Thursday October 10

    

The Kings Temple

        We flew from Jogyakarta to Bali early in the morning.  After checking in we had our last cup of coffee on Java.  The flight was entertaining. We flew over a perfect round Volcano and Joan had the window seat.  The huge waves around Bali were visible from the air.  We met our driver at the airport, he took us for breakfast and we took our first pictures on the beachfront.  While I fumbled with the camera Joan and Barb posed in front on the big breakers.  As they were standing ankle deep in the water a big wave knocked both for a loop.  It’s a good thing they had a change of clothes in the taxi.

            We headed towards the middle of Bali where they grow the rice.  Along the way we stopped at the Royal Temple and then a coffee grower.  They let us try the 7 coffees for free but we had to pay to taste the Luwak coffee.  This coffee has passed through the bowels of a civet cat/fox.  The civet eats only the finest beans and the strong acids in his stomach cause the beans too mellow.  The coffee was indeed mellow.

            The rice fields have been cultivated for centuries and sit on the hillsides in terraces.  There is a reservoir

Rice Terraces in Bali

at the top of the hill and the water runs from the reservoir to all the fields below.  The terraces are mud walls planted with grass and some of them are quite slippery.  By the time I had finished picture taking my sandals were too slippery to get back up the steep parts.  I had to use my tripod as a cane.