Read the first part: The Bali Journal: Equator Lollipops.

Since we hadn’t made plans for our first morning in Bali, we decided to wander aimlessly, go to the nearby beach perhaps. Coming from a coastal area, beach is not a novelty for me. Kerala has some very beautiful beaches indeed. All the same I love going to the beach.

The sea breeze is always invigorating. At the beach we were soon accosted by sellers selling all sorts of wares, like it happens in most places I guess.

What fascinated me was a colorful kite in the shape of a ship that a man was selling. It looked awesome against the backdrop of the blue sky.

This bird wasn’t selling anything,but it was kind enough to pose for me.

Something that strikes you in Bali is how every single house, shop, office building, restaurant etc have a temple in the front.

The bigger the house, the more space the temple/temples took of the front yard. We were curious about the black and white checkered cloth we found being used as decoration in most all temples. It seems this has something to do with the dualistic view of the world that the Balinese have, where sky and earth, day and night, and gods and demons are opposites, but equally important opposites. Not only gods, but demons are also appeased with offerings.

So you will find people praying and making offerings in banana leaves or tiny. They are found not only in temples but also on sidewalks.

We found some on the beach as well. The contents were an interesting mix of rice, flowers, biscuits etc not the least of which was cigarettes.

When suitably braced by the sea air, we walked back to the resort and visited the spa for the complementary foot massage. Lunch and a few hours of rest later we were ready for the main attraction of the day. But that comes later.