Mt. Batur

On Edward's birthday we hiked up a volcano!  The name of the mountain was Mt. Batur.  We climbed all the way up to the top and all the way down again.  Edward got carried for most of the time but Daniel and I walked the whole entire way up.  The hiking was hard, especially because it was very steep.  We were stepping on volcanic rocks which were very crumbly and sharp.  

Here is a picture of us at the tippy top of the volcano.  It was a little cold up there and it started to rain.  We could see steam coming out of holes in the ground at the top.  At the top of the mountain we ate our snacks of Bali bananas and croissants.

That was the first volcano I've ever climbed up!

Daniel lost his tooth!

Daniel lost his tooth and the tooth fairy gave him 50,000 Indonesian rupiah.

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday Edward!

Kecuk Dance

 The other dance that we saw in Bali was the Kecuk Dance.  (That is pronounced Ke-chuk)  The reason it is called Kecuk is because there men make the music with their voices, not with instruments, by saying ke-chuk, ke-chuk, ke-chuk over and over again.  This is a picture of the chanting men.

 This dance tells the story of a hunter called Rama and his wife Sita.  Rama represents the Hindu god Visnu who came to Earth to defeat the evil demon Ravana.  The person that plays Rama is actually a girl but she is dressed up to look like a boy.

 Here is the evil demon Ravana trying to capture Sita while the hunters are out.

 This is the monkey Hanoman.  He is the general of the monkey armies and promises to help rescue Sita after she is captured by Ravana.

Hanoman gets caught and is put in a ring of fire but his magic power protects him and he can't die.  In the end he rescues Sita and burns down Ravana's palace.

Barong Dance

The other day we went to see a Barong Dance.  A Barong dance tells the story of good versus evil.  We went in and took our seats.  The music was playing when we entered and it played the whole time.  This is a picture of the musicians.

This is one of the dancers from the Barong Dance.  The story is very complicated and a little hard to understand, but it was very beautiful to see.  The story comes from the Hindu religion and includes a tiger, a monkey, a mother and son, an evil witch, a bad spirit called Rangda and the good tiger/dragon called the Barong.

This is the Barong at the end of the show.  These men have been bewitched and are now stabbing themselves!  The Barong is stopping them from killing themselves.  

Now that I know what the Barong looks like, I've noticed that there are statues of it on a lot of Hindu temples in Bali.

Reptile Park

After the Bali Bird Park, we went to the Reptile Park.  We had a guide who allowed us to hold the animals.  Here is a picture of Daniel and Edward holding Blue Tongue Skinks.  I actually saw their blue tongue!

 Here is a picture of me riding on the back of a turtle!  We didn't move anywhere, but it was fun all the same.

Some of the other things we saw in the Reptile Park were lots of deadly snakes, such as pythons, cobras an vipers.  We also saw salt water crocodiles, tree frogs and another Komodo Dragon.  The reptile park was super cool and I liked it a lot!

Spike's Relatives

Here in Bali we've seen lots of Spike's relatives!  This is a picture of me with his great-grandfather, a Komodo Dragon!

 Here I am holding his Uncle, an Iguana.

Great-grampa says, "Behave yourself, Spike, or I'll have to come and get you!"



**For those who don't know, Spike is the Bearded Dragon that lives in Evelyn's classroom**