Well before going there, for me the word conjured up an idyllic sun kissed island where exotic weddings take place. It also conjured up memories of the musical South Pacific and of course that lovely song Fields of Gold written by Sting and recorded by many including, arguably the best version, by Eva Cassidy.
You know the lyrics. When the west wind moves on the fields of Bali.
But Bali isn't really like that and I have to say it was a huge disappointment. It was hugely humid. Even the local people said the level of humidity was much higher than usual.
Our guide seemed to be a protégé of Kenny. Let me explain. Years ago we went to Vietnam and Cambodia. Our guide on a trip to Haloon Bay was called Kenny. Obviously not his real name but one adopted to make life easier for us western tourists.
Kenny spoke English in a much mangled way. It was worse than that. The only words I could make out were Halong Bay which he seemed to bring into every sentence and Prince. He was obviously telling us of some of the myths of the place, but his English was really bad.
In Bali we had a guide who had an unpronounceable name. He asked us to call him Shoppee or Shop. He was a Hindu and tried to explain that the caste system still exists in Bali and he is from one of the lower castes. He rambled on, most of what he said seemed to be about marriage and having 13 wives. Didn't learn much about Bali.
I find Indonesia a great disappointment and not at all what I expected.
There seems to be little semblance of order, chaos everywhere. It's uncomfortably hot and humid and so many areas of squalor. When we visited China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Egypt, I expected to see poverty but was interested in the history of those countries but I wasn't expecting it in Indonesia and certainly not on Bali. So it came as something of a shock. As I'm not interested in Indonesian history, and I somehow found it much more difficult to stomach.
There now follows three days at sea before we have a welcome breath of fresh air in the shape of Western Australia.
Oh before you write in and point out that Fields of Gold actually refers to fields of barley and not Bali- it was just my little joke. I do like to wind you up sometimes. Postscript - Most of you will know that I have timed these blogs and we are now back at home. Yesterday we heard the news of the massive earthquake in Indonesia on the island of Java. This earthquake took place just a few miles from where we were in Jakarta. Obviously, we are so pleased to be safe and well, but also our thoughts are with everyone affected by this disaster.