Bali - March 2

Bali – March 2

I just checked the blog and the last entry didn't post. It was mostly random thoughts done during our three days at sea. I'll post it later.

Bali was fascinating in the same way India is fascinating; rather dirty and considerable poverty mixed with much beauty. I found the statues, temples and small shrines wonderful – I could spend days just traveling around seeing them. Our day got a late start when we had to wait about 2 hours for another ship to leave our docking space. We had an all-day tour here hoping to see as much as possible. We headed off to the Besakih Temple which is located in the mountains... our bus seemed to be going slower and slower and soon there was smoke coming from the underside. Finally the driver pulled to the side of the road and we all got off and stood along the roadside while the guide and driver were talking into their cellphones. Eventually they got several small vehicles and transported us to the restaurant where we were due later for lunch. The lunch was great and the view out over a huge terraced rice paddy area. The other buses from the ship arrived and departed... still no replacement bus for us. Finally a bus got there and we headed to the Temple and with a flash of lightning and a bang of thunder the rain started coming down in buckets. The guide told us that it is 1 kilometer to walk up to the temples and almost 2 kilometers to walk back down (I still can't figure that one out). He said we only have 1 hour so we must go now and he handed out little rain coats. About half the bus decided to give it a try including us – I left my camera on the bus and we took Jim's smaller one. After about 20 meters I saw that the roadway we were to walk up was running like a river and was at least 4 inches deep with water and decided I didn't need to see the temple that badly. So we went back to the bus. I think about 6 people did make the whole trip up and back. The rain stopped about 15 minutes before we left so some of us did get out and look at the vendor stalls all around the parking area. I had really hoped to find some nice Bali batik fabric, but most of what I saw was pretty cheap looking. I guess they export all the good stuff to the quilt shops!

We headed off to the Palace – long ride and then he gave us 45 minutes before we had to return to the bus... but after about 20 minutes he was calling "bus 11, time to go". That happened at each stop, he would give us an amount of time, and then leave when we were half way through it... herding us on our way. Even with those irritations, it was a good tour and I loved taking pictures of the many temples and statues. We didn't get back to the ship until almost 8:00 pm and the big Mid-World Cruise celebration was already under way in the Lido pool area. We knew how much work they had put into building all the decorations so I went up to see it. It really was spectacular. They had built a big bamboo hut over the pool and had everything done like a Bali Village. They had a number of dancers and other performers that people said were great. I saw many of them in their beautiful costumes having pictures taken with the passengers. I finally worked my way across the room and decided it was way too full of people for me and headed back to the cabin. Time for a cocktail on the balcony and then I hit the bed.