Bali: Warming up on the Ring of Fire

Bali is one of the islands that make up Indonesia. It sits along the "Ring of Fire", and area circling the basin of the Pacific Ocean that frequently has earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Approximately 90% of the world's earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

Luckily, we didn't have any earthquakes or volcanic eruptions during the five days we were there. Instead, we had beautiful weather (around 80F and mostly sunny) and a really great time. As usual, we joined a Taiwanese tour and our tour guide, Little Chen, showed us around. He was a 24 year old Indonesian of Chinese descent and had this weird habit of referring to himself in the third person. He told us that the island of Bali is shaped like a chicken laying an egg (SE island of Nusa Penida=egg).

Our first day we went to Pura Tanah Lot (pura=Balinese temple), one of the most famous Balinese temples and the unofficial symbol of Bali. It sits on its own island just off the west coast. At low tide you can walk across from the mainland and if the waters are low enough, you can take a sip of holy water from the spring beneath the temple. Legend has it that a wandering Hindu priest, Niratha, sailed to Bali from neighboring Java, saw a beam of light and follwed it to the holy spring. He began preaching in the area until an local priest demanded that he leave (no one likes competition.) In response, Niratha sat down and meditated so hard that the rock he was sitting on pushed back into the ocean. The temple is one of the most holy places in Bali and is dedicated to the god of the sea. Only devotees are actually allowed to climb up to the temple. Lowly tourists are relegated to photo ops around the base of the rock. Unfortunately, when we went it was overcast and not yet low tide.

Daily Round-up:

Snake sightings: 1 boa

Monkey sightings: 0

Cow sightings: 10

Scooter sightings: >300

Mosquito bites: 2