Our driver appears at 9AM ready for another day of exploring. This will be our last day for him to make all the decisions as to where we go and what we see. He seems to have a certain agenda, which is fine, but we sense that wherever we go he always “gets something”, either a free meal or some sort of a kickback. That’s OK, except now that we know the lay of the land a bit more, there are certain things we want to see and it is up to him to take us their.
We start our day with a temple close to the ocean, nice as far a temples go, and indeed, many people are marching there for ceremony, but the most interesting part is the 1000’s of bats that congregate on the back cliff of the monastery. Interesting to watch, but we guess, because they are “holy bats”, no one disturbs them, and they are a mess!
One of the many processions of people going into the temple for ceremony. They are very happy but take this very seriously.
Next on our itinerary is a “local village”, interpret that to mean “place to buy overpriced souvenirs”.
Our driver keeps wanting to take us to cock fights. We have resisted so far, don’t know if we will succumb. We see baskets over roosters all around the countryside. Someone decided to dye these poor guys.
There were numerous homemade Ferris wheels in the village. These are kid size and bit rickety, but good for a picture.
Our next stop was a “water park”. His choice, again. Nice to walk around here, but not worth the long drive. We are ready to take command of our daily outings.
We end our day with a late lunch and snorkeling at the hotel that our guide is staying at. I do believe we were the only ones eating there, and he was the only one staying there. Beautiful location, but very quite. The recession and political winds have hurt Bali badly. Extremists have suicide bombed Bali 5-star hotels a couple of times in the last few years and tourists have stayed away. (No worries at our hotel.)
Snorkeling was OK. Warm water, probably 85 degrees, but most of the coral was dead. As we were leaving, the whole village was coming down to the beach. We found out that every 30 days local Hindus go through a cleansing ceremony in the ocean. Great fun for families. A good reason to go swimming with all your clothes on!
