The shower was warm although the rose had some considerable difficulty forming an organised jet stream of water. We were both showered, dressed and ready for breakfast, then Ian discovered that his sun cream had burst its seems inside his backpack, so breakfast was delayed until 07:45. Our continental breakfast consisted of toast with very thick strawberry jam and orange marmalade and tea or revolting coffee. We checked out of the Mastapa Garden Hotel at 08:30 and waited for our guide, Putu, to collect us and commence our five day tour of Bali.
We were waiting for 45 minutes and in the meantime Ian took a telephone call from Julie of Royal Resorts who explained to him that we had won a free holiday at selected resorts following Ian's participation in a street survey yesterday. Marvellous, we thought. It was apparently valid for six years. Ever the sceptical, Ian checked with reception to see if they had heard of the company, needless to say they hadn't.
Putu, having refuelled the motor, drove us out ot Kuta and took us to see some Balinese dancers. On the way we passed a man and his cattle ploughing a rice paddy field which would have made a perfect photograph. The Barong and Kris dance at Denpasar was expensive, a performance obviously for tourist purposes and quite noisy, but entertaining nonetheless. The costumes were elaborate but the legend, on which the dance was based, was difficult to follow. Then we were driven to Gianyar to see how batiks and weaving were created. Both looked like very slow procedures requiring a lot of patience. There was a batik painting that I particularly liked too but I resisted the urge to purchase it. Next we visited a silver jewellery manufacturers who demonstrated how they made some silver jewellery and artefacts. The attention to detail is incredible, an amazing level of skill and patience is involved in making such products. I was very tempted to buy some brooches but having not bought any souvenirs since commencing our trip I didn't want to start now, especially with such delicate items that would likely break in my backpack. Unfortunately it just isn't possible to buy something from each country, no matter how small each item. Some of the silver jewellery must have taken months to create. Some Balinese paintings were the next art form visited by us and although they were very well done, some of them were painted in very dark drab colours, others were very well, brightly coloured landscapes of rice paddy fields and rice workers.
Lunch was a funny affair. Putu stopped at Kintamani for us to photograph the Batur volcano, standing at 1,717 metres, and Lake Batur. What actually happened is that Ian and I were to have lunch there, at Grand Puncak Sari restaurant, but what we didn't know was that the menu consisted of one option, a buffet price fixed at IDR 65,000 per person. So, as we had been set up and couldn't very well leave, we tried to fill our plates as much as possible and pondered as to how we were going to settle the bill with only IDR 100,000. I tried to return to the car to get some US dollars but Putu had locked and abandoned the vehicle so that idea was out of the question. Ian managed to exchange some US dollars for Indonesian Rupiah and settle the extortionate lunch bill, then I had a personal toilet hand who helped me to a toilet cubicle and then afterwards to wash and dry my hands.
Our next stop was at the Pura Kehen, the second largest temple in Bali which left a lot to be desired. To be honest it looked like it was disused although the local dogs seemed to like resting there. Then we visited a traditional village, Penglipuran, where, much like the Masai village in the Serengeti, we were treated, as tourists, to being shown the insides of a family's house which wasn't much, a bed, a stove and outside a stall of clothes and other artefacts that the lady wanted to sell to us. Driving past some beautiful rice paddy field terraces, for which Ian and I heartily stepped out of the car to photograph, we then travelled to Amed to enquire abouot diving for tomorrow. On the way we saw a flock of ducks being shepherded up the road towards us.
In Amed we were driven to Eco Dive who offered us some diving at reasonable prices. We chatted through our options and then inspected their kit. It all looked good so we agreed to do four dives over the next two days. Then we went to Kusumajaya Indah Bungalows where we secured a room for IDR 150,000 each night. Dinner was eaten accompanied by big bottles of beer by the sea pounding as waves crashed ashore. It reminded us of Jambiani in Zanzibar. The menu is a bit basic, there was no meat available, nor small bottles of beer, so it was vegetarian dishes and big bottles of beer for dinner, watching the lightening flashes off the eastern coast of Bali. Then, exhausted, we fell asleep at 22:00...
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.