And what do all these things have in common? Us - in our last day in Bali.Rice - Ok, rice is a staple, THE staple in the Bali diet. It's everywhere and at every meal. And it's yummy. Our day started out being taken to see rice terraces and also to see how rice grows. It's actually rather sweet and soft before it ripens - we got to pick it in its green husk and taste it.
It is grown in beautiful cascading terraces along the country side.
From rice we went to temple. No, not Mt. Sinai , but a fantastic Buddhist temple hosting the start of a religious ceremony. We watched some of the ceremony preparation and the procession in which a high priest was led in and given various offerings. He looked to be a very gentle man and smiled warmly as we took his picture.
The grounds were lush and tropical - as is everything in Bali - and there were tourists there from all over the world - - which leads me to my next topic - our new friends from temple!As we were leaving we saw a group of about 15 tiny Muslim women - - - yes tiny.. And by tiny I mean not one was over 4'11. They first asked us to take their picture and then, like a tiny headdressed hurricane they swarmed around us gleefully wanting their picture take with us! They could not have been more excited and each one gave her camera to their guide to take their picture with us. One of them kept offering me her cheek and saying "kiss me! kiss me!" when the pictures were being taken. (Upon hearing this story one of our friends on the trip whispered to me, "you didn't tell them you were Jewish, did you?" I don't think it would have mattered - these women were just so happy to make new American friends!
Our next stop was a spectacular buffet lunch overlooking a rather tired volcano. 
We made a few more stops where most of our group negotiated with vendors in tourist traps to buy souvenirs and Jerry and I wandered off to take pictures of real people.
The day concluded with a trip to an ancient temple (1500's) where an entire village presented a dance and food extravaganza for us. The dancing, costumes and music were beyond anything we had seen before. We were met at the outside of the temple by the villagers in traditional celebratory costume. They then adorned us
and led us into the temple where they performed and served us dinner in a beautifully choreographed display. 
Unfortunately the evening and the final "fire dance" were cut short by a strong rain - but each of us was handed an umbrella to use as we hurried back to the bus!The pictures you see here are mine - Jerry has posted more of his on Flickr (see link above) and I will be posting a Flickr link soon.
Next stop, Bangkok!
PS: did I mention the spider that was as big as my hand?
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