Bali - Nusa Dua

 We have arrived in Bali, land of statues, temples, motorbikes, and monkeys!

We had some Hyatt points saved up so for the first few nights we are staying at a fancy resort. It is probably quite a bit removed from the "real" Bali -- there were multiple guarded gates to get into the hotel and also into the general resort area of Nusa Dua. So, it's a little bit like Disney Bali, but it's still very beautiful.

The view from our room overlooked a picturesque lotus pond.

We spent the first afternoon relaxing at the pool, followed by dinner at a restaurant next to the hotel that served a Bebek Goreng (fried duck) dinner for Kevin and a Nasi Goreng (fried rice) dinner for me. Our second day was similar -- more pool time. We needed a bit of downtime after our whirlwind tour of Australia.

But by the third day we got our "tourist" mojo back and hit the Pasifika Museum to see art that is specific to Bali and Indonesia, as well as the Pacific area. This Balinese painting was bookended by two costumes that are typically worn during the traditional Barong dance.

Indonesian, Dutch, French, and other artists' work were on display; almost all of the art was either specific to Bali or this region of southeast Asia. Many of the paintings sported the bright colors and beautiful landscapes we are seeing as we walk around this part of Bali.

Now in full "tourism" mode, we arranged to hire a driver to take us to a few attractions within an hours' drive of our hotel. First stop was the fourth-largest statue in the world -- the Garuda Wisnu Kencala. Wisnu is the protector incarnation of the Hindu god, and he is often depicted riding the divine winged creature Garuda. 

Completed in 2018, the statue took 28 years to complete at a cost of around $100 million dollars. It’s 246 feet high (397 feet if you include the pedestal), so the statue alone is nearly 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. The small museum showed how the Garuda Wisnu statue compares with other world statues. 

The interesting thing about the museum was that it was located inside the statue itself. There is an elevator inside that takes you up to the 23rd floor. Like other huge statues the GWK is hollow— steel beam construction with copper plating on the exterior. There were several windows level with the shoulders of Wisnu where Garuda’s wings attach to its body. 

Also inside was a true-to-size casting of part of the god’s face, so you could see the scale up close.

The park had two other statues—one of Garuda and one of Wisnu from the waist up. These were done as proof-of-concept before the final statue was completed.

There was a special exhibition of Ogoh-Ogoh floats. These are associated with an important holiday specific to Bali - Nyepi day. On Nyepi day, the entire island observes a Day of Silence - everyone stays home, fasting and praying. No working, driving, or traveling is allowed (tourists must remain at their hotels). Television, radio, and internet is limited, too. For the Balinese people this is a day to reset for the new year—if everyone observes the holiday correctly, the island is cleansed for the new year and all the malevolent forces are removed. The night before Nyepi, Ogoh-Ogoh floats like these are paraded through villages to show people the evil mythological beings that they will be praying to remove the next day. All of the statues were fierce and nightmarish; I would pray to get rid of these demons too if I lived in Bali!

We stretched a long day of touring into an even longer day by visiting the Uluwatu temple and booking tickets for the evening Kecak show. The 11th century temple is perched high on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. 

The temple is home to several hundred macaque monkeys, who have earned a reputation for stealing visitors’ hats, glasses, cell phones, and other objects. This little thief ran off with some poor visitor’s glasses. There are signs everywhere to keep your belongings in a backpack and not to engage with or feed the monkeys. 

At sunset they begin the Kecak dance. A group of about 50 men came out chanting (it sounds like “keh-CHAK, keh-CHAK, keh-CHAK”.  To the a capella accompaniment, other dancers re-enact a story from Ramayana epic (kind of like a fairy tale). It’s very interesting to watch. 

It gets even more interesting when they get to the part where Hanuman, the heroic monkey god, defeats the bad guys using fire. There was a pretty brisk breeze that night, adding an exciting element of danger for the spectators. We were lucky to be sitting upwind and were able to enjoy the show and get back to the hotel tired but unsinged.