By Bob Van Leer

  (BALI, INDONESIA, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2002) - Our ship dropped anchor this morning at the fabled island of Bali.

  Bali is lush and green and its eastern end where we are anchored is dominated by Mt. Agung, a 3142 meter high volcano. Bali is made up of a series of volcanoes, some of them still active. This island of 3 million people is part of Indonesia, the fourth largest country in the world.

  We arrived in Bali after a two-day 985 mile sail from Singapore. We boarded our cruise ship, Crown Odyssey, Saturday morning. Betty and I were on this ship once before, in 1993, when we took a cruise around the Baltic Sea with our daughter, Amy Bornemeier and her husband Doug, when the ship was under different ownership.

  We had two days at sea to get settled down and acquainted with some of our fellow passengers. We have dinner in the evening at a table of eight. Two of our tablemates live in Las Vegas but wanted to live in Curry County. They bought property on the ocean in Harbor but were unable to get it zoned to build a home so they gave up and moved to Las Vegas.

  The ship has a guest lecturer who gave two programs on Indonesia. Ron Heiferman, a history professor, said the country has a population of 220 million people, the fourth largest in the world, but does not get comparable media treatment. It has the largest Muslim population of any country but is a secular state. Bali itself is mostly Hindu.

  There is considerable political unrest in Indonesia. Heiferman was explicit and said, "The country is coming apart at the seams". He said there are groups in Indonesia that support terrorism but they are not the majority. Heiferman said tourism is the basis for Bali's economy. Indonesia is a major oil producer and a member of OPEC.

  We took a day-long tour of Bali that included temples and dance. We had to take tenders to shore. The harbor is too shallow for cruise ships to dock and we anchored in deeper water. Bali is a beautiful place. Everything is lush and green and there is hardly anything that can be classed as a eyesore.

  But there are political problems. Our guide said Bali has CCN, "corruption, collusion and nepotism". One part of history that hangs over this whole region is the Japanese occupation from 1942-45. On our drive our guide pointed out caves where local men hid from the Japanese.

  This is an island of temples. Our guide said every home has one and there are public temples of varying sizes sprinkled over the island. At the village of Sidan were treated to the Barong Dance, a dance depicting the eternal conflict of good versus evil. Elaborately costumed dancers performed this Hindu epic also known as the Kris Dance.

  We had lunch at Kintmani, a tiny town sitting on the edge of an immense seven-mile caldera of the volcano Batur. The last eruption was in 1963. Our guide said Bali receives about four cruise ships a month. He said business dropped 60% following September 11 but is recovering. December-March is the main season...

  Further activities on the tour included a visit to Tirta Empul Spring and temple, a 1000 year old temple built around a large spring. The temple is an essential part of every major ceremony and we watched a procession of several hundred in costume walk from the spring, up a steep hill and out of sight. I thought Bali lived up to its name but Betty thought the shopping could have been better.

  Tonight we are going on a 465-mile sail to the island of Komodo where we hope to see the fabled Komodo dragon.