March 1-3, 2023 - Bali
I never thought I would say “I’m in Bali”. Probably one of the more exotic sounding places. We sailed in mid-day on Wednesday, March 1. It is a very well protected harbor. The opening to the harbor is narrow and we saw lots of little boats that had had to get out of our way. And, as we looked behind us, as soon as we passed, the parasailers were up, and the banana boats were amusing their clients.
As soon as we were cleared for people to get off, a Balinese band and dancers started to perform. They performed for about 2 ½ hours continuously. After things calmed downed a bit, they did pack up and leave. Very interesting music. Some of it we enjoyed, some was a bit out of our comfort zone. In the late afternoon, we heard a Muslim call to prayer.
This area is
very multi-cultural. Hinduism is the primary religion, but there are also Muslims,
Buddhists, and a few Christians. We have been told that they all live
“together”. They pretty much celebrate all the major holidays of all the
religions. Of course, that gives them a great number of “holidays”.
The port buiilding, with muscians under the awning.
We’ve really
been struggling with the internet for the last several days, hopeful it will
improve soon. It hasn’t!
Our optional excursion today is Ubud and Rice Terraces. We left at 8:00 a.m. and got back to the ship about 2:30 p.m.
The busses here
are even smaller than what we’ve had before. They need to be. The
traffic is amazing. Many kids have their own motor scooter by the time they are
in their early teens (if not before). EVERYONE uses motor scooters. They dip
and dive and at every traffic signal there will be a mass of them at the head
of the line. Parking areas along streets are lined with motor scooters.
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| One of the many intersection statues. We could see this from our room on the ship |
A better picture of the motor scooters.
Ubud is a
district and town known for their handicrafts. Carved wood, basketry, etc. We
first went to a very interesting museum. Some of the items they had displayed
were wood carvings. A couple taking the grain of the wood and finding a form.
One also very detailed, but again, using the underlying shape of the piece of
wood. Then we headed for their art market. What a disappointment. It was no
more than a flea market with all the standard tourist chachis. Shell bracelets,
woven bracelets, magnets, can openers, key chains, tee shirts. The vendors were
also pulling on your sleeve trying to get you to stop. We are very familiar
with this from our time in Mexico and a few other places.
A typical art installation at a corner.
However, the
next stop was the rice terraces. Rice is a huge industry in Bali. None of it is
exported as all of it is consumed. They even need to import rice. Although we
are in the rainy season, water is still an issue for the rice farmers. They
cannot operate their rice paddies on flat ground as there is insufficient water
for this. The rice terraces of Tagallalang are on the two sides of what I would
call a large gully. All the terraces are narrow, maybe 15’-20’ wide with 2’
walkways in-between. The water is brought from springs, then fills the top
terraces. As it makes it way through, the water keeps dropping down slowly to
the next terrace, to the next terrace, etc. This uses way less water than what
would be needed for growing rice on the flats.
To top off this
extremely efficient use of water, they have turned this area into (almost) an
amusement park. They charge a very modest fee to enter this area to look at the
terraces. (Around $1.50 USD) But then, they’ve added areas for special picture
taking, and swings that send you out over the fields WAY below you. You are
actually harnessed to the swing, so you’re not going to fall into the ravine,
but it looked quite exciting. We certainly did not try it ourselves, and we
didn’t check, but I’m sure there is an additional charge for the swings.
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| Blue swash is a girl on a swing |
Where the early part of the day was a bit disappointing, the rice terraces were very interesting. We’ve also learned that every major intersection has LARGE statues. They decorate any and every where they can. You can tell if a religious icon is just a decoration, or whether it is significant and has been blessed by the priests. Once it has been blessed, it will have a length of cloth tied around it like a sarong. The fabric must be black and white, yellow, or white.
On to a new
day. It is Friday, March 3, 2023. Today is the included tour. We will
explore the nearby capital of Bali – Denpasar. It is a short drive from the
port. We started with the local main market. This is like so many “central
markets” that we have seen and explored in other areas we have traveled around
the world. You can find just about everything there. We explored 3 levels of
the market with our guide, I think there were more, and learned a lot about
their culture.
We have never
been exposed to the Hindu culture and found it very interesting. Then on to an
interesting museum and next door to that was a major Hindu temple. Every family
has their own temple in the family compound. This is where they pray every day.
Businesses, too, have temples. Then there are temples in neighborhoods devoted
to a specific god. Then major temples where you go on every full moon, new
moon, and other specific days.
Our guide’s family compound has more than 100 people living in it. Meals are communal, there is little to no privacy. It covers about one city block. But this is their culture and way of life.
A day at sea
tomorrow.
