Tales of a Traveler I

This is a great little picture I found while I was organizing some of my photos. Last June we stole off to Bali,Indonesia. We are outside of a fabulous city called UBUD. This grouping is a holy Hindu site that was quite recently unearthed. The Hindu priests guideing the tour insisted we have our knees covered. I at least had long pants on. and we were all asked if we were menstruating. If we had been, we would not have been allowed to enter. (At least 20% of our family was, but we lied). The others had to wear robes provided by the temple. We all had to wear sashes even me. This black and white gingham fabric was found draped all over the island on holy grounds.

90% of Indonesia is Muslim, however 90% of Bali is Hindu. They practice a really weird form of Hinudism that doesn't really resemble the practices of the Indian Hindu.

The picture of the baskets in this building are actually cocks that have been raised most carefully for fighting. These cock fights are carried out at the numerous Hindu temples found on every little back street of the towns and cities. It is some sort of rite. Hinduism is really very open to interpretation and literally any action or activity can be called a rite or belief.

One interesting thing about Bali...the humidity was quite low, and the weather closer to the ocean was more arid. The weather was in the 70' or low 80's and was a delightful change from Penang's constant heat and humidity.