Indonesia
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Bali is a major international tourist destination and rightfully so-- it is a delightful place. The people are nearly all Hindu in the center of this Moslem nation. They consider themselves Balinese rather than Indonesian. They smile all the time, make offerings to the hundreds of Hindu gods every day and generally enjoy life. The craftsmanship of the Balinese has to be seen to be believed. The woodcarvings are some of the best we have seen anywhere in the world.
Each morning people make up dozens of small 4 inch square woven baskets of offerings for their gods. The offering baskets are filled with bright pink and yellow flowers, bits of crackers, rice or other special goodies and placed nearly everywhere. On the door steps of their homes and businesses, in the dozens of shrines that line every street, on the dashboards of their cars and all along the streets. As you walk along the streets gawking at everything and dodging the thousands of motorcycles you have to be careful not to step on the offering baskets.
Balinese dancing is a special art form and similar to Hawaiian dancing the hands tell part of the story so the dancers have learned since childhood to bend their fingers nearly backwards in graceful arcs and special gestures.
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