Gee I was panicking when I saw all the pictures and movies still to come! I thought I only had stuff for 2 stories but there's much too much so I decided to split it again.
From Sanur, Elly brought us to Amed and on the way we stopped at some interesting spots like we were on a tour;
This story we start with a movie and we end with one. We stopped somewhere near Padangbai at a salt maker, Christ that is hard work, just look;
Movie time;
After that is has to dry and then the surface has to be washed and dried a few times;
here it is washed....
and here it is dried, you can see they do everything with large bamboo...
After the salt maker we went to the Water Palace....
Beautiful big Gold Fish....
We really enjoyed the Water Palace and after that we continued our way through lovely scenery towards Amed which lies in the Northern part of Bali...
Nearly in Amed, Movie time;
As you can see we had some rain, not much, but still....
Look at the first motorbike with his little restaurant on the back haha...
What is there to do in Amed, not much actually except;
Have the best meal ever at Warung Ole, nice spicy if you like, here you see Balinese Chicken ...
(sorry pictures are not so clear)
Dices fish, grilled in banana leaves, fantastic!! But spicy!
what else can you do in Amed; snorkeling!!
we've seen beautiful fish!!
Don't panic when you see something scary, you nearly drown haha!!
And last but not least, just relax a bit, have some lunch, beer, read a book on a beach bed, etc!!
Enjoy this relaxing Movie time;
That's it again folks, see ya next time in Sidemen!
You know we were at B&B Tari in Sanur and we also were invited to join them on a special ceremony that was held on Wednesday the 17th of December. But already days before you could see people making Penjor, which are a long bamboo stick with a bend on top and you can decorate it as you like. So there are very simple ones but also huge ones. On the bottom of the Penjor is a little place, looks like a little house what is meant to be a temple in which they put offers for the Gods.
Movie time, please don't skip because its worth watching;
This ceremony is called Galungan. Galungan marks the beginning of the most important recurring religious ceremonies. The spirits of deceased relatives who have died and been cremated return to visit their former homes, and the current inhabitants have a responsibility to be hospitable through prayers and offerings. The most obvious sign of the celebrations are these penjor.
Then on the big day itself, all people go to their family houses and family temples to offer, pray and of course see their families. But they start at home first as everyone has at least one, but mostly more temples from small.......
Above picture is what it is normal, on the day of Galungan, the temple has also an umbrella
family temple.....
Elly is putting an umbrella at their temple, the yellow one earlier is also their temple...
offering flowers.....
You can imagine that means a huge migration on that day because a lot people work and life in the bigger cities were all the tourism is and they all go home to the country to the little villages. A lot people don't have a car so they travel on motor bikes and scooters and My God that is scary!!
Movie time;
Sometimes you even see a whole family on it, father, mother and two kids, even babies, and they all travel without a helmet, kids standing in front of the father, holding the steering wheel together with daddy!!
If you just imagine what can happen, hundreds of homeless dogs walk everywhere and they just cross over the street without even thinking. Our host said that sometimes a cow got scared by a python and they ran over the street, I don't even dare to think what can happen to that whole family on the bike.
I hope in my movies you can see a bit how they drive, Australians can be careless on the roads but in Bali they are worse.
Just a few pictures of offering, temples and street sights
installing Penjor...
You know Bali has a different calender then we! They have 420 days in a year and every half year, 6 month, 210 days (35 days in a month), they have a ceremony, can you imagine all the work involved with those ceremonies??
With Elly, Julie and the two children we went to Elly's family to offer and pray at the family temples and of course we had to be dressed up ourselves.....
When we were all finished dressed up, we drove to the first family;
Movie time;
Now we are at a temple of Elly's family.....
Here Elly explains what sort of offers are being made and also that they first offer to the gods and after that you may eat it yourselves....
So after offering we first went for a little drive to get some Durian, people who know this fruit may go vomiting now haha;
Here an explanation out of Wikipedia;
Regarded by many people in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, strong odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow as large as 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and it typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale yellow to red, depending on the species.
The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour that is strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance; others find the aroma overpowering and revolting. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage. The persistence of its odour has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.
I thought is was stinky!! but it tasted beautiful, it taste if you eat a whole Brie or Camembert and afterwards you also feel like you ate a whole Brie or Camembert haha
after this adventure we went back to Elly's family to have some of the offered things...
The Tari family.....
After this we went to more family of Elly who live in Ubud.....
Also beautiful temples.....
When you see this it means there is a wedding going on or just been....
During the trip between the two family visits, Elly suddenly saw the beginning of ceremony, most probably Melasti ceremony and he stopped so we could enjoy it;
Often you also see the Barong dance;
Barong is probably the most well known dance. It is also another story telling dance, narrating the fight between good and evil. This dance is the classic example of Balinese way of acting out mythology, resulting in myth and history being blended into one reality.
Movie time;
Barong is a lion-like creature and character in the mythology of Bali, Indonesia. He is the king of the spirits, leader of the hosts of good, and enemy of Rangda, the demon queen and mother of all spirit guarders in the mythological traditions of Bali. The battle between Barong and Rangda is featured in Barong dance to represent the eternal battle between good and evil.
When we came home Elly and Julie had made a very nice Balinese dinner.....
After dinner we talked a bit and the men had a problem to solve....
Thanks Elly and Julie, we had a great and very special day, we will never forget!!
OK mates, I hope you liked it and that you didn't skip the movies as these are worth watching because you understand more of the feelings around this ceremony.
Next story we're still in Bali but we are leaving Sanur.....
I hope you liked the first story about Bali, here comes the second part of that tour which I think, you will find interesting.
After the temple we drove further through the countryside towards the Coffee plantation, here we have tried several sorts of coffee and also a very special one......
This is the special coffee, just read it and then you can understand that we were a bit reluctant to try it but we did......
Here you can see how they prepare it and we found it very special and NICE indeed!!
Movie time;
After this coffee adventure we went to Mount Batur, a semi active volcano, but first enjoy a bit of the Bali countryside;
Movie time;
Here we had a lovely lunch with a breathtaking view of the Batur Volcano and the Batur Lake in which there also seem to be Hot Springs.
On our way back we passed Tegalalang, a beautiful area with rice paddies...
Isn't it just beautiful!!
Guess what????
This is my 100 Th story!! That's worth a treat isn't it??
Because you, my readers, are all over the world and that too much an organisation to get some bubbles at you, I will give you an extra nice movie to celebrate this special occasion;
Bali is still not finished yet, so see ya next time, again in Bali!
