Thought I was in the mood to bore you with a little more about Bali and Tirtagangga ...

... of course, every little village in Bali has a warung.  Gathering place, grocery and purveyor of evil spirits.  Spirits in the sense of alcohol that is.  Indonesia, being muslim, has outlawed evil drink, but don't tell that to the Balinese!  They don't speak Indonesian and ignore anybody who does!  Tourists want hooch, so you can buy it freely in the tourist areas but out in the countryside it is a different story.  So, in the warung in Tirtagangga the standard fare is a commercially made beer that comes in 350ml bottles.  But that is only the start of the story!  They make this rice wine... it is sort of like Saki but much fouler ... They call it Tuak, from the Sarawak word in Borneo as opposed to the commercial stuff that is called Brem, but what is really interesting is how you get some of it.  Remember that this stuff is technically illegal.  You go to the person running the warung and tell him you want some Tuak.  First thing he does is collect 65¢ from you,  grabs one of those empty 350ml beer bottles, and hustles out the back door.   Yep, that was an empty beer bottle and you have no clue who was the last person who was doing a 'lip-lock' on it!  But, trust me, it doesn't matter.  About 5 minutes later he comes back with the bottle filled to the brim with this evil smelling rice wine.  Only they know which bathtub they brewed this stuff in and you don't want to ask!  Ignorance is bliss!  When you drink this stuff you don't have to worry about seeing 'pink elephants'  because all the elephants are going to be green and/or purple!  I think they call it "self-medication" here in the States.

In order to climb the volcano and access the three Pura Lempuyang temples, I soon learned that everything has to be done in the traditional style.  Absolutely NO western wear.  You must personally prepare, bring, and present an offering to the gods along with the required prayers at each of the 3 stations.  These offerings are something simple from everyday life, such as rice, an egg, a piece of cloth, or a coin that is complexly wrapped in a banana leaf.  So here I am dressed in my sarong and flaps hiking 1700 steps straight up this volcano.  It is about 6-7000 feet high ... so they must have forgotten a few thousand steps somewhere on that "Stairway to Heaven"!  The trek is worth it though.  From the stone temple complex on the top you can see the entire Island!

The next big event was the "baby ceremony".  Now this was a day long affair that involved first a temple rite and then the big party later in the evening.  All the women in the village get dressed in their finest 'finery'  and join the men, who have these musical instuments that resemble portable marimbas, for a grand processional march to the temple grounds. The women are singing and the men are playing.  Each of the women carries a large platter piled high with fruits, eggs, money, cloth and whatever balanced on top of their heads.  Once they enter the temple each of those platters are placed on the dais as an "offering" to the priest.   Out he comes and mumbles some "ohmm ne padne hum" stuff and everybody then lights up hundreds of incense sticks.  The priest then chants some more words of wisdom and then proceeds to whip out a palm frond which he dips in some water from from the sacred River Ganges and proceeds to liberally sprinkle everybody in the crowd with it!  You are now blessed.  The service is over and the priest exits stage left.  Now you might think that is it, but it isn't.  All the women now go up to the dais and retrieve their platters and leave with them!!!  Eh????  I guess offerings only go so far!

The "Baby Ceremony"  was very fascinating!   Whenever a child survives to the ripe old age of six months old everyone in the area is invited by the parents to celebrate!  This is a very personal thing which tourists are never welcome at, but I think that my blending with the locals had won a place in their hearts. 

For this, and the temple thing, I was wearing this beautiful red and gold lame sarong that I had bought down in Amlapura the week before.  I thought all the girls were going to try and steal it right off of me!  As it turned out it was a wedding sarong that was meant to be worn by a woman but nobody mentioned out of fear of hurting my feelings!  But I was still the 'best-dressed' guy in the village that day!

The first thing you do for the celebration is to trot down to the warung and buy a gift for the baby.  Way up on the upper shelves are all these shiny wrapped packages that are just for that very purpose!  Armed with my gift, I hopped on my escorted motor bike and off to the village we went.  Arriving at the home the first order of business is to present the proud mother with your shiny package, then you are escorted into the rear 'courtyard'.  There everybody gathers around and it is time for 'dinner'.  Palm mats are laid out on the ground and all the men gather around and are served hot tea, satay, rice, and sambal by the women.  All the eating is done from a communal bowl ... dip your fingers in and chow down!   Blessings are recited and stories are told.  All of sudden a gong sounds and from apparently nowhere the men produce these flutes and proceed to play and sing songs.  Palm wine is now passed around.  (VERY good by the way!)  The singing goes on for a little bit and then all the men get up and retreat to the far reaches of the courtyard.  At this point the women, who have been seated on a seperate raised area of the courtyard, come down and eat.  What are the men doing though?  They are busy playing gambling games and drinking lots of palm wine (both of which are illegal!)  Since I didn't speak Balinese and couldn't figure out how to play the games, it was left up to me to 'entertain' the young ladies in the crowd.  So I spent the next 5 hours sitting on the raised area in a very enjoyable pursuit!  The young ladies had fun and so did I! 


