Beautiful Bali!!

It's been almost two years since our trip to China and Bali and I'm FINALLY finishing up this record of it! I can't believe it took me this long. . .
We took a late, overnight flight from Beijing to Bali and landed just after noon on Sunday, June 1.
All of us received leis and a cool washcloth upon our arrival. The frangiapani blooms in the leis smelled wonderful! 

I took this photo as we were leaving the Bali airport. The tall "reed" ornamentation, blowing in the wind, were everywhere on the island. They were left from a recent festival of giving thanks to their gods. 
In Bali, the population is about 93% Hindu. However, they are the exception in Indonesia. In the rest of Indonesia, the population is more than 80% Muslim (which I did not know.) 

Other sites from the bus showed us the disparity between the way many people live on the island and the luxury resorts we stayed in while there. 

We received a welcome dance at the entrance to our hotel — The Pan Pacific Nirwana 

Our room at the Pan Pacific Nirwana

They brought a treat to our room of fresh oranges and these little packages of handmade marshmallows wrapped in palm leaves and frangiapani blooms.

The view from our balcony. There were turtle doves all around the resort, and whenever you were outside, you could hear their gentle cooing.

Sunset, looking toward Tanah Lot Temple 

Twice, at dinner, they started our meal with an Amuse-bouche. (If it wasn't for my son, John, who was in culinary school, I wouldn't have known what that was.) This one was salmon and cream cheese. The other was like a sushi roll, with fruit in the center. Both were delicious! 

Our hotel dining room

You could also choose to eat at one of several floating dining areas

We exchanged $100 and found that it was equal to more than a million bucks!! (Rupiah) 

The Indian Ocean is quite rough on this side of the island, and the beach is very rocky, so they discourage people from swimming there. Instead, there are several pools on the grounds

This woman is making a morning offering at one of the many Hindu shrines. Those who are devout give offerings twice a day — in little, woven-reed containers. The contents I saw included small flowers, candy, and even cigarettes. (People who don't have time to give offerings pay others to do it for them.

In Bali, each home has a shrine (in the northeast corner); each neighborhood has one, each workplace has one, and then there are the large, community temples like this one at Tanah Lot

We were amused by this rock formation they labeled as a "holy snake" There is a legend that goes with this, but I don't remember the details. 

Bob at Tanah Lot (we didn't go to the snake park)

A Hindu god statue near the temple 

Below is one view of the market near Tanah Lot Temple. I really enjoyed shopping here. All of the people are so friendly and sweet. We were supposed to bargain for whatever we buy here, like we did in China, but I only did it half-heartedly. The people are so nice, and live in such poor conditions, I wanted to give them the money. 

Bali is wonderful! More to come. . .