Sunday, March 12th, 2023 Queen Victoria, Bali, Indonesia
Updated: Jul 2, 2023
Wow I never thought we’d ever visit Bali, it just sounds so exotic and far off – conjuring images of pointy mountains, beautiful white beaches, and lush jungle. I guess today we’ll find out what it’s really like. The Queen Victoria dropped anchor in the bay by the port of Benoa this morning at about 7AM. There are dangerous shoals around the bay, a narrow channel to the port and limited docking capacity; we could hear the ships lifeboats being dropped from the davits and a couple of high-speed shore-based ferries were loitering nearby – this will be a tendering port, oh joy! Today we took a ship’s excursion, “Scenic Bali”. After the 20-minute tender ride we were greeted on the pier by a group in traditional Balinese dress; 4 young ladies smiling and bowing and with hands pressed as if in prayer, and a large group of young men playing drums and bells in a cacophony that somehow resolved itself into rhythmic music. Sandra took the opportunity to pose with the young ladies and I joined the men in the band – it was a lot of fun and a great welcome. Outside the terminal we boarded the small coach that would be our transport for the day and met our guide, Suwua, a tall Balinese gentleman dressed in traditional attire. As we set off on our trip the weather was quite warm, in the low 80s, but the humidity was also low making for a pleasant climate. Heading from the port we passed through the town of Benoa, a mix of quite modern buildings amongst very old – the roads were quite busy, but we were informed that, since it was Sunday, the traffic was very light. I could see how during the week this place would be a nightmare for traffic jams, and we’d heard such stories from others on the ship. Heading out of the town we joined a freeway and the coach picked up speed. Rice paddies could be seen on either side of the road, mostly small scale and in various stages of growth – our guide informed us that in Bali they get 4 crops per year from the paddies, rice is grown year-round right through both the dry and the wet seasons. Young soldiers were stationed at each intersection, apparently with conscription, and no major conflicts, there are not a lot of things for the military to do so soldiers are assigned to stand on corners all day long and watch the traffic go by. After about 30 minutes we turned off the freeway and onto a single lane road leading up into the hills. The guide droned on, they talk nonstop on these tours, taking us through the history of Bali from creation to modern times – listing every ruler and president; interestingly he did not review the itinerary for the day or discuss details of the tour. We heard how Bali is about 75% Hindu and that in their culture they place a premium on “looking after their ancestors” – to this end each home “compound” contains a family temple in the northeast corner. Many family temples could be seen as we progressed into the countryside; open aired affairs with lots of statuary. We also passed dozens of stone “factories” apparently supplying the family temples is big business. In the town of Klungkung the Semarajaya Museum is housed in a former school building founded by the Dutch in the 1920s and this was our first stop. Before visiting the museum, our guide led us to a local market, this involved crossing a building site and at this point we began to have some reservations, wondering what we’d gotten into. Along the way we were harangued by ladies selling “batik” and men selling wood carvings, they were quite aggressive – sometimes even pulling at my sleeve; everything apparently cost one dollar, until you showed the slightest interest at which point the cost shot up. Sandra had been looking for a thin shawl to ward off the over aggressive AC in our cabin; negotiations started at $20 and ended at $7, even after this agreement, when I pulled out the money to pay, the lady tried to back out of the deal – I held firm. We later learned that a basic laborer would earn about $10 per day. The “market” turned out to be a narrow alley lined with stalls selling items that looked like they were mostly for temple visitors, the occasional scooter pushed its way through the crowd – often loaded with a whole family and lots of boxes. Despite the guide’s insistence that the group stayed together, we quickly headed out of the market and back towards to museum. Set within beautiful gardens including several temple-like buildings and an ornamental pond, the museum was a very photogenic spot. Small but well curated, the Semarajaya Museum houses a mixture of Dutch colonial and traditional Balinese artifacts. Arrows taped to the floors, probably left over from more Covid-restricted times, offered a quick and easy route through the displays. Minimal AC partially offset the increasing temperature, the floors creaked, and the wooden walls spoke of times gone by. Immediately in front of the museum building a spectacular open-sided raised meeting house was set within the ornamental pond and accessible via a connected walkway. Back