During my travels, shopping and more shopping and good food are not my interest. These activities will be likely most of my readers' interest as they are likely to be young Singaporeans. I was in Bali for 3 nights at the end of January and was happy that I learnt a bit of the culture of the Balinese who are mostly Hindus.


If you want to broaden your mind intellectually, travels can broaden your mind. Be an adventurer and be observant of the local customs, culture of Bali and other tourists. For example, in Bali, many tourists are Caucasians and young, most likely from Australia and Europe. In the 2002 Bali bombing of a nightclub (now a parking lot), 88 Australians were killed as their names were displayed in a memorial. Since the young ones' lifestyle is to patronise night clubs to drink and dance, those killed would be mainly the young ones. It is now 2012 and I feel the sadness for the young lives lost.

LOCAL ARCHITECTURE AND CUSTOM
"After you have seen Myanmar villages, you have seen all," Marianne who represented the Singaporean who loves shopping and air-conditioning comfort, said to me.
"After you have been to one shopping mall in Hongkong, you have seen all too," I replied. "Yet, every country's shopping mall has different products for sale, if you really investigate. Every country's rural areas are different". I was talking to the wall as Bali was hot and humid and not for Marianne.

On a morning of Jan 31, 2012 (Tuesday), my last day in Bali, I asked the driver to visit his home and got to understand much more the local cultures than reading from the travel guides. Then he brought me to a silversmith in a road lined with silversmith shops. The shop was closed as it was a day before the Gulang festival (Wednesday). But he went to the front gate and I was invited inside.

Wow, this silversmith and his sister spoke English very well. After purchasing two small pieces of ear rings for a 20% discount and no more, I asked about the architecture and layout of his house. It was a very beautiful house but the layout was similar to the driver who had a hard time explaining to me the functions of the layout.

"In the centre is the house for human beings. Ceremonies like filing teeth, deaths and marriages. In the north is the house for parents or grandparents. In the north-east is the land for the gods (various shrines). In the south is the kitchen (and his office factory). "How about to the west?" I asked him? "It can be used for any building," he said.

This explanation was good as the driver could not explain to me when he drove me past many village houses where I noted, from passing by in the car, that many of them have shrines to one side, like mini-temples. Most Balinese are Hindus and therefore religious rituals and ordinary ceremonies are conducted frequently.

TAKE GOOD DIGITAL IMAGES OF THE WAY OF LIFE OF THE LOCAL - THE WET MARKET IS MY THEME. I focus on the wet market, the flower sellers during my travels. The wet markets or fairs are the most interesting places to practise your street photography. You will need a zooms lens and focus on the action as shown in the images below.

In conclusion, young people should have fun with friends when they travel. But do spare some time reading the local newspapers and know a bit about the cultures of the country you visit. This will broaden your mind and make you street-wise and able to converse with others on diverse topics, rather than just where is the cheapest and buy shopping mall or food stalls in Bali.