Day Four: Monday May 24th 2010 (Victoria Day in Canada!)

Today was full on!Wayan our driver was ready and waiting to pick Shannon and I up at our hotel at 8:30am.Emilee opted to stay back and relax at the resort.Our day was supposed to be an 8-hour adventure, but Wayan just kept showing us sights, so it quickly turned into a 10-hour tour!We began with a Barong and Kris dance performance.This cultural play represents an eternal fight between the good and evil spirit.Barong (a mythological animal) represents the good spirit and Rangda (a mythological monster) is the evil spirit.Thankfully, an English description of the play was provided because it took a great imagination and some Indonesian interpretation to fully grasp the play!The music and costumes were exquisite!

After the dance performance, Wayan took us to an area where we learned about Batik fabric processing.It's quite amazing what designs the artists can create and how much hard work goes into creating the fabric.I'll never take a sarong again for granted!

Our next stop after making a few purchases at the batik shop was a silversmith.Here the process of silver and gold jewelery making was explained and we were invited to look at the lovely pieces on display.Shannon and I yet again had some practice with our bartering skills.

It was then about a 45-minute drive to where we would eat lunch---overlooking and about as close as you could get to Mt. Batur and Lake Batur without physically being on the active volcano!For about $10, we had an all you can eat Indonesian buffet and enjoyed the view.

After lunch, Wayan took us to a cocoa/coffee plantation where we tried samples of local teas and hot chocolate (since none of us drink coffee!)We stopped at a local market, a wood carver's shop and an artist gallery where we picked up some local art pieces.By the time Shannon and I returned to the hotel we were absolutely knackered!

Shannon had a nap, which pretty much turned into a full night's sleep, so Emilee and I went out in search of a good looking restaurant in a part of Legian we hadn't ventured into yet.We found a great place called "Mozzarella" and it just happened to have a buy 1 get 1 free cocktail special that night!What are the chances?! (These specials tend to follow you all around Bali!)Do we had a lovely pasta dinner and drinks and actually ended up closing down the place!We could have stayed longer, but felt bad as we watched the staff close up with us still enjoying our tropical drinks… so "Jessica Biel" and "Britney Spears" (as we were known by the local street vendors) headed home for one last sleep at the Jayakarta.