We looked around and soon came to a choice between a peach face or a robin. The girls decided to go for a robin. We then picked a bird that looked healthy, sang when called with a whistle and bargained the price. With our bird in a paper bag we then picked a cage. While fairly roughly made, the cages are really charming and have a very Asian style about them.
We named the bird Ketut after our driver (and every other fourth born son in Indonesia). At time of writing he has been with us three days now, and seems to be very content and each sunrise gives a few little songs that are nice but can be slept through if necessary.
With Ketut (the bird) safely in his new cage when then set off for food market. Liz wanted to get a large mortar and pestle and various ingredients for the items she learned to cook a the cooking class in Ubud. This was great, working our way through the narrow aisles in the the market hall. Having the Indonesian names made the process easy and quickly we had all the items, required.
With most fresh produce from a market it was all washed in salt water first before coming aboard to reduce the risk of cockroaches.
As most people know, Bali is mainly Hindu and everyday life is full of small and large religious practices. Temples are everywhere and all buildings have one or more shrines. Small offerings of flowers and incense are literally on every door way and entrance. Even in a Internet cafe in Ubud I found 2cm square leave trays with a little bit of rice inside at each computer. Every trip we made found us passing a procession of people decorated in their finest clothes, offerings on the women's heads, heading towards a temple or shrine.
One evening a ceremony occurred at the shrine at the corner of marina restaurant. Many of the staff arrived with their children all dressed up and set out a table in front of the already decorated shrine. People arrived with beautifully arranged baskets of fruits. We sat in the restaurant area and watched the proceedings. It was fairly light hearted but still undertaken seriously and was wonderful to watch this simple part of a truly rich culture.
In Courtney's schoolwork she was given a text called Families of the World. In it were descriptions of families from all over Asia and the Pacific, and a day in the life of these families when the author had visited 14 years ago. In the book was a family from Denpasar, Bali. They were a royal family and lived in a palace, with an adjoining hotel which they run. Courtney had to write up an imaginary day with one of the members of the family. We worked out where they lived and went to see the hotel and maybe the palace. We walked into the hotel and a man welcomed us and said to 'have a look around'. We did and Courtney was excited to see the red parrot Beo, described in the text in a cage in the grounds. After walking round we went back to explain to the man why we had come there. He had left, and one of the staff told us that he was one of the family in the book and that the next day his sister was getting married. The staff-member said we should come to watch. Courtney wanted to buy kebaya and a sarong, and now she had a good reason, as we were told to wear 'appropriate clothes'. Anna already had her 'Indonesian boy' outfit webought in Ubud.
So the next day we arrived at 7:30am and waited for the start. We were made very welcome and were met by the same man again and his father showed us around the palace grounds. At first we thought it strange for us to be given front row seats. As the day progressed we realised were amongst the 'well wishers', the main ceremony was in the palace grounds and we basically saw everyone coming and going. It was fascinating watching people arriving as they were all impeccably dressed and all seemed very happy about being there.
A large number of people came in and sat down quickly followed by the groom and his entourage who headed into a pavilion. After a while the bride and groom appeared and,followed by everyone, left the hotel/palace buildings. We later realised a procession back to the grooms house, with the bride & groom being carried aloft in medieval style chair, was occurring . We followed and saw the chair and waiting crowd assembled at the grooms house. Many hours had passed and heat had gotten to us so we took the girls to Mcdonalds for lunch for being so well behaved and patient. A not so typical day, definitely.Over the next few days some shopping was done to restock the frig. Mainly a supply of cryo-vacummed frozen meat, mainly chicken and pork and fruit and vegetables. We first backed out of the mooring and went into a berth for two days to collect water and fuel. This also gave the girls to watch some videos as we currently have a dead inverter, so no TV or Video.
We left the marina and headed for Lembongan Island in the Lombok Strait. It felt good to move away, although the motor felt sluggish. A combination of barnacles on the propeller and a fierce current. First it was the tide coming into Benoa harbour and then, once out into strait a strong current between the islands - going at four knots the wrong way (for us!) doing a boat speed through the water of around seven knots gave us a speed forward of two-three knots. Making the fourteen miles take four to five hours. Still it was a nice day and no problems so a good initial trip after all that time sitting in one spot.
Photo slideshow
