Day 49 - Part I - Wednesday Feb 15 Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia

Bali photos

position at 7:00 am: S8 5.15 latitude E115 22.02 longitude
(~20 miles SW of Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia), our next port)
temperature: 81F, 100% humidity, partly cloudy
distance since FLL: 17,698 miles

It is like a lake outside. It is hot and humid. When you walk out from the air conditioning, onto the deck, your glasses fog up instantly.

It is a good day as there are chocolate croissants onboard this morning. They seem to be making these on a regular schedule of every third day. The full moon was on our side this morning and visible from our balcony. Debbie had Honey Smacks today! The real thing, no international Smacks in sight.
We are taking a ship's tour today. Here is the information they provided to us.

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Bali Discovery
Duration: 8 Hours.
Walking.

Departing from Padang Bai your mini van will proceed into the interior of Bali, "Island of the Gods". You will make stops for photographs at local temples as well as many interesting sites. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about traveling in Bali is that unexpected opportunities can present themselves at any time. Suddenly you cross paths with a procession. An entire village colorfully clad in ceremonial dress and on the way to a temple ceremony, offerings balanced on their heads. Around the next bend is a steeply terraced hillside of the most amazing green - the color of young rice shoots. A flock of ducks waddles its way along, following a young boy with a flag.

Bali's Hindu Dharma religion is unique in the world. It is a special blend of Hinduism, Buddhism and ancestor worship that has developed over the centuries as outside influences have slowly blended with ancient rites and practices. Today your tour of discovery will take you to Kerta Gosa, the ancient Court of Justice at Klungkung, with its exquisitely painted ceilings. Other scheduled stops will be made at the Kehen Temple at Bangli and at the Neka Gallery near the artist's center of Ubud. A typical Balinese buffet luncheon awaits you at the Cahaya Dewata restaurant, set on the hillside overlooking the canyon of the Ayung River.
After lunch your guide will introduce you to a typical Balinese compound, maybe that of his own family, where you may acquaint yourself with the lifestyle of the Balinese. Prior to your return to Padang Bai, a stop at an artist's village with shopping opportunities will conclude your day of discovery.

Notes: We recommend that you wear, cool light clothing and that you protect yourself against the sun. Entry into most temples requires that your knees be covered. If they are not, an attendant will provide you with a sarong. Regardless of what you are wearing, everyone will be provided with a temple sash worn around the waist for the duration of your visit.
Program Pricing
Adult: $135.00.
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We left the ship around 9:15am in a tender and by 9:30am we were in a 11-passenger van that was air conditioned, thank goodness. There were 7 people in the van for our tour plus a guide and a driver. We presented our tickets and were directed to the first 2 vans in a line. When we got near the front of the line of vans, we were directed into the rear seat of the 2nd van. The first row accomodated the driver and one passenger. (They drive on the left in Bali. So all three passenger doors were on the left.) There was a couple in the second row and a woman in the third row. Another woman took the front seat next to the driver. To get into rear seat, you had to go over the third row of seats, stepping on a very small step and then climbing between the folded seat and the fixed seat and into the 4th row. To get out it was the reverse, climb between the fixed and folded seat, find the tiny toe hold in the door well and drop to the ground which was about 2.5 feet high. This required putting full weight on each ankle at some point giving Clay's ankle a full workout during the day. The guide tried to sit in the row next to the woman in the third row and she shooed him out and told him that her husband was coming. "Where?" She said he was around somewhere. The guide encouraged her to go back to the next van in line and wait for him to show up because he needed a seat and we needed to leave. She shut the door and dug in. The guide shooed over a non-English-speaking woman of the Asian couple in the second row and over the back of the seat, he tried to convince her. No dice. The Asian man at this point was pushing his wife back over, trying to get the guide off his row. No luck. About this time, the missing husband showed up and got in. All the doors were closed and we left the port area. (Debbie later learned from one of her exercise buddies that her group of 6 who had booked the $195 per van for 1 to 6 people for 4 hours, "Bali As You Please," tour had divided into 3 each and taken the next 2 vans instead of the one 6-passenger van they had expected. She also told Debbie that they had been out the same amount of time as us, because they were waiting in line for the tender and saw us unload and get on the same tender back to the ship. Go figure!)

