Bali was much the same as I remember 30 years ago. The people were exceedingly friendly, very anxious to sell their wares, and the humidity was oppressive. The amazing thing was that once you get away from the towns, the countryside is covered with ferns, as well as a plant that looks like a cactus. It makes no sense.
The other thing that was one of my favorite things in the world was the fact that these people make offerings to the gods EVERYWHERE. They make little leaf baskets about 2-3 inches in diameter, fill them with little pieces of fruit, food, grains and place them on the ground, in trees, on little temples which are ubiquitous. One of the ladies on the ship said that we Americans could us a little of this humility and outward expression of thankfulness for all that we have. I agree.
Carter was entertaining 12 doctors from Indonesia, the ones who do all of the pre-employment physicals and post-care for the Indonesian staff. There were 2 competitive groups, so he wasn’t totally sure how it would all shake out. He was confined to the ship, so I took off with Sheila, one of the nurses and we went exploring. Neither of us likes the crowds, so we took off over a hill, found a temple that didn’t seem too popular with tourists (we were the only Caucasians) and then found a cute little café overlooking a beach. No ship passengers there, since it was rather remote.
It was funny because 2 very persistent sales ladies decided we were good marks. They had traditional batiks for sale, as well as postcards, wooden boxes, bikinis – you name it, they had it. We bought a little, then had a snack 2 cokes and a plate of papaya and shrimp (all for less than $3). Once the sales ladies tired of us, they moved on to a Japanese couple and out of nowhere produced a bag of shorts and tops. When we left, the sale lady was giving another bikini clad woman a massage. They were definitely multi-talented.
Once I returned to the ship, I was looking for Carter because I wanted to meet some of the people he had visiting. I searched everywhere, but managed to miss him. I wasn’t sure if he had a serious discussion underway, so I just left a message for him to call and returned to the room. As I was a little overheated, I decided to lie down and promptly fell asleep. The next thing I knew, Carter was calling my name, with 12 people entering our room. How embarrassing!! I had done the laundry earlier in the day, but the socks hadn’t completely dried, so our room was decorated with multiple pairs hadn’t completely dried, so our room was decorated with multiple pairs of socks, as well as several hanging dresses. Yikes! At least I was clothed and not drooling!!
Tai Chi has become a daily activity for me. This instructor is very low key and for once I think I got into the “zone”. I was doing the breathing correctly and not clenching my teeth because I can’t get the hand movements in the correct direction. When we first started, there was a turf war for space to do the routines. We do the class in the auditorium and with careful moving of the tables and chairs, you can make enough space for yourself. I finally moved up into the balcony area because there was less competition for space. We have a nice group of regulars up there, but there is one rebel. There is a man who insists on working at twice to three times the speed of the rest of us. It is so distracting. I must admit it is difficult to slow down, but this is ridiculous.
We also have several speakers every day on all sorts of topics. I love the ones on the history of the region. Yesterday was discussing the history of Indonesia and the Sultan of Brunei. Very informative. Maybe this will help make me a better citizen of the world.
Labels: Personal
posted by Hills @ 12:37 AM
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