Day 51 – March 7, 2011 – Bali, Indonesia

After arriving in Bali on time, we were tendered into the dock at Padang Bay.  This was a different dock that we had ever arrived at before.  Since several of the Indonesian crew were leaving and other Balinese crew had shore leave to visit families, the dock was pretty crowded.  We had booked a van for the day and shared it with Ann and Tom.  Our guide met us just as we left the tender and helped us get through the crowd.  The van was large and could have held 8 easily.  The tour was limiting each van to 6 so everyone could have adequate space.

Since this was Ann and Tom’s first visit to Bali, we had the guide put together an itinerary that showed them a bit of everything.  Our first goal was to be in Ubud for lunch and to see some countryside and wood and silver workshops.  While you can buy Balinese souvenirs anywhere on the Island, some of the nicer items are purchased in the village where the craft is handed down from generation to generation.  We first stopped in the village of Mas to visit a wood carving center.  Of course, there is a new wood carving in our luggage to get home!

Then we stopped at a silver village, Celuk, and found some very nice silver jewelry in the Balinese style.  The Balinese style is identified by the use of very tiny silver balls glued then soldered on to the main silver piece. 

As we drove through these villages, we saw lots of rice patties in various stages from being plowed up to being harvested.  We also saw lots of activity in all the villages.  When Fred and Jan were in Bali in 2006, they saw lots of empty shops because of the terrorist activities that had hit Bali in the years after 2001.  We were very happy to see what looks like a recovery from those years.

We had lunch at a new hotel in Ubud that overlooked the Ayung River gorge.  The hotel was The Royal Pita Maha, owned by the Ubud royal family.  It was a beautiful resort with the main hotel up high on the cliff and the villas placed down the side towards the river.  Along the river there are pools, gardens, and special pavilions. The view from the lunch terrace was spectacular and we good see rafts going through the rapids on the river below.

After lunch, it was time to head back towards the ship.  We stopped at a family compound where we could go inside and see how the traditional family would live.  The compound encircled the various areas such as a temporary kitchen where they were preparing special foods for an upcoming ceremony, the kitchen, various smaller buildings for each generation of the family, an area for livestock including two pigs and finally, always in the northeast corner, the family temple.   Our guide explained that the family would come to the family temple every evening to give thanks for the day.

Next stop was a large community temple.  Fred and Tom decided they had had enough walking and stayed in the van.  Jan and Ann wanted to go in and they had to wear the sarong that is required by both men and women to enter the community temples.   We walked through the various areas as our guide explained a bit about the ceremonies that would be held here and when they were held.  Jan thought this was the same temple she visited in 2006 where she was lucky enough to be there during the preparations for a full moon ceremony.

We finished the drive back to ship into a very congested area with all the vans and buses disembarking passengers.  They were letting the vans drive on the dock and leaving their passengers very close to the tender!  After a long day, we were glad we didn’t have to walk through all the vehicles and crowds to get back.

There was a deck party scheduled on the pool deck this evening.  They decided to go ahead and have it even though there was a light rain falling.  The restaurant staff had put all tables under cover and the serving areas under the deck on the port side.  We met a couple we have been taking bridge glasses with for dinner and decided we would rather eat at Compass Rose out of the humidity.   We enjoyed a great dinner with great company!

We were originally scheduled to leave Bali at 11:00pm but everyone on ship had been notified that we would be leaving at 8:00pm in order to get to the Sandakan pilot station on time.  However, Bali was an embarkation port and there were people arriving that did not know we were going to leave early.   The ship waited for them and so we left Bali much later than the revised departure.