This morning was incredible. It was a ceremonial  day for one of the local temples and Comang and his wife invited us to come and watch. 

It was tipping down with rain, which made things tricky, but we made it up to the temple. We were admitted by the village guards who were definitely in charge, and signed in and recorded our donation.  

We then watched as each village brought their “burong”, like a mascot, in to the temple and presented it to the “altar”. It was then installed in its own section of the temple where it will stay for the next few days.  

We were dressed in saris with Tiger and I wearing headresses too. Sorry, not photos were taken.  

it was a privilege to be invited along and we enjoyed seeing the locals take part in a ceremony that’s very important to them. 

Back at the house we got changed and headed off into the rain to find our way to the north coast. The plan was to head north and find somewhere to stay on the coast. ​

​However, rural Indonesian navigation proved quite challenging. A road got smaller and smaller until it was just two concrete strips in the grass. Then, no concrete and we’re on a muddy track. 

The map said that the road was only a short distance ahead so we tried pressing on. We crossed a stream with both bikes but then the path dwindled to nothing and more, much larger streams lay in our path.  

At this point we decided that if the road didn’t go where we wanted to go, we’d go where the road we were on went. So we ended up on the west coast instead, but that’s the joy of only planning things as you go along - it’s easy to embrace change.  

Hence we find ourselves on the west coast at Balian Beach, a lovely little surf resort, having dinner by the ocean.