Well, that is all for tonight.  but I think there are a couple other things about my stay that I can regale you with tomorrow!    I love telling about Bali!  (Trust me that I am not even scraping the surface here!)

WE HAVE A WINNER!!  DRUM ROLL PLEASE .....

.... the audience waits with bated breath ....

.... the planet stops spinning on it's axis ....

.... Times Square screeches to a halt ....

.... cats quit licking their private parts ....

.... prairie dogs stop digging ....

.... wolfie stops eating chocolate! ....
































HAH!!!!!  Got ya!  I'm not telling yet!!!      The winner will be announced at 12 noon PST!     

Darn!  I'll assume thats 12 PST....  I'll be back!

Thanks again for the fun MOC!

It has been my utmost pleasure to throw this MOC!    It has been a lot of fun all around! 



Lee was the keeper of the secret number and did his job well!!!  Unfortunately he is not around today to open the Golden Envelope. 


AND THE SECRET NUMBER IS ...  "1240" !!!



It was a real horse race

... the first person to come close was wolfie on the second day
... then showcase sneaked in on the 6th day with a better guess
... on the 7th day drgnldy812 pulled a coup by bettering the guess by one number to bring it within 15 places! 
.... and then on the 12th day a good-lookin' young lady came within 7 places of the magic number and remains the closest!!!!



And the winner is:




(drum roll please!)




(silence in the back row please!)



 










ZWRITER !!!!!!!  WITH A GUESS OF 1247!!!!!! 


 



She will be the proud winner of the Big Buddha Purse and Wallet! 



As a consolation 2nd prize I will be sending drgnldy812 a hefty collection of 'samples' I have received over the last few years!  (HEY!  It's my contest and I can create a 2nd prize if I wanna!)



LET'S HEAR IT FOR OUR BIG WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!







(I have a spreadsheet of all the entries if anybody desires it.)   

   Congratulations Z and drgnldy812! Enjoy your prizes!
                

roflmao!!!   

Actually you are almost correct with your guess of 5 ... but 2 other guesses were 5 also!!!!  Which ties it with 777 with 3 entries also!  starryeyes liked 5 so much she entered it twice!  Pmeek gets the prize with her guess of 3 though!

 

Congratulations z and drgnldy812.

Congratulatons to the winners!! 
It was a great contest and I loved reading about Loren's adventures

Congrats Z and drgnldy812 for your winning travel knowledge and penny picking.  And congrats to pmeek for her notable achievement as well.  Thanks for a fun contest, Loren!

I am thrilled.
Thank you Thank you Thank you for this wonderful MOC.

I love that purse and wallet!

Thanks everyone for the best wishes!

 
z

Congrats Z and drgnldy812! 

I still say we need a do over ~ lol!!! j/k...I know I would have won with just ONE MORE GUESS...

Thanks LB ~ it was a great MOC and I wish I would have gotten to have be around more in it!  Great stories though!!

I got to thinking about it ... and I thought it was a shame that "Z" was just gonna get an empty ol' bag! 

We all know how women can magically fill up a purse in less than 2 minutes with all sorts of "necessary" stuff ... and yet are never able to find the stuff they really need when the occasion arises! 

So I figured that I would include an "guy-based" emergency kit with her prize:

• Something so she will never get lost ...
• Something so she will always be tidy ...
• Something so she will always be handy in 17 ways ...
• Something so she won't starve to death ...
• Something so she will always be protected ...
• Somethings so she will always smell pretty ...
• and Something to keep her neck warm on chilly winter nights ...

... you will have have to ask her later what she got!  Knowing Loren it could be just about anything!   

Also, a little birdie told me that our 2nd place winner had a little help figuring out our destinations:  otherwise known as 5 year old drgnkidjr!  So ... we have a budding little world traveler on our hands here!
 
Therefore I am going to kick in some extra little goodies just for him!  All good work by our next generation should be generously rewarded!!

   Congratulations  Z  and  drgnldy!!!

Thanks again Loren for the best MOC!!!