It was a Hi and Farewell! But a fascinationg one!

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Trip Start Feb 08, 2011 Previous
Entry Trip End Mar 09, 2011

  Padang, Bali, Indonesia
Monday, March 7, 2011

After two much needed restful days at sea, we finally arrived at our next to last destination.  The island country of Bali.
 
What an interesting place but definitely a third world province of Indonesia. Our translator, guide, aide at the airport, etc., was very knowledgeable and helpful. 
[PHOTO_ID_L =the-girls-threw-flowers-at-us-but.jpg]  
He kept a running commentary about his country of which he was very proud!  We were in a van with Dr. Jim and Amy from Dallas. 
 
Fortunately, we both wanted to stop at the Hindu temple where our guide gave us more information than we could absorb about HIS temple and what it means to be Hindu in Bali.  It is quite different from Indian Hindu. I understood him to say that there is one god. There  are two courts, one for cleansing and one the holy place where the priest calls for god to hear the needs of the people.  If this is wrong, I apologize as I didn't write this down and it is now one week later.  We all had to wear a sarong around the lower half of our bodies to keep our evil spirits out.  Everyone entering the temple needed to do that!  The Hindus also wore a scarf around their heads but the heart could be open to god.  

There were tons of motorbikes and scooters on the roadways.  If you were 8 and able to handle a bike, you could handle a motorbike...that scared me.  There is no public transportation so kids have to be delivered to school or ride their own transportation.  School is also not a right but a priviledge.  Your family may be limited to how many children you can fit on a motorbike or how many you can own!!! LOL
 
We saw workers in the fields plowing for rice planting as well as harvesting rice.  Then we passed communities of crafts; furniture, kites, cloth, silver, pottery, stone, etc.  These all seemed to be clustered together by craft. 

We passed many different statues on the roadways and all were covered by a sarong from the waist down. 

At the airport, we had to wait for an hour for them to set up for dispensing our tickets.  There we caught up with our new friends, Ray and Maren from Jacksonville.  The three couples were able to spend time together thru our trip to Hong Kong.  We then split up for our respective flights in the states.  Hopefully we will touch base with them again on another adventure.

Our trip to L.A. was uneventful.  We left at 11 pm on Monday and arrived in LA at 8 pm on Monday.  I chose not to sleep too much as we would be arriving at bedtime.  After a light meal of shared hummus and veggies, we crashed.  Only to waken at 4 am., 5 am, etc.  We finally got up and went to breakfast.  John stayed in the room, read, watched TV and worked on his ipad.  I went on a tour of LA. 


It was fun but must admit that the last hour stuck in traffic was not fun!!!
We went to Venice Beach, past Monterey Beach, Rodeo Drive (almost said Worth Ave), stopped in Hollywood to see the Chinese theater, footprints and Hollywood sign and at the Farmers Market.  It was an interesting day made more interesting by the others on the tour.  They were from the midlands of England and had arrived in town from the Orient at 11 am.  By the end, we were all yawning!!

I think if anyone asks, I would say the people on this trip have been my favorite part.  We have met some very interesting people!!
Well, this cruise is over...look for our next one in a year or more!





Today's riddle:  It is greater than God and more evil than the devil. The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you'll die. What is it?

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