I have created a new Bali photo gallery on my website so please take a look if you are interested:
http://www.bakubo.com/Galleries%202/Bali/index.html
I arrived in Denpasar and then the car and driver I had arranged to pick me up was waiting outside the airport. It was about a 1.5 hour drive to Ubud, where I was going to stay. When I checked into the hotel they gave me a free upgrade to a deluxe room. Very nice. Beautiful rice fields right outside. A friend had told me to be sure to take a bike ride down the volcano and through the countryside so I was going to investigate that first off.
I had a small scare after getting in my room though. I took a shower and then dug into my little backpack to get clean underwear, but none of my underwear was there! All I had was the dirty pair I had just worn for 32 straight hours since leaving my Tokyo hotel. I had no choice but to put them back on. :-( I thought I must have somehow not packed my underwear before leaving the Tokyo hotel, but couldn't figure out how in the world I had managed that. I walked along the road in Ubud for awhile but didn't find anyplace to buy underwear. Came back, took another shower, and then remembered that my new backpack has another zipper compartment on the bottom that is sort of hidden. I remembered that I had put the underwear there. Whew!
I found out about the bike ride so a couple of days later I did that. We went on a long, fun bike ride down from the outer crater of the Mt. Batur active volcano and through the beautiful green Bali countryside. I often saw women working out in the rice fields, but several times I saw men sitting in the shade beside the road stroking, fondling, and massaging their big, erect cocks! Somewhat surprisingly, although Balinese men are generally of a rather small stature, they have quite large, impressive, powerful cocks. Possibly men in other countries also stroke their cocks, but I have never seen them do it publicly like this. Each culture is different so that is just one of the things that makes travel so interesting. I don't know if Balinese men only stroke their own cock or sometimes stroke another man's cock. I suspect they know when or if that line may be crossed. Anyway, in the countryside cockfights are still held and a man's cock, a powerful, winning cock, is a source of great pride. They must keep their cocks in tip-top condition! Maybe you remember Chicken George in the wonderful book Roots. Also the TV miniseries. He was famous for his cock training and his cocks won many fights. Yes, he stroked and massaged his cock too.
On another day I hired a car and driver so that I could get to some rather far flung places. We stopped to see Lake Beratan and I enjoyed the long drive through the beautiful Bali countryside and small villages. My ultimate goal was getting to the Jatiluwih terraced rice fields though. I wanted to get there about 4:00 PM because I guesstimated that the late afternoon golden light and shadows from the lowering sun would be starting about then. Timed it well. I got out of the car and walked for an hour on the tiny lanes among the terraced rice fields and took photos. We spent almost 8 hours out that day and it was a good day.
By the way, do you want to be a billionaire? Not so difficult in Bali. Exchange rate is about $1 = 10,000 rupiahs. Bali isn't all that cheap though so it wouldn't take so long to just be a multi-millionaire, then a millionaire, then a thousandaire, and then sleeping on the street. Well, it would take a pretty long time...
I spent lots of time walking in the countryside and also all over the town of Ubud. Bali is hot and humid so it was rather tiring, but I wanted to see a lot and get some photos.
As I was walking in the Bali countryside one morning something occurred to me though. You know how some people say that some men try to compensate for a small cock by buying a big, powerful car or truck? Here in Bali some men have these big cocks, but ride around on little motorbikes. Are they compensating too? I guess if cockfighting was to become common again in the U.S. then men who want a big cock could get one. Or, conversely, if men in Bali could get big, powerful cars and trucks then maybe they wouldn't feel the need to compensate with big cocks. :-)
My flight leaving Denpasar was at 6:00 AM so I had to get up at 2:30 AM and meet the driver at 3:00 AM for the long drive to the airport. Uneventful and then had a several hour layover at the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia airport. Drank a couple of cups of coffee and since there was free wifi (3 hours maximum limit) I used my tablet a bit and also just wondered around the airport. Flight back to Tokyo was fine, but I arrived at Haneda around 11:00 PM so I stayed at a hotel inside the airport for the night.
This is the camera gear I took with me:
Olympus E-M5 + 3 batteries + charger
Olympus 14-150mm f4-5.6 + UV filter + polarizer filter + lens hood
Olympus 9-18mm f4-5.6 + UV filter + lens hood
Panasonic 20mm f1.7 + UV filter + lens hood
Canon G15 + battery + charger
Update 2016
I was back in Bali for a month this year so here is a small update. Note that I have new photos added to the Bali gallery.
If someone asks you, "Hey buddy, had any of that great Bali bintang yet?" please do NOT assume it is equivalent to, "Hey buddy, had any of that great Philippine poontang yet?". I just found out that here in Bali there is a popular brand of beer named Bintang! During my last week I had 3...and I didn't even use any protection!
By the way, if a Bali woman offers you a "free" taste of her bintang, be on guard! I have it on good authority that bintang is never free in Bali. You will always end up paying one way or another. Some Australian blokes have spent a small fortune on Bali bintang. I heard that occasionally an Australian woman will come to Bali and get a taste of bintang for the first time in her life and become so obsessed with it she leaves her husband and children, takes all of her savings to Bali, and lives a life of debauchery paying for bintang daily. Truly bintang whipped.
One day I hired a car and driver to take me into the countryside and along many narrow, winding, hilly roads. We then parked and walked through his home village meeting many of his friends and some of his relatives as we walked. We then walked out into the beautiful, green rice fields surrounding the village where villagers were harvesting in the hot morning sun. Finally we entered the jungle along one side of the fields and walked in the shade, but still hot, sultry air. Back into the fields still walking on the narrow raised areas separating each section and then back into the village. Several hours of walking. We had a delicious traditional meal at his friend's old, traditional Bali house. I had the opportunity to take photos of many people in the village and fields so I hope a few are good.
Copyright Henry Richardson