
(04:26):
to be really, I think, cognizantof about Bali is traffic is
really, really, really, reallybad. And you you know, from the
airport den Passard to sayChangu, which is a surfing town.
Astrid Vinje (04:45):
Yep,
Clint Bush (04:46):
it's only maybe 20 kilometers.
Astrid Vinje (04:50):
Yep,
Clint Bush (04:50):
really short distance. But it can take
multiple hours to get from theairport to Changu, depending on
the time. Of day
Astrid Vinje (05:00):
and the size of the vehicle.
Clint Bush (05:02):
So
Astrid Vinje (05:02):
like, if you have a scooter, if you're just
driving a scooter from Changu tolike Kuta area, maybe is like 45
minutes, but if you have a car,it could take well over an hour,
because the streets are narrow,and then you've got so many cars
and scooters in there, andyou'll find because it's such a
(05:26):
popular tourist destination, themajority of, like the
population, live, or there's,like, a lot more. It's more
dense, closer you are to theairport, and like the southern
like surfer area. It's likeChangu the guyan that. And then
(05:46):
as you move further away fromthe airport and further away
from like the surfer, thatsurfer part, like it becomes
less dense, except for Ubud,which is like in the center of
the the island, and that is alsobecause it's very popular for,
you know, yoga retreats andthanks and whatnot. And Julia
(06:10):
Roberts, single handedly, madeBali
Clint Bush (06:13):
actually
Astrid Vinje (06:14):
not Julia Roberts, well, her and Elizabeth Gilbert,
right? You know, the good isalso a very like congested area,
too.
Clint Bush (06:23):
Yeah. And if you are traveling to obud, which a lot
of people do, they'll come intoBali. They'll spend some time in
the kind of the surf beach area,because that's also where all
the beach resorts are and thingslike that. And the party kind of
the party area is in thesouthern part and the Kuta
(06:43):
region or Changu and thenthey'll want to do some sort of
time in Ubud and the just thetraveling times between those
two, if you're taking a van, ifyou're taking a van, it can be
really long.
Astrid Vinje (06:59):
Could be a couple hours.
Clint Bush (07:00):
If you're taking a car, it might be a little bit
less, but if you can and jump onthe backs of scooters or
something like that, it would bea lot faster. But I know with
family, that's gonna
Astrid Vinje (07:11):
be, yeah, it doesn't look like a long
distance on the map, but it willwith traffic. It takes a really
long I
Clint Bush (07:17):
mean, most of Bali are small villages
Astrid Vinje (07:22):
that
Clint Bush (07:22):
have now had to accommodate a ton of people, and
so the roads and the villagesare just not made to handle that
kind of
Astrid Vinje (07:31):
traffic. Yeah, so that it is a it is a major issue
in in Bali, just over tourismand trying to figure out, like,
how to accommodate all thosetourists, and also just like,
what impact that has on theculture. And we can kind of talk
about it more later, but I dowant to talk about, if you're
(07:53):
visiting Bali, and this is megetting on my like soapbox, it's
important to be respectful ofthe culture,
Unknown (08:01):
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (08:01):
and not to just like, treat it as like, you
know, your playground, to dowhatever you want, because
that's okay in your homecountry.
Clint Bush (08:12):
Yeah. People treat if you're familiar with the
United States, if you're fromthe United States like we are,
it's often treated similar to,say, like Cancun or Cabo or
Astrid Vinje (08:24):
just like a party
Clint Bush (08:25):
Miami,
Astrid Vinje (08:26):
party town, yeah, party place, I
Clint Bush (08:28):
guess, like, there's a lot of uncouth behavior that
happens there, not, notnecessarily from Americans or
Europeans, also from, likeAustralia. It's distance wise,
it's similar to United Statesand Mexico for Australia. So,
because the beaches are gorgeousand it's a big it can be a big
(08:51):
party town and it's a surfingarea, like, there can be a lot
of bad behavior,
Astrid Vinje (08:56):
yeah, and like, I had, I watched videos of, like,
tourists renting scooters andthen just like, you know, riding
it into a pool in their in theirvilla, and they're like, so,
like, obviously, a worldschooling family is not going to
be that, like crazy. But youknow, just before you go learn a
(09:17):
little bit about, like, Balineseculture and Balinese etiquette,
and then just try and be like,respectful of that.
Clint Bush (09:26):
Yeah. Speaking of scooters, I think scooters are a
great way to get around. If youare a family that's comfortable
riding scooters for We'vementioned this in the past
episode, you you should haveyour motorcycle endorsement,
though, Bali start cracking downon renting to people that do not
have motorcycle endorsement. Sostill can, I mean, it's the
thing is, when Bali cracks downon things, there's still a
(09:49):
million ways to get around it,but you should have your
motorcycle endorsement. It'salso safer for everyone. There
are a lot of people ridingscooters, some of them.
Reckless, and so I think itbehooves you to be very cautious
on scooters. Having said that welove it, it's it's our primary
transportation. Anytime we go toBali, we absolutely love it. We
(10:11):
go city to city with it.
Astrid Vinje (10:13):
I don't know
Clint Bush (10:14):
well from Kuta, well,
Astrid Vinje (10:15):
we did, yes, I would not ride a scooter from
like Changu to Ubud. No,
Clint Bush (10:19):
we know friends that have done that, but we
personally haven't.
Unknown (10:23):
Yeah,
Astrid Vinje (10:23):
yeah,
Clint Bush (10:24):
so, but anyways, it's a great way, I think
another, another, like logisticthing, I'd like to point out,
unlike the rest of Indonesia,that's Muslim. They are Hindu,
not Buddhist. There's an oftenconfused idea that Bali is
Buddhist. They are not. They'reHindu. And it's also an
interesting flavor of Hinduismtoo, because it has a lot of an
(10:48):
animus history as well. So thattranslates into a really, it's,
it's really unique experienceactually, in Bali, between the
temples and the art and thedance and stuff. It's, it is
this very like animus past witha very heavy Hindu influence as
(11:10):
well.
Astrid Vinje (11:11):
Yeah,
Unknown (11:11):
yeah.
Astrid Vinje (11:12):
And I can, I can speak to it a little bit more in
terms of, like, the when we talkabout the key highlights, I do
want to say, like, when youmentioned rice farming, like one
of the things that I love aboutBali and and it's like starting
to disappear, but you can stillfind pockets of it is just the
(11:37):
amount of rice fields that arethere. And, like, some of my
favorite memories are riding ascooter past, like rice fields
or through rice fields. Andthere are still places in in
Bali where you can, like, dothat and just experience the the
(11:58):
part that draws people into thatisland.
Clint Bush (12:01):
And, I mean, depending how you feel about
this, either like disgusted orromanticized, romantic about
this, you can find villas in themiddle of rice fields too, if
you if you want to turn thatinto your lodging. Yeah, it is.
We've seen them, and they'reincredible.
Astrid Vinje (12:19):
My gosh, actually, I want to mention, like in my
solo travel days, I did a monthlong trip through Indonesia by
myself, and I met this, thiscouple and their friend who was
traveling, and they were like,oh, when you come to Ubud, come
and stay with us. We rented avilla. And so I contacted them,
(12:42):
and they rented a villa, likeright in the middle of the rice
patties, and my room that theylet me stay in was like the very
top room. And so I wake up inmorning and all I see around me
are is just like rice paddies,and it was so gorgeous, and like
you can still find that now, Ithink it's more expensive
(13:04):
because it's like prime realestate, but you know, if you
want to splurge and can do that,
Unknown (13:09):
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (13:10):
you're welcome to
Clint Bush (13:11):
one other thing I wanted to mention about
logistics, is that around food.And we thought about this more
food, but this is the Bali isprobably, well, you can get it
in pockets in the rest ofIndonesia, but really, Bali is
going to be the only place youget pork, and that's largely
because it's not Muslim there.
Astrid Vinje (13:30):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (13:31):
it's also the only place, I would say, so far in
Indonesia, other than, like,very metropolitan areas, that is
going to be vegetarian or veganfriendly, and that's just
because of the influence oftourism. There are a lot more
vegan types of restaurantsthere. It's very pescatarian
friendly because it is a smallisland. There's a lot of fish
(13:53):
and seafood eaten,
Astrid Vinje (13:54):
yeah,
Clint Bush (13:55):
so I think that's helpful. So that's that's just
something to keep in mind,
Astrid Vinje (13:58):
yeah. And the prices, though, will be more
expensive in Bali than in therest of Indonesia. So, like, if
you are traveling throughIndonesia and then you are also
going to be traveling in Bali,like, just budget accordingly.
Like, you know, whatever yousaid in in the rest of
Indonesia, double or triple thatfor Bali, expect to double or
triple that.
Clint Bush (14:19):
It's still, on the most part, going to be less than
I think most places united, butit is going can go. For example,
we just spent some time in ChenGu recently, and it is a surfing
town, like we mentioned, adigital it's a digital nomad hub
as well. And so a cup of coffee,for example, at a nice coffee
shop in United States could costsix or $7 depending. Can't
(14:44):
believe I'm saying that, butyeah, it can cost six or $7
depending, in like, the rest ofIndonesia, probably a couple
bucks at the most us, if notless, in Bali, it's going to be
like $4 probably. So gives youan idea of. Kind of like it's
somewhere in the middle between,like us and, yeah,
Unknown (15:03):
Indonesia.
Astrid Vinje (15:04):
So it's still affordable. But you know, if
you're traveling on a budget,keep that in mind.
