In Bali we stayed at the Pramar Beach Hotel, Sanur. Here we met several other groups who had come to Indonesia, as we had, to watch the total eclipse of the sun. Members of the group swapped accounts of previous eclipses, and walked to the beach to get a view of the southern stars: the Southern Cross, Canopus, Alpha and Beta Centauri, Sirius and Orion on its side.
On a hot and humid day, we walked down the road outside the hotel. Bali is an island where Hindus predominate. We saw little boxes of leaves and flowers left as offerings and glimpsed dancing in an ornate Hindu temple. It is more obviously touristy than the other places we had visited. We passed rows of shops: some sold clothes, hats and shoes; others woven mats and carved wooden ornaments; still others silver jewellery. There was a huge choice of restaurants, offering everything from the ubiquitous nasi goreng (fried rice) to Western food like steaks and pizzas.
After the solar eclipse, our group returned to Bali and we went on a tour of the island. We went first to a village in the forest,where we were greeted with sweetmeats and coffee or tea. The village consisted of several houses and a temple to gods and ancestors, all set in a walled compound. Two little girls were helping an older woman make bamboo ornaments for offerings. I tried making one, with little success. From here we walked to the rice paddies. A man was levelling the paddy field: walking slowly behind two oxen, with his feet in deep mud. Our guide, Mar, explained the flow of water down the hill was carefully controlled.
We went on to an important Hindu temple at Bangli. Those of our group who were wearing shorts were issued with sarongs before they were allowed to visit. The temple was started in the 9th century and rebuilt several times. It was on three levels, with the lowest being the oldest. The higher levels had Chinese plates set in the walls. The temple was dwarfed by a huge banyan tree, where the aerial roots had become a forest of trunks.
As the bus climbed towards Batur Mountain (1730 metres), the clouds closed in and it poured with rain. However, we stopped for lunch at the Lake View Hotel. As we ate, the clouds cleared, giving a view of the lake and the volcano. From here we drove to a coffee plantation, where they make some of the most expensive coffee in the world. Mar called it ‘Poo-Poo’ coffee, but the real name is Kopi Luwak. The beans are fed to civets, which excrete them. They are then washed and the outer layers removed before the beans are roasted. We tried a selection of coffees and teas. The plantation was interesting because of the range of plants grown among the coffee: cocoa, ginger, turmeric, chilli, nutmeg and cardamon. But the real excitement was caused by a huge yellow and black spider hanging on its web among the trees.
The evening before we left for home, we had dinner at a restaurant at Jimbaran Bay. Here, long tables had been set out on the beach and dancers in grotesque masks performed between them. We chose the fish or seafood we wanted and the restaurant grilled them. As the sun set, the sky glowed in a lovely mixture of pinks and greys.
dreaminginstone 