February 29, 2024 Bali, Indonesia 67 days left of 138

Happy leap Day! This is our second day in Bali. We have an excursion planned that will take us out of Denpasar which is a large town near Benoa Harbour, and up into the mountains to the rice terraces. Once out of the city the towns looked better cared for, and the traffic was much less busy. This is day two of the 10 day religious holiday being celebrated. 

This is a tourist spot. If you see the large birds nest to the right it was a site you could take pictures, they also had a heart, and swings that would swing you out over the valley. You could also rent a flowing dress to make your picture more dramatic. One of the ladies traveling with us wanted to do it, but our guide stated Viking was asking anyone over 60 to not get on the swings due to safety concerns. The other spots if you took pictures, they had someone collecting for the pictures taken.                                                                                                                                              

Kopi luwak is coffee made from coffee cherries that have been eaten, digested and defecated by the Asian Palm Civet, a small mammal that looks like a cross between a cat and a raccoon. The beans are then cleaned and processed. It is considered the rarest coffee and is very expensive. Above is a statue of the Asian Palm Civet and friends. They were selling Kopi luwak coffee at the deli, and it was $6.00 for a cup. Here that is about 3 times the price of regular coffee.

Above is Jack fruit growing at the area we were taking our pictures.

We took a detour to see the area known as Monkey Forest. We did not have time to visit, but it is a 4 acres area that backs up to Ubud. They have to watch what they have out in the block that faces the Monkey Forest as the monkeys will come and steal food, so no food carts or restaurants were in these blocks. The monkeys will also swipe shiny things, so this was a lot of dresses, batik cloths, larger souvenirs shops. There are many places you have to watch out for the monkeys. Next stop is a Temple Museum and coffee shop. They love their coffee here in Bali. We will also be in the heart of Ubud which is an upscale town with markets, and shopping.

We had an hour before we needed to be back to the bus, so we were walking the street. Mike had been predicting that we might have rain. He was not kidding. It did not seem to phase the people riding the scooters as they all have rain ponchos and they just pulled them out and kept going. We on the other hand stayed under an awning waiting for someone to turn the faucet off.

I wish you could see the puddles in the sidewalk, or the ankle deep water the cars were driving through and throwing up on anyone walking on the sidewalk. One of the other Viking tourists came walking by our location lost as he was looking for the buses which were behind him. He stood with us for a while. After about 20 minutes I thought it looked like the rain was letting up, so we decided to head for the bus. I was bring up the rear when a mother with a large suitcase, umbrella, shopping bag, and about a 3 year old son got between us. Mom walked through a puddle, and the son was not going to do it. I watched this for a little bit, and I just picked him up and carried him across the puddle. Mom was very thankful. The next puddle we came to was larger and I was turning into the bus park. The mom and son also turned in and decided a taxi would get them where they were going.

I tried to take pictures to show you what the traffic looks like as we were in the front seats of the bus. The pictures just did not do it justice. Suffice it to say if there had been a camera on my face it would have won Funniest Home videos. There is a center line that no one follows. The scooters and motor bikes are weaving in and out of traffic, right beside and in front of the bus. The traffic weaves across the line to pass parked cars, people going the wrong way on the wrong side of the road, the motor bikes will speed past and pull in the the traffic at the last second to allow larger vehicles access to their side of the road. Some one said it was a well choreographed accident waiting to happen. I was just thankful when I didn't have to experience the fear for everyone traveling the road with us. Our bus driver seemed to show no emotion to the chaos surrounding his bus. Whew we were home. Here are pictures I took while traveling home.

Supiyasa our guide told us we could call him Supi. He was such a sweet man. He was sharing his love for his country, religion and people. He did an amazing job, and always with a smile on his face.

We ended our night on board for Dancing under the stars. This is near the indoor out door pool. They had the ceiling open so the temperature was tolerable. Everyone was ready to party.