Yesterday was a busy busy busy day. I took one last all-day tour, because I wanted to see some places I haven't yet seen here in Bali. These places, in addition to all the temples I have seen. include a coffee plantation and a Balinese Village. I was expecting to be board with all the other places I have seen-but I wasn't at all:
I was picked up early in the morning by a van, and the tour consisted of myself and 4 Germans.
The tour consisted of
(1) a rice field-I have seen rice fields before, and while this one was beautiful-I never did learn how rice was planted, which is what I really wanted to learn. It was a long hike up the field in my flip-flops, and back down the steps, which was tiring.
(2) A temple which was built into the side of a cliff, which was really breathtaking, literally. Once again the temple required a long walk down the stairs, and then a long walk up the stairs. This temple, called Pura Gunung Kawi, honors the kings and queens of the 11th century.
(3) Hot springs, which Hindu's wash themselves in to relieve themselves of bad Karma, or even if they had a bad dream. (If they don't do it-the bad dream will come true), There was a new moon festival going on, and a lot of Hindu's we're washing themselves in the hot springs, for purification I believe.
(4) Lunch at a coffee plantation. The lunch was expensive (About $8.00-extraordinary for Indonesia)- but was quite filling. A coffee/tee sampler was served, with what the coffee is good for. (A Ginseng coffee helps impotence/menopause, a coconut coffee helps with good teeth, a plain bali coffee helps with cancer, etc. Same for tees)
(5) A visit to another coffee plantation-which I was most interested in, to see the process. Like many visits/tours-this was 1/4 educational and informative and 3/4 encouragement to buy their coffees. There we're about 12 samples to try (6 each of coffee and tea), once again each promised to cure something. I pored all into one cup so I made my own "cure-all".
(6) Visit to a traditional Balinese Village, which was very nice and beautiful. I saw a traditional Balinese kitchen, which included a bed for the house owner's mother to sleep in.
(7) Visit to another temple on a hillside which was beautiful,
(8) Visit to view a volcano from a distance. The volcano wasn't erupting, so it looked just like a big mountain-and there we're lots of people selling things at the viewing area.
(9) Visit to a final temple-called the Elephant cave temple. There was a Buddhist temple on the site as well down a path. We never found the temple-and it was already after 6:00 pm-so we turned back.
So the tour was quite exhausting, but I felt I got a more complete look at Bali. But the day wasn't over yet. That night, I went I saw another show. This was called a Kecek dance, which involved fire and chanting. It was ok-but I was so tired I began to nod off. I only woke up when someone dropped a thermos or something.
