One thing we've had going in our favor is the weather. We haven’t had one drop of rain since we arrived in Sydney. The same held true for our tour of Denpasar on the island of Bali in Indonesia.

We had a full day here from 09:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. so we wanted to make the most of it. As I mentioned we hired a driver, tour-guide and a large Hi-Ace van that showed up perfectly on time with a sign for the Godfrey party and we were off.

First stop was the Batik factory, then the sliver shop. After purchases at both places the girls felt that it was time to see some of the countryside. We headed next to a farmer’s house complex. Properties here are not sold. They are passed down generation to generation so even a simple rice farmer has a significant parcel of land with quite a few buildings, family temple, wedding and cremation buildings, very modest on the inside, but very ornate on the exterior.

You know how you visit a place and you get either a good or bad feeling. I immediately had a good feeling about Bali, the people, the architecture, the food – so many things about my first trip to Indonesia intrigued me as soon as I hit the dock.

From there we headed to a great Indonesian restaurant for lunch with both of our guests. They recommended most of the food to try based on individual likes (crispy duck for me !) and dislikes, the only shock was the bill at the end of lunch. Dinner for Jean, Deb and I was a total of $32,000. Knowing that the exchange is about 700 to 1 it made me feel just a little better that it was $46.00.

Next on our list was the Wood Carving Center, the Pura Kehen temple complex that was built in the 11th century. It was somewhere on the tour of the temple that my Nikon gave up the ghost. Seems that the internal mirror came loose and it would appear that I’m toast for the rest of the cruise. We have a couple of options which includes my iPad Pro and GoPro, but certainly not the quality of my 7002. We finished things off with a very brief, albeit complex parking arrangement at the Sangeh Monkey Forest. I’ll have to give our guide top marks for an excellent day – any of you out there that might be heading to Bali, my recommendation would be to set up a car tour with this lady.

Contact: Amara Ida Ayu - Tour Guide & Organizer - Email: [email protected] - Large Toyota Van – 8 Hours - $430.00 US

At day’s end it was an emotional scene at the pier. So many of the crew staff, from waiters to cabin stewards are Indonesian and with our stop in Denpasar it was a time for them to reunite with their families, families that in some cases they haven’t seen for six to seven months except in emails from some exotic location around the world. There were lots of children, parents and even grandparents on the pier waving goodbye through the tears. I hope they had a great day with family.