September 29,

We were up and around by 0700, and had our Javas on our patio. We took note that the Chiefs won again and watched a highlights reel. From what we saw on the highlight footage they looked pretty good… like they used to!

We went to breakfast around 0845. We were offered eggs: fried, scrambled, or omelet with toast. We both went for omelets, which had nothing in them – just eggs. We were given two kinds of jam: strawberry and pineapple; and butter. It was a very basic breakfast, but filling. When we finished we talked with our sisters from the rooftop of the restaurant with the volcano as a backdrop. (I forgot to mention yesterday, we did talk with my mom & her husband and our church back home.)

Now we just vegged, watched some YouTube, and I blogged as Jeff planned. When we got hungry we went out for “lunner”. We chose one of the places our hostess told us about, Chops and Hops. We had a small pitcher of Lemon Tea; a small Tomato Salad with Italian dressing; a Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup; and a Red Curry Potato dish. It was all very good and not too heavy. This place is supposed to have big portions, but we chose wisely! It cost us 214,200 IDR, or $12.87. Back at our place we just “chillaxed.” Just a simple day, someplace else!

     September 30,

We both slept in for us… Jeff awoke 0620, and me 0740! There is not any call to prayer that we can hear, thankfully! There are lots of roosters, but they don’t seem to bother us.Anyway we had our Javas. The volcano is shrouded with clouds this morning, and most of the sky is white from other clouds. Humph! We went to breakfast. The person serving us is a young lady – yesterday was a young man. Anyway, she offered about the same food, but she did say sunny-side-up eggs, instead of just fried. So I went with that, and Jeff had scrambled eggs. Jeff had brought our PB & Nutella, choosing that over the jams offered. When we finished, I told the staff lady that they could clean our room today.

We readied and went out for a drive. Jeff chose the coastal ring road along the east side. The terrain is still dry looking mostly (like it is maybe a rain shadow area from the mountain?). As we drove the ring road we took in the amount of construction. The road will be new then change to lots of potholes and back to new and wider. Then we came to the easternmost point of Bali. Only because of Google that we knew of it. There was not any signage, at least we did not see any. But we did see a very prominent, tall lighthouse called Gili Selang. We stopped as the gate and door were open, but it is not open for tourists. Too bad! It was spectacular! We drove on.

Now the landscape changed to more lush and somewhere here we turned off the ring road onto more local roads and they were narrow – maybe a lane and a half wide – but still having a center painted line! (not that anyone obeys it.)😂   We saw quite a bit of terracing planted, with I assume, rice. We also saw large bamboo clumps. There are so many mountains and we are driving up and down some, zigzagging a bunch. We found a little JFC(Jaya Fried Chicken), which is a common chain, and stopped here. I’m sure it is a play on KFC. We shared a snack sized Black Pepper Chicken. I had a Coke and Jeff had an Orange drink. It only cost us 35,000 IDR or $2.10.

We loaded up and continued on. We saw celebrations at a couple of temples, and maybe a wake at one place. Everyone is dressed up nicely: women in lace blouses and sarongs, and men in mostly all white sarong- type outfits. It was refreshing to see the local custom dress. The small roads have been mostly just scooters zipping past or sometimes around us. Our vehicle has a strange self-shifting mechanism that seems to stall out a bit when we start to ascend some climbs. Jeff has gotten – kind of – used to it; but definitely does not care for it. When it does kick in you can be thrown back in your seat some! Anyway, we arrived at our last stop, Penataran Agung Lempuyang Temple, aka, Heaven Gate Temple. It is very crowded!

We found the parking lot and paid 5,000 IDR (30 cents). Then at the ticket booth we paid 25,000 IDR ($1.50) each to catch the shuttle up much of the way to the temple, and then 70,000 IDR ($4.20) each to enter the temple grounds. We loaded on a shuttle then and took a switch back road up, enjoying the views of the volcano. We reached the top, unloaded and were given a sarong to wear. We hiked the last bit up, presented our tickets to enter and the lady said it would be 3 hrs before we could have our picture taken!!! There is a small hoard of people up here waiting to have their picture taken in the “heaven’s gate.” There’s a numbering system – 202 was the first number I recall hearing. Our number is 328. It is like an assembly line! But the worst part is the photo they take is photoshopped. It shows a big water pool in front… it ain’t there! In the background is the volcano, but it is totally socked in with clouds and not stunning right now. I had read one of the reviews and so we knew this about the photo shop, but WOWZA people sit and wait for this rigged picture!!! This is some of what our world has become. We walked around and took pictures of the actual temple. You can only go in to pray. So we walked around, but unfortunately due to all the people, it has lost much of its mystique. After a half hour we left and reboarded a shuttle. I think I am done with these very popular touristy places.

We left and drove back on the bigger roads and stopped at Mimpi Resort and Restaurant. Our hostess had recommended this place also. It is right on the ocean. We were the only ones in the restaurant but it was 1400. We ordered a Feta Greek Salad; Sop Buntut, which is a ‘Javanese-style Australian oxtail soup stewed with hearty vegetables, served with homemade pickles, sambal, emping crackers (which is an Indonesian cracker made of melinjo or belinjo nuts) and steamed rice’ – and a plate of three grilled oxtail pieces; and a Fish and Chips plate. The whole meal was Super-Good! We split a small 175ml carafe of a rose wine. The meal came to 490,000 IDR, which is $29.34.

When we finished, we went back to our Lunar Bamboo Villa, and got in the pool. The afternoon turned to evening. I blogged, Jeff read and we had a snack French supper- cheese, bread, and Balinese red wine, called Sababay.