Something to Declare

Tuesday, Wednesday: This must be Bali

Tuesday, March 14. Last night, after dinner at “The Genius Cafe”, we took our last stroll of Singapore. They take this 20% greenery stuff seriously, viz.,

Arriving in Denpasar, Bali, in Indonesia, some difficulty with the Customs Declaration. The online system was not user-friendly, and some of our phones could not pick up the QR code, so we had to declare that we were “relatives” of another tour member whose phone did work. Nice to have an instant family!

The ride from Denpasar to Ubud was “interesting,” in the sense that there were only two lines of traffic, incredibly bunched up, with motor scooters weaving in and out of the correct and incorrect sides of the road. Even though Indonesia is a former Dutch colony, they drive on the left side of the road, like the Brits and Singaporeans.

The Royal Pita Maha Hotel overlooks the jungly valley of the Ayung River.

Not your typical Bali destination, since it’s way inland, not on a beach. Cooler, because it’s in the mountains. Each villa has its own small swimming pool with a view of the valley and the jungle.

The common areas of the hotel ring with Javanese bells and chimes. In the afternoon a brief repast of Gado Gado (vegetables in peanut sauce) to tide us over to dinner on the veranda:

Wednesday, March 15. Decided to go “native” for breakfast.

Three choices, tumis tahu (upper right, a very spicy dish with tofu and veggies), kwe tiau sayur (bottom, noodles and cabbage), and aloo poha (upper left, rice with herbs, peanuts and potatoes). Not exactly your usual toast-and-jam.

Off to visit the town of Ubud. First stop: A compound in which a single family group lives:

Including a pretty girl on a swing.

Thence to the DeWa Putu Toris gallery,

where Stef purchased a charming piece of art.

This was followed by a visit to a community temple complex.

We were required to wear sarongs (provided to us) to enter.

Then to lunch at the Lotus Café, with its own lotus garden.

Tonight we attended a Balinese dance performance (the “Legong & Barong Dance,” performed by the Panca Artha Troupe.

It was an awesome performance in an open-air theater. All for now. More Bali to come. Stay tuned.