Hmmm...what to do today...
A little traditional Balinese music... love those chimes and gongs...
More temple viewing...
maybe a little dancing...
checking out the wood and stone carvings on so many of the houses.
In many large temples, both men and women must cover their legs...you can buy your own sarong in any market for a few dollars, or just pay a small donation (about 10 cents) at the door for a loaner.
We are staying in Nusa Dua, on the little peninsula nub south of Denpasar. The cab driver we find in Kuta the other day seems quite knowledgable and speaks English fairly well, so we hire him to be our driver for the next day...this may sound extravagant but having him all to ourselves for 12 hours in a private car costs us about $50. This is how you get around here. Of course, you could rent a car and drive yourself but that would be insane...
l can't get enough of the carved detailing everywhere.
In a back alley behind this temple, I notice these people weaving those little banana leaf baskets that are used for offerings.
Bruno in his borrowed sarong...
Next we're off to see a coffee plantation in the jungle.
This is a luwak. They like to eat coffee berries and unroasted beans. If you want to try something different, you can drink some 'pooh pooh coffee' as it's called...brewed from the beans which pass through these guys first. I think we also saw this in Hawaii.
I try my hand at coffee roasting...but I'm not quick enough and I burn it.
Maybe I'm better at grinding, well actually, pounding...I need one of these at home.
Bruno decides he'd rather just drink it.
Mt Kintamani... still considered active with the last lava flow in 1994...however, smoke still spews out on a regular basis. If we were staying longer, I'd climb it...there are several trails to the top but the route's apparently a bit tricky...with all those lava pebbles sliding around like ball bearings.
A good place for lunch...
...with a view and no street vendors. This woman is trying to sell me a sarong from the other side of the balcony.
View from our table.
Now we want to see some rice terraces. Many crops are grown this way here.
Rice ripening in the sun...it's later dried on the street...a picture of this will come in a future post.
I should learn how to do this...it must work wonders for the posture...not to mention the advantage of keeping the hands free.
Everything from concrete blocks...to groceries, laundry, temple offerings, chickens.
A popular activity...enjoying a warm evening with the monkeys outside of Ubud
Just after B snapped this photo, the little stalker behind me tried to snatch my bag. I had to give it a good shake to make it let go.
Someone else wasn't as lucky and lost a bottle of water. The monkey actually screwed the top off himself and drained the whole container.
Walking in the monkey forest is at first a little intimidating as they are everywhere, in the trees above your head, sneaking up behind you...some people walk through here with branches to shoo them away but except for the very large mean ones (which bully the smaller ones) they are skittish and frighten easily.
These finials top just about every structure here. I try to find out what the design symbolizes but no one seems to know...the only answer I manage to get is that they connect the buildings with God in the sky. When I go to the nearest temple supply store to pick one up for myself, I discover that they are not made out of wood as I had thought, but concrete or pottery and weight A LOT!! Too heavy for my suitcase
I read that it's the law that adults wear helmets but there can't be much enforcement as many don't. Even when people wear them, it's rare to see kids with them on. We are told that child helmets are hard to come by. Hmmm...Maybe there's a business opportunity here...
This little girl is standing on the seat between her parents while they whip along the highway,
This dog seems to be enjoying the ride.
And the pigs...but we know where they're headed.
In addition to mandatory sarongs, some temples have other restrictions. I don't notice any women turning back though.
One of the holiest temples outside Denpasar.
How rice is dried.
At first I thought this was the local hooch, Arak, for sale. Almost every house or store has bottles like this sitting outside. Our driver tells us they are litres of gasoline for sale to scooter drivers. There are very few gas stations in the villages.
Roosters in baskets sit everywhere. Although cock fighting is supposed to be highly illegal (worth five years in jail) it is permitted to 'sacrifice' up to three at a time this way as long as it's done in a temple and there is no gambling involved. I'm pretty sure this is enforced about as much as the helmet law.
more terraces...
These cute little guys are waiting to be made into bunnie satay.
The manager of our hotel suggests a drive to the northern lakes of the island and hires us a car and driver.
Durians!
It is also suggested that we drive out to Tunah Lot on the West coast to see the sunset from the temple carved out of an island. Apparently it will be peaceful and beautiful. But no one in Nusa Dua remembers that today is a government holiday and everybody from Jakarta has come to Bali to do the exact same thing and to check out other sacred items near the site.
I'm reconsidering whether I want to wait for sunset. What happens if the tide comes in and I have to swim back to shore in the dark along with 20,000 others??
Perhaps many are thinking the same, as only a few are seen hiking up to the temple's sunset terrace.
