Bali!

We arrived last night in Ubud and will be here for two more nights. Our hotel room is one of six in a long building behind the owner's quarters. Our room looks out on a small swimming pool surrounded by lush greenery. The shower in our bathroom is open to the sky but the bedroom is air conditioned.

We got to the hotel around seven and were shown to our room and that was all there was to check in. Our host told us there was a ceremony at the temple a hundred yards up the street and offered us a loan of the appropriate dress so we could attend. We told him we were hungry and needed to get something to eat, but I would join him after we ate. Laur came back after supper and crashed and I donned a sarong, a second, smaller sarong (I don't know the name of it), a sash and a headdress and off we went.

The ceremony reminded me of a cross between Wednesday night prayer supper and communion. The temple (Pura Puseh - it might be in Google) was impressive and there were men at the entrance making sure anyone entering was dressed appropriately. All the local men were wearing white dress shirts but I made do with my white (with graphics) Furthur T-shirt. Our host kept me in line, telling me where and when I could take photos.

There was a pavilion that reminded me of a school cafeteria that had a junior gamelan orchestra playing - kids around ten or twelve. We moved on to a courtyard that had a real gamelan orchestra playing and I took photographs of the temple and people. Then we moved to the inner courtyard where people sat on the ground  in front of buildings containing masks of fantastic beings. The people worshipped and I watched.

Our hotel owner told me there would be dancing later, but I left the temple around 9:30 and came back to the hotel to sleep. All in all a wonderful beginning to our vacation. Thanks to anyone who's been praying for us - it's working.