Monday March 23, 2026
Hi Folks! Today we are docked in Bali (Benoa) in Indonesia and will stay here over night. We didn’t dock until 11:30 AM so of course we snuck a passenger game in! We won one Regent point playing Baggo. YAY!
We had a 7.5 hour tour today but we enjoyed every minute of it (well, except for the crazy traffic jams in Bali! We must have seen thousands of motorcycles!). We went to Tohpati Village, Taman Ayun Temple, and Tannah Lot Temple. We started at Tohpati Village which is wear artisans make what’s called Batik.
Batik is an ancient, intricate art form and technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to fabric. It involves applying hot wax to cloth (typically cotton or silk) to block colors, which is then dyed, with the process repeated to create vibrant, layered, and intricate patterns. They were amazing!
Our next stop, Taman Ayun Temple, was also amazing. It’s a compound that includes both a Royal Balinese temple of the Mengwi Empire and a beautiful garden. It was first built in the 17th century as a family temple for the Mengwi Royal Family. The garden portion has lots of water lilies in the water. And yes, they made me wear a sarong to cover my legs! That’s why I look so dorky in the pic!
Tannah Lot Temple is an iconic 16th century Hindu sea temple located on a rock formation renowned for its dramatic offshore setting and sunset views. Dedicated to the sea gods, it is a key pilgrimage site.
According to legend, the temple was founded by Bhagawan Dang Hyang Nirartha in the 15th century, who moved the rock to the sea using spiritual power to create a meditation site and protect it from local opposition. Now that’s some spiritual power!
And here’s a weird Bali factoid from our tour guide: They celebrate Halloween every 15 days! They carry a statue throughout the town to scare away the bad spirits. Then they burn it so the bad spirits don’t return! The statue is called Ogoh-Ogoh.
That’s it for today. We didn’t get back until 7:30 PM so we just showered, ordered room service and chilled. We’re in Bali again tomorrow. Hope everybody had a great day!
The Wandering Italian 