Clint Bush (15:08):
We didn't mention this in the Indonesia episode. I
guess we should have. But like,one thing that world scores
would be drawn to, of Indonesiain general is the affordability
of it, especially compared tothe Western, Western countries,
we there's a joke inside jokewith some other friends of ours,
of whenever we're like, buyingsomething somewhere else, like
the United States, something,it's not joke to prices. And
(15:31):
that's because, like, jokeJakarta that we talked about in
our last episode, incrediblyaffordable for Worlds, going
families Bali is not going to bethat as much. You can find
pockets of it, especially ifyou're staying say on med or
something like that.
Unknown (15:47):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (15:48):
you can find out more affordable options. Lodging
in places like chengu or Ubudare going to be expensive.
That's just the nature of it atthis point,
Astrid Vinje (15:57):
excuse me.
Clint Bush (15:59):
And then also I think the overcrowdedness of
Bali now, I think tends to turnoff a lot of world schooling
families. So it's just somethinglike if, if you think you're
gonna come to Bali and get theEat, Pray, Love experience, I
think
Astrid Vinje (16:17):
probably won't. Probably
Clint Bush (16:18):
won't. Or if you do, it's not going to be in the
mainstream areas. You're goingto have to venture out and seek
that somewhere else.
Unknown (16:26):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (16:27):
that doesn't mean Bali is bad, like, I think, and
when we start talking aboutthese key highlights, I think
the thing to understand is,like, we actually, we really do
love Bali. There are layers toit that are incredible. We've
spent a lot of time in Bali,like, months in Bali, we've,
we've gotten to know people thatlive there, works there, and it
(16:49):
is. There's a lot to love aboutBali, yeah, there's a lot to
acknowledge about the challengesit has. So yeah. So
Astrid Vinje (16:59):
if you you know, like, if you are committed to
traveling responsibly, likegoing to Bali and acknowledging
some of those things is, like,the responsible way to go,
versus just like ignoring it andonly seeing it as this, like,
oh, it's such a beautiful placeand, like, so full of
(17:20):
spirituality and all that stuff,without really under, diving
deeper and understanding, like,what is it that makes that that
island special, and what are thechallenges that it faces?
Clint Bush (17:32):
And I would say, like, we love Indonesia.
Obviously, it's such a core partof who we are as a traveling
family,
Unknown (17:39):
yeah. And
Clint Bush (17:39):
I think so many worlds going families and
digital nomads go to Bali. Ithink the one thing I would, I
would emphasize, is that, like,if you fall in love with Bali,
that's great, but don't use itlike fall in love with Bali and
and want to make it better,
Astrid Vinje (17:57):
right?
Clint Bush (17:58):
And not through, like volunteerism and not
through, not through, like,superficial ways or externally
driven ways to make it better,like, really find out the people
that are working and living inBali and what's needed from that
standpoint. And there are waysas a western society, we can
(18:19):
make things better, even fromafar, and we might talk about
some of that stuff.
Astrid Vinje (18:24):
Yeah, all right, so now let's go into the
highlights, because there's alot that we can cover.
Clint Bush (18:31):
Yeah, for sure, I think one of the things we'll
just start the North. For me,we'll start in Ahmed. Ahmed is a
it's a small village that's kindof spread out over several
kilometers along the coast, andit is on the northern side of
Bali. It is a traditional a lotof French residents there,
(18:53):
because there's a lot of diving.That's where you can get your
patty certification, right? Lotof gorgeous scuba diving, a lot
of gorgeous snorkeling. It is anincredible place to go for water
activities,
Astrid Vinje (19:09):
right?
Clint Bush (19:10):
Black sand beaches, not everywhere, but some places
have black sand beaches becauseof the volcanic activity,
Astrid Vinje (19:16):
yeah, yeah,
Clint Bush (19:17):
yeah. It's it. It is more rural, though. So it's
small town that we mentioned inthe Indonesia episode is very
cash based, just like Indonesia,Bali is very cash based. And
when you get in some of thesesmaller villages, you're not
going to have a lot ofamenities. There's going to be
(19:38):
one or two ATMs in the entiretown, if that sometimes,
Unknown (19:42):
right?
Clint Bush (19:43):
There's not gonna be public transportation, so you're
gonna either have to get good athitchhiking or walking or hiring
your driver or riding scooters.Honestly,
Astrid Vinje (19:53):
yeah, yeah.
Clint Bush (19:54):
So there's not going to be large grocery stores.
You're only going to have smallmarkets. Commute. At stores that
kind of stuff.
Unknown (20:01):
So, yeah,
Clint Bush (20:02):
that's what Ahmed is. But it's also super
charming. It's great forfishing. It's great for just
like, like we said, scuba andsnorkeling. It's a super small
town.
Astrid Vinje (20:13):
There's a I do remember, like, near the hotel,
or the villas that we werestaying at, or maybe it's
further up there's a Japaneseship wreck, like a Japanese,
yeah, a ship wreck of a Japaneseship,
Unknown (20:28):
exactly,
Astrid Vinje (20:30):
anyway, that now, like, there's coral that's kind
of growing around it, and thatthat was a fun place to snorkel
around.
Clint Bush (20:38):
It's incredible, too. I just want to mention
this, because you there's,there's a side that people will
scuba on, and then there's aside that people will circle on,
because when you start aroundthe shipwreck snorkeling like
the way it's tilted, it's righton the edge of kind of a drop
off point. So it's like shot,kind of shallower on one end.
(21:00):
And then as you go around theedge of where the shipwreck is,
it drops off, and it justbecomes this really deep area,
and that's where there's a lotof scuba happening too. It's
just incredible. It's reallyincredible,
Unknown (21:13):
yeah,
Clint Bush (21:13):
and it's the location too, is like, there's a
restaurant there, so you kind ofpay an entrance fee and you get,
like, a drink and some food. Youcan order some food and stuff.
So it's a nice place, yeah,
Astrid Vinje (21:24):
yeah, you want to keep move to Ubud,
Clint Bush (21:27):
yeah, let's go. We'll go to Central now. So
we're starting north. We'll goto Central,
Unknown (21:31):
yeah,
Clint Bush (21:32):
and Ubud. So
Astrid Vinje (21:33):
Ubud, I, I like the city a lot because there's
so much opportunities to learnabout Balinese culture there.
And maybe I can go into, like, alittle bit of a deep dive into,
like, the Hinduism that you canfind in Bali so the Hinduism is,
(21:54):
is different from India. I mean,it did come, did come to
Indonesia via, like, you know,Indian trade and all that stuff.
And then, and in Bali, there'sthis philosophy called Tri Hita
Karana. So it's like a try, athree part philosophy of, like,
(22:17):
connection with personal,connection with nature,
connection with others, and thenalso connection with the Divine.
And so there's like, I'm geekingout about this, because this is
so fascinating to me, but thereis this like interplay of all
three of those present in in thethings that Balinese people do
(22:38):
on a daily basis. So you havelike they every day, Balinese
will have offerings, and you'llsee them. You'll see them in
like, up in the there'll belike, some offering, flat little
offering stand up out of theside of a building. But then
there's also, like little minitemples, or shrines, not
(22:59):
temples, but like little minishrines that people will put
their offerings to there. Andthen there's also offerings on
the ground. And they're they'rejust these, like square baskets
made out of, I think palm fromor something like that. And
inside are like flour, sometimescandies, sometimes rice. And
(23:21):
these are offerings to the gods.And because those there's like
three level there's multiplelevels, so you've got like, the
lower gods and the middle godsand the higher gods, which is
why they have them at thedifferent levels. So then
there's like, those offerings,and there's offerings for the
temples, which are, like thethings that the women will carry
(23:41):
on their heads that are multitiered. So you, you have
opportunities to learn aboutthat, and then, like you can,
there's just so many temples. Infact, I think that there are
more temples than there arehouseholds in Bali, because
every household has a temple,and then, and then there are
(24:03):
also, just like public temples,so that there's so many temples
there. And then, the otheraspect about Hinduism that I
love is the even the ricefarming is connected to the
temple, like the irrigation forthe rice farming. The water
(24:23):
comes from like these watertemples that are up in the top
of, like mountains, and then itjust uses, like gravity to kind
of flow through the rest of theisland. And it's still, like,
that's been around for like,hundreds of years. They call it
the Subak the Subak system. It'sbeen around for for, you know, a
(24:44):
long time, and is still presentnow, even with like, you know,
modernity and tourism and thingslike that, that's still such a
core part of these culture.
Clint Bush (24:54):
And you can see that there's some great places just
outside of Ahmed. You can kindof see that to what. The
mountains and the the templesand the rice fields under
Unknown (25:03):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (25:03):
and Ubud as well, yeah.
Astrid Vinje (25:05):
I mean, if you're visiting Ubud, there's a
colonies like, there's a familythat sort of opened their home
up to like, for visitors tolearn about that it's called
Taman. And they, they offerlike, you know, visitors a
chance to, like, see thefarming, learn about that stuff
(25:26):
and and, like, even try farmingthemselves.
Clint Bush (25:29):
That's good point, but it has. There's a number of
these, like family villas orcompounds that you can visit and
really learn about what familylike is. And we highly, highly
encourage that, because you getto see kind of traditional ways
of families have lived. And italso supports local families
(25:52):
like it.