Driving through the countryside and villages was really one of the highlights of the day. We saw green terraced hillsides, rivers, spillways, and traffic everywhere. There were lots of cars and ten times as many scooters. We spent a lot of time driving up and back the same roads but fortunately the AC on the van was really cool when we could keep it on. The outlets were all in the ceiling directly above and behind the front row and the passengers in the 2nd row rather than redirect the vents would just reach up and turn the fan off. We drove really fast. Up and down and hairpin curves. Dogs, chickens, children, scooters, trucks, all in and off the roads. Debbie got a little barfy-feeling and she had on seabands and had a double dose of meclizine that morning in preparation for the tender ride! Of course, sitting in that 4th row we couldn't see anything except what flashed by the side windows of our row. You couldn't even look out the back window because there was always another van or a truck about 2 feet from the bumper!

We drove from Padang Bai to Klungkung and drove by the Ancient Court of Justice. The guide promised that we would be back and gave out maps to show us that he had circled our stops for the day. He had marked Klungkung, Mas (wood carving) and Ubud (painting museum) and had drawn a circle and hand-written Kehen Temple. When we buzzed through Klungkung and Debbie asked where we were going, the guide said we would go to Kehen Temple first, the furthest point and then return to the other sites with lunch on the way back (near Ubud). Our guide was very informative, if pressed with questions. Otherwise, he either sat silently or when out of the van, wandered off and sat or stood alone in the shade. He never told us where to meet back or when we we unloading the van. We did not have a cohesive group and we were a bigger group than he expected and wished to deal with, we think. He got a lot of complaints about flying by the beautiful countryside before making a scheduled photo stop. Had he told us that he had planned photo stops, it might have gone a long way to setting a happier tone in the van up front. Before we got out of the van for the first time, he gave us a long lecture on not making eye contact with the vendors or we would be overrun. The vendors there were aggresive but they did not outnumber us so it was not overwhelming. But, you could not have really shopped what they were waving around like that. We saw intricate bone carvings, wood carvings, and sarongs. Everyone followed the guides advice and no one bought anything, though the solo woman did negotiate just to see what happened. The guide spent the next 30 minutes or so telling us how it was expected here to negoiate for almost everything except food. And, that it was impolite to look at or negoiate for anything that you did not have a fixed, fair price in mind and planned to buy. Then he reiterated that we should absolutely not engage the vendors at the stops we were making along the way. (We took this expanded vendor/shopping etiquette lecture and the tour description to mean that we should shop when he told us we were at the stop for it.) We drove a lot longer and made one more unscheduled photo stop, then spent too long in the sun at Kehen Temple. The guide did not give us any information about the temple before we arrived except that it was the 2nd largest on Bali and there was to be a big ceremony there in a couple of days, so it was being prepared. Once at the stairs, he pretty much just left the group alone and people dispersed. One couple found there own guide there. We were afraid of wandering too much for fear of making an etiquette error. We had gotten temple sashes tied on us before going up the first stairs and were told not to go through the closed center door and 2 men had to rent sarongs to cover their lower legs, but that was it. Finally after standing in the blazing sun long enough to soak our clothes through and get sun stroke, Debbie went and fetched our guide and started grilling him for explanations of what we were seeing. After he got warmed up he was informative, and our group started to regather around him, except for the non-English speaking couple who were waiting in the shade out by the front steps. On the way out, he reiterated his warning to ignore the vendors, or else. We got to the van and he was looking around for the couple in the third row who were just gone. Debbie looked out the back window and said she is over there trying on pants. The guide went and got her and as we drove he gave another shopping etiquette lecture. This brought on a long discussion between theguide, the couple and Debbie about buying a carved elephant here. The woman was determined from a foiled South American lama-quest and was not about to be denied her elephant. The guide and Debbie both told her that elephants had never been indigenous on Bali and she could surely get one from one of our many future stops with both native elephants and wood carvers, but she already had her mind set on it.

