Day 131, Year 3: Trip to South Bali
Date: Hari Rabu (Wednesday), Bulan September 17, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Another Beautiful Day
Location: Kuta Beach, BALI, Indonesia

The trip from north to south Bali is a little like being on a Disney World ride. The scenery is “out of this world” and you truly feel like you are in fairyland. The terraced rice paddies are so green and there are intricately carved temples everywhere. We are certain there are more temples than homes on this island. And in the towns and villages the streets are lined with towering bamboo poles that hang over the streets like weeping willow branches. The poles are decorated with pandanus origami
figures. We visited a beautiful waterfall at Gitgit, stopped at a temple on Danu Bratan, Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, and watched a most impressive parade of Hindus dressed in elaborately decorated sarongs, each carrying what appeared to be a little temple of gold on her head. The gamelan (gong) players are all men and they had on beautiful pink shirts. They were going to the side of the lake for a special mountain and water ceremony and we couldn’t believe we were lucky enough to arrive just as they
started their parade to the water’s edge. Probably anything after that would have been a come down, but our stop in Ubud was a real disappointment. It is the art and cultural heart of Bali, but to us it just looked like a crazy, crowded city. I’m sure there is more there than we saw today, so we will have to give that one a second chance. We had a lovely lunch in an open air restaurant beside a rice field, and then we plunged into the traffic of south Bali. Kuta Beach is the nearest place to
stay to the airport, so we are here. This is surf city and there’s not much here that we find charming either. But by midnight, Justin and Jo should be here and that will certainly brighten our lives. Assuming they arrive on time, tomorrow morning we will head back north to have lunch at another lake in the crater of a volcano before heading back to Windbird and the welcoming rally dinner.

080917 Day 131 Bali, Indonesia–Bali North to South