Astrid Vinje (25:53):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (25:53):
it's a it's not like sponsored by a corporation or
something like these arefamilies giving up their homes
to bring people in to learnabout it. And I think maybe a
lot of times, in kind of Westernmentality, we think maybe that's
voyeurism or something, butlike,
Astrid Vinje (26:09):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (26:10):
but they're trying to just share a part of their
culture that's actuallyauthentic. And it's not the
thing in Bali that you're goingto get a lot of is you're going
to get western perspective, viewon Balinese culture,
Astrid Vinje (26:24):
the tourist gaze,
Clint Bush (26:25):
yeah. And like these home visits, I think, are way of
getting more of a local versionof that story,
Astrid Vinje (26:34):
yeah. So in fact, maybe I can take a moment to
like highlight like a company, aspecific company we like. So
last time we were in Indonesia,we did do like, we visited a
Balinese home. And the companythat we we love, and we just,
the owner, is just a great guyin general, but it's called Bali
(26:56):
adventures, and he they willknow they've got like, a Ubud
highlights. And I think if youask the guide, you can ask them
to visit, like the Balinese, atraditional Balinese home, to
like, include that into thetrip, because it it's definitely
worth a visit.
Clint Bush (27:15):
Yeah. The other thing I wanted to say about Ubud
in actually, all of Bali but,but specifically is there's one
lodging opportunity that I thinkis really nice, and that's
called homestays. And it'susually because there's a lot of
these compounds that exist, theywill have either kind of
(27:37):
transformed it into almost likea little hotel, like a bed and
breakfast, kind of feel, butyou're literally staying in
someone's home compound, andit's a great way, because it's
family owned.
Astrid Vinje (27:51):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (27:51):
you get to know the host. I mean, you can talk to
the host most of the time.They're English speaking because
they are catering to tourism. Sothey are English speaking, but
like, they'll participate inceremonies. There are a lot of
ceremonies. And Bali in general,a lot of them are in Ubud. You
can see a lot of theseceremonies, the funeral
(28:11):
ceremonies. There's, like,Solstice ceremonies, the moon
ceremonies. There's a lot ofthem,
Astrid Vinje (28:17):
yeah. And
Clint Bush (28:18):
so you can kind of get to know and then if you have
a if you're staying in ahomestay, and they, most of the
homestays have kitchens, and sothey're like apartments, but you
can, like, get to know a littlebit more about the local
culture.
Astrid Vinje (28:30):
Yeah, the one that we stayed at and that we like
was, is called supar sayshomestay,
Clint Bush (28:35):
yeah. And it was great. And it was a little bit
on the outside of Ubud, so awayfrom kind of the center. It
Astrid Vinje (28:41):
was, like on a side
Clint Bush (28:42):
street, I think, what was the, what was the
other? Almost say, we stay thatwhen we stayed a month,
Astrid Vinje (28:48):
oh, that was a an Airbnb,
Clint Bush (28:50):
yeah. But it was still, it was,
Astrid Vinje (28:53):
yes,
Clint Bush (28:54):
listed it on Airbnb,
Astrid Vinje (28:55):
yeah. So I don't remember what it was called,
Clint Bush (28:57):
but anyways,
Astrid Vinje (28:58):
in the show notes,
Unknown (28:59):
yeah.
Astrid Vinje (28:59):
So
Clint Bush (28:59):
the reason I mentioned that was because it
was on the outskirts of Ubud,yeah, so it's about a couple
kilometers outside of a boat. Soyou're like, driving through
rice like on roads that gothrough rice paddies, and
incredibly beautiful. That'swhere we fell in love with
riding scooters. I mean, it'sjust just like, riding through
that to get back home for theevening was, is incredible. And
(29:22):
you're driving like, throughthese little towns that have
Villa or have temples and thingslike that,
Astrid Vinje (29:27):
yeah,
Clint Bush (29:28):
yeah, it's incredible. The bad, you want to
talk a little bit about the badside of the bud.
Astrid Vinje (29:35):
So one of the things is that it is very like
populated, or there's a lot ofpeople there and a lot of so
like, it can get very crowded,especially if you're going along
the main road,
Clint Bush (29:51):
foreigner specifically,
Astrid Vinje (29:53):
yes, yeah, foreigners. And I think the one
thing that kind of makes me sad.Is because there's so many
foreigners, it's sort of likepushed out local like Balinese,
the pricing and stuff has kindof pushed out locals and made it
(30:15):
very expensive for people. Andthis is like, not just Ubud, but
like, who does like that too,and like many of the popular
cities and so you I think it'sharder for a Balinese person to
live in those cities withouthaving to have multiple jobs or
(30:36):
multiple side hustles likeBalinese people have to work
really hard to be able to affordto live in their homes,
essentially.
Clint Bush (30:45):
Yeah, and there's a lot of, I mean, there's a lot of
Indonesians that are from Java,for example, who have studied in
Java and now gone to Bali andstarted businesses or working in
the tourism industry orsomething like that too. So it
not, it doesn't just attractforeigners. It attracts people
from other parts of Indonesiabecause of the culture and
(31:07):
because of the because of thethe beauty and stuff. So it's
interesting that way, but it isreally busy. Traffic can be
really bad. There's a lot ofscooters on the road. I mean,
trash at the beaches. There's nobeaches in No but, but, like,
just trash in the rivers andstuff like that. Like, it's not
(31:28):
nearly as bad as the Philippineswhen we get to the Philippines,
in some cases by like, it's oneof those things that, again,
opportunities to kind of be moreresponsible citizen and try to
help out in those areas as
Astrid Vinje (31:40):
well. Yeah, yeah.
Clint Bush (31:42):
But
Astrid Vinje (31:42):
and the yoga retreats,
Clint Bush (31:44):
and the yoga retreat, do
Astrid Vinje (31:45):
you want to talk about that, or should we just
kind of touch briefly?
Clint Bush (31:48):
I let's just say there's a term called spiritual
bypassing, and I think Obed isprobably one of the main things
for that. And it's just, it'staking aspects of spirituality.
I think yoga is, to me, is partof that from Hinduism and stuff,
(32:09):
and just like highlighting thatand ignoring the rest and
Western culture has had a largeinfluence on smoothie shops and
yoga retreats and yoga studiosand in Bali that doesn't
necessarily, maybe existed alittle bit there, but like now,
just exists purely to catertowards foreigners. Feel what
(32:35):
you may about it. We don't likeit. It creates. It competes
against local economies. Ithighlights aspects of Hinduism
that is very superficialfeeling. Yeah, I don't know
anything
Unknown (32:49):
else
Clint Bush (32:49):
about that.
Astrid Vinje (32:50):
Yeah, I think it's, it's what, what I wanted
to say about like the yogaretreats, is that it's just
because of Bali is kind of likeidyllic natural setting, people
tend to choose that as a placefor their like, yoga retreats.
And then now people associatelike, oh, that's, that's the
(33:12):
place to be, without really,again, like, without really
thinking about, like, Was thatreally part of Balinese culture
to begin with, or is thatsomething that's been imposed
by, like, our western exoticismof Hinduism, you know?
Unknown (33:30):
Yeah.
Astrid Vinje (33:30):
So anyway, again, I'll get off my soapbox. We can
talk more about, like, otherparts of Mali.
Clint Bush (33:37):
I think one other point I just want to make about
that is that, like, I don't wantto encourage not visiting Bali,
because the thing is, we'vegotten to know a lot of people
in Bali,
Astrid Vinje (33:47):
yeah.
Clint Bush (33:47):
And their economy thrives on tourism. It's built
almost entirely on tourism, forbetter or for worse.
Unknown (33:55):
Yep.
Clint Bush (33:55):
And so when the pandemic hit, for example, or
the one of the major volcanoesthere erupted years ago. It
decimated the local economy andto the point where people have a
hard time feeding their familiesbecause there's not enough money
coming in.
Astrid Vinje (34:13):
Yeah.
Clint Bush (34:14):
So I don't want to discourage tourism there. I want
to encourage tourism. I want toencourage people to go there
experience it. But let's getaway from the the kind of gross
types of tourism, and really getto know kind of the authentic
side of Bali and support localeconomies. Sorry, that's our
(34:35):
soapbox, but it really like whenyou start that's part of World
scoring, you start getting toknow people that live in these
areas, and the effects travelhas on that, for better or for
worse, I just want to be abetter citizen. Yeah, so we
talked a bit about surfing, Kutaand Changu
Unknown (34:54):
more
Clint Bush (34:54):
you want
Astrid Vinje (34:54):
to similar part of Bali is where, like, a lot of
people will go. For the beaches.So like, besides Kuta and Tangu,
there's like, Jimbaran is apopular one, a beach spot, and
so is Sanur. So there's actuallya great like, coral Research
(35:15):
Center near Sanur that if you'reinterested in learning about,
like, you know, coral reefs andconservation and stuff. I think
you should go visit that place.They do have a fun, like, coral
themed escape room game that youcan do, which the kids and I
(35:35):
did, and we learned a little bitabout, like, reef stuff. But
yeah, so that's another place.Oh, and actually, another
location in the southern and isa kickoff point to go to Lombok
is Padang Bai.
Unknown (35:51):
Yeah,
Astrid Vinje (35:51):
that one. There's some snorkeling you can do
around that area as well. Andthere is, like, a, I saw this,
and I haven't, we didn't visitit, but there's a project, like
a coral restoration project nearthere, where they they're like
growing, try to regrow the coralthat's been like damaged. And
(36:14):
part of that is because HaranBai is, like, where the fairies
will go to go to Lombok, and,like, the fast boats leave from
there. And so there's alwaysships and oil tankers and things
going back and forth. And thoseships, like, it affects the
(36:35):
coral. That's a nice
Clint Bush (36:36):
heavy oil tanking.
Unknown (36:38):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (36:38):
Indonesia, in general, is a major oil country,
oil producing country. Sothere's lots of oil tanks,
tankers that go out of there. Ithink the only other thing I
want to mention about Kuta andjengu, I think it's worth
visiting. There's interestingaspects about if you want to
learn to surf, it's a greatplace to learn to surf. There's
lots of opportunity to learnsurf. Some gorgeous beaches.
