We wound our way up through the rice paddies towards the highest volcano in Bali,mount Agung where the most important and biggest hindu temple in indonesia is situated,Besakih. Built in the 8th to the 12th centuries it is the place that all indonesians hindu will make a pilgrimage to. We saw several today. We had to take a motorbike taxi from the bus car park up the hill for a km dressed in sarongs to meet our guide who took us up through the three temple areas. Surprisingly there were very few carvings or decorations present unlike other hindu temples we've seen. They are getting ready for their big annual festival and we were shown the area where cows were to be sacrificed. This is somewhat strange as hindus revere cows but here it is only white ones,brown cows are the preferred option. On our way down to the coast we drove down a side street crowded with motor bikes and people making their way up to a field with stalls. Our guide said it was a cock fight which is a traditional balinese thing and prize money is quite astronomic. When asked if we wanted to watch we said no for which he was relieved.
Once arrived on the coast we reached our hotel in time for lunch overlooking the sea and most of us spent the rest of the day by the beach side pool,the beach being rather pebbly and littered with coral . In the evening we went across the road to a bar for a meal where the resident band played virtually the same set as the previous bands we have seen but did change hotel california to hotel candidisa which was a nice touch.