MorgansInBali2012: A big day!

While I was at the Yoga retreat, I met Aruna, another abandoned husband. Together we decided we would take the kids to see some of Bali while our wives indulged themselves.

Wayan and Maddie in front of the volcano

I found a driver called Wayan who agreed to take us to the volcano. Maddie, Aruna, Darshan (Aruna's 5 year old son) and I packed into a minivan and set off. I took a lot of pictures this day, so I'll let them do most of the talking.

This is a terrible photo of the volcano. Apparently, the last time it eruped was in the 60s.

This picture does not do justice to the epic view that we had - the fields towards the volcano are enormous and majestic. The lines of black spilling from the top of the volcano mark the paths of the last lava flow.

This is a photo of the volcanic lake that sits near the volcano. If you look closely, you can see a metal crane at the top of the picture.

Maddie being led through the coffee
plantation by Wayan and Darshan.

After the volcano, Wayan took us off to a coffee planataion in the middle of nowehere. We didn't care as long as they had coffee for drinking and not just for looking.

Maddie finds a big fruit.

Aruna and Maddie

They indeed had coffee for drinking. We got 10 taster cups each - Vanilla bean coffee, Ginseng Coffee, Bali coffee.... an endless list (that ends at ten)! I tried several and they were all delicious, probably because they had been ground while we were sitting there. I decided to have a large Ginseng coffee. Apparently Ginseng is an aphrodisiac, as well as a combative drug for impotence, as well as being useful for increasing stamina - generally providing a lot of energy. I felt invigorated, and I put it down to the ginseng as well as the 10 taster cups I had drunk previously.

Maddie wants a swim

After leaving the coffee area, we droveon to Tirta Empul, the temple of the hot springs. A beautiful temple full of water and tourists.

Maddie spotted some fish and wanted to go swimming with them, but I couldn't allow that. She was not too upset because there was plenty of running around to do.

While running around, she bumped into a Balinese family who had come with their priest to the temple for a blessing (In Bali, the temples do not have a priest associated with them as they do in India or even in Christian churches. The priest is associated with the family). When Maddie bumped into the family, one of them immediately grabbed her and held her like she was the best present they could have received. I wasn't sure whether I should state that she wasn't a present and that their actions constituted theft or abduction. I didn't though, which was awfully nice of me.

This family did give us a treat. Their priest began their ceremony not far from where they are standing in the photo, by kneeling in front of a small altar, holding a bell between his hands and shaking his hands to ring the bell. The family knelt behind him in two rows as the bell rang out, reverberating off the walls of the temple. The high pitch of the bell flattened out the noise of the tourist's chatter (or possibly everybody stopped to listen) so all of a sudden I was vibrating with the ringing of the priest's bell, unable to hear or feel anything else. It was an unexpected experience - my perception was completely altered - like I was suddenly in zero gravity, watching the world around me slow down and realise their own weightlessness.

Our final destination before heading home was Gunung Kawi, which I would say was one of the highlights of the trip! You feel like Indiana Jones when you go walking through this ancient site.

Gunung Kawi is a temple that has been built out of a mountain. It sits in the valley - to get there, you have to descend 270-odd stone steps. There are some beautiful and unorthodox rice paddies on the way down, but mostly people trying to sell you tat.

It's a bit of a shame that Maddie slept throughout the entire visit to this fascinating place. Here you can see some of the massive monuments carved out of the rock.