We made it to Bali as I'm sure most of you have heard. What a place! We've only been here a few days and its been quite amazing. We came straight to Ubud, the cultural, artisitc heart of Bali and happened upon a great little bungalow that cost us 40,000 Rupiah each per night. Don't let your eyebrows raise in too much concern. 80,000 Rp is about 9 bucks U.S. We've got a great view, hot showers, comfy beds and a great little breakfast every morning! What more could you ask for?! It does have its problems though as a majority of the island (and most of Indonesia) live in absolute poverty. Babies don't know that though.

We decided Ubud was the best place to visit first since we are into the art and had hopes of catching the Royal cremation ceremony the next day. That was a whole experience in itself. The island of Bali is Hindu and cremates all the bodies. Good thing because there's no space to bury 'em! (They can't even get rid of the trash very well). There was special world-wide fanfare for this and you'll be able to look online to see other pictures very soon. Check Nat'l Geographic perhaps. Royal cremations are very rare and apparently there hasn't been one this big since the late 70's. We had no idea until we showed up how things worked. So bear with me.

We got a nice place to stand on the corner opposite the throne tower and the huge bull. We stood here for 3 hours waiting for the body to get placed in the throne. Little did we know how many people would show up here. It was a fire marshal's worst nightmare. At least we had on sarongs and Balinese shirts. They kept us cool and fit the religious dress requirements. In the meantime, the gamelan band played eerily soothing music to the beat of gongs and drums. The holy man blessed the throne and people prayed. The Royal family arrived after 3 hours of standing around and then they brought the body up the bamboo scaffolding walkway and placed it in the throne. Then they were off to the cemetary. This cremation ceremony was different in that there were several smaller bulls for the lower caste villagers here that died over the year. They bury them and exhume the bodies when an event like this occurs. The huge bull and tower go to the royal cremation site and the village bulls go to the common cremation site. There was also a big purple dragon but I have no idea what for. It probably held other bones as well. Once the Royal throne tower got to the site, the body was transferred to the Royal bull, sealed after various prayers, annointments and blessings it was lit on fire. It didn't take long for the whole thing to go up in smoke! We had a good time with the experience even if we did have a rough time with the crowds. Simply amazing!!

Check out this article from the BBC!