It is a bad day for pigs as each family kills a pig and then cooks up special meals for the celebration. Our driver for the day was describing one of the specialties and when Keenan asked if we could get it in a restaurant, he said no, he would bring us some for breakfast. Sure enough the next morning he showed up at 6:30AM with a meal of BBQ pork, a small sack of cooked rice and the specialty, lawar, which is used for all ceremonies here. Although there are different types of meat used, this one consisted of chopped pigskin mixed with chopped jackfruit and spices. It tasted fine, but was a little chewy, especially the larger pieces of pig skin, with the hair not quite all removed. Yummy, Yummy!
Yesterday we took a boat tour to Lembongan Island, for a day of water sports, snorkeling, etc. The island is about an hour offshore and has a local population of about 7,000. It is small and laid back, with the main income from seaweed harvest.
We spent the morning snorkeling, kayaking and water sliding. Each day cruise boat has its own little wharf and you have to snorkel within a designated area, mostly for safety I think - there was a group of mainland Chinese with us and I don't think any of them could swim, so the crew had to watch them pretty closely. Saw lots of tropical fish, but not much for colour in the coral, mostly stag coral.
I went kayaking for the first time, did rather well, and down a water slide, also for the first time. It was about a 10 foot drop from the end of the slide into the water, I didn't do this real well. First trip I came to a complete stop half way down the tube and had to push to get going, the second time down, I was smarter and gave a big push right at the top of the slide and came to a dead stop right at the end of the slide, so then I just kind of tipped off and did a not so graceful belly flop into the ocean, much to the humor of everyone. I guess they were not running enough water in the slide for us bigger guys as there was a Russian fellow about my size that did the same thing. I don't think his flop was quite as entertaining as mine though!
I spent part of one afternoon body surfing, or as I call it "body beating". Keenan and Loreen cheated and got someone to show them how you are supposed to do it, not me - I sat on the beach, drank beer and watched them. Then I went out and did it on my own, I really had fun, especially when I forgot the second wave, which is always bigger, rode the first in, stood up just in time to get face slammed in to the water by the second one.
The people on Lembongan Island make their living by harvesting seaweed. Each family has their plot in the bay, just like farm land. They can harvest about 500kilos per month and sell for $0.70 per kilo, which is $350 per month income for the family. They also do weaving and make sarongs to supplement. It takes one lady two weeks to make a sarong they sell for $5. Not much income when you consider that a cremation here costs upwards of $10,000.
They also have a bit of tourist income as the surf here is pretty good. We did go on a village tour, the main street is about 8 feet wide, no cars or trucks on the island, just motorbikes. I think I could actually be able to get by on a motorbike here, as there was a bike about every five minutes, kind of a laid back geriatric speed I could handle.
We were treated to an impromptu cock fight, it is a very big sport here. We see fighting roosters in baskets all the time. These two older fellows had four roosters sitting there and when Keenan and I went over to look they got two roosters out and turned them loose on each other. It was exciting to watch and no harm to either bird was done. The guide we had did inform us that when they go to the betting ring the roosters have steel spurs put on and it gets quite a bit more serious.
All in all a good day, but even a bad day in Bali is pretty darn good!
You are a great writer uncle!
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