One of  the gifts for us : 

Betel Nut & Palm Leaf cigarettes.

This  fellow  was an  incredible  marksman  ....... even   from these very precarious positions.

And of course ... we had to do some  "local"  bonding.

You think this is something ??!! 

You should have seen the blue & green chickens  !!

 The 2nd Segment of our trip began  here ..... in  Denpasar  ... Bali's capital  .

We spent the day visiting the surrounding areas of  that city ... as well as the  Ubud  area.

One of our favorite fruits is Rambutan.  

Quite tasty once you get past that spiky outer shell.

(  unlike "Durian" ..it doesn't have a disgusting smell )

One thing that is very evident ...

is that the Balinese have made terrace farming into an art form.

It was a delightful day of visiting the various CRAFT  CENTERS  ... Batik --- Wood & Stone Carvers .... as well as the various Applied Art  villages

And  then ... there were several  TEMPLE  visits.

On the trees around the edge of the Lake ... there are thousands of little pieces of coral tied to the branches

These are offerings from nearby islanders ...made to the Goddess Of The Lake ... to have wishes granted.

( Satonda  itself  is  uninhabited ).

There are about 500 people in the village.

As you've probably gathered ... from the dress ...

the people are Muslim.   ( kind  of ).

They've mixed in a bit of Christianity ... some ancient island beliefs ... and a little of this & that.

They're  pretty easy-going about the whole thing.

Mock Marriage Ceremony

Head-dress  Tying  Demo

Grain Sifting

Martial Arts  Skills   .....  These guys were pretty good  ( and they're about 60 yrs. old too. )

The  "pole"  is a 20 foot high  greased  coconut trunk.    .......  and yes .. that's one of our guys on the far right.

But ... the  "capper"  of the day  was this  18 ft.  Reticulated  Python ... which had been killed just a couple of hours before our arrival.

They were sorry to have killed it ... and would have led us to it's  "home"  so we could see it  .... but it was on the prowl in the village, 

 posing a threat to the animals and small children.

But they  "saved"  it for us to see.   ( they probably had it later for a village meal )