Bali, Asia

Balinese Temple Dedication Festival by ReimeiPhotography

I traveled to Bali shortly after Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" was published. The beaches are beautiful, but it was in Ubud that we were taken into the community and found ourselves plotting ways to stay indefinitely. One new friend invited us to a celebration at her extended family's compound, where they would be re-dedicating the family temple during one of the numerous Hindu festivals. Here the youngest daughters of the family dance together, accompanied by a gamalon band of their brothers, cousins, fathers, uncles and neighbors just off to their right while their mothers and aunts coach and smiled from the sides on the left. Later, the mothers of the family would perform a sedately flowing dance that would carry offering baskets to the inner temple. I think this was the most memorable day of three months of amazing travel in South-East Asia. Bali is safe, and the beauty of its natural surroundings is surpassed only by that of its people. You should go visit--they'd be very happy to see you!