Cremation Ceremony

The body is carried in a tall, multi-tiered pyre made of bamboo, paper, tinsel, silk, cloth, mirrors and flowers.

A white bull is the funeral sarcopohagus.

A portrait of the high priest who will be cremated.

Nur Salon

Private open-air rooms for massages.

This afternoon we pampered ourselves with a massage, seaweed scrub, and yogurt followed by a hot bath filled with petals. Self-portrait.

Albert relaxing.

Our favorite masseuses, Anna & Ocha.

Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)

Visited the Elephant Cave so called even if there were no elephants around and probably dating back to the 11th century; carved into a rock face you enter through the cavernous mouth of a demon. The bathing pools have water trickling into them from waterjugs held by female figures. You should be able to tell which figure is Rhonda!!!

Nusa Lembongan 4

Dream Beach

Devil's Tears

A man making a fishing net

We drove through mellow, quiet villages, visited white sandy beaches and drove over the narrow suspension bridge crossing the lagoon between Nusa Lemgongan and Nusa Ceningan.

Nusa Lembongan 3

Looking down into the waters you see a patchwork of cultivated seaweed plots.

Viewing this picture you can see the workers harvesting the seaweed at low tide which to us was amazing because the water receded 200 yards or more where there was once several feet of water.

On the island 85% of the 5,000 inhabitants work at farming seaweed for carrageenan (as opposed to 5% in tourism). It's the island's major industry. The returns are low, 2,500 Rp (27 cents) for one kilo of white seaweed; 8,000 Rp (87 cents) for one kilo of green seaweed.

As we drove and walked through the villages we saw - and smelled - the vast areas used for drying seaweed. Small pieces of a marine algae are attached to strings that are stretched between bamboo poles - these underwater fences can be seen at low tide. Growth is so fast that new shoots are harvested every 45 days. The dried seaweed is exported to Sumatra for processing.

Indonesia is #9 in the world for seaweed production, annually producing 46,894 metric tons.

Uses:

• Desserts, ice cream, cream, milk shakes, sweetened condensed milks, sauces: gel to increase viscosity
• Beer: clarifier to remove haze-causing proteins
• Pâtés and processed meat: Substitute fat to increase water retention and increase volume
• Toothpaste: stabilizer to prevent constituents separating
• Fruit Gushers: ingredient in the encapsulated gel.
• Fire fighting foam: thickener to cause foam to become sticky
• Shampoo and cosmetic creams: thickener
• Air freshener gels
• Marbling: the ancient art of paper and fabric marbling uses a carrageenan mixture to float paints or inks upon; the paper or fabric is then laid on it, absorbing the colors.
• Shoe polish: gel to increase viscosity
• Biotechnology: gel to immobilize cells/enzymes
• Pharmaceuticals: used as an inactive excipient in pills/tablets
• Carrageenan: used to thicken skim milk, in an attempt to emulate the consistency of whole milk. This usage did not become popular. It is used in some brands of soy milk
• Diet sodas
• Soy milk
• Pet food
• Alien saliva (movie effects).
• Personal lubricants
• Lambda carrageenan is used in animal models of inflammation used to test analgesics, because dilute carrageenan solution (1–2%) injected subcutaneously causes swelling and pain.
• Shaving ham sold at restaurants and commercial delis.

Nusa Lembongan 2

Snorkeling was like swimming in a tropical fish aquarium. Colorful fish and exquisite corals abound.

Nusa Lombongan 1

The fast boat dropped us off at the doorstep of our hotel, we only had to wade through a foot of water after disembarking while he carried our luggage on his shoulders.

Nusa Lembongan is a small eight square kilometer island about 12 miles off the coast of Bali which is a popular destination especially for Australians who want to snorkel and dive in some of the most spectacular coral with its myriad colorful tropical fish in Indonesia. Transportation on the island is only by walking and motor scooter. Everything is transported to the island via slow boat from Bali.

We lazed away three days on the island, relaxing, snorkeling and had a sightseeing tour around the island on motor scooters.

The Antonio Blanco Renaissance Museum

This is a throw-back to the days of Liberace. An enormous building with a gigantic marble gate sculpture of the Maestro's signature at the entrance, known as the world's biggest signature. Some nice pictures but framed in Liberace-over-the-top gauche.

The highlight of the bird park are the Bali Starlings, an endangered species. They are almost wholly white with black tips on the wings and tails, blue bare skin around the eyes, grey legs and a yellow bill.

Mrs. Lerner, the bird woman! She sure has a way with strange birds, me included!

Agung Rai Museum of Art, Ubud

The museum's lush grounds were host to wild, comic book sculptures. You can see Albert molesting one of the statutes.

Below are paintings from the museum.

Nyoman Rai

Raja Pala,1980

I Walter Spies

Calonarang, 1930

ARMA is the only place in Bali to see haunting works by this influential German artist. He has a remarkable quality similar to Chagall with his dream-like paintings.

I NYOMAN MEJA
Arja Dance, 1989

Diving Pulau Menjangan 1

This is the boat we took crossing crystal clear waters to the best snorkeling area in Bali at the island seen below.

This is the uninhabited island of Menjangan.

Hindu statutes are being created at a temple site.

This is the pier where the boats take off for the afternoon.

Threads of Life, Indonesian Textile Arts Center 2

Woven textiles are made with natural cotton threads that have had designs "tied" onto the cotton using a raffia-type material (far right). The cotton threads are then dyed to achieve the desired colors (middle blue panel). The hand-tied raffia is removed and the design appears (far left). These cotton threads are then hand woven on a loom (middle picture) into the final product (below).