Sunday and it is 2nd tour day ... but first we go to visit Made the wood carver. He's finished the Bali bell! Tina - our friend in the US will be thrilled - handmade, it is the only one of its type in the whole world!
Made doesn't want any payment for the bell - he says he did it for his friends. Regardless, Piegirl goes off to get some money and he grudgingly accepts.
As I gallop off to get the camera, Made tells Piegirl that in all his time at the hotel, only twice have people have ever tried to talk to him in Indonesian. We're the second ones to do that. I think that he is a bit touched that we at least try.
Then it is photos all round ... this man is a craftsman and a gentleman.
This time our tour is off to Lake Bratan. We had such a great time with Made Arsa the other day we're more than happy to partake of this tour. Again there is just Arsa, our driver and ourselves in a Kijang, so there is a ton of space.
We drive via Seminyak, Kerobokan and Mengli heading up to Bedugal and Bratan Lake.
We stop at Pacung and take photos of the rice terraces and of the amazingly beautiful valley that slopes down away from the Hotel. It looks like the terraces and the grass around the houses has been groomed. There is not an inch of waste space though.
Then we continue on through the village of Bedugal where the vegetable market is still in full swing.
Onwards up the mountain and we come to Lake Bratan. The main attraction at Lake Bratan the Pura Dulu Ulum Batan - the lake's primary temple and certainly a most picturesque scene.
The lake fills the crater of the inactive volcano Gunung Catur, and is over 1,200 metres above sea level. There are hotels and restaurants around the lake shore with all the usual tourist activities including parasailing and water-skiing. Pieboy's thoughts: 'there isn't a boat powerful enough to get me parasailing.' Evidently there are some Japanese caves across the lake that were dug during World War II. I wonder what they were doing all the way up here?
We walked around the temple taking photographs - many photographs until our way is barred by a guy with a toucan bird sitting on his arm. 40,000 buys photos with a range of animals - and of course Pieboy leaps into the breach.
Maybe not leaps. The toucan is friendly enough. He just sits and looks. Then a mongoose. OK - furry - a bit like a dog I suppose. Enough like a dog to be ok. Sort of like a cross between a possum and an American raccoon - and a dog. It's an animal - its ok. The next one is a bit iffy - this is a snake - he's longer than I am tall! But I am assured that I will live ... pictures are taken. A bat! A bloody bat! A bloody big bat too. He clings on to my fingers with his little feet - I give him a good shake and he spreads his wings nicely for the picture. A bat. Ye bloody gods! Looking back at the photos the smile is starting to look forced.
It becomes forced when the iguana arrives. Almost a metre and a half long, this is a lizard. And I - dumbo Pieboy - am holding him for the picture. He gives me a malevolent look and I pass him back to his owner!
We walk on a few metres and the guys with the animals motion me over to a box. The open the lid and the biggest snake I have ever seen is sitting there - looking at me. He weighs 40kg they tell me as they drape him around my neck. My life flashes in front of my eyes - then I realise it is just the pictures being taken. He's pretty heavy ... and he is moving ... the boys put me at my ease as they assure me that he only squeezes his prey to death ... whoopdee bloody do says me. I look most uncomfortable in the pictures ...
Now its Piegirl's turn to be photographed with the animals. 'Bugger off!' she says.
We drive up around the road to a restaurant for a buffet lunch. This restaurant is a bit busier than the one in Kintamani, and interestingly enough, there are no people trying to sell us things through the windows.
Putting it politely, this is not a restaurant I would recommend to my friends. The sate fish things looked unappetising - so I can't say whether they tasted that way as well. Indeed most of the food looked pretty ordinary - but we did have some fried bananas which were nice - and custard which was not too bad either. We tried something else ... I have no idea what it was ... maybe some sort of packed rice cake thing - who knows - but one nibble and that was it. The Poms at the next table tried some too. They did the same as we did ... give it a miss. The bread rolls were nice and fresh though.
As we head back down to sea level, we wend our way around hillsides which are covered in rice terraces.
As we travelled there were many fires as the leftovers from the rice crop were being burned off. Whole families were out in the fields working.
One road we went down gave me the impression of not being travelled on very often at all - certainly not by tourist vehicles, indeed it provided a bit of a challenge for the Kijang's suspension, even though there was some sort of surface - it felt like cobblestones - pretty rough. I think that Made Arsa was showing us some of the 'backblocks' of Bali as we headed towards Tanah Lot.
One thing that really amazed me was the number of shops - of a sort - where there just didn't seem to be the houses or the population to support them. There must have been a ton of people around but we just didn't see them.
We got to the sea about an hour before sunset. I have to see and photograph Tanah Lot at sunset says all the guidebooks. A website says that Tanah means earth and Lot (lod) means south or sea. Tanah Lot therefore means something like "temple of the earth in the sea". The famous Brahman Priest, Danghyang Nirarta, who wandered from Java to Bali in the 16th century decided to sleep in this spot and afterwards the Balinese built a temple here. This is one of the six most holy temples in all Bali.
'Many Balinese and tourists alike love to sit on the beach overlooking the temple in the afternoon, watching the tides change and enjoying the silhouettes of the temple against the setting sun.'
Couldn't have put it better myself. We sat and watched the tourists. The Piepeople were perilously close to nodding off in the pleasant afternoon sun. Pieboy took photos of people taking photos. At one stage there was a line up - like a picket fence - of people taking pictures.
The thing about taking pictures of the sunset is that the sun has got to set. That mighty orb of fire, dipping down to the ocean and then disappearing as night rapidly approaches. All that stuff.
It was a bit cloudy out on the western horizon. Got some lovely pictures of the sun going down behind a cloud. And peeking out again through a gap in the cloud. Then disappearing for good. I guess sunset is sunset really. The temple was wonderful though. And the view was magic for all that.
Made Arsa dropped us off at Aromas Café in JL Legian. The Piepersons are not known for our rabid vegetarianism. But a vegetarian lasagne for Pieboy and vegetarian nachos for Piegirl was enough to change our ideas - for an evening anyway.
Our friend Ketut has gone home sick - her motorbike accident injuries are giving her grief.
And then we went to have our daily reflexology.
A warm welcome awaited us at Ibu Jari. It always does!