Sunday, Day 57 - Mar 4 - 10am to overnight, Benoa Harbor, Bali Island, Indonesia

Bali is known as the Island of the Gods. The main port is Benoa, once a simple fishing village grown into an upscale destination. Benoa is located on the isthmus of the peninsula at the southern tip of Bali. This area’s charms are most evident in Nusa Dua, one of the most beautiful beaches in this part of Bali. The southern tip is the most popular area filled with resorts, beautiful beaches, places to eat and shop and historic temples.

Bali is a land of rice terraces, spectacular volcanoes and over 20,000 temples. One of the main destinations is the 17th-century royal temple complex of Pura Taman Ayun in nearby Mengwi, surrounded by a lotus- filled moat, giving it the feel of a garden sanctuary. Highlights include elaborate wood carvings of Balinese deities and tranquil pavilions. Another favorite is the Sunset Temple, Tanah Lot, dramatically perched on a rocky outcrop, making for an ideal photo opportunity. There are batik factories, wood carving villages, jewelry making villages and stone carving villages to delight the craft minded. In March, festivals abound: Melasti - precedes Nyepi and is the loud part of the two-day event, where well-dressed villagers offer flowers and fruit and holy men sacrifice pigs Nyepi - the quiet day after Melasti welcomes the beginning of the lunar year with a silent vigil to fool the spirits.Even Bali's airport is closed on Nyepi Galungan - the Balinese gods descend to earth during Galungan, a major festival of the Years Celebration starts March 17 this year so preparations are well under way in all the small villages.

We spent five idyllic days here in 2015. We left the day before the New Year began and had a wonderful driver/guide, Putu, who took us to many of the ceremonies leading up to the big day. Last time we explored the east end of the Island and the mountainous central part. He will be driving us again for our two day stay. And we will concentrate on the southern part of the Island this time.

We wake about 8AM just as we begin the sail in through the narrow channel that leads to our docking space. There had been some concern that we might have to anchor outside the harbor and tender which would have been a long hot ride into the dock. We go have a good breakfast as we don’t want to have to take time out to find lunch. We dock shortly before 10AM and meet Putu about 10:40AM. It took a while to get clearance to go ashore.

We run the gauntlet of the Taxi mafia to get to the parking lot outside the gates. Putu is there with a sign and we are off. It is miserably hot and humid, thankfully the car has A/C.  Carolyn had sent a list of things she wants to do and told Putu to make a plan to see as much as possible. He is a really nice man and a very good driver/guide. He tells us we will go first to Uluwatu Temple, one of the nine directional temples dating from around the 16th century. It is located on the south west side of the peninsula near the tip. Since it is close to noon it is very hot! There are many families all dressed to the nines out visiting the temple also. We park and walk down a fairly steep walkway to the temple entrance. There are steep steps up to get to the inside of the temple and Putu directs us to an area with a nice view of the ocean and the temple sitting on the edge of the cliff. Lots of monkeys roam all over the grounds and they can be aggressive. Putu had us remove anything danglely or flashy before we started to the Temple. Dick is looking poorly and sits down under a tree while Carolyn and Putu walk around. By the time we get back to the car, Dick is feeling very bad and says he was sick while he waited for us to walk around. Back in the car he drinks some water and puts on a cooling towel we brought to combat the heat in this part of the world, hoping that will do the trick.

Putu says our next stop is Taman Ayan Temple, the Royal Temple of the once powerful Mengwi Kingdom. It is a magnificent temple with a wide moat, exquisite wooden shrines, beautiful carved gates and multiple glorious meru (tall thin pagoda like structures in odd number groupings) .The Temple was built in the 17th century in the town of Mengwi and is now part of Bali’s World Heritage Site Irrigation System dating from the 11th Century.
As we head to the next stop, Carolyn asks Dick, who is being really quite, if he is OK or does he want to go back to the ship. He says he wants to go to the ship so we detour back to the port and let him out. He has gotten too hot and is feeling awful. We let him out right at the entrance and Carolyn gets all the important things out so he can take the back pack back to the suite. Armed with money and cameras, she and Putu head off for the rest of the afternoon.

Dick is sick again before he gets through the terminal and once back in the room he takes a cool shower, drinks water and naps the rest of the afternoon.

On the way to the Royal Temple, we go through several small villages and get into a hard rain shower but fortunately it passes by the time we get there. We also pass a cemetery, really a small temple, where two bodies are being cremated. The cremation ceremony looks very much like the one we saw in India, but that is not surprising since Bali and India are both largely Hindu. When we get to the Royal Temple a large group of people arrive dressed in traditional costume carrying offerings. Putu says it is the second part of the cremation ceremony. The mourners move into the main part of the temple, but the other visitors are free to watch from outside the gates. Putu and Carolyn watch for a few minutes before moving on.

It is now about 3:30PM and it is about an hour’s drive to our last stop, not so many miles, just terribly heavy traffic. We are heading to Tanah Lot, a 16th century temple built just off shore on a rocky outcrop. This is also called the Sunset Temple and is very popular. During high tide the Temple is cut off from the mainland, but it is low tide when we arrive and the rocky beach is crawling with visitors. It is not a pretty sunset today; too hazy. But Carolyn is glad she gets to see it. The temple is in a beautiful setting even if there are tons of people.

It is time to head to the ship. It is 6:30PM by the time Putu drops Carolyn at the terminal and she is exhausted. Dick has slept most of the afternoon and is feeling much better. We get ready for dinner and go to the Compass Rose for a very light dinner. Neither of us are hungry.
         
Dick has decided he had a bout of heat exhaustion this morning so he is not going on tour with Putu tomorrow. Carolyn will have to go it alone. It is an early start for tomorrow to beat some of the heat so we turn out the lights early.