Mystical island of Bali

Our sail-in to the harbor in Benoa, Bali was like no other.  The harbor was a mad-house of every kind of floating vessel going at break-neck speed in every direction.  Toward the outer part of the harbor were the para-sailers with their parachutes towed by boats. 

Closer in were ferries, tour boats, jet skies, and power-boats pulling rubber rafts.  There is obviously a shallow sandbar at a convergence of the currents, because we saw boat wrecks in the area where we watched as the riders of a overturned rubber raft stood in the water to re-board.

As we docked at noon, this group of musicians and dancers performed on the dock in a red-carpet welcoming ceremony.  As I walked down the gang-plank and through the cruise terminal they were taking a break, but looked so coy and charming in their beautiful costumes.

Indonesia is the first Asian country David and I have visited.  On this world cruise we will spend 34 days seeing a part of the world very foreign to us.  Much of what we saw today was quite westernized, but there was also much that was unique and amazing.  The roads and traffic were some of the first differences that we noted.  We traveled mostly on two lane roads, narrow enough that the side of the bus frequently scraped the low hanging palm fronds.  It seems that most of the transportation needs are taken care of using motorcycles or scooters, frequently with two riders.  They zipped in and out of traffic--I'm glad I wasn't driving to see how close they came to the bus.

This is a really poor picture taken out of the opposite side of the bus, but I wanted to share this Balinesian McDonalds.

David and I went on different excursions.  He saw many street vendors pushing carts offering meatballs and ramen-esque noodles.

He also saw this group of young people walking to the temple to celebrate Purnama--festival of the full moon.  It is a time to bring offerings of food, fruit, and flowers to the gods.

At the end of the ceremony, the female priest went among the worshippers to bless them with holy water.  Yellow and white together symbolize that something is holy.

The celebration centered on the padmasana, or throne, of the supreme god, Sang Hyang Widhi, at the Pura (temple) Jagatnatha.  It is the largest Hindu temple in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.

Nearby, David observed what appeared to be a wedding or engagement photo session.  I was particularly taken by the beautiful clothing, the demure young woman, the surroundings, and the photographer who brings us back from this fairy tale scene to the present day.

My first destination was a batik factory in the town of Tohpati.  Batik is the art of achieving many colorful designs using a "wax resist" technique.  Wax is painted in dots and lines onto the fabric using a spouted tool called a canting, then the fabric is dyed.  The wax is removed by boiling it.  The process is repeated with other colors and designs.  Sometimes, a design is just stamped onto the fabric with a copper stamp called cap.  From the upper-right photo and going clockwise: The wax heater, some of the wax applying tools, some of the designs, and the copper stamps.

Several of the artists drew beautiful designs on sleeves, bags, or hats with the wax tool.  It gives new meaning to the promise that "I'll never wash that shirt again!", because the wax will wash out in hot water. 

On one wall, there were little boxes which held a one page explanation of the dying technique translated to the world's more common languages.  I quickly scanned to find the English translation, but it took a second look to find it.  

After the demonstration, we went into the shop.  With only about 20 minutes to spend there, it was pretty hard to even walk around the shop to see what was available.  I just grabbed a roll of fabric and asked for a meter, then paid for it.  No time to see if there was anything else I couldn't do without.

Our guide wore the traditional Balinese dress, including the udeng headband which is higher on the right side.  The excursion's title was "Temple Wonders", so the next two destinations were two of the significant public temples of this area--to distinguish from the temples in the courtyard of every home.  Mile after mile we passed them in the courtyard of each home.

In the doorways everywhere we saw these offerings or Brumbun in the five sacred colors: red, black, white, yellow, and blue.  These were along the wall surrounding the moat of the Pura Taman Ayun.  The temple was built in the 17th century by the king of that region of Mengwi.  It was originally a private temple, but he recognized the need for his people to have a place to pray, so he made it public.  Formerly, there were eight kingdoms in Bali, but the country became a democracy in 1908.  The families of the kings are still honored, but they have no power.



This is the gate to the inner sanctum.  Only worshippers are allowed inside, but there was a pathway around the low enclosing wall so we could see the many structures inside.

This is the beautifully carved base of one of the structures in the inner sanctum.

One of the most characteristic features of the Balinese Hindu temples are the meru towers.  Sacred objects are placed inside the wooden chamber which rests on a masonry base.  They are dedicated to one of the gods or a deified ancestor.  The prominence of the god is signified by the number of fiber thatched roofs which go from 3-11--but only the odd numbers.  At the end of this row of meru towers was a tower with two roofs which was symbolic of humans.

I was taken by the character and variety of these bedogol, or gate guardian statues.

After our visit to the temple in Mengwi, we went to a resort area for a late lunch.  The facility was very beautiful, with accommodations and open-air seating for dining.  The cobble-stoned walkways were decorated with flowers, but the afternoon monsoon-season rain had just started and they were slippery.  I found out later that a woman on the excursion in another bus fell and broke her leg.


The food was exquisite with beautiful
presentation.  All the staff were dressed in traditional clothing.

For dessert we had a wonderful variety of tropical fruits.  Here are three that were new to me.  From upper right to left is mangosteen as a whole fruit, then cut into to reveal the edible part.  The red, hairy looking one is rambutan, which is very similar to lychee nuts.  The lower row is the snake fruit.  The outer skin is very scaly feeling and tough, but peels easily.  Inside the very tasty white flesh is the brown pit.  I liked all these fruits!

Standing at the edge of the dining area of this resort, I took this picture of the beautifully terraced rice fields.

Our last destination was the Tanah Lot Temple on the Indian Ocean, built to appease the sea gods.  We walked through a gauntlet of souvenir shops to get to this split gate called candi bentar, which is symbolic of the mountain where Shiva went to meditate.  It marks the boundary between the outer world and the outer realm of the temple.  Just beyond this point, as we got closer to the shore, the afternoon rain began.

This temple was also built in the 16th century and juts out into the sea.  When the tide is high, it is an island.  The story says that a holy priest came from Java to teach Hinduism, but was rejected by the locals.  They started to attack him, so he removed his belt and it became a snake.  The snake became holy and now protects the temple.  In the 1980s, the rock on which the temple is built was deemed as unstable.  The Japanese government provided a loan to pay for the restoration project and now a good portion of the rock is man-made.  This is the most photographed temple in Bali.

The return traffic through Denpasar made for a late arrival back on board.  I was grateful that I was in time to enjoy this performance of traditional Balinese dance.  David snapped this picture of the M. C. and dancers making their way to the "stage" on the pool deck.  

Despite the afternoon rain, the roof over the pool was retracted so passengers could view from the 8th deck.  David got some good shots from there. 

 I was seated on the right side and was only able to get a few photos around the heads of my fellow passengers in front of me.  

The intricate eye and finger movements, the distinctive music, elaborate make-up on both men and women, and rich costumes made for an unforgettable experience.  

Just as we went to bed, this party boat floated past our veranda.  What an interesting time we had on this magical island of Bali!