Misc. Photos from Jimbaran

---

One evening we were walking from the bar on the beach and there were all sorts of night noises. Frogs croaking, this little brown toad every night was sitting on a rock next to the koi pond by the breakfast area chirping away. Over by the pool we could hear something large like a cricket or cicada. The next afternoon I looked through the lime tree next to the pool and discovered the biggest grasshopper I'd ever seen. There was also a preying mantis that is smaller than ours. In the photo of grasshopper that's the new suit Mark bought me in Kuta.
Most every meal that is served has the plate covered with a cut out round piece of banana leaf. The rice is served in the middle of the plate in a cone made from a banana leaf. Looks like a little kids birthday party hat. It really does keep the rice warm. Alot of meals have a big white foamy type wafer covering the food. you can eat it, but the main purpose may be to keep flies off the food. tastes like foam anyway too. We did eat down the lane from the Keraton one evening at Earls. Had alot of Reggie music. It took about 45 min. to get the food which was really bad, the beer was warm and there was only another couple. We should have eaten on the beach again!
About cremation. It is a big deal. The cyclical conception of existence, life death & rebirth are at the heart of Balinese Hinduism. It runs along the same lines as Indian Hinduism but merges with the preexisting indigenous religious customs and beliefs that were practiced centuries before Hinduism arrived first in Java and partly direct from India between the 8th & 11th centuries. During your life on the earth plane your eternal soul occupies a temporary vessel, the physical body which at death must be returned to the 'pancamahabhuta' - the 5 elemental substances: solid, liquid, energy, ether & radiance. Only then can the soul be released and reincarnated. Fire and holy water brings release from this world & passage into the next. It could be months or years after your death before you are cremated. A great deal of time & money is involved. The body is buried temporarily while the cremation is being planned. There are many offerings, even money, artifacts, given. The ceremonies involved can be over several days. There is a soul calling ritual held at grave site. The corpse can not be returned to the house once it's buried, but the soul is taken home in some sort of vessel made of leaves & wood. A paper & coconut shell lamp is lit outside the house to help guide the soul home which later serves as a memorial. The day of there is a huge procession after the sun has past it's zenith in the sky. Loud gong music is played as they all head for the cemetery carrying the colorful cremation tour. The tower is rotated at each crossroads to disorient and prevent the soul from returning to disturb the living. They believe that bad spirits dwell at crossroads. The more tiers, the higher you are in the caste system. 11 tiers for royalty. Across the road from where we saw the cremation tower was a gamelon band playing the traditional instruments. They do not weep at the cremation. Grief is expressed in private. To do so in front of the corpse may disturb the soul, making him unwilling to depart. After the cremation the ash & bones are collected, 3 days later another ceremony to remove ritual pollution brought by death upon the living. Then some 10-12 days later, another ceremony where the soul is purified to deify the ancestors. Then an effigy is made for the soul & placed in a high pavilion. Family members pray and offer respect. The next day the image effigy is broken and burned, ashed are placed in decorative coconut and transported to the sea for disposal. The final ceremony, I think, the family prays and thanks the Gods of the ocean & mountains and offerings are made to the ocean & mountain temples. The diefied soul is enshrined in a family temple awaiting it's next reincarnation. Every village has a shrine for their ancestors and that's another whole long story too!

---

Photos

Scuba diving
Mark & Nancy at 45'

Grasshopper
Found in lime bush by pool. Noisy critter

Dinner
From one of the seafood restaurants at Jimbaran Bay

Keraton Jimbaran
The carved door leading into our room
from our balcony

Balinese Cremation
Cremation ceremony going on along side the roadway next to the cemetery.

Offerings
Offerings at cremation

Crops
Near Lake Batur, fruit trees & cabbage
grown together