Bali was a bust. It seems as though I am destined to get the worst described excursions at any stop. I was originally excited about escorting a beach resort excursion, but how can you have a beach resort with no beach!??? If only I’d known…. I should let Michael pick the excursions for me from now on. I know that I seem to complain a lot, but I have either not been able to participate in excursions I would like because of my recent back surgery, or I have just been plain unlucky in the draw. I am going to try and change at least the luck part.
We anchored in Padang Bai bay. The tides were critical to the ship’s timing for arriving and departing as well as tendering into the pier. There wasn’t much water under the keel. Therefore, they decided not to load the tenders to capacity so it took longer to get everyone to shore for their excursions. I had to report for duty at 7:25 am!!! Good grief; that is the middle of the night. I suppose it wasn’t too much of a problem as I have been waking up at 3:18 am for the past three nights – not 3:19 or 3:20, but 3:18. We have had time changes for the past four days, so I guess my body is screwed up. Hahaha, it is anyway!
Well I digress, so back to the story. The escorts tendered to shore along with lots of luggage as people were disembarking today. We were greeted with musicians and lovely young ladies tossing potpourri or flower petals in the air as we walked up the pier. The guides were waiting in a long line along the pier wearing their uniform of a shirt, sarong and a swatch of blue cloth tied around the head. I had 11 people on my bus; the bus was larger than a mini bus and much smaller than a regular bus. It held about 20 people. What was different about the bus was as you moved toward the rear, the aisle got narrower and narrower to the point that only really skinny people could fit between the seats to get in back. I have never seen anything like this before and believe me I have taken some really interesting vehicles on our trips. At least the A/C was good and the bus was in excellent condition.
Well I digress, so back to the story. The escorts tendered to shore along with lots of luggage as people were disembarking today. We were greeted with musicians and lovely young ladies tossing potpourri or flower petals in the air as we walked up the pier. The guides were waiting in a long line along the pier wearing their uniform of a shirt, sarong and a swatch of blue cloth tied around the head. I had 11 people on my bus; the bus was larger than a mini bus and much smaller than a regular bus. It held about 20 people. What was different about the bus was as you moved toward the rear, the aisle got narrower and narrower to the point that only really skinny people could fit between the seats to get in back. I have never seen anything like this before and believe me I have taken some really interesting vehicles on our trips. At least the A/C was good and the bus was in excellent condition.
We arrived at the resort at 8:45am and went looking for the beach. There was NO BEACH. There was a gross breakwater. We were told that even if there was a beach we couldn’t swim. They wouldn’t allow it because you could get hurt on the coral. We should swim in the pool. Uh, if I wanted a pool I could have stayed on board and not gone to the hassle of tendering. The WHOLE point of the excursion was to go to the beach and swim in the ocean. There was absolutely nothing to do. We had a buffet lunch and then returned to the pier. The highlight of this experience was feeding a scrawny cat and getting a ten minute neck massage. I later learned that the coral reefs were dug up or destroyed when the resorts around the island were built thus destroying the beaches. I have no information about other “beach resorts” on Bali, so if you are planning on coming here for vacation, do your homework.
I was trying to get a group together to hire a car for a private tour to at least see some temples after we got back to the pier, but decided against it when only Sonnie and I were game as the other people who had agreed backed out. I didn’t feel safe doing this with a 4’10” mature lady (who doesn’t act too mature) and myself. Besides, the area where the taxis were was so chaotic with street vendors shoving crap in your face and I was carrying two heavy backpacks. I felt sorry for the people but it is really annoying. This is an area with lots of poverty and unfortunately they don’t understand that they drive away people who would otherwise like to shop.
So here I am, back in my room all nice and clean with the rest of my time in Bali sitting on a boat, feeling cheated.
Tonight was the deck party. This is a festive affair with lots of music and an elaborate buffet. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and it rained and there was bright lightning and thunder, but we had a nice time anyway. The temperature was comfortable and the humidity was acceptable. Our friends from Austin, Ginger and Neil, finally boarded the ship late today after a long and exhausting trip from Texas. We planned this about nine months ago and the day finally arrived.
