Bali
- Indonesia's Paradise Island
- Travel: Indonesia
- Gallery by Dallas Smith
Dallas Smith is a man with many interests including travel, photography, and music. As a photographer, Dallas loves capturing the beautiful and unique aspects of the world around him, both in nature and human-made places. Dallas is also an accomplished musician. He plays a variety of woodwind instruments, including the flute, clarinet, and saxophone.
Bali
Indonesia's Paradise Island
Bali is an island populated by 95% Hindus, but are only 5% of Muslim-majority Indonesia. As early as the first century CE, Indian traders spread Hinduism and Buddhism to East Asia, including what is now Indonesia. Hinduism in Indonesia reached its height by the 7th century. It was during this period that the Buddhist temple of Borobudur was constructed. (Borobudur was featured in my previous Indonesia blog.) By the 13th century, Islam spread through the islands of Sumatra and Java, supplanting Hinduism. However, Bali remained almost exclusively Hindu, despite the rise to dominance of Islam throughout the rest of what is current-day Indonesia. Bali has maintained the ancient Hindu religious practices which are also still practiced in India.
