Lovina and Candikuning
For us it was a shock to see so many tourists, but in fact things were relatively quiet. Many hotels and restaurants, victims of the drop in tourism after the Bali bombing, had closed. There were plenty of temples and attractions to see in the area, as well as good food. We stayed for a few days to enjoy the beach. Bali, being visited by so many tourists, is actually much cleaner and better kept than Java or elsewhere in Indonesia. There are temples everywhere. Each village should have at least three. Every house has its sacred area with stone altars. The Balinese leave small offerings, constructed from organic materials, for the good and evil spirits. They love flowers and cultivating green plants. In Lovina we saw our first Balinese cremation, a small, private affair but interesting nonetheless; while gamelan music played, the body was burned to ashes, then a small, brightly-decorated paper tower and some of the deceased's possessions were thrown into the fire. When the flames had died down, the close relative collected the remaining bones in a white sheet.
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To enter temples, both men and women must wear sarongs. We outfitted ourselves from some of the local vendors who showed us how to wear them. Renting bikes, we rode along the main road from Lovina to Singaraja, then along the coast, stopping at temples along the way to admire the stone carving and beautiful magnolia trees with their strongly-scented flowers. We turned inland, and started climbing. Large tamarind trees grew along the roadside. Locals stopped to pick up the pods as they fell to the ground. In a stall by the roadside, a woman made gado-gado. She ground fresh garlic, onions and roasted peanuts with an Indonesian-style flat mortar and pestle made from black volcanic rock.
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After Lovina we took an overloaded bemo from Singaraja over the steep mountain roads to the south, stopping for a night at some of the highland lakes to see a renowned water temple and enjoy the cool mountain air. It turned out again to be too cold for us in our thin clothes. We stopped along the road and bought some strawberries straight from the field. Anne was in heaven with the yellow passion fruit on sale in the roadside markets.
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