(37:02):
It's, I mean, Tangu, like gobud, lots of coffee shops, lots
of places that cater to kind ofWestern sensibilities. So I do
like that. On occasion, I dolike the amount of coffee shops.
That's one of my favorite thingsto do here in United States. So
it's nice to do that there.They're just busy. Tango and
Kutta are both really busy.
Unknown (37:21):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (37:22):
Kuta especially has a lot of partying at night. A
lot of partying, some hardcorepartying at night. So that can
be, I can meet you. I mean, likeloud music and things.
Astrid Vinje (37:33):
They have some clubs. They have clubs.
Clint Bush (37:35):
They have lots of clubs there. Yeah, I think on
our list we've, we've alreadytalked about Hinduism and
temples, culture and art. Ithink, is there any more about
culture and art? I think
Astrid Vinje (37:45):
so Bali. Bali, in general, has always had, like a
strong, like artistic culture toit. And so I think I remember as
a kid, like we used to visitBali, and then my parents would
buy, like, paintings from, fromstuff so, like, because they're
(38:06):
all these temples. And I think Ilearned somewhere that the
temples are made from stonesthat are they're kind of
brittle, and so they always haveto be, or this the temples in
the shrines, they have to belike, maybe it was the shrines.
Sorry. I think the Shrines arethe ones that are made out of,
like, kind of brittle type ofrock, and so they always have to
(38:30):
be like, restored or reretouched. And so that, like,
that craft of carving is just apart of the culture, and you'll
be able you'll find like woodmasks, and you'll find like wood
sculptures. And there's adifferent there's like gamelan
music there too, but it'sdifferent from Javanese. There's
(38:52):
like dancing, but it's differentfrom Javanese dancing and shadow
puppets as well. So like, it'sworth Ubud, you'll be able to
find those things like, it'sworth spending some time, kind
of like experiencing that, justto see some, some of the temples
that we enjoyed was like, Pura,Pura lempuyang. It's kind of the
(39:18):
like, if you ever see onInstagram with, like, the two
temple gates and then this thingthat looks like a geek in front
of it. It's actually justsomebody holding a mirror under
the camera. But like, we visitedthere, gates
Clint Bush (39:33):
of the
Astrid Vinje (39:33):
gates of heaven. Yes, we visited there. And we
were gonna wait in line for thepictures. And then we decided,
no, we don't want to, but thekids and I, we walked up to to
where, like the temple prayerarea was, and did and they were,
like, helpful, or allowed us to,like, join in on on the like
(39:56):
prayer there. So we made anoffering and all. That stuff. So
that was kind of cool. That wasa good, like, cultural
experience that we had.
Unknown (40:04):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (40:05):
I really enjoyed the dance.
Astrid Vinje (40:07):
Yeah, and there's a dance, there's a temple, yes,
is on the other side, like onthe western side of the island,
and is a little bit of atouristy experience, but you get
to watch, like a danceperformance there. And there's a
specific type of dance calledthe kit Jack dance, where it's
(40:27):
all these men surrounding, like,you know, they're, they're in a
circle, and they're doing these,like percussive sounds and and
movements and stuff. It's sortof, they're actually supposed to
be like monkeys. They're kind ofrepresenting monkeys. And then,
and then, at some point, theyget into a trance, and they
start, like, doing these liketrance like things and trying to
(40:53):
stab themselves and stuff. It'svery cool to watch
Clint Bush (40:56):
when they do also at dusk. So it's like, there's,
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (40:59):
there's fire. Yeah, there's a fire. They're
surrounding a fire. And then,yeah, it's so cool.
Clint Bush (41:06):
Another trouble I just want
Unknown (41:08):
to
Astrid Vinje (41:08):
mention is,
Clint Bush (41:08):
like, a lot that is amazing, because it's like,
Unknown (41:12):
yeah, when
Clint Bush (41:12):
the tide comes in, it gets that's the one where the
tide, yeah, when the tide comesin and gets separated from the
mainland. So when the tides out,you can actually walk over to
the temple. Yeah, it'sabsolutely beautiful to see.
Astrid Vinje (41:27):
Yeah,
Unknown (41:28):
but
Astrid Vinje (41:29):
there's so much, so much that, like, world
schoolers can enjoy about Baliand, like, learn. And I think
that that is what draws peopleto the island. And if you are
willing to spend some time to,like, dive deeper into the
culture, you will have, youknow, just such an enriching
(41:50):
experience when you go there.
Clint Bush (41:51):
Yeah, we we have contacts there. We love to
promote, like, the localbusinesses that we know. And
again, it's one of those placeswhere I'd love to just, like,
increase tourism. Thereresponsible tourism. So that's
that's a great one. Like to talkto us, like during office hours,
to kind of get to know somethings you could do there.
Astrid Vinje (42:12):
Oh yeah, there's an organization, actually, I
think it's international, butthere's an organization called
Trash hero that has, like,programs, like trash collecting,
programs that you can do, whichwe did the last time we were
there, and you just, you know,you can go and participate in,
like a beach cleanup for, youknow, an hour or two, yeah, and
(42:35):
then
Clint Bush (42:36):
that's, that's the type of volunteerism I can get
behind,
Unknown (42:39):
yeah,
Clint Bush (42:40):
because that's,
Unknown (42:40):
yeah,
Clint Bush (42:41):
it's minimal, but good impact in that that's not
affecting local economy. And
Astrid Vinje (42:46):
I think that there is also, like, something that
Bali is doing when we were therewas, like, they were eliminating
plastic bags, and then they alsohad a rule of no more plastic
straws as well. So when you'reat a restaurant, you'll either
get, like, a bamboo straw or orthey'll give you, like, one of
those metal straws. And thenthere was, at the time, I'm not
(43:09):
sure if it's still if it's stillfunctioning, or if it's morphed
into something else, there'slike, water bottle refill
stations that you can go so thatyou don't have to, like, buy
bottled water,
Clint Bush (43:24):
yeah? Because, again, it's not, it's not
potable water there from thefaucets and stuff. So these
portable drinking refillstations are nice because then
you're getting filtered waterthat you can refill with. So
it's getting, hopefully, gettingbetter, but yeah,
Astrid Vinje (43:43):
yeah.
Clint Bush (43:44):
All right.
Astrid Vinje (43:45):
Anything else to add?
Clint Bush (43:46):
I don't think so. No other than I want to go back.
Astrid Vinje (43:49):
Yeah, me too. You can tell that we love Holly.
Well, that's all for today.Thank you for joining us on this
episode of World schooling, Qand A with Astrid and Clint. Be
sure to check out the show notesfor any links we mentioned in
the episode, and visit mywebsite, the wandering
daughter.com to dive deeper intoworld schooling and family
travel.
Clint Bush (44:09):
If you like what you hear, please consider supporting
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(44:29):
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Astrid Vinje (44:36):
If you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to
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free to throw them in thecomments or send us a message at
(44:59):
the. Wandering daughter.com,forward slash, podcast, until
next time. Happy travels, bye.You.
I would say maybe it's like, if you're comparing
(00:03):
the US to Indonesia, maybe thesize of like Delaware,
Clint Bush (00:07):
yeah, get out a map right now. Look at the size of
Java. Don't do this if you'redriving. Get out a map. Look at
the size, the size of the islandof Java, and then at the very
tiny corner of it, you might seethe island of
Astrid Vinje (00:21):
holly. This is World schooling. Q and A. I'm
Astrid, creator of the wanderingdaughter. As a traveling family,
we've spent four years travelingfull time to over 18 countries
and six continents. Wherever wego. We try to learn as much as
we can about the countries andcultures we visit. While we
(00:41):
didn't coin the term, we like tocall this world schooling, using
the world as our classroom eachweek, my husband Clint and I
will answer one question aboutworld schooling and share our
experiences of traveling theworld with our kids. Ready to
get started? Great. Let's divein. You. This week, we're
(01:09):
answering the question, how do IWorld School in Bali?
Clint Bush (01:13):
So first disclaimer, yes, Bali is a part of
Indonesia,
Astrid Vinje (01:19):
yeah.
Clint Bush (01:20):
Case you did not know that Bali,
Astrid Vinje (01:23):
Bali is part of Indonesia.
Clint Bush (01:24):
It is not its own country. It is part of
Indonesia. All right. Now we gotthat all the way
Astrid Vinje (01:30):
well, so we decided to, we decided to break
this up into two, because Baliis so popular, yeah, for for
World schoolers and and I thinkit would have been hard to, like
condense it into the Indonesiaepisode, just because there's so
(01:50):
much that we can cover justspecifically to Bali.
Clint Bush (01:54):
Yeah, I think, I think it represents the amount
of tourism is proportionate.Bali kind of does stand on its
own. From that standpoint. I'mkind of joking at the beginning,
but a lot of people actually dothink of Bali as its own
country. So I think,
Astrid Vinje (02:11):
or they forget that it's part of India,
Clint Bush (02:12):
yeah, they forget that it's part of Indonesia. But
there's also, like, religionwise, culture wise, it does, it
is, kind of does stand separatefrom the rest of Indonesia, so I
think it's worth doing its ownshow.
Astrid Vinje (02:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Clint Bush (02:27):
Speaking of logistics and overview, what?
What are some things that peopleshould know about Bali?
Astrid Vinje (02:33):
Yeah. So the major, there's, like, one major
airport in Bali, and so theisland is, like, really, really
tiny, right?
