8/21 – We’ve fallen into a daily routine of walking along the Sanur beach in the mornings, stopping for a coffee, choosing a place for an Indonesian lunch (fried rice or noodles with vegetables, chicken or seafood, always served with a fried egg on top, or satay – chicken grilled on a skewer with peanut sauce), then swimming in the afternoon.   

The beach walk is alternatingly sunny and shady, and lined with shops selling all manner of tourist trinkets and services – wood carvings and masks, batik cloth, bamboo wind chimes, massage, parasailing, pedicures, fruity drinks.  

One of Jim’s favorite pastimes is engaging the touts who call to us at every turn (Sarong, Madame? Massage, Madame? Look in my shop?  Tour today?  Transport tomorrow?). We’ve noted that the tour sellers seem to adopt western names (like telemarketers), and all the names start with ‘A’.  So far, we’ve met Aron, Adam, Artur, Anna and Angelo.  Poor Angelo drew a blank and took a while to come up with his name when Jim asked him what it was.

One day we watched a funeral cremation ceremony.  The procession started at the home of the deceased and ended at a big plaza near the beach, where the body was lit with propane in a big bonfire.  The participants wore traditional dress – sarong and head scarf for the men, fancy lace tops and long skirts for the women. 

Another day we heard chanting, and followed the sound to the site of a wedding ceremony that included the ritual of the bride and groom having their eye teeth filed down to curb their human desire to be gluttonous or boastful.  I would have liked to see this, but we did not try to enter the place of the ceremony.  There are many ceremonies here that are unique to Bali culture.

Things we saw walking along the beach:  

  Hindu Bali is a good place to be a cow!  
    

Chess, anyone?  
 

More from Sanur soon!