Bali: beautiful, crowded, noisy, quiet, surreal…indescribable!

We love Bali.

This is the sunrise over Bali as we pulled into port. How can you not love a place like this?

Last year when we were first here, we were so taken by the chaotic traffic, the always-smiling people, the beauty in the temples and architecture, the food, and everything else about Bali – except the beaches, which we did not see – that we said we just had to return.

Fortunately, this year’s itinerary includes Bali. Last year we were only there for a day and had a private guide. This year we overnight in Bali and have opted for two ship’s tours: the first day we visited some of the iconic temples and saw a talked-about orchid garden that really did not live up to its billing; the second day we went to cooking school!

Bali is one of Indonesia’s most populous islands (of about 6500 populated in an archipelago stretching across the South China sea with over 17,000 islands total). Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and Bali has about 4.25 million of the over 250 million total. Bali is also about 90% Hindu. The remaining 10% are mixed Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, and “other” – interesting for a country that is about 90% Muslim.

The good news is that it is still a great place to visit. The bad news is one must come soon or it may be gone. The population has doubled over the past twenty years and it shows no signs of stopping. As you can see from the map, Bali is an island on which there is no room to expand.

The first day’s tour began with a stop at a batik workshop and retail store. It was the same place we stopped last year with our guide and the prices were the same as well. We were told that we could bargain by about as much as 30% since we were on a cruise ship. I found a lovely hand-made batik shirt that fit well and that Bonnie liked (the major prerequisite…) for only 750,000 Indonesian Rupiah (don’t choke, that’s only about US$56.00). I offered the equivalent of about US$30.00. The salesman countered with about US$50.00. I came up to about $35 and he quit. No more bargaining. Shame…it would have really looked nice one evening in Naples…

We left the batik workshop and headed out to our first temple stop, Pura Tanah Lot, the most photographed temple in Bali, and possibly in Indonesia. Tanah Lot sits on as rocky promontory out in the Sulu Sea and at high tide is an island. At low tide it is a peninsula. When we got there it was crowded with tourists, worshippers, and families out for a nice day.

 The tide was in, so we could not get any closer to Tanah Lot.

We then headed inland to our lunch stop. We thought we were going to go to one of the westernized hotels for a typical western buffet lunch; however, the luncheon turned out to be the highlight of the day. After winding through the beautiful Balinese country side for about an hour, we turned off the main road onto a single lane country road (still a two-way road) and stopped at a high-walled compound guarded by one of the ubiquitous Hindu Temples. This was our “simple lunch buffet” stop. It turns out that our luncheon host, one Mr. Beratha, is a descendent of one of the last kings of Denpasar, the regional capitol of Bali. The regional kings were deposed in the mid-twentieth century when Indonesia became a real country and not just a collection of kingdoms and fiefdoms.

Bonnie and Mr. Beratha. our host. She is holding the offering basket that the local women had woven as souvenirs of the afternoon.

Mr. Beratha realized that the only way he could keep the family homestead was to turn it into a combination inn, spa, and tourist stop – Puri Tamen Sari. As we alit from the bus, a procession of lovely Balinese maidens led us into the grounds and began strewing flower petals over us. They were followed by, and accompanied by, a group of musicians playing traditional Balinese instruments. If you have never heard a Balinese gamelan, consider yourself fortunate. While the first few notes of these traditional gong-like bamboo instruments are not unpleasant, they seem to just go on and on and on and on… Once inside the compound we were struck by the serenity of our surroundings and by the innate beauty of the stone carvings, temple offering sites (every Hindu home has at least one such site), and views of the adjacent rice paddies and forests.

After a welcome drink offering and a welcome dance offering, we were led to a pavilion where we found a variety of local craftsmen demonstrating their trade. This was not an attempt to sell us anything, but was Mr. Beratha’s way of showing how proud he is is of his island and of his neighbors, many of whom are craftsmen and rely on this type of demonstration to showcase their talent. We saw a lady hand-making a parasol from bamboo and cotton thread, a woodcarver, an older man had weaving mats that would used as rainproof coverings for someone’s roof, two ladies hand-making confections of rice flour, sugar and honey, and several ladies hand-weaving small baskets in which offerings to the Hindu gods would be made.

We also learned something about the Hindu religion that we never knew. We did know that in Hinduism, many gods are worshipped through the statuary and rituals associated with that god’s particular strength or realm. What we did learn is that of all the gods. there is one supreme god and that all the lessor gods are considered his hand-workers. We also learned that Hinduism is not an idolatrous religion as might be thought from the elaborate carvings and displays in the temples, but that these images and idols are the earthly representation of the heavenly beings and they are used for personal communication with the gods.

After the demonstrations, on to lunch! Lunch was a buffet spread of salads, vegetables, fruits, and hot dishes unique to Bali or to Indonesia. We had Nasi Goreng, the Indonesian national dish, which is a type of fried rice with vegetables and chicken. We had Beef Satay, which is marinated beef on skewers with a spicy peanut sauce. We had grilled fish with Sambal Olek, the national flavoring of Indonesia, which is a spicy (actually, a fiery hot) dipping sauce…mmmmm, good! We had Mei Goreng, which is similar to Nasi Goreng, but made with thin curly noodles rather than with rice. We had one of the best, if not the best, egg drop soup. The soup was accompanied by a deceptively smooth and simple looking thin brown sauce that we were cautioned to use sparingly. Of course, I threw caution to the winds, since I profess to like a little spice in my food, and I was not disappointed – I couldn’t speak for a few minutes and it was so good it brought tears to my eyes. We washed all that down with a local Balinese beer…mmmmmm, good!

As we were leaving for our next stop, we had more entertainment on the way out. You have probably heard of Fred Astaire - well, did you know he had a brother: Ed Astaire!

After our lunch (and for a few of us, a teeny nap), we  re-boarded the bus and headed off to our next major temple stop, Pura Taman Ayun in Mengwi.

Pura Taman Ayun is famous for the elaborate pillars and carvings that abound within its walls. It is unusual in that it consists of three “rings” or courtyards. Anyone can enter the outer  and middle rings, but only worshippers can enter the inner ring. We were fortunate in that there is a festival of some sort on March first and they were in the process of preparing the temple for that festival. They had draped brightly-colored cloths and had spruced up the grounds. There were small groups of people weaving offering baskets and more were setting up prayer stalls in the inner courtyard. We could look over a low wall into the inner courtyard, but could not physically enter it.

 The entrance to the inner ring. Only the true believers are permitted inside.

We were able to view the inner courtyard from the low wall surrounding the other three sides. The cloths and other decorations are in anticipation of a major celebration - the name of which I was unable to interpret.

We walked all around the middle ring and exited back to the bus. I did forget to mention that it was quite warm this day – actually, it was HOT, Hot, hot! We couldn’t wait to get back to the air-conditioning. We had one more stop – the Bali Orchid Gardens (BOG).

The BOG was scheduled for about a 30-40 minute stop. After about 10 minutes we were ready to call it quits. I have nothing against gardens and orchids, but this visit turned out to be a walk along the paths with a few photo ops of starring orchids with no curating along the way. We really didn’t know what we were seeing and had no idea of what the significance was of the garden’s existence at all. Most folks, once coolly ensconced on the air-conditioned bus once again, agreed that after the temples and the lunch, we could have skipped the gardens. By this time is was after 6:00 PM and we were all anxious to get back to the ship – for more food…

Tomorrow we learn about Balinese cuisine – hands on. Stay tuned…