Sailing around the World

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Thu 9 Sep 2010 00:08
WEDNESDAY  8th   SEPTEMBER  2010
 
06.00hrs  All 3 of us hopped out of the scratchers, had a clean up, read the emails and did the blog.
The weather was dull and overcast, but that did not matter too much, we were off on a tour this morning at 08.30hrs
which was organised by W.  ARC
 
This was going to be a long day, with lots of stops etc.
Firstly, The place was beautifull once we got out of town,, beautifull landscapes and mountains in between all the housing,, Now the housing here
is interesting,Families tend to live in the " extended Family " situation,  ie the grand parents, the parents , the children, all uncles and their wifes
live in a sort of Family enclosure, each family with their own little house. including all their shrines to the gods, ( 90% of people here are Hindu ) and live happily with their neighbours,   the christians and Muslims....
 
We set off at the designated time and stopped at the following places :- 
 
*Celuk, this was a gold and silver workshop, and their goods were supberbly crafted. and by our standards, great value. The sailing
ships, the horse drawn carriges, the globes, the jewelry ,  all so delicately worked..... awsome stuff 
 
* Mas,   This was another workshop, but this time all the goods were made of timber,  Again, it was great to see the craftsmen working
the timber, most of it being hardwood. They made everything from Chairs to Elephants , tables to crocadiles,  birds of prey etc etc.
A collectors paradise.
 
* Dedaulu , this had lots of artwork , again beautifully done.
 
*Kintamani,   This was the first of 2 Temples, and was only discovered around the 1930's  Its main feature, apart from all the stone carvings on the cliff faces, was the " Elephant Cave " which had many, many chambers carved out inside. 
The amount of devotion to their gods is impressive.
Every day they make simple fruit and veg offerings, and then every so often , they have big ceremonies, and these include. Cock fighting,
gambling, playing games of all sorts, praying and lots more,, 
The Elephant seems to play a big part in their lives,  They see him as a protector of their property, and their families,
so there are Elephants everywhere.
 
* Seribatu
 
*Kintanani,,    This area had a hill top restaurant , which looked out over the Valcano,( last erupted not so long ago. )  and also looked across at
the Islands biggest lake.  We were lucky , the weather was goog, so no clouds blocking the view.
It was noticably cooler up, which was a delight.
Lunch was a Buffet, and we all stuffed our faces with far too much food,, We were like the fat bunch leaving the restaurent, having
paid the modest $ 7.oo  a head .. the food was excellent, and so was the value.
 
* Tampak Siring,  This was another Temple, and way better than the first one,,  The workmanship and tatched roofs on the shrines was magnificant.
and thats along with all the guilding,, and bright colours..................   Real oriental and a great sight to behold..
They also had lots of birds, cocks, and animals scattered around the place in stone cages,  along with a dozen ponds crammed with gold fish.
Here , they also had area's for washing the clothes and taking a skinny dip. if required..
A real live working shrine...  It was just great,, We were impressed all Day..
 
* Paddi Fields,   Again here we saw how creative these people were in carving Paddi Fields out of the valley's, just beautifull scenery for us..
 
* UBAD,  this was a modern oriental looking town with lots of wonderfull restaurants on offer.
We sort of ran out of time, and really did not get to see the Monkey Village,  all for another day....
 
We returned to the marina at 19.30hrs  and wrote out some of the cards we had collected on the way.
Neil went off with the younger set,  namely Sean, Sofie, Oisin, The Bubbily Bev, and Mo.  They were going to hit the town.
 
21.30  Our new guests arrived,, 
Thats Terry O'Sullivan and Niall Vaughan from Cork.  Terry is our daughter Sarah's father in law, and great gas on a boat.
Of course we had to have a few night caps before hitting the scratchers.
 
A good day for all. and its great that our new guests have arrived safe and sound.
 
 
Thats all for now,
 
Signed : -     Stephen Hyde   ( Skipper )