Gulliver's Travels 04/01/2024

BALI - INDONESIA

Note:  ​Bali appears in the lower middle part of the map, directly on top of the vertical line numbered 115.

Bali, Indonesia    December 2024

   Bob Hope and Bing Crosby went there and made a movie in 1952, "On the Road to Bali," so I figured I better do the same.  I watched part of the movie...not good.  The island itself was much better.  It's smaller than one might expect from all the hype it gets.  It is only about the size of Delaware, at 2230 square miles, 70 miles from north to south and 95 miles from west to east.  But it packs in a lot of beauty and interest into that small area.  And 4.2 million people are jammed in there, so it is less bucolic than advertised.

   I DID have over 400 photos of the island on my SD card in my Sony camera.  I was editing those photos on the plane on the way home.  Then I forgot to take it with me when I arrived at O'Hare, leaving it on the floor of the plane.  Someone on the cleaning staff clearly found it.....and posted it for sale on Ebay or some other place where expensive items are fenced, as Turkish Air couldn't find it.  Thus, the only photos I have to post here were taken with my much lower quality cell phone camera.  

Lempuyang Temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Icwara

Rice field in the city of Ubud

Pura Desa Temple

Hindu monks at prayer

Statue in the Monkey Forest

Ulum Danu Beratan Temple

Ulum Danu Beratan Temple

Tegalalang rice terraces

Temple gate of Besakih Great Temple

The famous Kopi luwak coffee is made from the green coffee beans eaten by this animal, an Asian palm civet, after it is "processed" in its intestinal tract. Yummy!

Plowing a rice field

Restaurant in city of Ubud

Ubud Palace, built from 1800-1823

Legong Dance held in Ubud Palace, telling of two kings who turn into monkeys

I bought some neat wood for use in my moss gardens.

Epilogue

   Too bad I couldn't provide some good photos for this post, along with the names of the several temples I lost, as my camera that was "stolen" had all that information.  Anyhow, Bali is a place with fewer thieves than the US, as I was often told how safe it is to be there.  With about every third house having a private Hindu temple, it didn't surprise me to hear that.  Bali is also reputed to be a very peaceful place, with relatively little aggressiveness and confrontation between people...and I can attest to that through my observations.  I often hear the United States is "the greatest country in the world."  After two weeks of peace and beauty, then an immediate theft upon arrival in the US...it makes me wonder.