Dancers greeting us in Bali
When we visited here last year we took a Celebrity tour to see crafts and artisans. It left us not desiring to return to this city because it was crowded and very dirty with horrible traffic. That tour consisted of inching our way around the congested city for quick looks at people performing their trades and long times spent in over priced shops next to the demonstration areas. We wondered where was the beautiful Bali we had heard so much about.
For today we had scheduled an 8.5 hour HAL tour titled East Bali Heritage. It was to leave at 9:00 and return us to the ship at 5:15. All aboard was 5:30. Due to the delay in clearing the ship we left at 9:15. Our first temple was an hour away. We headed directly out of the city. As we passed through the residential areas our guide explained that most people on Bali practiced the Hindu religion. As part of that each village had three major community temples. One was north. One was south. The largest one was in the village center. In addition each family has a family temple on their property. They provide daily offerings of fruit and/or flowers for the spirits of their dead. Some of these temples are very elaborate. Many businesses selling temple structures and related accessories lined the road. Most of these items were made of the black volcanic rock so abundant here.
We arrived at our first destination, Lunkung Kertagosa, after an hour's drive, just a little behind schedule. This was built in 1710 and contained the beautiful floating pavilion, Bale Kambang. it was called a floating pavilion because of the use of water and bridges around the many structures. The rooms were all open sided with paintings around the interiors of the roofs. We learned the stories told in those paintings. The Kurtagosa, hall of justice, was also located here. We had ample time to explore, after the guide's interpretation. We did not feel rushed.
We reboarded our bus for another hour drive to Besakih, the Mother of All Temples. This was located high on the side of a volcano, the highest mountain in Bali, Gunung Agung. Along the way we passed through beautiful countryside dotted with rice paddies. Many were on flat ground. Some were terraced on remarkably steep slopes. This is still the rainy season, so the paddies were amply supplied with water. Some rice was ready for harvest, while other paddies had just been planted. The sun reflected beautifully off of the water.
The bus parked some distance from the temple. After a long walk to the temple gate we had a significant, but easy climb inside. This is a complex of 23 temples on several levels up the mountainside. As we approached the main temple in the middle of the complex, we observed a ceremony being conducted by a lesser priest. Fewer than ten worshippers participated. Our guide explained the ritual to us. Then we moved on. As we were going up a staired path, a procession was coming down toward us. There were several people dressed in white carrying offerings. In their midst was an older, clearly important, man. He was the high priest. The procession proceeded to the central temple where he presided over the ceremony. We moved on up the mountain. The views were spectacular. The complex was quite large with views of mountains and valleys in every direction. It was clear why this site had been chosen.
Besakih - Mother of all temples
When we had approached the grounds, we had each been wrapped in a sarong. The religious practice is that knees should not be discernible. Even though we all had long pants, the sarongs were necessary to hide the fact that we had knees. After receiving our sarongs we had to walk the gamut through a hoard of vendors. Now on our way down to the bus we had to repeat the process as a drizzle started. Our guide had cautioned that the prices being asked were negotiable. We should be able to buy for 60 to 70% of what was asked. Of course the low prices were indicative of the low quality. The stuff looked good, but might not be durable. We kept our hands in our pockets.
The bus started down the mountain headed to our lunch stop. This was another hour away. Our route wound through less populated areas. It started to rain lightly. We arrived at a lovely open air restaurant that looked out over a valley filled with rice paddies as far as we could see. The mountainsides were equally beautiful. As we enjoyed the excellent buffet lunch it started to pour. The roof overhang was adequate to shelter even those sitting at the edge of the terrace. As we left to continue this wonderful journey, it was still raining. Alice and I donned the ponchos the guide had provided, and returned to the bus in relative comfort.
Our view at lunch before the rain
Rain gear stowed we moved on to visit our final stop, the palace Puri Agung Karagasem. This was in the heart of a village. It was surrounded by traffic, yet it was quiet. This palace was built by the first king of the Karagasem Kingdom in the 19th century. It combines Balinese, European and Chinese architecture. After a good explanation of what we were viewing, we had a reasonable time to visit on our own.
Our last stop
We were back on the bus at 4:00. The ride to the port would take an hour, and we would be back on time. We had been warned many times about the traffic here, but we had really not encountered any big delays. That ended now. The roads are very narrow, and slow trucks cause great lines of vehicles waiting to pass. This is compounded by the many motor bikes that dart in and out. At 5:00 we were still quite far from the port. Our guide was on his cell phone with status updates. We watched the traffic and the now zero lot line housing. It is hard to imagine living so close to one another. But then, the sense of community is much greater here. Religion and proximity draw people closer, and lead them to greater tolerance.
Peace and Harmony!
As 5:30 came and went we were even happier to be on a HAL tour. When we got to the port at 6:15, Amsterdam was still waiting for us. After a quick clean up, we went to the dining room. Our table mates chided us about being late, and then advised us that at 5:30 we had only 6 feet of water under our keel. We had to wait for the incoming tide, and would not leave before 7:00. We shared stories of our day, and we watched the sand bar behind us disappear unde the water as sailboats refloated. At 7:15 we were underway.
What a delightful time we had in Bali. What a difference a year and a good tour make. We would be happy to visit again.
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