Bintang Pilsener Bir

I was in Bali, Indonesia last week. Tried their “national” beer Bintang Pilsener Bir. Nothing special. I thought it tasted a lot like a Heineken might taste if it wasn’t light skunked. So after two I moved on to San Miquel which was about the only other consistently available. Found out after I got home that heineken own Bintang so that explained that…haha

There were a couple of “beer gardens” around the area where we stayed and I noticed another in a larger town we drove through one day. Didn’t get a chance to visit one but I heard they had moslty bottled European beers.

So didn’t seem like beer was a big thing on Bali. I had their local alcohol Arak in a run drink one night and got a weird buzz like someone slipped me a ruffie!

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I Googled Arak and it can get an alcohol content of up to 95%. I can see why the weird buzz.

Are Hindus big drinkers ? My yoga instructor puts a Bali retreat together every year. Did you get to do any yoga and meditation?

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Just on my own on the beach. There were some places up in the mountains that offer yoga/meditation retreats that sound pretty cool.

Not really sure about Hindu’s drinking habits but the people I met were all very cool. Very open, friendly happy people. It’s an interesting religion/philosophy. Going out early in the morning you see people doing their morning ritual of blessing their homes or business, all of which seem to have a small shrine built in. Saw a guy one morning in the parking lot of his restuarant blessing it for the day with flowers, holy water and incense. They lead very open spiritual lives and seem to me very peaceful moderate people for the most part.

The trip was mainly for my wife’s work. It was a reward trip she was selected for so we had two morning meetings we had to go to. They turned out to be really cool. Great speakers, one of which was Jerry Lopez, surfer, yogi, entrepremeur. He did a little breathing exercise with the crowd that was cool then talked about his life as a surfer and building boards in Hawaii and Bali. I guess when you grow up in Hawaii as a surfer there are only so many places you can go that are better. haha Both days they wrapped up the day with a musical performer. First day was a group called X Ambassadors. I’d never heard of them but they were pretty good and I recognized one or two songs. Second day was…Alicia Keys…we were blown away! Such an amazing singer and just seems so full of joy.

Probably the coolest thing we did was the Monkey Forest. Awesome little jungle sanctuary full of monkeys and a sprawling hindu temple. It was like walking through a Raiders of the Lost Ark scene.

So lack of good beer aside it was a great trip. I’d like to go back again but there are lots of other places on my bucket list too.

That sounds fantastic

It really was a sweet trip but I feel like if you travel that far you need to stay at least 10 days…longer if possible. We flew 13 hours to Doha Qatar, short 1 hour layover then almost 10 to Bali. You end up 12 hours ahead from US EST. Then coming home was 11 hours to Doha, 4 hour layover and 14 to DC. LOTS of time on a plane, massive jet lag. Luckily my new obsession with yoga seems to help my spine and sacro-iliac joint manage the terrible airplane seats better than in the past.

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Nice place to visit. Sounds you had a great time

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