About Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island. It is the western-most island of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which lies between Java in the west and Lombok in the east. Along with a few small islands, Bali constitutes one of 33 Indonesian provinces. The capital and the largest city is Denpasar in the south of the island, whose population is half a million. It is Bali where a majority of the members of the Indonesian Hindu minority live. As in Bali their belief is a mixture of Hinduism and local traditional faith, it is termed as Balinese Hinduism. The island is also the chief tourist destination in Indonesia, which is famous for the art of dance, music, sculpture, painting, leather products and metal chiselling.

Geography
Bali is situated to the east of the island of Java (from which it is separated by the Bali Strait, 3.2 km wide), roughly 8 degrees to the south of the equator. In the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from the island of Lombok. The northern shore is washed by the Java Sea, while the southern one by the Indian Ocean. From the east to the west the island is about 153 km wide and from the north to the south its length is about 112 km. The island’s area is 5,632 km2. The highest peak is the active volcano Mount Agung (3,142 metres above seal level), which was active for the last time in March 1963. Another volcano, Mount Batur, is still active too. Some 30,000 years ago, it went through a catastrophic eruption, which was one of the greatest volcanic events on Earth. In the centre of the island there are mountains, which stretch to the eastern side. In the south, the landscape changes into an alluvial plateau watered by shallow rivers, which are dry in the period of drought and swollen in the rainy season. The longest river of the island is the Ayung (75 km).

Language
On the island, Balinese is spoken in chief, which is different from the official Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia.