Bali........The Final Blog

Our final blog on Bali!

On our last day Saturday, we had to be out of our hotel at 12 noon.  So we rented a driver and toured the countryside.

This was a great way to see Bali as it is and not as it is commercialized.

We went up the coast to an old temple called Tanah Lot; a Balinese Hindu Temple.

Tanah Lot means “Temple of Land in the middle of the Sea”.

The actual temple sits on an off shore rock formation that has been shaped continuously over the years by the ocean tide.

Background Info:

The temple is claimed to be the work of a 15th century priest, Nirartha.

During his travels along the south coast, he saw the rock island’s beautiful setting and rested there.  Some fishermen saw him and bought him gifts.  Nirartha then spent the night on the little island.  Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods.

This is one of the 7 temples around the Balinese coast.  Each one being within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south western coast.

At the base of the rocky island poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders.

Some pictures of what we saw at Tanah Lot

Included this picture because I thought it was interesting that all the branches off the main ones grew up.....never have seen that before

These were carved into the stone walls

When it’s time for a nap....it’s time for a nap!!

After Tanah Lot we headed to another attraction further inland.  It was a place where monkeys roam free and bats when stretched out are 4 feet in length (at least)

Pictures from this area:

The Monkeys:

Inspecting for lice

Mommy and baby

picking lice again!

The Bats:

Do you see the bats hanging in the tree at the lower portion of the clear area?  The bats were huge and pretty disgusting.

Couldn’t take a close up picture of them because it cost money and I wasn’t going to pay money to take a picture of 

something that disgusting!

There were ruins of what used to be a temple.  I have read that some Balinese worship monkeys and bats

Since we had our driver until we headed to the airport we decided to just drive through the countryside and small towns/villages on the way to the airport.....

We ate lunch at a local eatery......suckling pig.....which Bali is famous for.  As we got out of the “city” Babi Guling stalls started cropping up all along the road.  

Babi Guling translated actually means “pig revolving”.  I guess referring to it being roasted and turning as a rotisserie.  

A young sucking pig issue seed because of it’s tenderness.

 I was really expecting to see a succulent pig roasting over coal on a dug out pit with tin over it keeping the heat in to cook the pig.........however, that is how the pig is cooked....according to tradition: spit roasted for 5 hours.  

This is what we got in our dish:

pork meat, crispy skin, deep fried intestines, more pork meat mixed with spices and chili vegetable relish served over rice.

It also came with a bowl of broth, although I could not tell you what was in it.

Worth the stop!

We passed by a local temple having a religious celebration of some sort.......so our driver stopped and we went inside.  They were very hospitable, allowing us to take pictures and observe what was going on.

Below is what we saw on the way in:

Food carts lined up along the road outside the temple.

Inside the temple:

 Dennis making friends, as usual.  They could not speak any English but Yes!

I know this blog is long and full of pictures that you had to download but I really wanted to include a video that shows what was going on while we were at the temple.




Please pray for this island and for the minority of Christians there.  Pray for their strength, their commitment to being a light in a dark area, for their light to shine brightly. Pray especially that this nation will be a nation who is known to love Jesus and that the resistance to becoming island in the midst of a muslim nation will come to pass
.
Psalm 19 : 1-4a


The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth, 
their words to the ends of the world.


Pray that the Balinese would see God’s glory all around 
them and question whether this could be done by stone gods....that there must be something more.  Pray that God
would place believers in the path of those who question and would have the right words to answer their questions.  Pray for the Christian’s boldness there.


.....till next time.....