Bali, Land of a Thousand Cocks. Roaming free and captive everywhere. Part of Balinese Hindu culture includes the cock fight; I took a photo of this one in the pre-Hindu ancient village of Tenganan in the Eastern area of the Island. The next day, I took a photo of a back tattoo that was an ornate depiction of the cock fight.
This day was packed with visits to two royal resting water palaces adjacent to the Indian Ocean, lunch overlooking the deep blue water and mountains in the distance (with luscious breezes), a tour of Tenganan, and a stop at the Bat Temple. This first day of touring yielded a zillion photographs!
I loved this village where I chased Roosters mercilessly (and rarely with a good result). It still operates under the original ancient rites and traditions, and along the tour, different villagers demonstrated their craft, talent, or art (of course, we could purchase items also). I enjoyed the weaving, basket making, and explanations of certain ceremonial objects, including the knives young boys receive (they are reflections of their souls if I understood correctly—and each is quite unique). We spent a lot of time in discussion with everyone and our tour guide Edy was delighted because it was his first time there – so he had plenty of questions and could field ours with the villagers.
The highlights of this visit included a demonstration of ancient palm writing (really exquisite), a tasting of rare black bee honey which is in season only one part of the year (sour, and delicious—used for medicinal purposes), a look into how the village sustains itself – our beekeeper friend went up into the trees to retrieve some cacao and bananas for us to taste, and a tour of the temple, outside of which is a giant Banyan tree (these were really spectacular to witness during the whole visit to Bali). The beekeeper visit was my favorite time; he provided us tea and we left with his last vial of black bee honey. Each day, my friend and I took a spoonful to keep us healthy, and we offered it to our Balinese guides/friends also before we’d head off to another daily adventure.
More photos to come. But you know me, birds rule. And The Cock Rules Bali.
Daryl, you've been on my mind as you travel about Japan. I'm hoping you're having a wonderfully delightful time soaking in all there is to enjoy about this amazing experience!
This is an example of the offering we are going to get from your trip I can hardly wait to see everything that you post! This is an exquisite image with fabulous color and clarity !
What a great narrative! I'm going to enjoy reliving your trip with you. This image captures how beautiful the cock is, but also a sense of how intimidating it could be in a fight. Those claws!
Welcome back! It sounds like you had an awesome time, and I will enjoy reading about it as you put your photos up. I give you a fav for this wonderfully coloured rooster, and because you chased them around - a fun image in my head!