We drove back through the same roads on the way downhill and stopped at the uphill side near the flooded rice terraces that had caused the biggest uproar about missed photographic opportunities. We spent about 5-10 minutes there out of the van. We eventually turned on a different road to go over to Ubud. It was near noon and we were all still sweat-soaked from standing in the sun at the temple. The guide asked if we wanted to go to the Neka Art Museum in Ubud first or to lunch near Ubud first and then the museum. Debbie immediately piped up from the back, with "lunch first, then we won't be so cranky in the museum." Everyone else agreed that they would like lunch first. (Strangely, at the first photo stop around 10am we were offered cold drinks. The driver and guide opened a bucket tucked behind the back seat that had 6 small bottles of water and 6 rolled terry washclothes soaking in the icy water of the bucket. It was too early and the sky was overcast then and at the high overlook elevation the temperature was moderate. Everyone declined and said that we had each brought a bottle of water with us if we wanted a drink. This offer was not repeated until the last stop of the afternoon. We really could have used it after the temple, or after the museum! But, of course, they did not have enough to go around and when the four of us and the guide got back from the last stop in Klungkung, he asked and we accepted the cold clothes and water bottles before reboarding the van where the other 3 were waiting up front and got nothing! We were less than an hour from the ship then, so it didn't mean that much at that point anyway, we suppose.) We went through Ubud which is an artisan village, there were probably hundreds of small shops selling everything you could imagine and with enticing sidewalk displays. We buzzed past them and the Neka Museum. We buzzed by the village market place. It was abuzz with vendors and stalls and very scenic. The guide pointed it out as we attempted to buzz by. There were more grumbles about missed photo ops. We went to Cahaya Dewata Resort Hotel in the hills on the other side of Ubud. It was very beautifully situated and we had a wonderful view from the open air terraces of the restaurant and some shade and cooling breezes. It was like a maze there though with dozens of small building separated by stairs and sidewalks. The guide showed us to the tables, restrooms and the buffet. Debbie made him find out what was in each serving tray since there were no signs, he told us we were each entitled to one drink then he left. We were the first group to arrive at the buffet though we saw 3 big buses in the parking lot. It seemed that the restaurant was the same as the rest of the hotel and there were lots of separate small buildings and niches and you seemed alone, because there were some big groups there somewhere. We did choose early lunch vs. later though and we happy with that decision. The lunch was delicious. They had some sweet-tasting steamed white rice with a spicy sauce you could put on it. They had a kind of stir-fried beef and one of pork. They had fried chicken and spring rolls. They had shrimp crisps and reddish-colored fried noodles with vegetables and penne with fish. They had a chicken broth and vegetable soup with bread rolls. They had an assortment of cold salads and steamed mixed vegetables. They had fruit, fried bananas and cake slices for dessert along with hot tea and coffee. We sat at a table set for 4 with the woman from the front row. Clay got a local beer. He had asked the guide about it in the van and he had endorsed Bintang beer, brewed locally and the word means "star." We each were delivered a chilled glass bottle of water. Debbie got up and went to the bar to get a cold Coke before we left the table. By then, other groups were arriving and there were more servers bustling about and it was clear they were ignoring us by refusing to remove our dirty dishes so we could put down our dessert plates. Fortunately, we had that empty spot at our table, so we just bussed our own table and stack them in that spot. We waited over our drinks and desserts for a while and then really felt the need to move on but did not know where our guide was or even how to find our way back through the maze of the hotel complex. We all split up and started wandering not knowing when or where we should be. There were several small shops in the complex and we stopped at each but did not get much sales pressure or help and there were no large T-shirts for Clay apparently and so we got nothing. We were all out at the van at some point waiting around and while the driver was there, no sign of the guide. Debbie finally found him and the spot we had been dropped off. He told her we have to wait for the others. She told him they are all wandering around in and around that courtyard over there and have been for the last 20 minutes. We couldn't find you. The guide scared up the driver and told him to bring the van, then he went over into the courtyard and brought everyone else over to the drop off/pick up point.

He told us it was a short drive to the museum and it was. We again drove through the very appealing shopping village of Ubud and got more complaints about not stopping. He did not reply. He took us in the museum and paid for our admission and then said lets go. We stayed with him and he was clearly enthusiastic about the local artists and painters. The rest of the group was not impressed and quickly dispersed. He gave Debbie a pretty much detailed private museum tour even though she was not all that impressed with the works or all that engaged in the dialogue. Finally we found all the others waiting in the courtyard again and when Debbie asked him what next. He said that's it. She asked is there a gift shop or toilets on the way out. Yes. Where? No reply. Weird. 4 of us set out and started following exit signs, the others trailed. Debbie finally turned around and yelled to him at the back of the spread out line, will this way take us back to the shop and toilets where we entered. He grinned and nodded. OK.

Outside the museum the lone woman from the front seat started making noise about going back to the ship. Debbie firmly told her that we had paid for an 8-hour tour and it was early afternoon and she should just settle in because if we got taken back to the dock before 5-5:30 time range, Debbie was going to make some noise. The woman just stared at Debbie. Debbie rarely talks to strangers at all and for her to be so blunt was quite out of character, but clearly the situation warranted nipping in the bud. We drove through the very appealing shopping village of Ubud once again and still no stops and no response to requests for stops at particular shops. All comments were ignored and the van became very quiet and tense. The guide had told us we were on our way to a wood-carving workshop and village when we got in the van in front of the museum. The afternoon sun was now shining in on the right side of the van and so someone oneach row was in it now. (Unlike all morning when it shone in the back window and only the 2 of us were in it.) The Asian gentleman got very agitated about the sun shining on him and was clearly even more disgruntled about sharing his row with the guide. He shoved all the way over so his wife was pushing against the guide who was squashed against the door. The woman in the front slept for the next hour or so. Probably more reasons why he stopped talking to us.

