Beautiful Bali

There was great excitement on the ship the morning we arrived in Bali, Indonesia. Many of the dining room crew were eager to be home – even for a brief stop – and see their families. This would be the first time several of the guys had seen their family in over a year. The waters around Pandangbai – the port area, are shallow and subject to extreme fluctuations with the tides, sometimes making it impossible to navigate. We had to anchor a good distance away from the port and then tender in. Because of the shallow depths, the tenders could not be filled to capacity so it was slow getting to shore. I felt especially sorry for the crew, who had to wait until all the passengers were ashore before they could leave to meet their families. When were arrived at the dock we were warmly greeted. Bali was as eager for our visit as we were to be there. There were banners and a beautifully decorated walkway with brightly dressed female dancers in traditional attire and a Balinese band making strange yet melodic rhythms. Prior to our arrival in Bali, the Indonesian crew had been coaching us in how to speak a few phrases in Bahasa, the Indonesian language. The most important phrase we learned was “tidak terima kashi” or No thank you! This phrase was extremely useful for once we left the pier area we were besieged by aggressive street vendors hawking cloths, puppets and wood carvings. After we made our way to the tour bus we were whisked away from the chaos at the pier to the amazing and beautiful countryside of Bali. The main religion on the island is Hinduism and everywhere there were little shrines with offerings of fruit and flowers to the Gods. Wherever you looked there were statues of the Gods in all shapes and sizes wrapped with colorful scarves around their bodies. One of our stops was an outside theater which looked like a huge shrine. There were statues of Gods on both sides of a large set of concrete steps. At the top of the many steps were 2 huge golden doors. There was an orchestra called a gamelan which consisted of a variety of strange percussion instruments in a covered pavilion to the side of this structure. When the 2 golden doors opened the Barong dance began as the performers would enter and leave through the doors. It was quite a spectacle with elaborate costumes, dance and music. The Barong Dance tells the story of the good god Barong’s fight with the evil witch Rangla. Good always triumphs over evil so of course, Barong won and everyone lived happily ever after in Bali. Later we visited the wood carvers in the city of Ubud and the artist colony in Mas. During our tour we saw temples of all sizes, terraced rice fields and lots and lots of motorcycles, the main form of transportation on the island’s narrow and winding roads. The flowers and vegetation are lush and exotic. The air smells of frangipani. Bali is truly an island paradise!