Overnight in Bali, Indonesia

            Saturday, 16 Mar 2019 – The ship was scheduled to dock in Bali at 10:00 AM, where we had booked an excursion for the day, “Tribal Dinner & Kecak Dance,” starting at 3:45 PM.  Sally slept late, and we hurried to breakfast.  While eating, we had window seats and watched as the ship slowly pulled into port.  We watched as several gliders sailed into the air while being pulled by boats.  Traffic around the port was so heavy that our docking was delayed by several minutes as the captain waited for traffic to clear.  After breakfast we swam for 35 minutes.  Since most passengers were already going ashore, we had the pool to ourselves, although a man was entering the pool just as we were finishing our swim.  Later, while eating lunch, we watched as people were exiting the ship.

It started raining at about 1:50 PM, and was raining very hard as we left the ship with our umbrella at 3:10 PM.  We had brought a couple of umbrellas along, but we decided to use the large “golf” umbrella provided by the ship.  Our tour guide, Surya, shared information about Indonesia as our bus drove through the streets of Bali.  Jesse tried taking photos from the bus, but with the rain running down the windows, the photos weren’t very good.

Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans.  It is the world's largest island country, with more than 70,000 islands, and 735,358 square miles.  With over 261 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country.  Bali is Indonesia's main tourist destination, and tourism-related business makes up 80% of its economy.   It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music.

Our first stop was Celuk village where we were given the opportunity to observe a 3 silversmiths fabricating jewelry.  Afterwards, we were given the opportunity to purchase jewelry from the Dewi Sitha Jewelry Collection.  Only a couple of the passengers made purchases, while most complained about the high prices.  At least, comfortable seats were available for those not interested in shopping.   We soon re-boarded our bus and continued on to the Bali's amazing Bird & Reptile Park, which houses more than 1,000 birds representing more than 250 species, along with a couple of Komodo dragons.  Luckily, the rain had stopped by then.  Soon after entering the park, we took a photo with us both (Jesse reluctantly) holding large birds.  It took almost an hour to make our way through the park as we saw and photographed many of the various species of birds.  Although Jesse is not a big “bird-watcher,” he admitted that these huge, gorgeous, sometimes intelligent birds were definitely a sight to behold.

After finishing our park tour, we found seats in the park’s open-air dining area, where we shared a table with Doug and Kathy, from Washington, DC.  They cruised with us last year from Cape Town to Singapore.  This year, they are cruising from Sydney to Singapore.  We had interesting conversation while enjoying a traditional Indonesian buffet dinner.

Bali Bird & Reptile Park

After dinner, one of the park’s staff performed a bird show.  Two or three birds flew to her from a great distance as she called for them and performed tricks.  At one point, one of the ship’s passengers joined her on stage.  Afterwards, we moved our chairs around a different stage, nearby, where we witnessed the performance of the Kecak Dance.  Kecak is a ritual dance that recounts a tale from the Ramayana, an epic story that found its way from India to Indonesia.  During the dance, the only musical accompaniment was the chanting supplied by men who were positioned in a concentric circle on the stage.  As the men chanted and rhythmically swayed to the music, more male and female dancers dressed in colorful, elaborate costumes weaved and intertwined their way amongst them.  With the stage lit only by glowing torches, the shadows cast by the dancers combined with the rhythmic chanting.  This performance went on for several minutes.  When we thought it had finally ended, instead, we moved our chairs again to face another, complete outdoor stage.  This time, the dancers lit a fire, then the hot coals were spread out and one of the performers appeared to walk on the hot coals and then sit on them.

After that, we boarded our bus for the return trip to the ship.  Since it had started raining again by the time we arrived at the pier, we walked back to the ship in the rain under our umbrella.  (We had been lucky in the timing of the rain today.)  Too tired to dance, we were in bed by 9:30 PM.

Sunday, 17 Mar 2019 – Today was Jesse’s birthday!  We went to breakfast at about 9:15 AM.  Since most of the passengers were already off the ship for our second day in Bali, we had our choice of seats.  Being Jesse, he announced to everyone that he knew that it was his birthday, and so, of course, they all wished him a Happy Birthday.  After breakfast, we went for a swim.  For most of the time, we had the pool to ourselves.

Celebrating Jesse's Birthday, & Amelia & Al's Anniversary

For dinner, we had arranged to meet Amelia and Al in the Polo Grill to celebrate Jesse’s birthday and Amelia and Al's 24th wedding anniversary.  We were also joined by Jack and Sheila.  Both of us ordered Oysters Rockefeller and Surf & Turf (lobster & filet mignon).  Apparently, the four of them live in Florida near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.  Trump is not a good neighbor and they have no love for him.  First of all, he converted a private residence to the Mar-a-Lago Club, which did not make the neighbors happy; then he installed a gigantic flag pole on the grounds.  His response to any complaints from the neighbors or the local government is “sue me.”  It took several years, but the city finally managed to get the flagpole shortened.  After dinner, the staff brought Jesse a small birthday cake and everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to him.  Sadly, Sheila had an allergic reaction to goat’s milk and had to leave before dessert was served.

We went to the Horizons for dancing at 10:30 PM; however, two vocalists were performing and took up the dance floor.  After 10 minutes or so, we decided to dance on the carpet near our seats for about 30 minutes, and then returned to our cabin where our cabin stewards had decorated our bed with balloons and several towel figurines.  It was a great birthday!