I have come home from Bali craving the the strangest thing, "Lagie Safari Two Bitter" a delicious dark chocolate that I bought at the check out at Hardys, Tannalee is almost crying for satay, hubby would love a Bingtang, but I'm going to start to Google this choc. and see if I can get it in Australia.
In Denpasar we went to the Bali Museum, I'm not big on museums as a rule, hubby and 12 year old drive me insane, as they have to read every thing written, where as I get this gist of it and wander on. But this Museum was just the right size, it was very decorative and informative but we weren't there forever.
After the museum Agust wanted to take us to the bird markets, which worried me a little, and I asked him about bird flu, he laughed and said " no, no bird flu in Bali , they have it in Java but not here". How sad, that Bali has since had deaths from bird flu.
We hadn't heard about the bird markets, and had visions of chooks been made ready for dinner, and hanging up side down, tied up in bunches, as we have pet chooks this would of distressed the kids. Hubby explained our concerns to Augast, it's ok , said Agust, so feeling a little apprehensive we head off to the bird market. I'm so glad we did, and if it wasn't for bird flu, this would be a place I would highly recommend going to see. Everything from 50cent turtles to pet crickets in bamboo poles, baby owls, lizards, and puppies. There were guys sitting on the ground with brown paper bags, as we walked passed one guy he called us over and flashed his bag at us, inside was an owl, all these guys had birds in their bags! another man was feeding mush on a stick to about ten little baby birds, who were perched on the side of the bags.
There were things here that did make us sad, like baby monkeys and squirrels, also a possum, these things we just stayed away from, it's not our place to judge, but we feel if tourist respond to things like this with excitement, it only encourages it more, so if we don't agree we just make it clear we are not interested.
The markets are just two narrow streets jammed pack full of shops and bird cages, Agust told us that the singing birds are highly prized and can fetch prices of around RP1,000,000.
So now the kids want a baby monkey, which of course would love us so much it wouldn't need a chain, a golden singing bird, a tiny turtle, as we past each shop the list grew.
That night we went to Jepun ( spelling? ), in Sanur for dinner , this restaurant was recommended on the forum and I say thank you as it was lovely, the food and the ambiance was beautiful. If you go make sure you get a seat inside around the corner , at first the waiter sat us near the road and it wasn't that nice, I thought there must be more to it, and walked around the corner glad I did, and we moved tables.
So our table is near the big screen tv, as a rule we are very careful with the kids watching tv overseas, as a lot of countries show quite graphic footage, but there was just a cooking show on, so we thought it was fine. We ordered our food walked around, took photos and talked about our day, next thing Tannalee who is facing the tv yells out, "they chopped off the guinea pigs head", what the !!!, yes as I looked over my shoulder at the big screen, they were gutting and preparing to cook a very big, spread eagle, what I think was a hamster, and we were worried about the bird market !
After calming our little ones down, talk turned to all the different things people eat all over the world, and although Tanna ate her satay with usual relish, she did query as to whether or not they ate guinea pigs in Bali.