To the Bat Cave and Beyond

Above entrance to Bat Temple

We decided we needed to get out of our comfortable routine and surroundings, so two days ago we hired a driver  for the day (at $50) to take us to the eastern part of Bali.  We drove through forests, villages, rice terraces, and a couple of famous places.  It was rough and long enough in a car; we don't know how we managed 35 years ago in the back of bemos, which were Toyota pickups with a canopy and benches in the back.

one of countless and amazing  & beautiful rice terraces

The Bat Temple

One of them was the so-called Bat Temple on the coast.  It lived up to its name with lots of bats, a fat cobra that feasts on them, and beautiful architecture.

Priests' entrance to temple

Ceiling of temple altar

Tirtagana water temple

The other place was the Tirtaganga Temple, a water palace.  We had last spent a couple of nights there 35 years ago.  I don't remember much about it because I was sick with dengue fever at the time. We stayed in a little room; now there is a big resort there.  We wanted to see if they had poached eggs on the menu because we had taught the kitchen staff how to make them.  However, we opted for something more tasty at a nearby roadside establishment--babi Gulang, which is roast suckling pig, with lots of other spicy things along with the ever-present rice.

'Ingat, sekali!' as they say here

Yesterday we set off on what we thought would be a straight-forward hike through rice fields.  But we soon found ourselves descending a stair-step path into a steep jungle canyon.  As luck (or Balinese entrepreneurship) would have it, a guide (Gusti Ngurah Arya) appeared at a very reasonable price.  We'd still be in that canyon or lost amongst the hillside terraces were it not for Gusti.  Not only that, he spoke very good English, which was so much more informative and relaxing than yesterday when nearly all the conversations with our driver were in clumsy Indonesian.

Way, way below the paddies

Yet another canyon

We learned so much about the plants, the wild spices, birds, language and culture from him, including where they "do it" for the MBA degree.  (Answer--at the girlfriends home at midnight when the whole family pretends to be sleeping.)  He also saved us in a lot of tolls to local farmers for walking across their terraces.  Some of them were his relatives.

Last night we attended a gala fundraiser sponsored by the local Rotary club for its HIV clinic and water projects.  First western food in 18 days, and it was so bland and boring, except for the deserts.

Ironically, we won the raffle prize for a lunch and massages at one of Bali's most exclusive resorts.  It overlooks the canyon pictured above.