Saturday, January 30th was another sea day. I finally caught up with my trip account. Of course, after spending Sunday on Bali, Monday on Java and Tuesday in the Karimunjawa islands, I am behind again. Between Bali and Java I took about 500 pictures. These two stops have been by far the most exotic places I have ever been.
The ship offered a choice of three tours of Bali plus a cooking school experience. None of these met our interests. We wanted parts of each tour without an included extended lunch. The tour desk was kind enough to arrange for us to hire a private car and driver for five hours. They did a fantastic job. The price was more than reasonable. We were able to tell our driver exactly where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. He spoke limited English but was able to tell us about the sights and make suggestions. We drove from the port through a number of towns making a stop at a silver and gold manufactory, a traditional home and an ancient temple. It seems that each town specializes on one product. The streets are lined with small shops. Each house has a front porch that is used as a store. We passed through a town displaying stone carvings; rows and rows of Buddhas and Hindu deities. The next town had wood carvings. Another town specialized in paintings. Yet another specialized in gold and silver work. Everyone on Bali appears to be an artisan of some sort.
After I purchased a silver necklace in the silver and gold town, we visited a traditional family compound and toured a 1200 year old Bali Hindu temple. Most of Indonesia is Moslem but Balinese practice their own form of Hinduism. Buildings, fences and gateways are all ornately carved and decorated. Each home has its own small temple. Large temples also abound. We next drove uphill into the countryside to view the terraced rice fields. Bali has developed a unique irrigation system. They pump and store water at the highest point. Starting with the highest, each rice field is flooded. The water is channeled to each successively lower field by pipes and chutes. It is an amazingly efficient use of water resources. The countryside is lush and beautiful. The cities and towns are crowded with automobiles and motor bikes. Neither Bali nor Java fit my preconception of a Third World country. People were clean and reasonably well fed. Cell phones were everywhere. The roads were reasonably good. In short, many of the citizens of Indonesia are a lot more prosperous than I expected.
Our final Balinese stop was to purchase some Batik shirts. Our driver took us to a town that specialized in Batik. Michael laughed when he recognized the Batik store our driver chose as the same one he had visited twenty years ago on a tour during his first visit. We spent a pleasant half hour and emerged with three shirts.
Back on the Silver Whisper, a local dance troupe performed traditional Balinese dances after dinner. Each hand movement has great meaning as does each position of head, arms and feet. It was fascinating to watch even though I missed most of the meaning not being knowledgeable of its tradition. The accompanying music was heavy on bells, drums and an xylophone like instrument played with what looked like a ball peen hammer.
Altogether, Michael and I had a wonderful time exploring part of the island of Bali.
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