Clint Bush (02:41):
You can't even see it on a map,
Astrid Vinje (02:43):
no. I mean, you can barely
Clint Bush (02:45):
visible,
Astrid Vinje (02:45):
but it's like, tiny compared to, like, the
whole, I would say maybe it'slike, if you're comparing the US
to Indonesia, maybe the size of,like, Delaware,
Clint Bush (02:55):
yeah, get out a map right now. Look at the size of
Java. Don't do this if you'redriving, get on a map. Look at
the size of the island of Java,and then at the very tiny corner
of it, you might see the islandof Bali,
Astrid Vinje (03:09):
Bali. So anyway, so there's one airport, and it's
located in den pass out in thelow and the southern part of the
island. And then, yeah, and thenservices like it's an
international airport. So youcan get direct flights from the
United States, from,
Unknown (03:28):
you
Astrid Vinje (03:28):
know, countries in Europe, from Australia. So it's,
it's easy to get to. When you
Clint Bush (03:34):
say direct flight, it's not really direct it
usually goes through Singapore,Japan first, and then flies
into,
Astrid Vinje (03:39):
I think there is a derelict flight, yeah.
Clint Bush (03:41):
Oh, I stay corrected,
Astrid Vinje (03:42):
yeah.
Clint Bush (03:43):
I guess. I think the other thing there is a smaller
airport that they have sincebuilt in North Bali. So like
Astrid said, den Basar is in thesouthern part of Bali. The
northern airport, I believe, iscloser to Ahmed, yeah. And
interesting to see how thatchanges the time, yeah, go the
island. I guess the reason whyit's worth mentioning that is
(04:05):
because if, if you think you arefly, if you are going to go to
Bali and spend your time inAhmed, and we'll talk about
Ahmed, why, why that might bethe case, it might behoove you
to fly into that airport. Theonly reason why is one logistic,
we mentioned this in Jakartaalso, but one logistic you have
(04:26):
to be really, I think, cognizantof about Bali is traffic is
really, really, really, reallybad. And you you know, from the
airport den Passard to sayChangu, which is a surfing town.
Astrid Vinje (04:45):
Yep,
Clint Bush (04:46):
it's only maybe 20 kilometers.
Astrid Vinje (04:50):
Yep,
Clint Bush (04:50):
really short distance. But it can take
multiple hours to get from theairport to Changu, depending on
the time. Of day
Astrid Vinje (05:00):
and the size of the vehicle.
Clint Bush (05:02):
So
Astrid Vinje (05:02):
like, if you have a scooter, if you're just
driving a scooter from Changu tolike Kuta area, maybe is like 45
minutes, but if you have a car,it could take well over an hour,
because the streets are narrow,and then you've got so many cars
and scooters in there, andyou'll find because it's such a
(05:26):
popular tourist destination, themajority of, like the
population, live, or there's,like, a lot more. It's more
dense, closer you are to theairport, and like the southern
like surfer area. It's likeChangu the guyan that. And then
(05:46):
as you move further away fromthe airport and further away
from like the surfer, thatsurfer part, like it becomes
less dense, except for Ubud,which is like in the center of
the the island, and that is alsobecause it's very popular for,
you know, yoga retreats andthanks and whatnot. And Julia
(06:10):
Roberts, single handedly, madeBali
Clint Bush (06:13):
actually
Astrid Vinje (06:14):
not Julia Roberts, well, her and Elizabeth Gilbert,
right? You know, the good isalso a very like congested area,
too.
Clint Bush (06:23):
Yeah. And if you are traveling to obud, which a lot
of people do, they'll come intoBali. They'll spend some time in
the kind of the surf beach area,because that's also where all
the beach resorts are and thingslike that. And the party kind of
the party area is in thesouthern part and the Kuta
(06:43):
region or Changu and thenthey'll want to do some sort of
time in Ubud and the just thetraveling times between those
two, if you're taking a van, ifyou're taking a van, it can be
really long.
Astrid Vinje (06:59):
Could be a couple hours.
Clint Bush (07:00):
If you're taking a car, it might be a little bit
less, but if you can and jump onthe backs of scooters or
something like that, it would bea lot faster. But I know with
family, that's gonna
Astrid Vinje (07:11):
be, yeah, it doesn't look like a long
distance on the map, but it willwith traffic. It takes a really
long I
Clint Bush (07:17):
mean, most of Bali are small villages
Astrid Vinje (07:22):
that
Clint Bush (07:22):
have now had to accommodate a ton of people, and
so the roads and the villagesare just not made to handle that
kind of
Astrid Vinje (07:31):
traffic. Yeah, so that it is a it is a major issue
in in Bali, just over tourismand trying to figure out, like,
how to accommodate all thosetourists, and also just like,
what impact that has on theculture. And we can kind of talk
about it more later, but I dowant to talk about, if you're
(07:53):
visiting Bali, and this is megetting on my like soapbox, it's
important to be respectful ofthe culture,
Unknown (08:01):
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (08:01):
and not to just like, treat it as like, you
know, your playground, to dowhatever you want, because
that's okay in your homecountry.
Clint Bush (08:12):
Yeah. People treat if you're familiar with the
United States, if you're fromthe United States like we are,
it's often treated similar to,say, like Cancun or Cabo or
Astrid Vinje (08:24):
just like a party
Clint Bush (08:25):
Miami,
Astrid Vinje (08:26):
party town, yeah, party place, I
Clint Bush (08:28):
guess, like, there's a lot of uncouth behavior that
happens there, not, notnecessarily from Americans or
Europeans, also from, likeAustralia. It's distance wise,
it's similar to United Statesand Mexico for Australia. So,
because the beaches are gorgeousand it's a big it can be a big
(08:51):
party town and it's a surfingarea, like, there can be a lot
of bad behavior,
Astrid Vinje (08:56):
yeah, and like, I had, I watched videos of, like,
tourists renting scooters andthen just like, you know, riding
it into a pool in their in theirvilla, and they're like, so,
like, obviously, a worldschooling family is not going to
be that, like crazy. But youknow, just before you go learn a
(09:17):
little bit about, like, Balineseculture and Balinese etiquette,
and then just try and be like,respectful of that.
Clint Bush (09:26):
Yeah. Speaking of scooters, I think scooters are a
great way to get around. If youare a family that's comfortable
riding scooters for We'vementioned this in the past
episode, you you should haveyour motorcycle endorsement,
though, Bali start cracking downon renting to people that do not
have motorcycle endorsement. Sostill can, I mean, it's the
thing is, when Bali cracks downon things, there's still a
(09:49):
million ways to get around it,but you should have your
motorcycle endorsement. It'salso safer for everyone. There
are a lot of people ridingscooters, some of them.
Reckless, and so I think itbehooves you to be very cautious
on scooters. Having said that welove it, it's it's our primary
transportation. Anytime we go toBali, we absolutely love it. We
(10:11):
go city to city with it.
Astrid Vinje (10:13):
I don't know
Clint Bush (10:14):
well from Kuta, well,
Astrid Vinje (10:15):
we did, yes, I would not ride a scooter from
like Changu to Ubud. No,
Clint Bush (10:19):
we know friends that have done that, but we
personally haven't.
Unknown (10:23):
Yeah,
Astrid Vinje (10:23):
yeah,
Clint Bush (10:24):
so, but anyways, it's a great way, I think
another, another, like logisticthing, I'd like to point out,
unlike the rest of Indonesia,that's Muslim. They are Hindu,
not Buddhist. There's an oftenconfused idea that Bali is
Buddhist. They are not. They'reHindu. And it's also an
interesting flavor of Hinduismtoo, because it has a lot of an
(10:48):
animus history as well. So thattranslates into a really, it's,
it's really unique experienceactually, in Bali, between the
temples and the art and thedance and stuff. It's, it is
this very like animus past witha very heavy Hindu influence as
(11:10):
well.
Astrid Vinje (11:11):
Yeah,
Unknown (11:11):
yeah.
Astrid Vinje (11:12):
And I can, I can speak to it a little bit more in
terms of, like, the when we talkabout the key highlights, I do
want to say, like, when youmentioned rice farming, like one
of the things that I love aboutBali and and it's like starting
to disappear, but you can stillfind pockets of it is just the
(11:37):
amount of rice fields that arethere. And, like, some of my
favorite memories are riding ascooter past, like rice fields
or through rice fields. Andthere are still places in in
Bali where you can, like, dothat and just experience the the
(11:58):
part that draws people into thatisland.
Clint Bush (12:01):
And, I mean, depending how you feel about
this, either like disgusted orromanticized, romantic about
this, you can find villas in themiddle of rice fields too, if
you if you want to turn thatinto your lodging. Yeah, it is.
We've seen them, and they'reincredible.
Astrid Vinje (12:19):
My gosh, actually, I want to mention, like in my
solo travel days, I did a monthlong trip through Indonesia by
myself, and I met this, thiscouple and their friend who was
traveling, and they were like,oh, when you come to Ubud, come
and stay with us. We rented avilla. And so I contacted them,
(12:42):
and they rented a villa, likeright in the middle of the rice
patties, and my room that theylet me stay in was like the very
top room. And so I wake up inmorning and all I see around me
are is just like rice paddies,and it was so gorgeous, and like
you can still find that now, Ithink it's more expensive
(13:04):
because it's like prime realestate, but you know, if you
want to splurge and can do that,
Unknown (13:09):
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (13:10):
you're welcome to
Clint Bush (13:11):
one other thing I wanted to mention about
logistics, is that around food.And we thought about this more
food, but this is the Bali isprobably, well, you can get it
in pockets in the rest ofIndonesia, but really, Bali is
going to be the only place youget pork, and that's largely
because it's not Muslim there.
