Bali Day 6: The Art Colony, Wood Carving Studio and Silversmith

Where is Waldo?
My roommate on the tour said the above painting reminded her of those illustrations, and yes, it does look like a Where's Waldo print.

Today, we went to the Artist colony, a wood carving studio and a silver smith. You all have been asking me on Facebook what I bought...so I'm going to show you.

O.k., no, I didn't buy all of these paintings.



In this room at the gallery were paintings of flowers and of landscapes. I really liked the landscapes below and I did by a small version which is at my desk at work. I'll be honest, I probably paid WAY to much for the paintings that I purchased. But oh well, as my fellow Washingtonian pointed out to me, in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter, some where down the line I'll get a great deal on something.



This room had what I call, more traditional paintings of the countries religious and mytholgical figures.



I was considering buying one of these because I liked how it showed the stages of the illustration.



This space displayed more modern type paintings.



This is one of the paintings that I purchased and it is being held by its artist.



After lunch we headed to the wood carving studio. They showed us the different types of wood they used and told us what was native to Bali and what wasn't. We then headed into the showroom.



Let me just tell you, the items in this show room were amazing. I know I've been using that word a lot to describe things. The showroom was like a museum in and of itself.



Look at the detail on this statue.



This statue had to have been 15 feet tall. I can't imagine how long it took to carve this.










Below are some of the sarong I purchased at the open air market. I love bright colors.



At the silver smith, I made the following purchases.

Opening of the Museum's New Galleries

The new galleries opened this weekend. The kick-off was the formal gala Friday evening. Above, General Ron Christmas, President of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and Lin Ezell, the Director of the museum, greet guests as they enter.

The keynote speaker was General Amos, the Assistant Commadant of the Marine Corps.



Prior to and after the ceremony and buffet dinner, guests got to check out the new galleries and re-visit the old.

The tableau at the entrance of the World War I gallery depicting a German machine gunner and a US Marine locked in mortal, hand-to-hand combat, made its return. It had been part of the original opening of the museum, kind of marking the spot where the WW I gallery would be. However, it was removed from its glass case.



Anything that could possibly be touched is a replica. However, that replica knife looks pretty deadly. The Chief of Exhibits told us that someone would have to really work to get that weapon, as well as the pistol the German is holding. Arms would have to be broken off the statues to get the weapons and of course someone would have to climb onto the tableau and then avoid the security cameras.

Below is Skip, one of the volunteers in the Restoration Division and his wife. Skip and I worked together when I was also a volunteer in restoration. They are standing infront of the King Armor car, a vehicle the Marines tested but did not field.



In this same gallery, visitors examine many other artifacts from the early 1900s.



The much anticipated gallery was the Belleau Wood immersion. Below, visitors sit among the trees behind a German machine gun position as Marines charge through the wheat fields toward them. Lying in the machine gun pit before them are the bodies of two dead German soldiers...which honestly, you don't really notice.

The film is awesome. It was filmed last summer in a wheat field in Bealton, Virginia. Most of the actors were Marines stationed at Quantico with a smattering of professional actors. During production, directors found that the real Marines, with no acting experience, were doing a better job playing the part of Marines than the actors. All of the Marines in this film had seen combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, so even though the uniforms and weapons were reproductions of those and used almost 100 years ago, there are somethings that are no different today than they were then.



This gentleman is the great-grandson of Major Maurice E. Shearer, 5th Marines, who on June 26th cabled, "Woods now U.S. Marine Corps Entirely."

The younger Mr. Shearer had been in the Marine Corps back in the 1980s. What a legacy to carry on. He had just returned from France and Memorial Day celebrations there in the Wood, the previous weekend.



Below, General Ron Christmas with Mrs. Madonna DeGrasse. Her late husband had been one of the first Marine Corps combat artists during World War II. He was later the Art Director for Leatherneck Magazine. One of his paintings is hanging in the entrance of the Revolution through Civil War gallery. BTW, General Christmas is a Navy Cross recipient for action in the battle of Hue City during the 1968 Tet Offensive.



On Saturday, things were a bit chaotic. There were about 25 docents as well as Marines from the 5th Division here to commemorate the opening of the new galleries, especially that of the Belleau Wood/World War I gallery (today, June 6th is the 92nd anniversary of the Battle of Belleau Wood).

Below, Col. Buhl, the current commanding officer of the 5th Marines, is interviewed by combat camera. [Side story, he was my X-boyfriend's commanding officer in Iraq. After Major A had gotten blown-up by an IED, he or someone had handed Col. Buhl part of the HUMVEE they had been able to pull out of Major A. Col. Buhl had carried this piece of bloody metal in one of his pockets for weeks (he had forgotten about it). Major A had wanted doctors to save parts of the fragments removed from his body so he could have a souvenir. The doctors had thrown them all out. Major A was very upset by this...but along comes Col Buhl with a blood stained piece of HUMVEE door on a visit months later.]



Below is the color guard from 5th Marines.



Many of our visitors on Saturday didn't know this was going to be the grand opening of the new galleries. It was quite a thrill for people to be part of the ceremony and then to see these new galleries. The big complaint we had heard before from visitors was they had not planned enough time to see everything. We'll be getting more of those complaints now that we have these three new galleries.







In addition to the 5th Marines helping us dedicate the new galleries, the President's Own, the Marine Corps Band, is also featured in the new galleries. They performed in Leatherneck for our visitors, what a great concert it was! Below, I caught the Marine Corps Band taking pictures of...the Marine Corps Band.



General Christmas introducing the Marine Corps Band to museum visitors. What a great concert!

Bali Day 5: Balinese Healing and lunch at Bali Buddha

The theme of this trip was Eat, Pray, Love - - all based upon the book by Elizabeth Gilbert of the same name. One of the people she writes about is Wayan the Healer. We stopped by Wayan's shop in Ubud. Below, Wayan the healer speaks with our tour leader.



While half the group was getting healing services at Wayan's shop, the other half of us headed over to a cafe across the street called Bali Buddha. Bali Buddha had a great atmosphere, this is a cafe that could be transplanted in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and fit in. Totally hip and relaxed...I loved the purple walls and the food was GREAT! If you are in Ubud, I recommend you stop here for lunch.



Two of the gals in our group along the outside wall looking out the window onto Jalan street.



Me and my fellow Washingtonian at one of the middle tables with the menu of healing drinks or meals on the chalk board behind us.

Bali Day 5: Meet My New Boyfriend

Things went bad shortly after this photo was taken. In all honesty, I'm glad I couldn't see what was happening to me or I probably would have gotten upset. The horrified gasps of the other tourists was unsettling enough. While no one got video of this monkey attacking me, I thought I'd share a video I found on line of a monkey in Ubud monkey forest attacking another American.



When the monkey on my back decided to taste my hair and scalp, I can tell you I was not laughing...or smiling for that matter. Anyone who got near me got hissed at and I'm sure it bared its teeth. Note to self: Next visit to Monkey forest, don't shampoo with mint scented shampoo and conditioner.

I'm not the only one who got jumped on, however, they usually jumped off right away.





There were quite a few moms and babies and they were very interesting to watch.





Below, shot of the rainforest and the deep gully in the park.



Thhis was a temple in the park.


This was the bridge we walked across to get to the temple side.



A monkey 'guarding' the bridge. Yes, that is blood on its chest. These are wild animals and I took this with the telephoto after having been attacked...this guy was not my attacker.



It almost looks like this monkey is getting her child ready to head off to school, "Here, let me straighten that fur a little bit."