Indonesia Nusantara: Why Bali is Superior: Notes Before You Explore Other Islands in Indonesia

It is very common that Indonesia is misunderstood as India since the name is similar. Some people might think that Indonesia is one of unknown country in Middle East, which is most western afraid to come. But when people say Bali, they agreed that it is a beautiful island every people want to have romantic travel in. It is a recommended place to have relaxing massage, delicious food, or simply nice tan skin.

But people who have visited other part of Indonesia will agree, Bali is just a part of Indonesian beauty. There many more places worth to explore. Professional divers will agree that Bunaken, Raja Ampat and many other diving spots are better than Bali. Humanist will agree that Sumatera, Toraja, or Java have a lot of rich culture as great as Bali worth to explore. Lovers with intensive research will find that they can get many lonely islands which have great beaches which are less crowded. The problem is these places don’t have publicity as wide as Bali.

Maybe you are going to explore Indonesia more than just Bali. Perhaps you get info about better diving spot, better fishing spot, less crowded beach, traditional event, or exotic foods outside Bali. But there are reasons why Bali is more famous than these places, and you need extra effort if you want to visit these places. Don’t worry; these extra efforts are worth your time since you are going to places specifically better than Bali in aspect you are interested with. Sometimes, you don’t know that you have been comforted by the condition in Bali, and feel uncomfortable in your other destinations because you simply need to adapt more. That’s why in the first place, you need to know what is the superiority in Bali and what you need to prepare before you step out from the island.

So these are reasons why Bali is popular in tourist’s point of view, and little tips for you to make your journey outside Bali more enjoyable.

Locals who Speak English

Bali’s hospitality is famous all around the world. They will smile to you every time you go into their stalls, when you order food, or when you ask for help. I believe you will get the same respond outside Bali, but the people will smile because they simply don’t understand what you are talking about.

Balinese are very familiar with tourist that they learn speak English by themselves. Tourism has been in their blood that they do a lot of things to keep the tourist pleased. Some of them even speak Japanese, French or German. They know that tourism will benefit them, so they promote everything they can for tourist. The potency of tourism hasn’t been realized by local people outside Bali. That’s why you will get language barrier when you step out of the island. Tips for you are:

Prepare online translator in your phone
Put notes of Indonesian language for commonly used question, in case you go to no-internet-connection area
Save the phone number of people you know who speaks Indonesian and English, so you may simply give the phone to the local to speak with your friend, and let your friend explain to you.

Rich cultural heritage

In a small island of Bali,there are more than 20 thousand temples that can be visited, which offer traditional Balinese dance, music, and drama. Bali presents interesting spots which are more accessible than many other islands in Indonesia. In other island, the distance will be your problem. The heritage are great, you still feel amazing with the culture (Go to Toraja, if you are lucky, you will find walking corpse!) but it is harder to access. Maybe you need 2 hours-4 hours driving or maybe you need to take small air plane to visit very rural area, which will give you more problem in budgeting. Tips for you to explore heritage of Indonesia are:

Give your time. it won’t be instant but as I said, it will worth it.
Take the comfortable transport. The cars in Indonesia are designed for Asian, which are not comfortable for western, especially in long trip. Take the large van will be comfortable.
Search for promo. Unlike Bali, which the tourism business have been challenging and every agent try to give the best price, you may find your destination is dominated by one or two travel agents. Take the promo will be your choice.
Find other activities near the main tourist spot. They might be less popular, but you don’t have to take a long trip just to go from one main tourist spot to other main tourist spot.

Not only mesmerizing tourism spot, the society also know how to package it interestingly

Packaging is the key. There is no doubt that the tourism potentials in Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke are truly extraordinary. But if you ask which one knows the most how to package tourism, Bali came out as the winner.

For decades, Bali always be the first class tourist destination in Indonesia. This popularity is certainly not come without reasons. They are aware of all the tourism potential that owned the island. Mountains, rivers, beaches, swamps, and even the zoo, Bali packages all the tourism potential seriously. They also know what they have which other places don’t. That is why you will see that an Italian bar in Bali would have frankincense and Bali aromatherapy!

Kuta is too mainstream? Well, There are still a lot of really other beaches in Bali which are beautiful, like Padang-Padang and Pandawa. Bali seemed never run out of beaches, because every day there must be a new beach that is so "hits". Want parasailing? Paragliding? Banana boat ride? Canoe? Camel riding? Elephant riding? Well, there are many activities you can do here.

The condition would be different outside Bali. You love ancient temple in Jogjakarta, you get ancient temple. You love diving in Bunaken, you get diving. Also, the management of the tourist spots in Indonesia mostly society oriented, that it is managed as an income for the people around the place, not tourist oriented. So you would find standard result on public facilities, amusement around the spot, or the cleanliness, since making comfortable facilities will need longer time for revenue. Indeed, better facilities attract more tourists, but because it is society oriented, most of them unmanaged professionally. Here are some tips for you:

Bring things that comfort you. An umbrella is needed.
Bring your own food, maybe you’ll find the food on tourist spots uninteresting or you feel it is not clean enough for you (nowadays many Indonesian bring their own foods since there’s issue that the fried snacks cooked with plastic!).Bring your own carpet and pillow might be good too.
Bring your own music. Unlike in Bali, which atmosphere is very dense because they play traditional music in public places, you may not find it in other places.
Prepare your journey. It is hard to find comfortable gust house on the spot with reasonable price. Event some people will fool you with an expensive one.

Those are some tips for you if you want to have holiday or trip outside Bali. Preparation is the key. But next time, I’ll show you why it’s worth for you to explore Indonesia, more than any effort you make for it!

GOOD BYE BOREDOM
DO YOU THINK YOU'VE SEEN EVERYTHING?
CHECK IT OUT BELOW!!