I was lucky enough to accompany a school trip of 32 high school students for a week at the end of October. Being on duty 24/7 was tiring, but the location more than made up for it!  Here are some of the photos I managed to snap in this very busy week!  Hopefully it will give you an idea of the amount activities we packed into our time here as well as the beauty of Bali. Due to protection of our students I cannot upload any photos of the students themselves – you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was a work trip. Honest!

We were visiting at an interesting time of year – it was the Galungang festival and was a time of public holidays and family gatherings.  Lots of panjors (woven bamboo decorations) adorn the road sides and the temples are full of life.  We stayed in a a lovely resort in Keliki village near Ubud, the geographical and cultural centre of Bali.

Bali is an excellent place for a school trip.  Away from the flash 5 Star resorts, it’s a developing country with beautiful countryside, friendly people and loads of opportunities for our students to break out of their comfort zones and learn about different ways of living.  It was a week filled with both physical and cultural activities, though we were able to have a little relaxation time at the resort. The students enjoyed it and the teachers did too!

We stayed at the lovely Alam Sari resort and as the ‘married teachers’ we got to stay in this room (which also came with a jacuzi!)

Master room – it was tough, but we managed to ‘rough’ it!

And this was the pool. I started off most days with a swim and our students, the boys especially, had a blast swimming, jumping, and trying to do backflips at the end of the days’ activities.

We started our week with a tour of the nearby village. Many of the hotel workers come from this village.

Traditional Balinese village. There are separate buildings for cooking, sleeping, ceremonies and an area reserved for religious shrines.

Religion plays a huge part in Balinese life, all homes have an area for shrines.

the shrines are immaculately kept and are adorned and offerings are placed on them during festivals

offerings for the gods: rice, chillies and herbs

We visited a small art centre, where children are coached in traditional painting techniques for free.  The art work is small and intricate.

students working on their paintings. Lines are drawn on in pencil, then gone over in black pen and painted with water paints (a mixture of acrylic and water-colours)

Some of the finished pieces are extremely small as seen here. I held up my lip balm to give an idea of size.

Our walk through the village took us past some local wildlife, including golden orb spiders (also found in Hong Kong). They are not poisonous and most of us had a go at holding one.

Her legs felt very soft – you hardly feel them.

Even though I knew she wasn’t hurting me – it was still a very big spider crawling on my arm!!

The balinese calendar is 210 days long and we were there for the Galungan festival which is when spirits are believed to visit the earth. It is a time of public holidays and bamboo “penjors” (long staffs) are put up all over the island along the streets.

a typical penjor that we saw everywhere we went.

We went down to the coast – Tannah Lot, and although we couldn’t visit the island temple due to religious ceremonies taking place, we did manage to catch the stunning sunset.

temple at Tannah Lot

sunset dinner at Tannah Lot

We had a day at the Green School. The whole place is made of bamboo and is an international school that provides a very eco-friendly and sustainable education. Although the school wasn’t in session due to the holiday we were able to have a look around and our students did some team-building activities and recycled art projects. We also spent some time learning to make the traditional balinese offerings that are made daily.

Foyer of the Green School

the makings of a traditional offering

The finished product. They are always placed with the ‘spiky’ part facing north, then the orange flowers represent the rising sun in the east. These offerings are made daily and are placed on religious statues and in doorways and entrances, among other places.

We had an extremely early start one morning (read: middle of the night) in order to watch the sunrise from the top of Mt Batur, the largest volcano in Bali. I accompanied a student who had difficulties walking so we went (accompanied by a very kind guide) at a slower pace. This meant that we never made it up to the summit, but rather we saw the sunrise from about three-quarters of the way up. And a what beautiful sunrise over the caldera it was!  Well worth the 2am start and somewhat challenging walk in the dark.

Sunrise Mt Batur

That wraps up part 1. Watch this space for the next instalments that will include a cooking class, white-water rafting and batik.

Links:

Alam Sari resort

The Green School