your   Bali Tour January 8 to 20, 2009   continues

Day 8 – Tuesday, January 13: Ubud
Another day spent with Made's and other Balinese gardens, seeing and learning of his garden philosophy and seeing his and others’ handiwork. We also have some free time to explore on our own. For those interested we have arranged an early morning bird walk (prior to our other activities) with a local expert. Tonight we enjoy a Balinese dance performance such as the Barong or Legong, accompanied by a traditional gamelan orchestra.        (B,L,D)


Day 9 – Wednesday, January 14: Bedugul
A day that combines Bali’s temples, landscape, local produce and the Botanical Gadens at Bedugul. The highland town of Bedugul lies on the shores of Lake Bratan, a volcanic caldera and home to Pura Ulun Danu, a small temple complex on the edge of the lake. The Bali Botanical Gardens (Kebun Raya Eka Karya, loosely “the great garden work) are located here, and we’ll look at their extensive plantings, about 1200 species. Over 650 of these are tree species, another 300 are Indonesian orchids from all the major islands, and the Garden also has an extensive fern collection including many Cyatheas. In addition to the plantings the Gardens is home to one of the last undisturbed remnants of Bali rainforest, and also has an extensive collection of food plants. Like the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Beduglu is also an important research center for tropical plants including foodplant seedstock. Nearby is the village of Candi Kuning, home to a very well known fruit, flower and spice market, which we’ll visit. For the more adventurous, a variety of Indonesian snacks and drinks, such as the wonderful liquid yoghurt in flavors such as mango are worth trying. The higher altitude of Bedugul allows a wider range of fruits and vegetables to be grown than elsewhere in Bali, and the stores are stocked with everything from beans to rambutan. This is the place to pick up exotic spices such as saffron for just a dollar or so. After Bedugul we return to Ubud. During our travels during out stay on Bali we'll pass roadside stall selling a variety of fruit, and naturally we'll stop to purchase and sample these. Rambutan, salak (a palm fruit protected by formidable spines), and especially purple mangosteens (not to be confused with mangoes, which are not related) should all be in season, as well as more year-round fruit such as the huge - up to 100 lbs each - jackfruit. Unfortunately it's not the durian season, but some may be around although not at their peak.      (B,L,D)

Day 10 – Thursday, January 15: Ubud
Today will focus on arts and crafts, for which Bali is justly famous, including the mask making village of Mas and the gold and silver smiths of Celuk. A somewhat unusual stop will be a small factory will the traditional gamelan instruments are cast and made. There’ll also be time for picking up Bali specialties such as batik, sarongs and carvings; Near Bedulu we’ll visit Goa Gajah, the cave temple dedicated to Ganesha, the elephant-headed God of Beginnings. We’ll enjoy lunch at Café Lotus a restaurant that appears to be a temple itself. In fact the restaurants sits on a large lotus pond framed by ancient flowering trees, with Ubud's main temple complex, Pura Taman Kemuda Saraswati, serving as a backdrop. We’ll also visit the Water Palace and Royal Palace during our travels on Bali. Many other Bali jewels, some large and spectacular and some small and personal, will also be part of your experience on the Island Of The Gods, not the least the grace and friendly charm of the Balinese people themselves. This evening we enjoy a private performance of the spectacular Kecak dance in a local temple, with over 100 chanting men, colorful dancers and flaming brands thrown by the protagonists of this story, based on one of the stories in the Ramayama epic.       (B,LD)

Day 11 – Friday, January 16: Ubud /Seminyak
Today we say goodbye to the cool highlands and drive down to the coast. Along the way we'll stop at the royal city of Mengwi to visit Pura Taman Ayun. On the coast we’ll see one of Made’s most famous works, the gardens of the Bali Hyatt at Sanur. Several other beautiful gardens are in the Jimbaran /Nusa Dua /Sanur area, and we’ll visit these as well. Our hotel tonight is on the beach, and this evening we’ll watch the sun set over the ocean at Ulu Watu, a small but iconic temple perched on a cliff. This is followed by a seafood dinner on the beach, at a small café featuring simple but delicious local fare. (B,L,D)

Day 12 – Saturday, January 17: Seminyak / Denpasar /Singapore /In Flight
Today is mostly free to relax before the flight, and make any last minute purchases. However we’ll facilitate this last part with a visit to the Denpasar market. This is off the usual tourist route, and caters to locals for many of their needs. We’ll see local produce, household goods, sarongs, batik and ikat fabrics and especially interesting, many of the decorations and other goods seen at our temple visits, and at home shrines. Colorful fringed umbrellas, hand-painted offering boxes, friezes, and similar items can be bought here for a fraction of the price seen in the tourist areas (as long as we bargain; we are still obviously tourists, so the price goes up). This morning is an opportunity to see a more typical Balinese life that is often possible in the more visited areas. Today has also been made available for those who are shipping purchases back home that won’t accompany them, such as furniture and larger carvings. We have our hotel rooms all day so we can shower and repack prior to our 8.05pm Singapore Airlines flight 947 to Singapore, arriving at 10.35pm. We change planes and depart at 11.35pm for New York on Singapore Airlines Flight 26, once again via Frankfurt.        (B,*D)

Day 13 – Tuesday, January 20: In Flight /Frankfurt /New York
We arrive into Frankfurt this morning at 6.10am and depart (no plane change) at 8.20am, arriving back in New York JFK this morning at 11.00am, giving us plenty of time to catch our flights back to our home cities.        (*B)

(B: Breakfast; L: Lunch; D: Dinner; M: Meal; * in flight meal)

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