In Nassau near the straw market in the 70's, you will remember that you were accosted by vendors trying to sell you craft items. Well imagine a very poor, small port we arrived at in Bali. But imagine being accosted not by 2 or 3 persons once we walked off the pier but by 15 to 20 persons thrusting their goods at us - and everything starts with one dalla. (dollar)
There were passengers and staff that tried to walk off the pier and were so intimated by the crush of vendors, they got back on the tender to be taken back to the ship.
It was unnerving to say the least and we finally broke free a little of the majority by saying NO quite loudly. Len and I held onto one another but they managed to separate us. You are almost forced to buy something. Len was loaded down with crafts. He felt sorry for these people and in some cases just gave them a few dollars without accepting the trinkets. That;s Len!
There was little in the port to see. There were the street vendors, a few ragged stalls and stores and not much else. We walked with some other passengers away from the wharf along the beach and found these fishermen.
You need to understand that the air is filled with the pungent scent of incense that hangs in a haze over the entire island. The population is 80% Hindu. Cows are not sacred and their beliefs are somewhat different that Indian Hundus, but they pray to most of the same gods and they burn incense everywhere. In each stall, the thousands of temples they have, in each home they burn the sticks and the air is cloying, especially in the heat and humidity. It is hard to breathe in deeply because of the scent of the incense and of course the burning of refuse everywhere. The richest man on Bali has to be the incense maker!
We continued walking along the beachfront and came upon this man taunting a rooster with another rooster. Although cock fighting is "illegal", they must sacrifice an animal at their large religious ceremonies and they use the cocks as the sacrifices. Of course the officials turn a blind eye to the betting that goes on at these religious ceremonies and of course only one cock can survive otherwise it is not a religious offering with a blood sacrifice. Strange though, since they sacrifice not one but many others during 3 days of religious activity with 30 - 50 cock fights during this time. Just how much blood needs to be spilled?
We continued walking along the beach and came upon a dinky dark small shop with wood carvings.
We became friendly with the owner, the carver, who came from up in the hills and only came down to the port once in a while. His work was beautiful and we chose a mask and some small bone (deer) carvings that he had done. His english was not too bad and while Len had to go back to the ship for more money I sat with him and talked. He was 63 (he thinks) his parents never told him how old he was Unfortunately he looked close to 80. He gave me a gift of a small carving of the head of a Maori he had tried. I've sewn it onto my jacket back with all the other pins from the different ports we've visited.
That evening we were scheduled to go to a temple in the hills about 1 hour away for a show and dinner at this temple. It took 8 busses filled with passengers (it was free so everyone went) and a police escort to get us to the temple.
All the passengers stood on the wharf before boarding and we were dressed by helpers in traditional sarongs and the men with strange head coverings. Here is the photo of Len being dressed.
You can't see his sarong though.
Well we boarded the bus for an interesting trip through 2 lane streets to the temple. The road was lined with stalls and small shacks.
The haze of incense permeated into the bus and although the AC was on - it was oppressive. 95 outside and 95% humidity and sitting wrapped in a sarong on the bus was not comfortable.
We got to the temple when it was dark but they had torches lighting the way with a beautiful reception of hundreds of dancers, and playing bizarre instruments and drums. Here is Len in front of the musicians.
We sat down in front of a stage and food was placed in front of us. We tried not to look into the prep area where the food was being plated and we sort of pushed around the food on our plates - not really eating but trying to be polite. The show, which was nice was in front of the temple and I tried to watch while brushing the sweat from my forehead. My clothes were soaked right through!
The temple workers and helpers really went out of their way to make a nice impression but I just kept thinking of a cold shower back in our suite.
We finally got back to the tender around 11 pm. I had forgotten my umbrella at the wood carving store and would you believe that Jro (the carver) was waiting for us as we got off the bus to return the umbrella to me.
The next day we were scheduled to go to a Hindu Temple that worships bats, and continue on to a wood carving factory with a typical Balinese home attached and then on to an artists colony.
Our first stop was the temple - again they put sarongs on us before entering the temple. Strange that they allowed us to take photos inside the compound - There were people on the ground praying while the strong incense sticks created an worse haze over us. This is one door to the temple. The center door is only opened on religious days. You need to realize that Bali is entirely covered in mold and mildew.
A person with allergies would really have a hard time here.
They allowed us to take photos of the sacred bats only at the entrance of the cave.
We continued down the road passing more stalls and people preparing food right on the streets. We passed beautiful countryside with terraced rice paddies large, banana groves and jackfruit groves. Here are photos Len took through the bus window.
After visiting the bat temple we heading for the artist's compound. It was a really lovely group of buildings that house many many Balinese paintings in all different media. They built this specifically to showcase the artists some of which were from foreigners who live in Bali. We found a fantastic painting and bought it. An acrylic on canvas - fabulous!
We were given an hour by the tour operator to visit the compound yet at 45 minutes he came looking for us to re-board the bus. The bus was filled with about 20 old FARTS who, I think only wanted the bus ride yet looked at some of the fabulous art work for only 1/2 hour then went back on the bus to wait for us. We took the whole hour.
We next went to the wood carving compound in a very very rich man's home. Although all the open areas surround a courtyard and 3 generations live there the place was beautiful.
Here are some of the wood worker women sanding some of the sculptures. When they are not sanding they clean the house - so they have about 7-8 servants doing all the cooking and cleaning
Did I mention that there were at least 30 sticks of incense throughout the compound?
Well again - the old farts were back on the bus for the return trip far earlier than we did. We were given an hour and made full use of the hour to admire the grounds and the carvings. Boy, if looks could kill
then we would have been dead from the daggers their eyes were showering us with!
Here are some of the things we passed on our return trip. There are huge statues in the islands in the middle of the road.
Another bus window photo
There is no regular garbage pick up on the island and everything is burned- piles of garbage litter the streets, however we did see them loading garbage - this must be done privately by each village. They do not have plastic bags for refuse. The picture after this one shows how many fires burn daily on just one tiny part of the island. Although you may not be able to see it - through the haze of smoke and incense
Did I mention how heavy the air was with the burning of incense? - there are 9 fires.
Toilets like we know them are non existent. There is either a hole in the ground or a toilet that has a huge vat of water beside it that you scoop water from into the toilet to flush it - Or you just poop behind a bush. No kidding. Tthe people below are in filthy water. They warn you not to drink a drop it is so polluted and the Balinese boil the water or buy bottled water because it is so polluted.
The rich cremate the bodies - cost is $2000 US - to do it right. With priests picking the auspicious date and making a beautiful funeral pyre. The poor just bury a body by the roadside. No kidding. In a few years they come to dig up the bones and they burn the bones in a very small ceremony.
Other people on another tour saw a funeral going on with the body on the pyre and another couple saw 3 men digging a hole by the side of the road with a body beside it - ready for burial! They also float cremated bodies down the river is small decorated boats.
I understand that on the other side of the island where the hotels are, within the hotel grounds - it is pristine with beautifully manicured land. Most of the people who live in Bali work in the tourism business otherwise they are very very poor.
We were happy to visit, but happier to leave.
Next stop in 2 days is Borneo.
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