We unloaded in a big parking lot full of buses and vans at the wood-carving compound in Mass. There were literally thousands of wood-carvings for sale there in dozens of different display rooms and dozens of men and women working on the carving and finishing all over the place. Most of the carvings were at least coffee table-sized! Many were even larger! There was a very small selection of items sized to fit in a suitcase, or even under a bed and they were not of the same quality or workmanship as the large pieces. They were also horrifically overpriced, even if you expected to argue down the price. We looked at a small mask and were not all that impressed with it. It was not very intricate or beautiful, but a saleswoman came and took it from us and then showed us a small group of them and said they were $75USD each. That was not even a reasonable starting point for a negoiation for something of that size and quality of workmanship. We declined. Debbie picked up a pair of chopsticks in a plastic bag. Now, it did have a little chopstick rest in there, which was a nice touch. But, we bought nicer chopsticks than this in Phuket for under $1USD each and they were bagged in a silk sleeve! The chopsticks were $10 each pair we were told. The saleswoman did not appear to be encouraging a pricing dialogue at any point. We were unimpressed by the small items offered and overwhelmed by the prices, so we started following exit signs out. The Asian couple was already sitting out there on the steps. We walked further out under the breezeway to see if we could spot anyone else, or the guide, or driver. No dice. There were a whole lot of carved elephants in those showrooms, so we figured we knew where the other couple was in any event. The woman from the front row came out a few seconds after us and again said she was ready to go back to the ship. Debbie told her this tour lasts 8 hours, we weren't in the van until 9:30am and we still haven't completed the advertised agenda. We won't go back before 5-5:30pm. The woman asked what was left to do and Debbie told her. She said she might ask the guide, if she could find him, if we could go back early. Debbie told her she better not and walked away. We went and stood back by the entrance where we had been dropped off. Still no sign of the guide. The woman and the Asian couple eventually showed up beside us and the Asian man gestured around like looking for something and shrugged his shoulders. Clay pointed out our van to him, sitting in the sun in the parking lot. The lone woman said she was going to sit in the AC of the van and all 3 set off. We kept waiting to see the guide or the other couple. Debbie finally spotted the woman and called to her. She came over and said they were waiting to get their big elephant and she came to find the guide. We told her that we had not seen him. She said she thought they needed help with getting their elephant from the packing room after they had already paid for it. She said everyone spoke good English up until they had paid and now they were having problems. Debbie went back in with her and Clay stayed put to keep a lookout for the guide to tell him to go help. Debbie went in to find the man red-faced and having a tug of war over the elephant. The men there wanted to pack it as if crating it for a long flight with savage freight handlers or something. There was no way the elephant and a ton of shredded paper and 2 cardboard boxes was going into that already loaded van anyway. Maybe the elephant alone, but it did need to be wrapped in paper, or some foam sheets they had back there to avoid scratches. She tried to intervene and explain that by making cradling and lap motions and pointing to the foam sheets. That was all the couple wanted or could take. No luck. More men, more tugging, pushing, pulling, shouting. The man was about to have an embolism. Debbie said she would go out and come back with an interpreter of some kind even if it was not our guide. She trotted back to the entrance and spotted a guide sitting under a tree across the parking lot. She headed for him at a trot, waving her arms, and calling. It turned out to be our guide. He looked stunned and confused. She told him to hustle up and get in there, the elephant couple needs an interpreter. Why? She breathlessly explained the packing crate/pounds of paper-scenario and he hustled up. They got to the entrance as 3 men came out with a very large and poorly taped, not fully-closed box up on their shoulders like a coffin.The couple was red-faced and trailing. The guide laughed and Debbie told him, oh well, too late. The driver opened the back hatch and they shifted their stuff back there and put the box in the space left, but the door would not shut. There was no roof rack, so it could not be stuck on top. Clay was already in the back and Debbie stood up and stepped over into the third row. She told Clay to shift over to the edge of the fourth row and asked the men if they could slide the box over the seat. They slid it over and into the fourth row. She sat down in the third row and said let's go. The other couple got in beside her and the guide climbed in next to the Asian couple who had opened an umbrella to keep the sun off him. The atmosphere in the van had gone from tense to sullen. The woman up front could not believe that the elephant couple had not been joking. Debbie had already assured her they were not just joking.
Continued in the next entry....

Bali photos