Friday, September 30 - Bali, Indonesia

Bali.  Celebrating Sally-Jo’s birthday today. Early start for our excursion to Ubud. Amazing how crowded the roads are here. Every tiny space among the buses, vans and cars is filled with motor scooters. They whip in and out among the other vehicles. All the vehicles here are narrower, so we’re really packed into the seats on our bus. We also keep hitting our heads on low-hanging bits.
Our first stop was a handicraft market, with lots of very nice stuff at reasonable prices. That was where Larry and I discovered that we each thought the other had brought a credit card. We had only a small amount of cash. That reined us in!
The next stop was a silversmith’s with very lovely jewelry. I couldn’t go in for long because they were burning incense but I stayed long enough to admire the workmanship.
At a Hindu temple we donned temple sarongs and West gave us a tour explaining that it was nearly 1000 years old and giving us a brief explanation of the various shrines and associated practices.
Next on the itinerary was a woodcarving shop where the same family has been working for 75 years. They use many kinds of wood, local and imported for neighbouring islands, to carve a wide variety of things: large and small, simple and complex.
Last stop before the drive back was a small restaurant where we burned some cash from Maria-Angelica and had a drink.
[Janice ill and skipped dinner; Larry Substituting]
In the evening everyone was taken out to a nearby Balinese restaurant which specialized in Indonesian Rijstaffel style. It was quite different and very impressive. While hot and varied hors d’oeuvres were served, we were entertained by a band playing very sycophantic xylophone and drum music and tiny Balinese ladies in native costume performed traditional Balinese dances. There was following a performance by a young boy doing a warrior dance.
The main course was delicious, often spicy hot but very delicious. The evening was topped off with a birthday cake for Sally-Jo and much singing. We all shared in the cake.

Photos 30 Sep

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