DAY 52---Benoa, BALI (DAY 2)

This is day #2 here at the Benoa dock just outside Denpasar.  Buses are ready for another day of tours.  Still raining this morning.  The rain did end before the tours left.  No tours for us today.  75 degrees out this morning.

LAST EVENING

I got last evening's photos at the end of yesterday's post.  

TODAY

        There is a Muslim mosque somewhere near the pier.  At 5am they were broadcasting on loud speakers their call for prayer.  I could hear it. 

        I woke up around that time and was worrying about our house's heat system.  I can check the temperature via wifi both inside and in the garage where the boiler is for our radiant heat system.  Yesterday inside was 60 which is cooler that it has been but garage temp was ok.  So I went to my laptop to check the temperatures again.  Still 60 inside and 52 in the garage so ok I guess.  I sent an email to Melissa, neighbor watching our house, to go check it.

        There is a large cruise ship anchored outside of the harbor this morning.  With us at the pier there is no room for that size ship to dock.  So it appears they are having to tender their passengers ashore.  Not sure but back end of the ship looks like it may be a Princess ship.

        It is now afternoon, and yes, it is a Princess ship.  Their tender dock is behind our ship.  It is too big to dock here even if our ship was not here.  

                                                                Bow of our Mariner.

               Here you can see one of the Princess tender boats just at tender pier behind us.

                                   Just outside of the terminal is a small temple with offerings.

        We had invited Putu Artawan to come on board today to visit with us.  We met him back on our 2010 world cruise and we became very close friends.  He was a wine sommelier but left the cruise line back in 2014 to be with his very young family.  Now he instructs at a travel industry school and trains young Balinese to work on cruise ships.  He is also a driver and guide for private tours.  He has a 6 passenger van for the tours.  He gave us a tour back in 2017.

        He calls us mommy and daddy and we call him son.  He has 3 children:  14 year old girl, 8 year old boy, and 6 year old boy.  I was to meet him in the cruise terminal at 11am but he had traffic issues and then they would not let him in the cruise dock gate.  Long story but he finally got in.  Then security at the terminal would not let him pass as he was not on the visitor list.  So I went out.  Well the list they were using was yesterday's list.  So I went back on board to our security officers and got todays list.  Finally at noon they allowed him to come on board.        

        We went to La Veranda for some lunch and Putu got to see quite a few crew members and passengers that he had worked and cruised with.  Everyone was happy to see him.  After lunch we went all around the ship where he saw more people he knew.

        We came back to our suite to get a couple's email and phone number as they left the ship yesterday and will remain in Bali for a month.  Putu will do some guide work for them.  He called them on his phone and I talked to Vivian and introduced Putu.  I also sent her an email with his photo.

        When we were in the Observation Lounge I asked Putu what the big mound was on the other side of the bay.  He said it was the garbage pile for the city.  It was huge.

         Putu left the ship at 2:45 to fight the traffic going home.  We really enjoyed seeing him and visiting with him today.  We will be back in Bali again on our next year's cruise from Sydney to Tokyo so we will plan on doing a tour with him then.

        So after he left Rebecca is streaming her soaps while I work on this posting.  Luckily no rain for the tours today.  Most are now back on board at 3:30.  The ship sails at 6pm.  At 5:15 there will be a "safety announcement".  Luckily, we will not have to assemble at our emergency muster stations.  We just have to go check in there between 2pm and 5pm for them to scan our key cards indicating we know where to go in case of an emergency.  We did it at 2pm.  At 3:45 we could hear the Muslim Mosque broadcasting their prayer call again over loud speakers somewhere near the port.

        Our plan for this evening is cocktails in Mariner Lounge with Marcia, Richard, & Harvey.  We all have a Prime 7 reservation for 6:45.  The show tonight is by guest entertainer, Mickey Votano.  Theme of his vocal show is "Swing, Soul, Rock n Roll".  We met him at noon as we were about to have lunch.  We will definitely go to his show as he seems to be a very nice young man.