Astrid Vinje (13:30):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (13:31):
it's also the only place, I would say, so far in
Indonesia, other than, like,very metropolitan areas, that is
going to be vegetarian or veganfriendly, and that's just
because of the influence oftourism. There are a lot more
vegan types of restaurantsthere. It's very pescatarian
friendly because it is a smallisland. There's a lot of fish
(13:53):
and seafood eaten,
Astrid Vinje (13:54):
yeah,
Clint Bush (13:55):
so I think that's helpful. So that's that's just
something to keep in mind,
Astrid Vinje (13:58):
yeah. And the prices, though, will be more
expensive in Bali than in therest of Indonesia. So, like, if
you are traveling throughIndonesia and then you are also
going to be traveling in Bali,like, just budget accordingly.
Like, you know, whatever yousaid in in the rest of
Indonesia, double or triple thatfor Bali, expect to double or
triple that.
Clint Bush (14:19):
It's still, on the most part, going to be less than
I think most places united, butit is going can go. For example,
we just spent some time in ChenGu recently, and it is a surfing
town, like we mentioned, adigital it's a digital nomad hub
as well. And so a cup of coffee,for example, at a nice coffee
shop in United States could costsix or $7 depending. Can't
(14:44):
believe I'm saying that, butyeah, it can cost six or $7
depending, in like, the rest ofIndonesia, probably a couple
bucks at the most us, if notless, in Bali, it's going to be
like $4 probably. So gives youan idea of. Kind of like it's
somewhere in the middle between,like us and, yeah,
Unknown (15:03):
Indonesia.
Astrid Vinje (15:04):
So it's still affordable. But you know, if
you're traveling on a budget,keep that in mind.
Clint Bush (15:08):
We didn't mention this in the Indonesia episode. I
guess we should have. But like,one thing that world scores
would be drawn to, of Indonesiain general is the affordability
of it, especially compared tothe Western, Western countries,
we there's a joke inside jokewith some other friends of ours,
of whenever we're like, buyingsomething somewhere else, like
the United States, something,it's not joke to prices. And
(15:31):
that's because, like, jokeJakarta that we talked about in
our last episode, incrediblyaffordable for Worlds, going
families Bali is not going to bethat as much. You can find
pockets of it, especially ifyou're staying say on med or
something like that.
Unknown (15:47):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (15:48):
you can find out more affordable options. Lodging
in places like chengu or Ubudare going to be expensive.
That's just the nature of it atthis point,
Astrid Vinje (15:57):
excuse me.
Clint Bush (15:59):
And then also I think the overcrowdedness of
Bali now, I think tends to turnoff a lot of world schooling
families. So it's just somethinglike if, if you think you're
gonna come to Bali and get theEat, Pray, Love experience, I
think
Astrid Vinje (16:17):
probably won't. Probably
Clint Bush (16:18):
won't. Or if you do, it's not going to be in the
mainstream areas. You're goingto have to venture out and seek
that somewhere else.
Unknown (16:26):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (16:27):
that doesn't mean Bali is bad, like, I think, and
when we start talking aboutthese key highlights, I think
the thing to understand is,like, we actually, we really do
love Bali. There are layers toit that are incredible. We've
spent a lot of time in Bali,like, months in Bali, we've,
we've gotten to know people thatlive there, works there, and it
(16:49):
is. There's a lot to love aboutBali, yeah, there's a lot to
acknowledge about the challengesit has. So yeah. So
Astrid Vinje (16:59):
if you you know, like, if you are committed to
traveling responsibly, likegoing to Bali and acknowledging
some of those things is, like,the responsible way to go,
versus just like ignoring it andonly seeing it as this, like,
oh, it's such a beautiful placeand, like, so full of
(17:20):
spirituality and all that stuff,without really under, diving
deeper and understanding, like,what is it that makes that that
island special, and what are thechallenges that it faces?
Clint Bush (17:32):
And I would say, like, we love Indonesia.
Obviously, it's such a core partof who we are as a traveling
family,
Unknown (17:39):
yeah. And
Clint Bush (17:39):
I think so many worlds going families and
digital nomads go to Bali. Ithink the one thing I would, I
would emphasize, is that, like,if you fall in love with Bali,
that's great, but don't use itlike fall in love with Bali and
and want to make it better,
Astrid Vinje (17:57):
right?
Clint Bush (17:58):
And not through, like volunteerism and not
through, not through, like,superficial ways or externally
driven ways to make it better,like, really find out the people
that are working and living inBali and what's needed from that
standpoint. And there are waysas a western society, we can
(18:19):
make things better, even fromafar, and we might talk about
some of that stuff.
Astrid Vinje (18:24):
Yeah, all right, so now let's go into the
highlights, because there's alot that we can cover.
Clint Bush (18:31):
Yeah, for sure, I think one of the things we'll
just start the North. For me,we'll start in Ahmed. Ahmed is a
it's a small village that's kindof spread out over several
kilometers along the coast, andit is on the northern side of
Bali. It is a traditional a lotof French residents there,
(18:53):
because there's a lot of diving.That's where you can get your
patty certification, right? Lotof gorgeous scuba diving, a lot
of gorgeous snorkeling. It is anincredible place to go for water
activities,
Astrid Vinje (19:09):
right?
Clint Bush (19:10):
Black sand beaches, not everywhere, but some places
have black sand beaches becauseof the volcanic activity,
Astrid Vinje (19:16):
yeah, yeah,
Clint Bush (19:17):
yeah. It's it. It is more rural, though. So it's
small town that we mentioned inthe Indonesia episode is very
cash based, just like Indonesia,Bali is very cash based. And
when you get in some of thesesmaller villages, you're not
going to have a lot ofamenities. There's going to be
(19:38):
one or two ATMs in the entiretown, if that sometimes,
Unknown (19:42):
right?
Clint Bush (19:43):
There's not gonna be public transportation, so you're
gonna either have to get good athitchhiking or walking or hiring
your driver or riding scooters.Honestly,
Astrid Vinje (19:53):
yeah, yeah.
Clint Bush (19:54):
So there's not going to be large grocery stores.
You're only going to have smallmarkets. Commute. At stores that
kind of stuff.
Unknown (20:01):
So, yeah,
Clint Bush (20:02):
that's what Ahmed is. But it's also super
charming. It's great forfishing. It's great for just
like, like we said, scuba andsnorkeling. It's a super small
town.
Astrid Vinje (20:13):
There's a I do remember, like, near the hotel,
or the villas that we werestaying at, or maybe it's
further up there's a Japaneseship wreck, like a Japanese,
yeah, a ship wreck of a Japaneseship,
Unknown (20:28):
exactly,
Astrid Vinje (20:30):
anyway, that now, like, there's coral that's kind
of growing around it, and thatthat was a fun place to snorkel
around.
Clint Bush (20:38):
It's incredible, too. I just want to mention
this, because you there's,there's a side that people will
scuba on, and then there's aside that people will circle on,
because when you start aroundthe shipwreck snorkeling like
the way it's tilted, it's righton the edge of kind of a drop
off point. So it's like shot,kind of shallower on one end.
(21:00):
And then as you go around theedge of where the shipwreck is,
it drops off, and it justbecomes this really deep area,
and that's where there's a lotof scuba happening too. It's
just incredible. It's reallyincredible,
Unknown (21:13):
yeah,
Clint Bush (21:13):
and it's the location too, is like, there's a
restaurant there, so you kind ofpay an entrance fee and you get,
like, a drink and some food. Youcan order some food and stuff.
So it's a nice place, yeah,
Astrid Vinje (21:24):
yeah, you want to keep move to Ubud,
Clint Bush (21:27):
yeah, let's go. We'll go to Central now. So
we're starting north. We'll goto Central,
Unknown (21:31):
yeah,
Clint Bush (21:32):
and Ubud. So
Astrid Vinje (21:33):
Ubud, I, I like the city a lot because there's
so much opportunities to learnabout Balinese culture there.
And maybe I can go into, like, alittle bit of a deep dive into,
like, the Hinduism that you canfind in Bali so the Hinduism is,
(21:54):
is different from India. I mean,it did come, did come to
Indonesia via, like, you know,Indian trade and all that stuff.
And then, and in Bali, there'sthis philosophy called Tri Hita
Karana. So it's like a try, athree part philosophy of, like,
(22:17):
connection with personal,connection with nature,
connection with others, and thenalso connection with the Divine.
And so there's like, I'm geekingout about this, because this is
so fascinating to me, but thereis this like interplay of all
three of those present in in thethings that Balinese people do
(22:38):
on a daily basis. So you havelike they every day, Balinese
will have offerings, and you'llsee them. You'll see them in
like, up in the there'll belike, some offering, flat little
offering stand up out of theside of a building. But then
there's also, like little minitemples, or shrines, not
(22:59):
temples, but like little minishrines that people will put
their offerings to there. Andthen there's also offerings on
the ground. And they're they'rejust these, like square baskets
made out of, I think palm fromor something like that. And
inside are like flour, sometimescandies, sometimes rice. And
(23:21):
these are offerings to the gods.And because those there's like
three level there's multiplelevels, so you've got like, the
lower gods and the middle godsand the higher gods, which is
why they have them at thedifferent levels. So then
there's like, those offerings,and there's offerings for the
temples, which are, like thethings that the women will carry
(23:41):
on their heads that are multitiered. So you, you have
opportunities to learn aboutthat, and then, like you can,
there's just so many temples. Infact, I think that there are
more temples than there arehouseholds in Bali, because
every household has a temple,and then, and then there are
(24:03):
also, just like public temples,so that there's so many temples
there. And then, the otheraspect about Hinduism that I
love is the even the ricefarming is connected to the
temple, like the irrigation forthe rice farming. The water
(24:23):
comes from like these watertemples that are up in the top
of, like mountains, and then itjust uses, like gravity to kind
of flow through the rest of theisland. And it's still, like,
that's been around for like,hundreds of years. They call it
the Subak the Subak system. It'sbeen around for for, you know, a
(24:44):
long time, and is still presentnow, even with like, you know,
modernity and tourism and thingslike that, that's still such a
core part of these culture.
