Desi and I did manage to leave the resort on two day trips. The first was to to area about Ubud, the cultural and artscentre of Bali. The most amazing trait of the various "factories" from the silversmiths to the Batik makers to the wood carvers is the attention to detail.
There was a 70 year old woman putting micro size silver petals on flower earrings....see the above pictures. Another episode of Desi's unlucky adventures occured at the start of the trip. Her digital camera of only a year old malfunctioned. The LCD screen colours were totally off. Everyone's skin looked ashade of green or blue making Hulks and Beasts of all in the camera's eye. I think this may be the monitor only and suggested she not give up on the camera. Unfortunately, she did not takeany other above water pictures of Bali. Thankfully her dive camera was in working condition. I did suggest that maybe she should try to get the camera repaired before buying another one....but she seems set on getting a new one after seeing my newest toy.
We did a little bit of shopping in the Batik (fabric printing), Silverand Wood carving factories. I did try my hand at some bargaining and did get them to lower their prices to about 60% of the asking price atone locale. The Neka Art Museum was also stop....yes there was some mordern art as well interesting photographs of Bali from before WWII. The day ended with a wonderful sunset viewing of Tanah Lot Temple...there is never a bad sunset in Bali. This Hindu temple is carved from a rock on the beach. At high tide, the temple is isolated from the mainland. Waves crash along its side making it quite a tourist attraction at dusk.
