Frogs, Geckos and Fireflies

We left our hotel and went to a Barong & Kris Dance in the morning. These are traditional Balinese dances based once again on the ancient Indian legends of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Our driver informed us that almost all people on the island of Bali would be familiar with these stories. This was a particularly nice presentation. It was staged at one of the many, many old Hindu Temples, outdoors. There was a Gamelon Orchestra and the characters were in costumes.
The story is a battle between the good Gods and the bad Gods. Good Gods win.
We thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.

I returned to the hotel and had an hour and half massage. Cathy went shopping.
When she returned we returned to our Villa and Cathy swam in our pool. We were warned that at 6pm they would be fogging for insects. Apparently they do it every Monday night and that is the secret of the lack of insects.

At 6 we left for a massage (my 2nd of the day) and we could watch the clouds of insect fog roll in. The massage is given in a beautiful location, you are totally isolated and in a very luxurious Balinese Style suite of rooms with a view of the River and Jungle. As you know Cathy and I LOVE massage and have plenty. This was a new experience for us. It was called a Herbal Pounding but really is like a Herbal kneading. The have balls of herbs bigger than softballs, that they heat up somehow. When you lying on the table they place a hot ball of herbs on your skin and massage you, sort of like making bread. It is very different and GOOD. Barry take note! We want this at the Raven! They play no music during their massages but you hear the water from the river and birds and jungle insects making all kinds of interesting noise.

Tonight the Frogs were out in force. We really enjoyed them. They were by the pool edge making all kinds of noise, basically sounding like Dick Cheney. We ate at the restaurant and all over the ceiling and walls Gecko lizards were walking about. They are totally harmless and eat insects. They make a loud clicking noise. There are universally loved. After dinner we went for drinks and met Courtney and Scott. A firefly flew in. I hadn’t seen once in over 50 years since I moved from Cleveland. Wish they had fireflies in Los Angeles.

A note about security. Bali’s economy has been devastated as a result of the terrorist bombings here. There are very few American’s tourists here. You see lots of Australians and Germans but American’s are still afraid to come. It is a shame. Our hotel sits on a large piece of property, maybe the size of a golf course or two. When you approach it you are stopped by security and they use mirrors to check under the car or bus looking for bombs. They also open the trunk and use magnetic wands to check for weapons. Only then do they open the gate. It sounds impressive but to us seems for show. We feel totally safe. I would recommend to anyone that the visit Bali.

You can see a clip of the dance here.