A trip to Bali Dec. 2018

Previously, we wrote a short introduction - giving an outline for our trip. We arrived at the very nice airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Dec. 13 after leaving our house on Dec. 11, 2018.   Of course, we were very tired, but probably in better shape than some as we were able to sleep some on the long flights.  The arrival was only marred by the huge lines of people at immigration.  A visa was not required as long as we could show ourselves leaving withing 30 days, but the crowds from 2-3 arriving flights overwhelmed the immigration folks. However we got through, and were met by our driver and guide and went to Amandari, which was a great place to relax.
On our next day we had an arranged itinerary, that we did not really remember, but trusted the guide to have memorized.  As the day went on we realized that something was not quite right as did not seem to be seeing places we expected.  The guide spoke to the office in the afternoon and apologized, because he had not received the correct plan. We saw many handicrafts people as we had put as a secondary interest, but not any of the more major sites. So, our next day was overly full trying to make up for that error.  We saw some great wood carvings, and silver work, less great painting. At one place the kids playing gamelon instruments were the most interesting thing.

We first saw a gamelon performance while also seeing a traditional performance of stories from the ancient past with remarkable costumes.
Next we drove far north to see rice paddies and the volcano that had erupted a month or so earlier (and made us wonder if Bali would be safe- it was!)  Included in that was lunch at a restaurant with a nice view of the volcano- except that it wa scloudy and rainy, so not so great... and food that was edible but not very tasty.
We then drove southwest for a long time to see the "Shore Temple", which is a bigger tourist spot than we might have wished- huge crowds of people from all over Indonesia and the world. It was interesting to see, but we wondered if looking at the huge variety and number of handicrafts people might be more worthwhile.
We had to get up very early the next day to take a flight to Yogykarta- in central Java.  We were going there for 4 nights, so be left much of our luggage in Bali while we went. It was hard getting up so early in order to catch a 7AM flight, but the roads were a lot less crowded with traffic at that hour. We decided to fly in business class to get better seats and no hassles over luggage.
The next installment of this will be about Java, but after 4 nights there we returned to Bali and the Amandari resort.  Our flight from Yogykarta was not quite so early, but we still got back to Bali in the morning on Dec. 20, 2018
That day we saw the Klungung textile market-  we were told that this is a very busy place  early in the morning- it is really aimed at wholesale- sales to smaller and bigger shops who then sell to the public.  However, we found most of the dealers to be present and we were overwhelmed by the huge numbers of weavings available, but underwhelmed by the variety and quality of what we saw-  most looked like it was meant for mass consumption, while we were more interested in special pieces.
After we left the market we were to go the Tenganan village (spelling might be wrong). This is a place that is somewhat protected from outsiders because it has an ancient history, but they do traditional weaving, so we thought it would be interesting.  However, the road to get there was crawling with traffic and it was the only road!  We crawled at a mile or 2 and hour for an hour or so and finally decided to turn around and go back.  A few vehicles from the other dirction came through and said there was road work going on a few miles ahead.  We were a little disappointed, but happy to get out of the traffic. We visited a book shop and relaxed at the resort awhile instead.
The next day, Dec. 21 we transferred from the resort to our ship that would be our home for most of the next couple weeks or so.
The ship stayed in Bali the night of Dec. 21 and left the evening of Dec. 22, so we had the day of the 22nd in Bali.

Janet to a Balinese cooking class while Jim used our driver and guide to visit a couple textile shops and to return to the resort to pick up something that Janet had left behind.  He considered going to Tenganan Village, but decided it was too far anbd probably still jammed with traffic.    He did visit a craftsman who makes the puppets and costumes used in some of the traditional shows- like the one we saw some days earlier. The amount work done in places like this is remarkable and the quality of what they produce is also remarkable.

