Once again, up at 5:45 and off the ship by 8:00 to do the second day of touring with 'Our Man in Bali', Gustavo was his name but we ended up calling him Rusty. Go figure. His English was good enough and better than most.
Today was a shorter day for sure. Bali has a morning traffic problem just like all places it seems. Bali is no longer the sleepy little tropical paradise it was 20, 30, 40 years ago but it is still a tropical paradise, but guess what, its 2020 here too!
The infrastructure in Bali is very good, roads are well maintained and super clean, bridges are mega bridges, the traffic is really not too bad but the feeder roads to major areas are still one lane so it gets congested. There is a mix of cars and scooters, maybe 3 to 1 for scooters??? The scooters just seem to weave with impunity amongst the slower moving cars. Nobody is in a snit and they just get along sort of like cats and dogs, but without issue. There are no road rage issues, maybe because the population is by the vast majority Hindu, generally a gentle lot. The people are all very gentle and polite to us regardless of passing on the street or serving us.
Basically today we drove out to the country side and visited two Temples and had lunch. All temples are not equal. The first one today was by the ocean, its property was in a most gorgeous setting and stretched for hundreds of yards along the shore in several buildings and settings, some spectacular. The only thing was that there were busloads of Muslims on tour visiting this gorgeous setting that housed a Hindu Temple. Try and figure that one out. It was satisfying to see Hindu, Muslim and other White Folk attired in some rather flesh-revealing attire all getting along just fine!
The second temple was built around 1435 and was in a very tranquil and peaceful 5 or 10 acres with natural beauty being supplemented by the surrounding open-sided high-ceilings buildings that just seemed to act a natural breezeways. In some cases we four walked around with our arms out-stretched and hanging down at the elbows to get the air moving under our armpits! Like Cormorants drying their wings.
I will not attempt to give the names of our temples today, I have long ago given up trying to spell and pronounce names that are unpronounceable, to me. All I can say that these are not like the endless temples that we were paraded through in Viet Nam and Cambodia. Today they were pretty impressive that is all I can say.
Also please let me say that I do my writing on the blog, not as a documentary full of facts and figures, but writing down my thoughts and impressions as a person who just enjoys seeing how other people live. What I see is what you get, good or bad.
We have two sea days before we come into Singapore for the day on Monday. We are very much looking forward to a couple of 'quiet days at sea'.
I am so sorry that I cannot show more pictures that I took today. Beauty is all around us here if you just take the time to pull out a camera. I took over 100 photos today but have shown a small percentage to try and portray what we saw and felt today. Even then it is impossible to convey the sense of what we have seen and experienced in the last few days here. It has been lovely.
We have two sea days before we come into Singapore for the day on Monday. We are very much looking forward to a couple of 'quiet days at sea'.
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I am so sorry that I cannot show more pictures that I took today. Beauty is all around us here if you just take the time to pull out a camera. I took over 100 photos today but have shown a small percentage to try and portray what we saw and felt today. Even then it is impossible to convey the sense of what we have seen and experienced in the last few days here. It has been lovely.
There is a 'Temple' out there and has been for hundreds of years.
Well maintained and very calming gardens abound.
Overlooking the breakers rolling in by the temple shores.
Elegant dining close by as well. It would be nice after the heat of the day has gone.
It sounds like Maui to me with the pounding surf.
The second Temple grounds. Much less crowded.
I think this is the best picture I took today.
Lunch time in a quiet garden down and alley from a busy street about an hour from the ship.
Lots of pretty Balinese girls abound.
Our driver and two ladies taking a break. They do not do heat well, none of us do in reality. Today an Indonesian young lady stopped Gail and asked if she could have her picture taken with Gail. 'Of course' Gail responded, click!
Conducive to relaxation and tranquility I would say.
My shorts were too short so they wrapped a shawl around three of us.
Just nice to see a flower.
Carved out of a large fallen bamboo found in the forest.
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