Bali, Indonesia

Previous

Our two days in Bali were memorable, not only for the beauty of the countryside, the temples, and the people, but also for the number of showers we took! It is incredibly hot and humid in Indonesia and although I drank bottles of water, not much came back out in the normal fashion. I had a teacher in high school who always said that horses sweat, men perspire, and women glow. Well, all I can say to that is “Neigh”! I packed enough clothes to get us through 14 days - we have been here 4 days and have already sent out half of them to be laundered. This may be the first trip where my laundry bill exceeds my bar tab!

Our hotel in Ubed, Bali was quite beautiful. The grounds were lovely with lotus ponds and cocoanut palms and the compound was surrounded by rice paddies. We were all given separate villas with a private pool, which gave an opportunity for some skinny dipping after a hot day of touring. Our villa had two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and an outdoor bathtub as well as the pool, far more than we required! This photo shows only the pool/patio area.

   

Over our two days, we visited extremely ornately carved Hindu temples from the 9th and 11th centuries, a monkey forest sanctuary which is home to long-tailed macaques, a museum of Balinese art both traditional and contemporary, and had a private performance of Balinese dancing with traditional Balinese gamelon music. The costumes were beautiful, as were the women dancers. 


As much as I enjoyed Bali, I have to say that I was relieved when we boarded the Orion with its highly efficient air conditioning system! There are 82 passengers on board of a possible 102, so it is very comfortable and never feels crowded at all. The 25 of us who did the pre-trip extension in Bali seem to have bonded so we feel like we now know some people on the ship. It is a lovely ship but there are some things I miss about the Explorer, the ship we usually travel on with Lindblad. The food is even better though and there is room for everyone to eat out on the stern deck, which is where breakfasts and lunches are served. The staff, as always with Lindblad, are great. The can’t do enough to make our trip enjoyable.

© Michael Alexander 2015