About Bali:
I was trying to get a group together to hire a car for a private tour to at least see some temples after we got back to the pier, but decided against it when only Sonnie and I were game as the other people who had agreed backed out. I didn’t feel safe doing this with a 4’10” mature lady (who doesn’t act too mature) and myself. Besides, the area where the taxis were was so chaotic with street vendors shoving crap in your face and I was carrying two heavy backpacks. I felt sorry for the people but it is really annoying. This is an area with lots of poverty and unfortunately they don’t understand that they drive away people who would otherwise like to shop.
So here I am, back in my room all nice and clean with the rest of my time in Bali sitting on a boat, feeling cheated.
Tonight was the deck party. This is a festive affair with lots of music and an elaborate buffet. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and it rained and there was bright lightning and thunder, but we had a nice time anyway. The temperature was comfortable and the humidity was acceptable. Our friends from Austin, Ginger and Neil, finally boarded the ship late today after a long and exhausting trip from Texas. We planned this about nine months ago and the day finally arrived.
About Bali:
My view about Bali is very limited. What I saw was slums; poor, rundown, shabby, disheveled buildings/homes with jungle growing around everything; and lots of trash everywhere marring the natural beauty. Life seems to revolve around the Hindu religion with daily offerings to the spirits in the shrines and temples. Temples I saw were rundown and unkempt but were elaborately ornate. There are 612 villages on the island and more than 1,000 temples with a population of three million people; some villages have a temple for each spirit or god. People live in compounds and many have private family temples. Motor bikes are like gnats (and sound like them too as the bikes are only about 150cc so they are very slow). They carry so many passengers and shopping bags that it is surprising that they are even maneuverable let alone safe. There is no speed limit, the roads are only two narrow lanes (one in each direction), and they drive like maniacs weaving in and out dodging trucks and busses; it was amazing that there are relatively few vehicle accidents, but the bikes are a different story. The minimum wage is $200/month and if you are unemployed, the government pays you. They eat lots of rice. If the guide said anything more on our short ride to and from the “resort,” I couldn’t understand him.
Michael’s turn:
I had a great time! Poor Beverly; “The Tale of Two Cruises” continues. I really did have a most enjoyable, though long day in Bali, but at times I felt like Alice in the looking glass as the Balinese culture is so incredibly different from anything that I know. First let me get in the requisite factoids. There are 3.5 million people living in Bali, which obviously represents a very small percentage of the 240 million people who live in all of Indonesia. 95% of Balinese are Hindu while 2.5% are Christian and 2.5% are Muslim. Again this contrasts greatly with the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Indonesia. They make up 75% of the population which makes Indonesia the largest Muslim country in the world, by far! Balinese have difficulty traveling in the rest of Indonesia as the Muslims discriminate against them, or worse. The Muslims seem to like to bomb Bali from time to time.
Indonesia is made up of 15,667 Islands, 30 of which may be lost this year to “global warming.” There are some 250 languages spoken here and 300 different ethnicities. They even have a Chinatown in Bali! There are two seasons in Bali – the wet season and the rainy season. Seriously, and other than that the weather is about the same every day. 65% of the population of Bali is involved in agriculture, with tourism being the next largest industry. This is amazing considering that the very first tourist didn’t arrive here until 1963. Wait, you haven’t heard anything yet. They didn’t get electricity here until 1970! Today, only 75% of the population has access to electric power. Oh and get this, there are only four first names in Bali. Depending on the order of birth you get one of these names, and that it – no exceptions!
