Bali - A Little India in Indonesia (Indonesia Series Part-II)

In my previous travel story, we travelled to Lombok. Let’s embark on a Bali journey this time.

- Ajay Sood

I will start this journey by asking a question - in how many locations outside India would you get a feeling that you are in the land of Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana?

Not many, I guess. But in Bali, I was constantly reminded of India’s holy epics!

Bali ranks high every time a travel conversation veers towards beaches, water sports, nightlife, backpacking, volcanoes, and more. But one fact that gets seldom talked about is the Hindu influence here. Of the 17,000-odd islands that form the Indonesian archipelago, Bali is the only officially Hindu island.

We were staying in Seminyak, an area surrounded by Kuta, Denpasar and North Kuta. To give you a further sense of its location, let me just say that it is on the rear edge of the lower fin of this fish-shaped island - and this fish is swimming from left to right.

Seminyak is a lot quieter than Kuta. But then, that’s not saying much as even this area is a major travel hub in Bali, with presence of many luxury hotels including the Oberoi Bali. It is fast developing into the high-street shopping capital of Bali.