Bali - Dancing and Dolphins

One of the things I love about going somewhere new are the sounds - sounds that you don’t hear at home.  And it is the sounds of Indonesia that stand out in my mind – from the call to prayer five times a day on Java, to the buzz of the motorbikes, to the call of the pedal cab operators.  But it was the music in Bali that I remember most.  From the music at the festivals to the street performances to the beats pounding out of the night clubs in Kuta, music seemed to surround Bali.  We were lucky to get to go to two Balinese dance performances – one at night and then one during the day.  Both were absolutely amazing – a stunning visual representation of Hindu mythology and story. 

The entire performance was vocal - no instruments were used.  It was astounding.  The performance lasted for over an hour and the combination of the sounds and the fire was absolutely riveting.

After the amazing performance the night before, we were off to a completely different performance the next morning.  Visually stunning and auditorily entrancing.

Winding our way through the rice terraces of Bali, we stopped off at temples and waterfalls.  The sun barely came out, but the temperature remained nice and warm.  Absolutely fantastic. 

Our destination was the town of Lovina - home of black sands and amazing dolphin and snorkelling oppourtunities.  The morning started at 5:00am so that we could get into our outrigger and watch the sun come up over the island.  We then spent two hours following a pod of dolphins through the bay as they fed. 

Back into town for some breakfast, then back out in the outriggers for some snorkelling.  The water was so clear, and the coral and fish were amazing!

Up next - it's off to Lombok!

Bali - Temples and Monkeys

I was so excited to go to Bali.  It’s been on the list forever – even before I read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  And after being on the island, I can see why it appealed.  Everywhere you look, it feels spiritual – from the daily offerings that are left in front of businesses three times a day, to the festivals that occur monthly and yearly.  We stopped off at one on the spur of the moment on our way to Kuta.  We were in Kuta one night to pick up more people on our tour, and then we were off to Ubud – where Elizabeth Gilbert based herself in Eat Pray Love. This entry is going to be mostly pictures with explainations - as pictures are worth more than words.

On the Ferry.  Luckily we never lost sight of the shore, so the panic was kept to a minimum.

While waiting for the ferry to head over to Bali, the locals dive for change thrown from the ferry.

Fishing boats.

The Welcome to Bali - spreading across the road.  The carving detail was astounding.

A sculpture made of fruit - an offering to the gods at a village temple festival that we stopped off at on our way to Kuta.

The entrance to the temple - we were not allowed in because none of us were properly attired.  We didn't have sarongs!

Offerings being brought to the temple.

 

Balinese Music Performance at the festival.

Sunset at Kuta Beach

Tanah Lot Temple

The temple is accessible from land by foot when the tide goes out.  But you have to watch for sea snakes.

Offerings.  The incense smells fantastic.

The Monkey forest in Ubud.  The monkeys are quite fat and agressive if they think you have food for them.

Glo almost got snatched by a monkey just after I took this picture.

Monkey and Baby.



Stay tuned for more from Bali!  Dancing and dolphins!

Mount Bromo

I think everyone knows that I’ve kind of been dodging natural disasters along my trip – flooding and cyclones in Australia, earthquake in New Zealand.  And I’m quite glad that I decided to go to Indonesia instead of Japan (that’ll be on a different trip).  Anyway, just before the Mount Bromo leg of my trip, I got an message from Sarah advising that all I really had left to dodge was hurricanes and volcanos.  Well, Mount Bromo is an active volcano.  And it was such an experience to go!

We drove up a long and winding mountain road – looking out the windows at the ash path that has blanketed the valleys around Mount Bromo.  It was misty, and smoky, and incredibly eerie.

We stayed at a cute little inn on the edge of the major crater with amazing views of the volcano itself.  The smoke plumes were amazing.  And when we were in our rooms, the windows and doors rattled with the seismic activity – that continued all nights.

The next morning we were all up at 3:00am for our hike up the mountain to watch the sun

Seismic Activity

Mount Bromo at Sunset

rise over the volcano.  I had no torch, and the hike was challenging, made even more so by my clumsiness 2 days before when I’d slipped on some mud at one of the temples and strained my knee (to the point that it swelled up to the size of a grapefruit.  After some slips and trips up the mountain, I made the decision to stay at the first point to watch the sunrise, rather than attempting the climb up the rest of the mountain.  It was amazing to watch the sun break over the volcano and accentuate the massive smoke plumes that rose into the air.  Over and over the volcano belched out ash and smoke – no lava as the lava bed is actually 350m to the west of the mountain, under a mile or two of rock.  But it was stunning none the less.

If you look at the base of the volcano - that's a Hindu temple to the element of Fire.