22 Feb 2010 - Bali, Indonesia

Our second day in Bali and we were old hands by now, except we didn't have any local currency and that was our first priority. We had spent what little we had yesterday on beer and a boat ride.



At the hotel breakfast buffet each morning this lady was the hostess. She is the very image of the classical Balinese beauty that is seen in all the Indonesian promotions of their homeland.










All morning buffets came with this strange item. It's Dragon Fruit. It has a very subtle sweetness. Very difficult to describe, very good and new, so couldn't be turned down.




That's Rp 188,000.00. The Indonesian Rupiah exchange rate for the US $1.00 was about Rp 9350.00 and it changed every day. We both had iPods so we could look up the exchange rate before leaving the hotel and then could shop for the best rate. Exchange houses were on every block, sometimes next door to each other, so knowing the official rate came in handy. An odd thing about the US $100.00 bill. If it was printed in 2006 or before, it did not not command the highest exchange rate. When this was pointed out, we went back to the hotel and found a later issue. This only happened to us in Bali.




Janet -- rolling in the dough.




Walking through the hotel lobby, music was playing. This was a far cry from Rap or County/Western.




Doug had to get in the act with a pool side drink.




On day tours we saw all manners of statues. Most so out of this world fantastic.



Temple tours were taken almost every day we were there. All with names so unpronounceable they immediately passed through without registering.















All temples required that we wore skirts. Sarong's were made of silk and very warm. It was only 110 in the shade and there was no shade. Humidity was at least 90 precent so this was our attempt to smile for the camera, while we were dying.




It was prayer time in the temple.




In this temple Monkeys were everywhere. Women were warned not to have large earrings or jewerly that could be easily snatched by the monkeys. Men were told not to wear hats for the same reason.



As this day came to an end we asked the tour guide to take us to a nice seafood restaurant and we were not disappointed. The restaurant was on the beach and I mean on the sand. A great place to watch the sunset as you can see below.



There were several restaurants on the beach and each one had a dinner show. This performance was on stage as we ate.






The orchestra for the dinner show.



This was our view from the beachside restaurant. This favorite day ended with a favorite picture.