The Hindu religion dominates everything here. As you drive around town viewing the shops and factories the majority of them are making or selling religious implements, and here is why. Every home in Bali contains a temple, and not just one temple, but a temple in each of the four corners of the home. These are called “family temples.” Without them people would contact illness, and they all believe this. Beyond the temples you see offerings left virtually everywhere – the front door, the mail box, on statues, and so on. Now, beyond the family temples there are some 5,000 public temples in Bali and some of them are very large. It costs quite a lot to support a religion like this and I noticed that every time our van would stop the guide would pay somebody. I asked and found that he had to continually make contributions to whatever temple was close by.
One’s life in Bali revolves around religious ceremonies. In fact, the word Bali means ceremony in Indonesian. As you travel through the city you come across one procession after another and then you will see a static gathering which is usually a group celebrating something to do with their local temple. Like in India, they have castes here and they are very difficult to break out of. A woman can marry into a higher caste but to be accepted in that caste she has to agree to disown her parents and any other relatives in her original caste. Of course they have arranged marriages here. Cremation is a very, very big deal here and everybody does it. The cremation rituals are long and very complex, and can cost the average family up to $30,000 US.
Michael’s turn:
I had a great time! Poor Beverly; “The Tale of Two Cruises” continues. I really did have a most enjoyable, though long day in Bali, but at times I felt like Alice in the looking glass as the Balinese culture is so incredibly different from anything that I know. First let me get in the requisite factoids. There are 3.5 million people living in Bali, which obviously represents a very small percentage of the 240 million people who live in all of Indonesia. 95% of Balinese are Hindu while 2.5% are Christian and 2.5% are Muslim. Again this contrasts greatly with the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Indonesia. They make up 75% of the population which makes Indonesia the largest Muslim country in the world, by far! Balinese have difficulty traveling in the rest of Indonesia as the Muslims discriminate against them, or worse. The Muslims seem to like to bomb Bali from time to time.
Indonesia is made up of 15,667 Islands, 30 of which may be lost this year to “global warming.” There are some 250 languages spoken here and 300 different ethnicities. They even have a Chinatown in Bali! There are two seasons in Bali – the wet season and the rainy season. Seriously, and other than that the weather is about the same every day. 65% of the population of Bali is involved in agriculture, with tourism being the next largest industry. This is amazing considering that the very first tourist didn’t arrive here until 1963. Wait, you haven’t heard anything yet. They didn’t get electricity here until 1970! Today, only 75% of the population has access to electric power. Oh and get this, there are only four first names in Bali. Depending on the order of birth you get one of these names, and that it – no exceptions!
The Hindu religion dominates everything here. As you drive around town viewing the shops and factories the majority of them are making or selling religious implements, and here is why. Every home in Bali contains a temple, and not just one temple, but a temple in each of the four corners of the home. These are called “family temples.” Without them people would contact illness, and they all believe this. Beyond the temples you see offerings left virtually everywhere – the front door, the mail box, on statues, and so on. Now, beyond the family temples there are some 5,000 public temples in Bali and some of them are very large. It costs quite a lot to support a religion like this and I noticed that every time our van would stop the guide would pay somebody. I asked and found that he had to continually make contributions to whatever temple was close by.One’s life in Bali revolves around religious ceremonies. In fact, the word Bali means ceremony in Indonesian. As you travel through the city you come across one procession after another and then you will see a static gathering which is usually a group celebrating something to do with their local temple. Like in India, they have castes here and they are very difficult to break out of. A woman can marry into a higher caste but to be accepted in that caste she has to agree to disown her parents and any other relatives in her original caste. Of course they have arranged marriages here. Cremation is a very, very big deal here and everybody does it. The cremation rituals are long and very complex, and can cost the average family up to $30,000 US.
The Balinese are really lovely and very friendly people. In fact, they have three ways of addressing you: polite, more polite and most polite, and their desire to please dominates much of their lives here. Other things you see everywhere are motor bikes, their main form of transportation, and a million dogs. I saw as many as four people on a single bike. They drive like maniacs, paying absolutely no attention to stop signs or any other traffic safety device like dividing lines. The roads are very narrow and people drive all over them. At one point our driver had to pass a pickup truck taking two water buffaloes to the slaughterhouse. I thought we were going to die for sure!