Clint Bush (24:54):
And you can see that there's some great places just
outside of Ahmed. You can kindof see that to what. The
mountains and the the templesand the rice fields under
Unknown (25:03):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (25:03):
and Ubud as well, yeah.
Astrid Vinje (25:05):
I mean, if you're visiting Ubud, there's a
colonies like, there's a familythat sort of opened their home
up to like, for visitors tolearn about that it's called
Taman. And they, they offerlike, you know, visitors a
chance to, like, see thefarming, learn about that stuff
(25:26):
and and, like, even try farmingthemselves.
Clint Bush (25:29):
That's good point, but it has. There's a number of
these, like family villas orcompounds that you can visit and
really learn about what familylike is. And we highly, highly
encourage that, because you getto see kind of traditional ways
of families have lived. And italso supports local families
(25:52):
like it.
Astrid Vinje (25:53):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (25:53):
it's a it's not like sponsored by a corporation or
something like these arefamilies giving up their homes
to bring people in to learnabout it. And I think maybe a
lot of times, in kind of Westernmentality, we think maybe that's
voyeurism or something, butlike,
Astrid Vinje (26:09):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (26:10):
but they're trying to just share a part of their
culture that's actuallyauthentic. And it's not the
thing in Bali that you're goingto get a lot of is you're going
to get western perspective, viewon Balinese culture,
Astrid Vinje (26:24):
the tourist gaze,
Clint Bush (26:25):
yeah. And like these home visits, I think, are way of
getting more of a local versionof that story,
Astrid Vinje (26:34):
yeah. So in fact, maybe I can take a moment to
like highlight like a company, aspecific company we like. So
last time we were in Indonesia,we did do like, we visited a
Balinese home. And the companythat we we love, and we just,
the owner, is just a great guyin general, but it's called Bali
(26:56):
adventures, and he they willknow they've got like, a Ubud
highlights. And I think if youask the guide, you can ask them
to visit, like the Balinese, atraditional Balinese home, to
like, include that into thetrip, because it it's definitely
worth a visit.
Clint Bush (27:15):
Yeah. The other thing I wanted to say about Ubud
in actually, all of Bali but,but specifically is there's one
lodging opportunity that I thinkis really nice, and that's
called homestays. And it'susually because there's a lot of
these compounds that exist, theywill have either kind of
(27:37):
transformed it into almost likea little hotel, like a bed and
breakfast, kind of feel, butyou're literally staying in
someone's home compound, andit's a great way, because it's
family owned.
Astrid Vinje (27:51):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (27:51):
you get to know the host. I mean, you can talk to
the host most of the time.They're English speaking because
they are catering to tourism. Sothey are English speaking, but
like, they'll participate inceremonies. There are a lot of
ceremonies. And Bali in general,a lot of them are in Ubud. You
can see a lot of theseceremonies, the funeral
(28:11):
ceremonies. There's, like,Solstice ceremonies, the moon
ceremonies. There's a lot ofthem,
Astrid Vinje (28:17):
yeah. And
Clint Bush (28:18):
so you can kind of get to know and then if you have
a if you're staying in ahomestay, and they, most of the
homestays have kitchens, and sothey're like apartments, but you
can, like, get to know a littlebit more about the local
culture.
Astrid Vinje (28:30):
Yeah, the one that we stayed at and that we like
was, is called supar sayshomestay,
Clint Bush (28:35):
yeah. And it was great. And it was a little bit
on the outside of Ubud, so awayfrom kind of the center. It
Astrid Vinje (28:41):
was, like on a side
Clint Bush (28:42):
street, I think, what was the, what was the
other? Almost say, we stay thatwhen we stayed a month,
Astrid Vinje (28:48):
oh, that was a an Airbnb,
Clint Bush (28:50):
yeah. But it was still, it was,
Astrid Vinje (28:53):
yes,
Clint Bush (28:54):
listed it on Airbnb,
Astrid Vinje (28:55):
yeah. So I don't remember what it was called,
Clint Bush (28:57):
but anyways,
Astrid Vinje (28:58):
in the show notes,
Unknown (28:59):
yeah.
Astrid Vinje (28:59):
So
Clint Bush (28:59):
the reason I mentioned that was because it
was on the outskirts of Ubud,yeah, so it's about a couple
kilometers outside of a boat. Soyou're like, driving through
rice like on roads that gothrough rice paddies, and
incredibly beautiful. That'swhere we fell in love with
riding scooters. I mean, it'sjust just like, riding through
that to get back home for theevening was, is incredible. And
(29:22):
you're driving like, throughthese little towns that have
Villa or have temples and thingslike that,
Astrid Vinje (29:27):
yeah,
Clint Bush (29:28):
yeah, it's incredible. The bad, you want to
talk a little bit about the badside of the bud.
Astrid Vinje (29:35):
So one of the things is that it is very like
populated, or there's a lot ofpeople there and a lot of so
like, it can get very crowded,especially if you're going along
the main road,
Clint Bush (29:51):
foreigner specifically,
Astrid Vinje (29:53):
yes, yeah, foreigners. And I think the one
thing that kind of makes me sad.Is because there's so many
foreigners, it's sort of likepushed out local like Balinese,
the pricing and stuff has kindof pushed out locals and made it
(30:15):
very expensive for people. Andthis is like, not just Ubud, but
like, who does like that too,and like many of the popular
cities and so you I think it'sharder for a Balinese person to
live in those cities withouthaving to have multiple jobs or
(30:36):
multiple side hustles likeBalinese people have to work
really hard to be able to affordto live in their homes,
essentially.
Clint Bush (30:45):
Yeah, and there's a lot of, I mean, there's a lot of
Indonesians that are from Java,for example, who have studied in
Java and now gone to Bali andstarted businesses or working in
the tourism industry orsomething like that too. So it
not, it doesn't just attractforeigners. It attracts people
from other parts of Indonesiabecause of the culture and
(31:07):
because of the because of thethe beauty and stuff. So it's
interesting that way, but it isreally busy. Traffic can be
really bad. There's a lot ofscooters on the road. I mean,
trash at the beaches. There's nobeaches in No but, but, like,
just trash in the rivers andstuff like that. Like, it's not
(31:28):
nearly as bad as the Philippineswhen we get to the Philippines,
in some cases by like, it's oneof those things that, again,
opportunities to kind of be moreresponsible citizen and try to
help out in those areas as
Astrid Vinje (31:40):
well. Yeah, yeah.
Clint Bush (31:42):
But
Astrid Vinje (31:42):
and the yoga retreats,
Clint Bush (31:44):
and the yoga retreat, do
Astrid Vinje (31:45):
you want to talk about that, or should we just
kind of touch briefly?
Clint Bush (31:48):
I let's just say there's a term called spiritual
bypassing, and I think Obed isprobably one of the main things
for that. And it's just, it'staking aspects of spirituality.
I think yoga is, to me, is partof that from Hinduism and stuff,
(32:09):
and just like highlighting thatand ignoring the rest and
Western culture has had a largeinfluence on smoothie shops and
yoga retreats and yoga studiosand in Bali that doesn't
necessarily, maybe existed alittle bit there, but like now,
just exists purely to catertowards foreigners. Feel what
(32:35):
you may about it. We don't likeit. It creates. It competes
against local economies. Ithighlights aspects of Hinduism
that is very superficialfeeling. Yeah, I don't know
anything
Unknown (32:49):
else
Clint Bush (32:49):
about that.
Astrid Vinje (32:50):
Yeah, I think it's, it's what, what I wanted
to say about like the yogaretreats, is that it's just
because of Bali is kind of likeidyllic natural setting, people
tend to choose that as a placefor their like, yoga retreats.
And then now people associatelike, oh, that's, that's the
(33:12):
place to be, without really,again, like, without really
thinking about, like, Was thatreally part of Balinese culture
to begin with, or is thatsomething that's been imposed
by, like, our western exoticismof Hinduism, you know?
Unknown (33:30):
Yeah.
Astrid Vinje (33:30):
So anyway, again, I'll get off my soapbox. We can
talk more about, like, otherparts of Mali.
Clint Bush (33:37):
I think one other point I just want to make about
that is that, like, I don't wantto encourage not visiting Bali,
because the thing is, we'vegotten to know a lot of people
in Bali,
Astrid Vinje (33:47):
yeah.
Clint Bush (33:47):
And their economy thrives on tourism. It's built
almost entirely on tourism, forbetter or for worse.
Unknown (33:55):
Yep.
Clint Bush (33:55):
And so when the pandemic hit, for example, or
the one of the major volcanoesthere erupted years ago. It
decimated the local economy andto the point where people have a
hard time feeding their familiesbecause there's not enough money
coming in.
Astrid Vinje (34:13):
Yeah.
