Curt & Laureen From Outback to Asia: Day 23

Today will be a full day in Bali. Unlike the Australian portion of our trip, which we spent three weeks touring around some of the East coast of Australia, we only have 2 full days in Bali before we travel to Vietnam on Sunday (today is Friday). We might rightly call this portion of the trip, 'The Whirlwind'. We were able to sleep in a little this morning as our tour didn't start until 1:00 PM. This is a good thing as yesterday was a very long day.

We had booked massages for Laureen and I today, hers was in the morning (11:00 AM to 12:30 PM) and mine would start at 5:30 PM. That would give her a half hour to have a quick shower after the massage and then eat lunch. Breakfast arrived at 9:00 AM and consisted of the items we ordered the night before. They have an app you can use to place your food/beverage orders. We then went to the registration desk as they were closed when we arrived last night (they are only open to 11:00 PM), to fill out the appropriate forms and leave a credit card number for any incidentals.

There is a little store by the registration desk that we wandered through before coming back to the villa and changing into swimsuits (we have left Australia, so cozzi's have turned back into swimsuits), and have a dip in our own swimming pool. Laureen could only stay for a short while, so when the time came, she got out, dried off and got dressed to head off for her massage. I stayed in the pool for a while, then sat on one of the two chairs and just enjoyed the quiet and the warm.

I hopped in the shower and did my customary weekly shave (because it's Friday). Shortly after this, lunch arrived and was setup on our table (Laureen had not come back from her massage yet). I had a quick chat with the unit clerk at the hospital where my mom had been released from and Laureen made it back from her massage (but just barely - apparently it was very good). She had her shower and we quickly had lunch and then went off to meet our guide and driver. Our guide's name is Kawi and our driver's name is Santi. They were waiting for us at the entrance with cold water in the back of their car. We would find out later, that the Toyota vehicle they are using is only used for Canadian & American visitors.

Our first stop was a money changer, where we converted $70 USD into Rupiah. We received 1.1 Million Rupiah. I guess that makes us Balinese millionaires. Local currency is best for the local markets (or so we have been told). We will not hit any local market's today, but we expect to, tomorrow. What was interesting about the exchange was that I received a different rate of exchange for each of the two denominations I exchanged.

Kawi then asked us if we wanted to stop at a store: batik, clothing, jewelry, etc. Laureen noted that she would be interested to see some professional jewelry, so they took us to Nadia's Silver shop. We were first taken to be shown how they go through the process to make silver jewelry, and then into their showroom where there were many glass cases filled with their fine items. It took a while to look through a bunch of them, but then Laureen noted that she wanted a silver ring. I had been thinking the same thing, so we looked for a his/her's matching set and decided on purchasing them.

From there we started driving to the Sangeh Monkey Forest where you can find Macaques that are 'domesticated' enough that they will come and be close to you if you are feeding them. A local guide walked us through the forest and then helped us get up close and personal with the monkeys. We were explicitly told not to try and touch the monkey's and not to look them directly in the eyes.

I have to admit, that was cool.

From here we started to make our way to the first temple of the day, but we had been talking about rice and how it is planted, grows and harvested. Got a chance to see it up close and personal. The entire plant/grow season is approximately 3 (dwarf variety) to 6 (traditional variety) months. It is quite the process with a lot of manual labour.

Me, Kawi and Laureen (oh and rice field beside us)

The raw rice plants remind me a lot of wheat.

Next, we drove to the Taman Ayun Pura/temple (meaning beautiful garden) where I had to put on a covering because my short's were not long enough. Laureen captured a good one of them draping me with a 'skirt'.

We wandered around these beautiful grounds.

Kawi is very good at explaining the dominant religion and culture of the Balinese people. It is a historical perspective and has been passed down for centuries, mainly through their Hindi beliefs (80% of the people in Bali are Hindu. However, in the entire of Indonesia, 80% of the population are Muslim).

This particular temple is almost 400 years old, built in 1634 (or year 1556 on the caka calendar - followed by the Hindi religion consisting of 35 days per month, 12 months in one year). It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and boasts 17 acres and is the second largest temple in Bali. The temple has three sections common to holy temples: outer courtyard (nista mandala), middle courtyard (maya mandala) and inner sanctuary (utama mandala) each separated from the other by “split gates”. The inner sanctuary, reserved for worshippers has the highest constructions. Its shrines (Maru) have different heights, ranging from two tiers all the way up to 11 tiers. Water is a significant part of the design which includes a large moat (subak) that surrounds the entire compound, a smaller mode that surrounds the inner sanctuary and then multiple ponds and fountains throughout the area. The temples are used as places of worship and are important in celebration rituals, which will take place in various parts of the temple.

From here we made our way to Sari Amerta Luwak Coffee where the patrons of the store had 14 different coffee's and teas waiting for us to sample. First they showed us the process for making the coffee. As you can see, it looks a little different than the process that is used back home.

On our way to the Coffee/Tea Tasing

The Coffee Preparation Station

They show the whole process here including the roasting and the 'grinding' of the coffee. The girl demonstrating the grinding process with a large mortar and pestle that you can see in the picture above. No burr grinders here. I have to admit, when I saw this, I was a bit skeptical on what it would taste like. They also explained the Kopi Luwak process and showed us some of the Civit poo, how they clean it and then it is processed in the same way all the other coffee's are. They had a couple of Civit's there which are cat-weasle like animals. I probably should have taken a picture of them, but was too interested in the process. Kopi Luwak is the worlds most expensive coffee. Think of it as a Cat-poo-ccino. 😉

They then set 14 different coffee's and teas before us, and we went to work tasting them. Honestly, there was not a bad one in the bunch.

We ended up purchasing a coconut coffee and a Mangosteen tea. If our suitcases had more room! I think it might be time to start shedding some clothes.

Kawi wanted us to have a sunset view at Pura Tanah Lot (means “land in the sea”). This final stop of the day was to the ancient Hindu pilgrimage temples of Pura Batu Bolong (smaller temple) and Pura Tanah Lot which sits on a large offshore rock formation and is only accessible on foot at low tide. It is known to be one of the most visited places in Indonesia.