A Trip to Bali, Java , Komodo and Australia- Introduction

In 2018 we decided to sign up for a cruise we had been considering for at least 3 years.  There have usually been a couple each winter in North American terms (Dec- Apr.) - either starting in Bali and ending in Sydney or vice- versa.  We thought that taking a newer ship and covering Christmas and New Year Holidays would be a nice way to start the winter by getting away from the shortest days of the year and some cold weather.   The Cruise portion started Dec. 21 in Bali. We wanted to see some of Bali and also wanted to see some of the very old Hindu and Buddhist temples near Yogyakarta ( we learned it is pronounced "JoogJakarta" or "jogja" for short.  We made arranged with "Asian Trails" who have offices in Bali and Java-  we worked with them in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam 3 times in the past and have been happy with them.  We arranged our flights- partly using frequent flyer miles to get from New York to Bali via Hong Kong in business class on Cathay Pacific. The seat went flat for sleeping on the long trip to Hong Kong, so this was good.  We were met in Bali after going through their somewhat painful immigration process. There do not require a visa for stays less than 30 days but we had to show a plane ticket of ship confirmation to get in and the lines were LONG.  We later learned that since were are over 65, we could have taken a shorter line, but this was not at all clear at the airport.
Our driver and guide were waiting for us at the exit of the airport and we took the somewhat long ride to our hotel. Janet picked "Amandari"-  a beautiful place.  December is rainy season and "off season" in Bali, so the hotel was fairly empty- which made it even better!  A bit more on this later.
Our plan was to spend 3 nights in Bali, then fly to Jogja for 4 nights, then back to Amadari for 1 night before transfering to our ship on Dec. 21.  This let us leave heavy bags at Amandari and just take our smaller bags with 4 days worth of cloths.  On transfer to our ship on 12/21 we stayed in port overnight and had arranged for a car and driver the next day.  Jim used this while Janet took a Balinese cooking class.  The flights in Indonesia on Garuda Air were fine. We paid for business class to get better leg room.
The Ship was the "Silver Muse". It is only about a year old, holds about 600 people and was full. We sailed from Bali on Dec. 22 and headed for Komodo to see the dragons and then sailed south to Darwin, Australia.  Northern Australia gets quite a lot of rain in the wet season.  We decided to sign up for a 4 night inland journey- off the ship for 4 nights- 3 of which were days at sea as the ship went from Darwin to Cairns.   We stayed one night in a hotel in Darwin after spending the day visiting Litchfield National Park and some sights around Darwin. We flew early the next morning to Alice Springs in the middle of the country where it is very hot and dry.  We did not go to Uluru- Ayers Rock, but s Swiss Family of 6 made special arrangements to go there while 10 others of us stayed around Alice Springs.  We stayed 2 nights in Alice then flew to Cairns. The ship was not in yet so we stayed in a nice hotel one night and saw some sights that day. The next day we did more sighte=seeing, but one scenic railroad was closed due to rock slides 10 days before.  It rained heavily in Cairns too- very heavy- The next day we saw more sights (in the rain) and then re- joined the ship on New Years Eve.
Other ports wer Townsville, the Whitsunday Islands, Brisbane and then ending in Sydney. We had 3 night scheduled in Sydney and were to fly to Hawaii for 3 nights to break up the trip home, but when we arrived in Sydney we got clear word that Ziggy was not doing well, so we spent a couple hours rearranging, flights and hotels to arrive home on Friday Jan. 11 instead of the 13th, so we go to see Ziggy and see that he was in bad shape.
The 12- 16 hour time difference in addition the the climate difference has made it difficult to adjust to being back in New York State where it has been cold the past week and we expect heavy snow tomorrow too!
More details and some photos to follow in next sections.

In Memoriam: Ziggy Dec. 2004- Jan. 2019

The very sweet and gentle Ziggy Died Jan. 11, 2019. He was not well over the past couple years with allergies to some foods being discovered and then he developed lymphoma.  His health was ok but he was getting weaker when Jim and Janet left for Indonesia and Australia on Dec. 11. He got weaker while we were away- faster than expected. We returned a couple days early with hope he would be well enough to go home, but he had difficulty breathing and was clearly suffering so we decided it was better for him to go.    His sister Zoe seems in good health at present, but she is disturbed to find that he is not around.