Clint Bush (34:14):
So I don't want to discourage tourism there. I want
to encourage tourism. I want toencourage people to go there
experience it. But let's getaway from the the kind of gross
types of tourism, and really getto know kind of the authentic
side of Bali and support localeconomies. Sorry, that's our
(34:35):
soapbox, but it really like whenyou start that's part of World
scoring, you start getting toknow people that live in these
areas, and the effects travelhas on that, for better or for
worse, I just want to be abetter citizen. Yeah, so we
talked a bit about surfing, Kutaand Changu
Unknown (34:54):
more
Clint Bush (34:54):
you want
Astrid Vinje (34:54):
to similar part of Bali is where, like, a lot of
people will go. For the beaches.So like, besides Kuta and Tangu,
there's like, Jimbaran is apopular one, a beach spot, and
so is Sanur. So there's actuallya great like, coral Research
(35:15):
Center near Sanur that if you'reinterested in learning about,
like, you know, coral reefs andconservation and stuff. I think
you should go visit that place.They do have a fun, like, coral
themed escape room game that youcan do, which the kids and I
(35:35):
did, and we learned a little bitabout, like, reef stuff. But
yeah, so that's another place.Oh, and actually, another
location in the southern and isa kickoff point to go to Lombok
is Padang Bai.
Unknown (35:51):
Yeah,
Astrid Vinje (35:51):
that one. There's some snorkeling you can do
around that area as well. Andthere is, like, a, I saw this,
and I haven't, we didn't visitit, but there's a project, like
a coral restoration project nearthere, where they they're like
growing, try to regrow the coralthat's been like damaged. And
(36:14):
part of that is because HaranBai is, like, where the fairies
will go to go to Lombok, and,like, the fast boats leave from
there. And so there's alwaysships and oil tankers and things
going back and forth. And thoseships, like, it affects the
(36:35):
coral. That's a nice
Clint Bush (36:36):
heavy oil tanking.
Unknown (36:38):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (36:38):
Indonesia, in general, is a major oil country,
oil producing country. Sothere's lots of oil tanks,
tankers that go out of there. Ithink the only other thing I
want to mention about Kuta andjengu, I think it's worth
visiting. There's interestingaspects about if you want to
learn to surf, it's a greatplace to learn to surf. There's
lots of opportunity to learnsurf. Some gorgeous beaches.
(37:02):
It's, I mean, Tangu, like gobud, lots of coffee shops, lots
of places that cater to kind ofWestern sensibilities. So I do
like that. On occasion, I dolike the amount of coffee shops.
That's one of my favorite thingsto do here in United States. So
it's nice to do that there.They're just busy. Tango and
Kutta are both really busy.
Unknown (37:21):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (37:22):
Kuta especially has a lot of partying at night. A
lot of partying, some hardcorepartying at night. So that can
be, I can meet you. I mean, likeloud music and things.
Astrid Vinje (37:33):
They have some clubs. They have clubs.
Clint Bush (37:35):
They have lots of clubs there. Yeah, I think on
our list we've, we've alreadytalked about Hinduism and
temples, culture and art. Ithink, is there any more about
culture and art? I think
Astrid Vinje (37:45):
so Bali. Bali, in general, has always had, like a
strong, like artistic culture toit. And so I think I remember as
a kid, like we used to visitBali, and then my parents would
buy, like, paintings from, fromstuff so, like, because they're
(38:06):
all these temples. And I think Ilearned somewhere that the
temples are made from stonesthat are they're kind of
brittle, and so they always haveto be, or this the temples in
the shrines, they have to belike, maybe it was the shrines.
Sorry. I think the Shrines arethe ones that are made out of,
like, kind of brittle type ofrock, and so they always have to
(38:30):
be like, restored or reretouched. And so that, like,
that craft of carving is just apart of the culture, and you'll
be able you'll find like woodmasks, and you'll find like wood
sculptures. And there's adifferent there's like gamelan
music there too, but it'sdifferent from Javanese. There's
(38:52):
like dancing, but it's differentfrom Javanese dancing and shadow
puppets as well. So like, it'sworth Ubud, you'll be able to
find those things like, it'sworth spending some time, kind
of like experiencing that, justto see some, some of the temples
that we enjoyed was like, Pura,Pura lempuyang. It's kind of the
(39:18):
like, if you ever see onInstagram with, like, the two
temple gates and then this thingthat looks like a geek in front
of it. It's actually justsomebody holding a mirror under
the camera. But like, we visitedthere, gates
Clint Bush (39:33):
of the
Astrid Vinje (39:33):
gates of heaven. Yes, we visited there. And we
were gonna wait in line for thepictures. And then we decided,
no, we don't want to, but thekids and I, we walked up to to
where, like the temple prayerarea was, and did and they were,
like, helpful, or allowed us to,like, join in on on the like
(39:56):
prayer there. So we made anoffering and all. That stuff. So
that was kind of cool. That wasa good, like, cultural
experience that we had.
Unknown (40:04):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (40:05):
I really enjoyed the dance.
Astrid Vinje (40:07):
Yeah, and there's a dance, there's a temple, yes,
is on the other side, like onthe western side of the island,
and is a little bit of atouristy experience, but you get
to watch, like a danceperformance there. And there's a
specific type of dance calledthe kit Jack dance, where it's
(40:27):
all these men surrounding, like,you know, they're, they're in a
circle, and they're doing these,like percussive sounds and and
movements and stuff. It's sortof, they're actually supposed to
be like monkeys. They're kind ofrepresenting monkeys. And then,
and then, at some point, theyget into a trance, and they
start, like, doing these liketrance like things and trying to
(40:53):
stab themselves and stuff. It'svery cool to watch
Clint Bush (40:56):
when they do also at dusk. So it's like, there's,
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (40:59):
there's fire. Yeah, there's a fire. They're
surrounding a fire. And then,yeah, it's so cool.
Clint Bush (41:06):
Another trouble I just want
Unknown (41:08):
to
Astrid Vinje (41:08):
mention is,
Clint Bush (41:08):
like, a lot that is amazing, because it's like,
Unknown (41:12):
yeah, when
Clint Bush (41:12):
the tide comes in, it gets that's the one where the
tide, yeah, when the tide comesin and gets separated from the
mainland. So when the tides out,you can actually walk over to
the temple. Yeah, it'sabsolutely beautiful to see.
Astrid Vinje (41:27):
Yeah,
Unknown (41:28):
but
Astrid Vinje (41:29):
there's so much, so much that, like, world
schoolers can enjoy about Baliand, like, learn. And I think
that that is what draws peopleto the island. And if you are
willing to spend some time to,like, dive deeper into the
culture, you will have, youknow, just such an enriching
(41:50):
experience when you go there.
Clint Bush (41:51):
Yeah, we we have contacts there. We love to
promote, like, the localbusinesses that we know. And
again, it's one of those placeswhere I'd love to just, like,
increase tourism. Thereresponsible tourism. So that's
that's a great one. Like to talkto us, like during office hours,
to kind of get to know somethings you could do there.
Astrid Vinje (42:12):
Oh yeah, there's an organization, actually, I
think it's international, butthere's an organization called
Trash hero that has, like,programs, like trash collecting,
programs that you can do, whichwe did the last time we were
there, and you just, you know,you can go and participate in,
like a beach cleanup for, youknow, an hour or two, yeah, and
(42:35):
then
Clint Bush (42:36):
that's, that's the type of volunteerism I can get
behind,
Unknown (42:39):
yeah,
Clint Bush (42:40):
because that's,
Unknown (42:40):
yeah,
Clint Bush (42:41):
it's minimal, but good impact in that that's not
affecting local economy. And
Astrid Vinje (42:46):
I think that there is also, like, something that
Bali is doing when we were therewas, like, they were eliminating
plastic bags, and then they alsohad a rule of no more plastic
straws as well. So when you'reat a restaurant, you'll either
get, like, a bamboo straw or orthey'll give you, like, one of
those metal straws. And thenthere was, at the time, I'm not
(43:09):
sure if it's still if it's stillfunctioning, or if it's morphed
into something else, there'slike, water bottle refill
stations that you can go so thatyou don't have to, like, buy
bottled water,
Clint Bush (43:24):
yeah? Because, again, it's not, it's not
potable water there from thefaucets and stuff. So these
portable drinking refillstations are nice because then
you're getting filtered waterthat you can refill with. So
it's getting, hopefully, gettingbetter, but yeah,
Astrid Vinje (43:43):
yeah.
Clint Bush (43:44):
All right.
Astrid Vinje (43:45):
Anything else to add?
Clint Bush (43:46):
I don't think so. No other than I want to go back.
Astrid Vinje (43:49):
Yeah, me too. You can tell that we love Holly.
Well, that's all for today.Thank you for joining us on this
episode of World schooling, Qand A with Astrid and Clint. Be
sure to check out the show notesfor any links we mentioned in
the episode, and visit mywebsite, the wandering
daughter.com to dive deeper intoworld schooling and family
travel.
Clint Bush (44:09):
If you like what you hear, please consider supporting
the wandering daughter onPatreon. It really helps us out
and keeps the show going. You'llalso get exclusive perks, like
episode transcripts, additionalresources, access to office
hours with us and more. You canfind us on Spotify or the
podcast app of your choice. Ifyou're listening to this on
Spotify, you can tap the bellicon to get notified when new
(44:29):
episodes come out, and if youlike this episode, please give
us a five star review. It reallyhelps new people find our show.
Astrid Vinje (44:36):
If you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to
like and subscribe and tap thebell icon to get notified of new
episodes. You can follow me onInstagram at wander daughter, or
follow the wandering daughter onFacebook. Links to these are
also in the show notes. If youhave any world schooling
questions you'd like us toanswer for future episodes, feel
free to throw them in thecomments or send us a message at
(44:59):
the. Wandering daughter.com,forward slash, podcast, until
next time. Happy travels, bye.You.
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