                                           Here is the Compass Rose menu for this evening.

        So we set sail again at 6pm for our next destination which is just on the other side of Bali.  The port is at Celukan Bawang and will be a very slow cruise speed for our arrival at 7am tomorrow.  This is a new port for us.  I have a 7 hour tour scheduled but Rebecca will not be going along.  If we were to drive from Benoa to Celikan it would only take 3 hours as it is just 50 miles from this port.  But we're taking a "slow boat".

        

DAY 51---PORT OF BENOA ON BAL, INDONESIA

 

We will be docked here for two days at the port in Benoa on the island of Bali in Indonesia.  

Historical/Background Info:

        This is our 3^rd visit to Bali and a favorite of ours.  We will be here for two days.  The port of Benoa is on the southern tip of a peninsula of sorts adjacent to the city of Denpasar, which is the capital and largest city in Bali with a population of 900,000.  Bali is an Indonesian Island that is 95 miles east to west and 69 miles north to south (about the same size of Delaware) and has a population of 4,317,000.  Its central mountains include several volcanic peaks about 10,000 feet high.  The highest is Mount Aguug and is an active volcano rated as one of the world’s most likely to erupt within the next 100 years.  Its last eruption in 1963 killed 80,000.

        Unlike the rest of Indonesia which is 95% Muslim, Bali is about 85% Hindu and has over 20,000 temples.  Every home has a “family temple” always located on the northeast side of the house.  We have been to the home of Putu whom we met on our 2010 world cruise as he was a wine sommelier then.  In 2017 he was no longer working for Regent but was a private tour guide in Bali.  We invited him and his family on board the ship for lunch.  You should have seen his two young boys and a girl’s eyes light up as they had never seen a ship, nor ridden in an elevator.  He took us to his house afterwards to drop the family off and showed us his very humble abode.  It had a temple.  We now call Putu one of our two “adopted” Bali families.  Kadek is the other and he is currently on Regent’s Splendor working as a sommelier.  He has three children also.  We call Putu and Kadek our “sons”.  They call us mom and dad.

        The lowlands of Bali has very rich volcanic soil for their numerous rice paddies.  The sloping hills are terraced for growing coffee, fruits, and vegetables.  It is a very lush island for sure.  Agriculture is the island’s biggest employer.  Most of the island’s money comes from tourism which is pretty much concentrated on the south side of the island where we are today.  The Islamic terrorist attacks in 2002 & 2005 (202 tourists killed in 2002 attack) set back tourism as did the Covid pandemic recently.  Bali is rebounding again from the pandemic.  Australia, China, and Japan are the top suppliers of tourists, in that order.  The island is surrounded by coral reefs for diving and nice beaches on the south where many resorts are located.

        The Balinese people rarely eat meats (chicken, pork, or beef) as seafood, rice, fresh vegetables, and fruits are their main diet.  LOTS of rice!!  Interestingly, there is a “caste system” here with four classes of people:  93% are peasants with the other caste’s in order of increasing importance being:  merchant/administrative, kingly/warrior, and holy men/priests.  They are born into their caste and each one has a different talking dialect.  So the first question they ask when meeting someone is, “What is your class?”  Another interesting fact is, menstruating women are not allowed in public as they are considered “not clean”.  Hey, I don’t make the rules!  Also family land is passed down to the sons and daughters.  The girls are expected to marry a man with land.  Bali handicrafts are inexpensive to begin with but our guide said they expect you to “bargain” with them.  He said a fair price is 70% less then their first price.  I hope you find all this interesting as it was relayed to be by our guide on a previous cruise.

LAST NIGHT

                                               Our "bar fly" friends at Mariner Lounge.

                                     We both had the beef stir fry which was very good.

Jeff, our son, wanted a photo of Pilar.  He was on with is in October and said Pilar was the hardest working bar waitress ever.  We agree!

                            Christmas tree not our favorite but Rebecca found something she liked.

