Pictures too small.? Click on any picture for a
larger view.
The
Marina in Bali was quite crowded but they did the 
best
they could to squeeze us all in. Sea Witch is against the dock with
neighbors Nighthawk, Outlandish and Poppy 1. From Bali Marina, we all
arranged tours of Bali. Drivers with vans were quite inexpensive.
One of our first stops was a local theater for Balinese dancing. These
dances are used to tell ancient lessons.
We
stayed in reasonably inexpensive but comfortable "motels" with costs
ranging from $15-20 US per night. Food was also inexpensive and
quite tasty. On our last night, we had a room on the beach with $2
massages - fun, but not great.
This Flying Fox greeted us at one of the motels. 
We took three days to tour temple, rice paddies and palaces and saw the arts
and crafts of the people of Bali - weaving, wood carving, basket weaving, puppet
making, and painting. We 
were
also able to get a good glimpse of people going about their normal daily
routines. We lucked out and happened to be visiting the Bat Cave - one of
the most sacred temples on the island - when they were doing a cremation
ceremony. Because most of the villagers are poor, they often bury the
bodies until a village has enough to afford a group cremation ceremony. We
saw one of these on the side of the road. Ashes from the ceremony are
taken out to sea. Then, a ceremony for many people is held at the
Bat Cave. These ceremonies and funerals were colorful and quite beautiful.
The vendors can be voracious and, if you make eye
contact, look at any of their wares, or, heaven help you, touch something, you
will be engaged in a fierce
bargaining process for 
something
you don’t want. Two women
“captured” Jeff and started putting clothing over him as he tried to walk
away. Unless you are willing to
drop their stuff on the ground you can’t get away.
We are now experts at the bargaining process and are quite good at
“running gauntlet”.
There
was a variety of different forms of temples - some beautiful and some very basic
- representing the various cultures in Bali.
The
scenery was spectacular throughout Bali. We enjoyed the views and were
amazed by the rice fields. There is almost no uncultivated land left in
Bali.
While many
of the vendors were voracious, s
ome
of the villages reconize that tourists avoid many of these areas. This
girl had been told to "not bother" us and we had to coax her out for a
picture.
Here, Gail tries out one of the local bamboo instruments.
A few more days in Bali working on the boat, stocking up and also buying
bargain DVDs and we were off. A group of four boats departed
together headed for the jungles of Borneo.