People here are allowed to have 2.3 children and own one dog. The dog has to be collared and tagged because of rabies, and any un-collared dog is shot on the spot. There is no such thing as empty space in Bali. Every square inch is devoted to homes, business or farms. It is extremely crowded and appears to be ancient. This is actually deceiving as the preferred architectural style here is to make everything appear old even if it’s not. I went to one temple that I though dated back to the ninth century; it turned out to be forty years old!
People here are allowed to have 2.3 children and own one dog. The dog has to be collared and tagged because of rabies, and any un-collared dog is shot on the spot. There is no such thing as empty space in Bali. Every square inch is devoted to homes, business or farms. It is extremely crowded and appears to be ancient. This is actually deceiving as the preferred architectural style here is to make everything appear old even if it’s not. I went to one temple that I though dated back to the ninth century; it turned out to be forty years old!
Our first stop today was at the ancient Court of Justice in Klungkung, which was adjacent to the Royal Palace. It was beautiful and contained treasures virtually left out in the open to rot, such as hundred year old manuscripts. By the way, the king who lived next door had 20 wives and built himself this huge, phallic shaped pillar right outside just so that everyone would know he was the man! We then traveled to the artist’s hub of Ubud and stopped at an art gallery with marginally interesting works. However, at the next stop, the Neka Gallery, we saw some fabulous works of art in many different mediums. I was surprised to find some truly pornographic paintings on display for all to see. The gallery was also laid out in the exact shape of a typical Balinese compound. It turns out Balinese families live in compounds. Yes, all the relatives live together and precisely where in the compound they live is all highly proscribed, and has been the same for centuries. It reminded me somewhat of the Amish.
It was time for lunch and we stopped at the Tepi Sawah restaurant nestled on a hillside overlooking the canyon of the Ayung River. Lunch was memorable. We started with chicken satay and then moved on the crispy duck – the best I have ever had. We were entertained by some lovely Balinese dancers. It was then on to the Kehen Temple, one of the biggest in Bali. I had to put on both a sarong and a sash in order to gain admittance, and to affirm, along with everyone else, that I was not sick. It is considered bad luck for Hindus to let a sick person in their temples. We next headed out to a plantation where they grow rice, vanilla, cloves, ginger, coffee, bananas and other things. I had heard about this place before. It is here where they feed the coffee beans to a species of cat (a very large cat), collect the cat feces and produce the actual coffee that they sell from these feces. It has something to do with filtration.
Well, we were finally on our way back to the ship and got to pass by some elaborate rice paddies, and as we got close to the water, some black sand beaches. Oh, did I mention that cock fighting it very big and legal here in Bali. It is closely overseen by the government, but for reasons that I cannot explain. As you drive around you see hundreds of these fighting cocks living in their own, very nice cages.
It was time for lunch and we stopped at the Tepi Sawah restaurant nestled on a hillside overlooking the canyon of the Ayung River. Lunch was memorable. We started with chicken satay and then moved on the crispy duck – the best I have ever had. We were entertained by some lovely Balinese dancers. It was then on to the Kehen Temple, one of the biggest in Bali. I had to put on both a sarong and a sash in order to gain admittance, and to affirm, along with everyone else, that I was not sick. It is considered bad luck for Hindus to let a sick person in their temples. We next headed out to a plantation where they grow rice, vanilla, cloves, ginger, coffee, bananas and other things. I had heard about this place before. It is here where they feed the coffee beans to a species of cat (a very large cat), collect the cat feces and produce the actual coffee that they sell from these feces. It has something to do with filtration.Well, we were finally on our way back to the ship and got to pass by some elaborate rice paddies, and as we got close to the water, some black sand beaches. Oh, did I mention that cock fighting it very big and legal here in Bali. It is closely overseen by the government, but for reasons that I cannot explain. As you drive around you see hundreds of these fighting cocks living in their own, very nice cages.
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