Here are Birds of Paradise and Komodo Dragons !

We chartered a Blue Bird air conditioned taxi for the day (worked out at under $50.00 for about 8-9 hours with as many stops as we wanted). Our driver for the day was Kadir. Kadir is Muslim, while other members of his family are Hindu, Christian and even Buddhist – he told us that this is the Bali way. Like every Balinese person we have met, incredibly kind to the children and very gentle and patient. Kadir took it upon himself to help us manage our two children, to push the push chair and to chase Zaria around the park when she got bored.

We set off through the narrow streets of Legian and Kuta lined with shops, shops and more shops, for Taman Burung Bali Bird Park and Rimba Reptil Park – these are conveniently located side by side on the way to Ubud. This is a journey of only about 30 km or so from Legian where we were staying, but takes about an hour, because there doesn’t seem to be much speeding, and in the built up areas, cars seem to amble along at about 20 mph most of the time. We stopped at the bakery to buy red bean jam bread buns, which have become popular with Zaria. The chain of bakeries called “Bread First” has an amazing variety of buns with different stuffings, and an array of almost scary, lurid cakes.

We started with the Bali Bird Park. This is utter enchantment from the moment you enter to the moment you leave. The park is lushly landscaped with trees, shrubs, water (complete with flamingos) and stone features in the typical Balinese style. Right by the gate you see fabulous parrots of every variety and colour. As you walk along the paths, pelicans amble by. The birds are of picturesque and flamboyant and we even saw a bird of paradise in full display, a first for me. Halfway round, we came upon a little thatched shelter with a small bespectacled man sitting within, quiet and intent as he painted exquisite eggs for sale to tourists, truly beautiful objects which take him several days to make (he told us) and which he sells for about $5.00, neatly packed in a sweet little double layered basket container.

Next door, we entered another natural treasure house in the Rimba Reptil Park. There are delightfully evil reptiles of all kinds – crocodiles, pythons and the famous and most evil of all Komodo dragons. There is an enclosure where visitors supervised by staff can handle a variety of creatures like an enormous python. There quietly keeping himself to himself was a large-ish tortoise, and a number of XXX. There is a particularly interesting souvenir shop which no-one seems to patronize, filled with interesting little bone, wood and silver carved reptiles. We bought two intricately carved, tiny sandalwood frogs and a pair of silver frog candlestick holders – destined to decorate the new home in Timor. This was enough of a day for our party and we drove back down the road towards Denpasar, passing a procession on its way to a local temple headed by a double line of about 24 women dressed in traditional sarongs, and headdresses, carrying offerings, with a line of men in traditional attire coming along behind. It was very spectacular and beautiful. Religion is totally embedded in daily life. Every shop has its daily offering set out artistically in a little square basket consisting of food, flowers and some times a small currency note like Rupiah 1000. We had an offering at the door of our breakfast café, in front of the hotel and within the hotel, in front of every major entrance or doorway.