Taxi tour through the wet countryside

Julia, Ella and I hired a driver to explore more of the countryside. First we saw a traditional Balinese dance performance. I finally heard and saw the Gamelan in action (I read a lot about it in Colin McPhee's "A House in Bali.") Here two "servants" are dancing:

At a restaurant we ran into some Thai brothers- one of whom had worked a bit in Boston, and the other who wore both the souvenir Yankees cap and the Sox t-shirt at the same time. The horror! The first of what I assume to be many shots of rice fields: It actually wasn't raining when we got to the "Mother Temple"- there were lots of ceremonies going on in the various areas, and these kids were waiting for their parents to catch up to them: But then it started to pour, and I mean POUR when we were halfway through exploring the temple:



I'm still a bit unclear on the explanation, as by now I've now gotten 3 different versions, but as there was a new moon on Sunday night, it was a day of special significance, and people were praying IN the road. There were security guards creating a flimsy barrier between the people and the heavy traffic in Denpasar. Evidently it has something to do with praying in a place that is really mundane and the opposite of a holy holy temple- it was fascinatingly eerie: PS I will do a Gamelan exclusive post soon- the videos each take >45 minutes to upload so I have to spread out the "live action" posts.