Mar 15, 2005 - Day 252 in Pandangbai, Bali, Indonesia

We did not want to leave Pandangbai. It is one of those places that gets on the inside and you are afraid that you might torture yourself daydreaming about it incessantly from this day forward. Nevertheless, after reading on the porch for a few hours and downing banana pancakes we were on the road back to Kutu by 10am. Our driver was star-struck by Charles (both personally and with his generous tips) and was therefore hell-bent on impressing him with his tour-guide abilities. He took us to a major public temple where we had to cover up in orange sarongs. In the back of the temple is a cave with over a million bats. Despite the bat dung all over their holy shrines, the locals have come to think of these bats as spiritual animals because they like the temple. We, on the other hand, had a hard time getting over their hideousness. We then were taken to some gardens with Balinese mural paintings. We enjoyed this stop though our sweat from the intense humidity put a “damper” on things. Finally we got dropped off back in Kuta, the surf-centre of Bali. Our driver shook Charles’ hand and said “please don’t forget me.” Little does he know that every part of our trip to Bali will be a treasured memory, including him.