+1 (Observed)

This year I wasn't able to celebrate the anniversary of my advent as I usually do. So, to make up for it, I made an impulsive decision. One of my friends lives in Bali, and he had the week off, so I decided to visit before I get too busy with the new term.

I bought a plane ticket on Monday departing Wednesday. Talk about quick action! Especially for me. So on Wednesday, I was off to Bali. It's actually only 2 hours away via plane, and I got a great round-trip deal for less than $200 (Singapore).

Anyways, Bali is a fascinating place. The movie Eat, Pray, Love made it familiar many Americans, although I don't think many Balinese like that film or book. A few shirts on the island say "Eat, Pray, Leave."  The island is awash with foreigners at the moment, thanks to the European holidays. I swear all of France must be on holiday in July and August. Then again, I think Bali is always full of tourists. We were caught in a number of traffic jams during my 4 days there.

For a few nights I stayed in Ubud, which is a town about halfway up the mountain. It's famous for it's art scene and the monkey forest. Here's a statue from the forest. I've been there before, so I didn't take a ton of pictures.

One of the things that is interesting about Bali is a constant string of religious observances. I saw at least three or four each day of my visit. Here some girls are performing at a temple.

The boys were in the back preparing for their dance.

I don't like to be the pushy tourist who barges in on other people's religious ceremonies, so I took these from outside the temple. There were plenty of others tourists pressing their way through the locals trying to get pictures.

I much prefer to be either invited or purchasing a ticket for a performance, such at this Barong Dance. It was slightly different from the one I saw previously. The Barong had a pig head instead of the red face.

This fellow still made an appearance.

I always enjoy the life music. Balinese orchestras are truly amazing, especially since it is so rare to hear live music performances in the US.

Anyways, I also visited the rice terraces, which Bali is famous for. It is amazing that farmers are able turn a mountain side into rice fields. We definitely couldn't do that in Idaho.

After the rice terraces, we made our way up the mountain to Lake Batur, a large lake within a volcanic caldera. It's quite beautiful. The lake is the source of water for all of the rice farmers down the mountain. Every few months they gather at the lake to make offerings and coordinate their water sharing for the season. It's quite an interesting system, and Stephen Lansing has written a great book on it called Priests and Programmers. 

Here I am, looking rather majestic near the lake. It's volcanic, so the landscape is similar to the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho.

On the other side of the lake there are a few temples.

Lower down the mountain, I took this picture of one of the local worship sites in the rice fields. Farmers use these to coordinate their water management and sharing.

The next day, my friend and I went up another mountain to the area called Bedugul, which contains three mountain lakes.

One of them, Lake Beratan, is home to one of the most famous temples in Indonesia. It figures prominently on the 50,000 rupiah note (about $5).

Since they put the image on the note, locals have gussied up the temple a little bit with some rather large frog statues. you can't see them very well in the picture, which is probably for the best.

Near the temple I found this wonderful eagle. Go 'Murica!

It probably isn't a representation of America, but it's what I thought about when I saw the statue.

We also traveled around to the other lakes. The third, Lake Tamblingan, is quite nice and remote. From all my time in Indonesia, I don't believe I've seen so much preserved forest land. The island of Java certainly doesn't have much forest left. Good job, Bali.

The road to the lake is beautiful with some wonderful views. Here I am looking very contemplative.

And a little bit of mockery. The sign says "No urinating in the parking area."

You know me. I'm more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

My final day was spent watching Wolverine, which is a fine film. I give it my ringing endorsement, especially the little teaser at the end.

Taufik and I then traveled to the south corner of the Island to Pura Ulu Watu, a temple on the cliffs overlooking the sea.

Speaking of monkeys... They have monkeys, including this fine-looking, well-fed fellow.

Nothing prompts a smile like a fat monkey eating an apple.

I'm staring off into the distance here. Makes me look like I'm having deep thoughts. Like how much my butt hurts because of all the motorbike riding around the island. Great times, great times.

We stayed at the temple until almost sunset before we had to run to the airport where I caught my plane. All in all, it was a nice little birthday trip. I think I'll go to Bali again sometime, but I'm definitely waiting until high season is over.