Touring Bali - Part 3

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Next stop... the Holy Bath Temple... The water that they use for the bath is a natural spring...




To go in the temple we had to wear these sarongs... Blake enjoyed this part... he was a trooper.




On our way out of the temple to the car... we spotted these local kids playing in the creek... it is hard to tell by the next 2 pics but the boy in the water with white shirt on was zapping fish with an electrical current stick that was attached to a box on his back... ok I would not have wanted to be standing in the water when he first tried that out....

A great end to the tour... we got back late to the hotel but it was worth it... there was so much that we still wanted to see but we ran out of time... I guess we will have to go back to Bali bc we headed back to Singapore the next morning.

Touring Bali - Part 2

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Part 2 of our tour... As you probably know Blake does not care to shop... so most of the time when he agrees to go on a tour or trip like this we agree not to shop that much but that I have one desire... to get an oil painting from each place to we go... so we "needed" to get a painting today... Artin knew of the perfect place... and boy was she right.
Here are some nice men rolling up our painting...

Do you like? I really wanted it of the rice fields that we have yet to see but what Bali is so famous for... and I love that the volcano (that we were going to see later) and the water buffalo were in the picture... and Blake agreed on the price... when looking at paintings this man followed you around to tell you the price (no price on the paintings... of course)... and Artin told us to always cut the price in half from what they say... but we soon learned that if the painting had a "certificate" which was located near the painting... it was way out of price range... this one did not have a certificate but looked just like the one that did... so we are taking it home.

Next stop... rice field... but first Artin had to show us how they get the rice... I had no idea... how hard it was to get rice... I will from now on when cooking rice get every single grain of rice from the bowl... someone will eat it... the people who pick rice work way to hard for us to waste it...

Here are some locals tending to the field... is the man job to plant the grains/seeds and it is the women's job to harvest it... there is alot of stooping, bending, hitting, cutting and more involved to get these grains of rice... incredible.

A little further down the road we finally made it to the famous rice terrace... isn't that beautiful.

On the way back to the car... there was this cute little boy picking out something from his dog's paw... they are true companions... so cute.. I am a sucker for children and dogs so I had to take this picture.

It took about 3.5 hours to make it to the north of the island... but we did and boy was it worth it... we had not originally planned on going to one of the Volcano's but I am glad we changed our minds... beautiful. This Volcano is not the largest one they have but it is active we are taking this picture sitting at a restaurant... a lunch I will forever remember.

Here is a video of the Volcano (it's not doing anything but Artin is explaining some details that are interesting).

We hope you enjoyed Part 2 of Day 2... only one more part and then we are headed back home to Singapore... What a great Anniversary...

Touring Bali - Part 1

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Before we left for Bali we had talked with a couple of people that had been there before and they all said the beach is great but you can't go to Bali and not see Bali... meaning we had to go into the city(ies)... so we hired a tour guide (well recommended one from friends) that would pick us up on Saturday and take us around... we left at 9am and thought we would be back a little after lunch but we did not get back until 6pm and still missed some things... but here are some pics of our tour... we did so much in one day that this is only Part 1.

When we got in the car with Artin our tour guide (lovely English Speaking Lady) we told her that we only wanted to see one temple (there are several), not that much shopping and wanted to learn mostly about the culture and how locals live... so our first stop was a wet market... not that much different than the wet markets in Singapore but Artin was able to show me how to pick good local fruits and what herbs/plants are used for what... very interesting and the ladies in the pictures were priceless... I love these photos. Artin said this was the first time she had taken foreigners into the wet market... not many people ask to see this...


Our next stop we went to see a war monument... don't remember much bc I was distracted by the protesters... and it was so hot... but it was pretty.

Next stop... shopping for local batik... and we also got to see how it was made. All the tan/brown stuff you see below is wax that has been painted/drawn on the canvas and then they die the fabric several times... to make many colors this process happens several times... a very long process but the end piece is very beautiful and famous in Asia... we did get a table cloth...

Here is the process... starting at the top Left and finishing at the bottom right...

We had requested to visit a compound (how local families live)... Here is our tour guide Artin and the head of the compound (the man) that we were about to enter. They let tourist come into their house for free but do ask for donations from the tour guides (I am sure we paid for that)... the guy was really sweet and welcomed us with open arms. His family has had this land forever... they do not know how long it has been in their families name but this man was born here and now is the head... all the people that you see in the pics below all live there...

One of the ladies was making offering baskets... and Artin picked up some of the leaves to make some animals for Pierce (for us to bring back for him) but she wanted to show what she grew up doing.. making these for offerings.

This is a bedroom door.... such a cool picture with alot of old pictures.

This is a the kitchen... it was hot and meat was hanging from the ceilings and tons of rice everywhere... no refrigerator, ice maker, dishwasher, etc...

This is where the head of the house (compound) sleeps.

This is the honeymoon suite... there are two beds in the room and the couple will use this house until they have a child... they consider all newlyweds on the honeymoon until the baby comes.

A rice snack for the family... drying in the sun.

A section where one of the oldest ladies in the family was making offerings for the day.

The chickens are used for "chicken fights"... they are massaged daily so they get big and strong but are not allowed to run around.

At the back of the compound is the place of worship the temple... this is the main temple door.

These cute little girls were in the next door compound looking over at us... so cute...and happy.

There is a ton more to our tour... so stay tuned...