Bali Three

Detail of a heron on a Balinese door.

We spent our second full day in Bali on a tour of the northern part of the island. It was a cloudy, but beautiful day. We began by visiting a school.

It was a pleasant place. Classes were in session.

The Hindu god, Ganesha, adorns the entrances of many places in Bali, including the school. He is not one of the principle gods, but is revered as the 'lord of beginnings' and 'remover of obstacles.'

We were taken to visit a jungle plantation where all sorts of things are grown.

Cinnamon ...

Coffee ...

... and Cacao for making cocoa, to name just a few.

A vanilla bean.

A solanum betaceum, or tamarillo. It's sweet yet tart.

The plantation was loud with cock crowing. The Balinese keep fighting cocks for use in temple ceremonies. They are allowed three cock fights at each ceremony, beyond which cock fighting is now illegal. They sprinkle the blood of the vanquished cock on their offerings to the gods.

They roasted coffee for us to try.

In fact, we sampled all sorts of drinks made from the things grown on the plantation.

There was ginger tea, lemon grass tea, Balinese cocoa, ginseng coffee, coconut coffee, vanilla coffee and some other things I don't remember.

It was a nice way to try so many things.

Sky liked the ginseng coffee.

True, drinking coconut coffee. His favorite was lemon grass tea.

I liked the plain old coffee.

We drank most everything.

I wasn't crazy about the luwak coffee, brewed with beans collected from luwak droppings. It is said to be particularly good because the animals eat the best beans and then the beans undergo some sort of transformation while in the digestive tract. But think about it ...

A luwak, or civet cat, in a cage on the plantation.

Luwak coffee is very expensive because it is comparatively rare. I wonder how much of the luwak coffee sold actually came through a luwak. Who would know?

Gingseng coffee, cocoa and lemon grass tea.

True drank almost everything.

We drove into the hills overlooking Mount Agung, Bali's occasionally active volcano.

This is the top of the Associated Press article that ran in The New York Times on March 23, 1963, reporting the last major eruption.

A temple survived the lava flow, which you can see beyond it.

Another view of the volcano. The black area is the hardened lava, where nothing grows.

After seeing the volcano and eating a banana pancake, we set off on bikes for a long, mostly downhill ride through central Bali.

Off we went.

True loves any kind of activity.

The roads were quiet and peaceful.

We rode through the rice fields.

The Balinese get four crops a year from their paddies and the rice ripens at different times, depending on when it was planted. Here, they are harvesting - all by hand.

We stopped periodically to look at something or listen to our guide explain some peculiarity of Balinese culture.

It was warm, but fun.

True and the old man, resting at one village's main temple.

We arrived at the home of the tour operator for a meal prepared by his wife.

There was an array of Balinese dishes.

True was famished. He loves mie goreng, or Indonesian fried noodles.

Sky loves satay.

The food was delicious.

We all ate well.

The Balinese light incense as an offering to the gods. This joss stick was stuck in a banana tree.