It's nice to get away from the cold...

I like to know exactly where I am.  I like maps.  I like to get oriented. So,

arriving in a totally new country at night, and not being seated by the window in the airplane,

we pretty much had to wait for the new day to catch a glimpse of what Bali was going to look like--and found that we could use the same descriptive words as when we went to Guam.  

Tropical.  Humid.  Hot.  Green.  Chickens crowing early in the morning.

Nice homes or hotels next to shacks with corrugated steel roofs.

Crowded streets.

 We arrived just before midnight, and the other family arrived at 3 a.m.  So our first day started a little later than usual.  We had a driver and car contracted, and he took us to a Hindu temple overlooking the Indian Ocean.  And there were lots of his "friends"--little mischievous monkeys.

We were advised to remove eyeglasses and fancy jewelry.

Alice forgot that you can't let your camera dangle from your hand!

Fortunately, she won the tug-of-war.

 Since this was surrounding a Hindu temple, we were given yellow sashes if our clothing covered our shoulders and knees.  Those who had shorts on were given a purple sarong to wrap around their waist. Since Kevin had on the shorts that his brother had made fun of ("What are those?  Capri's?), he was okay.  It looked funny to see many of the men wearing purple skirts!

 Part of the temple.  Alice and Rachel.

 The driver then took us to a local eatery for authentic Balinese food:  banana soup (in a pork base and it was delicious), then suckling pig prepared in various ways.  Some dishes were spicy, others not so bad.

 Kevin and Steve--our first view of the beach connected to our hotel.  I was envisioning being able to walk out from our hotel room and be on the beach.  Not the case!

It was a 15-minute walk down a dirt lane in-between another hotel and some new construction.

There was a shuttle that went every 15 minutes, but somehow, we only managed to use it about half the time.

 One of the things we partly enjoyed seeing was the traditional Balinese dance.  

The thing we didn't enjoy was it told a long story (15 minutes would have been perfect--this went on for an hour).  Towards the end it became gross--I guess some things are acceptable in other cultures but not in ours. I turned my eyes away for awhile.

There was nervous laughter in the audience.

 The dancing was accompanied by a gamelan--a group of instruments played in varying rhythms.

The Balinese scale is not like the western scale and takes some getting used to.

I'd have to say I'm not used to it yet!  It is easier to listen to than Peking Opera (which is my bench mark for the worst possible music to listen to), but it wasn't enjoyable. 

Beaded baskets.  We spent a day exploring the fairly unique crafts.  I wish I had purchased some of the batik fabrics we saw.  It was one of those situations:  "I'm sure we'll find it somewhere else for cheaper"... except we didn't.  And didn't take the time to go back.