on the bus, the guide regaled us with the intricate details of the Balinese funeral procedures – it was a bit disjointed, and his English was sometimes hard to understand, but the gist of the procedure seemed to involve cremation, scattering in the river or sea, 3 days of mourning, the creation of an effigy to represent the deceased, a return to the point of scattering, shouting to encourage the spirit to return and occupy the effigy and finally placing the effigy in the family temple where it would be worshipped and looked after by all future generations. After about an hour we passed through the town of Bangli, famous as the location of the only mental hospital in Indonesia, and on to the village of Cempaga to visit a Hindu temple called Pura Kehan. The temple is set at the foot of a wooded hill and was established in the 13th century. As I was wearing shorts, I was asked to don a long Balinese type of skirt that, once fastened in place by a local helper, extended just a couple of inches below my shorts – apparently this makes all the difference. Sandra had to put on an orange scarf tied around her waist, I’m not sure what this was about. Pura Kehan was a fantastic stop; from the road we were faced with a long staircase shadowed by two large elephants and a magnificent doorway at the top. Three terraces extended up the hill and on the first level there was a large open courtyard-type space within which there were several shrines. Various “gates” connected between the terraces and in all cases these gates were of the same design with high, pointed structures, sloped on the outer edges but perfectly vertical either side of the opening – as if sliced from one gigantic piece of stone. On the very top level the centerpiece was a tall pagoda-like building with thatched roofs, reminiscent of buildings we’d seem in Japan, it was amazing. Other than the small shrines, there was no large, covered building within the temple. It blows my mind to think that this temple was in regular use when Richard the 3rd was king of England, the 7th crusade was taking place, the magna carter was signed, and Marco Polo set off for China. More riding in the coach, more mind-numbing trivia from the guide – but we eventually arrived in the village of Taman; a sort walk through paddy fields, occasionally accosted by the ever-present street sellers – even out here in the country, and we arrived at restaurant. More like an event facility, the restaurant was set in the middle of paddy fields with a central kitchen, a connected open-sided dining room, and a marquee set up for overflow dining. An old man sat on the grass playing a glockenspiel-type of instrument, though very traditionally Balinese. Our group got sat in the covered dining area and a nice lady came in to explain the procedure for our buffet style lunch, a swarm of young locals were on hand to cater to our every whim – bringing drinks, taking away plates and all with such perfect manners a warm and friendly smile. Sandra and I were seated at the very end of one of the tables and thus immediately adjacent to the paddy field – I never ever thought I’d find myself in such situation. Having trawled through the buffet I had no idea what most of the dishes were, but they all tasted great. We left the buffet, walked back though the paddy fields and out to the small country road where our guide had instructed us to head downhill to a “locals house”. This turned out to be exactly as he had explained; a local family had opened their house to visitors, and we got to walk around inside their small compound and observe “normal family events”. The problem was that there were at least 3 Cunard tour group trying to visit the house at the same time, and it was now midafternoon, and the temperature was quite hot. All of the events were taking place outside, so we did not actually go inside any of the small buildings; I was glad about this because it would have felt very intrusive. There was a central raised platform where, while a young boy looked on, one man was carving, another was painting, and a lady was weaving baskets. We got to see the family temple, of course situated in the northeast corner of the compound, and in another recessed area a mother sat with her 3 small children just staring into space. I found the whole experience a bit sad, all of the family members tried to ignore the fact that a hundred strangers were gawping at them – I could not escape the feeling that I was a visitor to a zoo. I was also very surprised to not find a “gift shop” where we’d be asked to buy some of their wares – there seemed to be no direct outlet for the things they were making, adding to the sad feeling. So overall we had a great day in Bali, the highlights were definitely the temple and the lunch – even though the “locals house” visit was a bit depressing it was still an interesting insight into the Balinese culture. The island is very lush and picturesque, we mostly saw the interior hillside areas – we’ll have to explore the beautiful beaches next time.
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