Beautiful Bali

We arrived early in the morning on December 26 in Bali- the 

beautiful island sung about it South Pacific and the setting of much of that story. It looked like the words of the song "someday you'll see her, floating in the sunshine, her head sticking out from a low flying cloud." And it looked just like that.

The sea was rough and so our getting to shore via tender was delayed...but soon we were on shore to be greeted by beautiful young women and lovely music.

We were met by a guide who took our tickets and the tickets of one other couple with number 9. Soon we were together riding in a mini-van with our guide and a driver. The vendors at the pier were especially aggressive, but we managed to get through. 

There are 3 million people on Bali and most are Hindu. Each home has a Hindu shrine and each village has three temples- creator, protector and destroyer. In their homes an offereing is made each day.

People live very simply- cooking with wood and most without electricity. We stopped at an ancient village, Tenganan, where people were busy carving wooden Balinese calendars, painting real and wooden eggs, and weaving fabric. We went into a simple home. 

Cock Fighting is illegal in Bali but there were lots and lots of many colored (dyed) roosters in bell-shaped bamboo cages sitting around. Obviously the law is not strictly observed.

We drove about an hour up tiny, winding roads to Putang- a scenic view. But the mist and clouds were so thick you could barely see our ship. We ate some more of the gummy, sweet dessert offerings. Some were green and round, one was green and long, some were stripped and different colors, and there was the same brown gummy paste wrapped in a push-up palm frond cone. 

We saw many terraced fields of rice- naturally all being planted, tended and harvested by hand. Looks like hard work. 

We sampled a strange fruit that was brown and prickly- called Snake Skin Fruit. The texture and taste was like a leechee nut. 

We learned that each village has an elected leader- elected for 5 years- and this person can be male or female. They report up some chain of command to the leader of the province of Bali. Bali is one of 33 provinces of Indonesia. The leader must gather the community at least once a month to discuss "important things." The meeting is announced by the ringing of a wooden bell that hangs prominently in the center of the village.

We returned to the ship about 3:00 for a late lunch. The evening featured a beautiful Folkloric of dances and music from Bali. All very lovely.