March 18, 2019 – Bali, Indonesia
The view from the lower promenade as we pulled into Bali.
As the pilot took us into the port I could see a group of people forming a band. My kind of people!
The keyboard instruments are Gangsa and they are played with hammers. Rows of Agung in the back. The drum in front is a Bedug. This group played traditional Balinese Gamelan music. A group of girls did some traditional dancing.
I watched this from the lower promenade as we docked on the starboard side of the ship.
Today we hired a private driver and car. We met up with June just outside of the port gates. He was about 25 and eager to take us touring. June recommenced some sites and off we went. First stop was a fabric shop.
Not much machinery here. We shopped for a while and Terri suggested I get a silk shirt. Haven’t had one since the disco error. We made the purchase and went on our way.
It was rush hour and folks were going to work. The common means of transportation is the scooter.
Next stop was the silver jewelry store. Very nice store. We did make several purchases here.
Next stop, Batuan Temple. This is one of he older Hindu Temples in Bali. It was built in 944 AD. Bali has over 1000 temples. Temples are the center of each village.
A sarong was required to enter the temple. I thought mine went well with my shoes. A donation of $10,000 rupiah (1 USD) for each was required.
Time for lunch. We stopped at an asian fusion restaurant. It is very popular restaurant and we saw many from one of the ship’s tours here.
The monkeys are known to take hats, cell phones, and open back packs. You name it. We kept a firm grip on everything. We spent about 30 mins in the forest watching the monkeys climb the trees and eat bananas. A trip to a water fall was next.
Quite a climb down to the bottom and back up. The picture doesn’t capture the essence of the area very well.
Our last stop was a coffee plantation. This was Lewak coffee.
Lewak coffee is balinese coffee that is fed to a weasel like creature called a lewak. It is similar to a cat. The lewak digests and then excretes the beans. The beans are then harvested, dried, shelled and roasted. The final product is supposed to be a smoother coffee. I did taste it but couldn’t get past the Cat-pooh-cinno part of the experience.
We did sit down and do a sampling of 9 coffees and 9 teas. Much like China, coffee is sold by what it can do for you. Good for the skin, good for the eyes, etc… We shop by flavor. They were all sweetened and most of them tasted great. We did buy some tea but passed on the coffee.
We asked June to drop us off at a restaurant on the water. He took us to a fish place and we said our goodbyes. 8 hours of June driving us all over Bali cost us $50. I had prepaid this back in October. I thanked June and gave him a $20 USD tip. That was $280,000 rupiah. He looked quite happy.
I sat at our table and took some photos and enjoyed a local beer. Terri went inside to pick out the fish they were to prepare for her.
Couldn’t resist buying a necklace from this cute little girl. Only $50,000 rupiah!
Chicken fried rice for me.
Terri with her catch of the day.
After dinner we took a cab back to the ship. The driver had never been to the port before and got a bit lost but did manage to get us there.
One day at sea to recover and then Semerang.
…