I had this new dessert.  This is the Loire Valley cake.  An almond sponge cake with berries.  Very good!

TODAY

                                                    Tour buses ready to go this morning.

                                                          Balinese band playing on pier.

                             Luckily, we have a view.  Other side of the ship has view of water.

We are taking a 6 1/2 hour tour today that departed at 8:30 this morning.  As we exited the ship a Balinese band and some dancers greeted us.

                                                       This is our tour on bus #29.

This is our bus driver (on left), Putu.  On the right is Astawa, our guide.  I don't know how Putu did it today.  The roads were two lanes but narrow and packed with cars, trucks, and thousands of motor bikes.  There are nearly one million people living Denpasar, the capital of Bali, and I think we saw at least a million motor bikes today.  They drvve in front, beside, and behind our bus.  Helmets are required.  I saw bikes with mom, dad, and 2 kids on it.

Our guide gave us this map of Bali with our route highlighted.  Bali is shaped like a chicken our guide said.  It is 50 miles bottom to top and 70 side to side on this map.

We had this very nice bus today.  It was nicely air conditioned and there were only 23 of us on it.  Rebecca and I sat on the back row.  This where I like to sit.  I was also impressed as the bus windows were big and clean.

                          Yes, we drove by two McDonalds, a Burger King, and KFC today.

                                                   A look at some of the traffic at stop light.

                            We drove by all kind of businesses.  Several were stone carvings.

After a 45 minute ride we arrived at our first stop.  We were to see a batik demonstration but didn't.  Mostly this was to shop for batik clothes, scarves,  etc.  It was a huge store.  At least it was air conditioned.

These ladies would paint a design on your clothes.  Not sure is it was permanent or would wash out.

                                                                   A lady at the loom.

                                                                 Astawa waiting outside.

                                                                       Just a few bikes

                                                                  This is the store.

                 We are back in the bus heading to our second stop.  Another 45 minute drive.

                                                                  More traffic photos.

The Balinese are mostly Hindu.  There is a temple, whether large or small, in every home.  There are some of these along the streets where foods or flowers are left when praying.

                                                                        Rice paddy 

                                                                  Passing some fields.

                                         Farmers can get two crops a year off the rice paddies

                             The entrance to our second stop at the Mengwi Royal Temple.

              Don't know what the following photos are depicting but this is a Hindu temple.

                                                    

                                                        This fungus growing on the tree.

                                                                        Unusual tree

                                                                  These are pagodas.

We departed this temple for another one.  Another 45 minute drive with the traffic.  This means something in Hindu I guess.

                                                Now entering the Tanah Lot Temple grounds.

                                                         The sand is black volcanic sand.

                                          This is the Tanah Lot Temple built in 16th century.

                                Back on the road again for a 1 1/2 hour drive back to the ship.

                                                     More rice paddies on terraces.

Touring wore Rebecca out.

Notice the motor bike near center line heading the other way.  I saw many bikes carrying big loads.

       There are hundreds of motor bikes parked all around this building.  I think it is a university.

                        He is a war hero and the airport at Denpasar is named after him.

Lots of traffic all day long.  I have not idea how Putu, our driver, got us to and from today.

                                             Back at the port entrance at 2:15 this afternoon.

        There was to be a very special world cruise event this evening from 5pm until 11;30 ashore.  We canceled it yesterday.  Good decision at just before 5pm the heavens opened up and it started a down pour.  Apparently many of the world cruise folks went on it.  We will await what have to say about it tomorrow.

We did not go on the event due to the hot, humid evening but then the rain began.  This tonight's menu which is a good one for us.

                                                          Fresh flowers on board today.

                                                                        Budi, sommelier

                                   My favorite appetize, black mussels.  I had a double order.

                                             We both had the veal piccata with extra polenta.

        As most of the people were off the ship tonight they were showing a movie in the theater.  We had a nice dinner and back in the suite for the night.  I heard there are only about 100 on the ship this evening.