On Thursday, our Indonesian friends took us to beautiful Mount Batur, in Bali, Indonesia, where I enjoyed a mango smoothie and Mary sipped coconut water (photo 1). While Indonesia as a whole has the largest population of Muslims of any country, the island of Bali is primarily Hindu. Tourism is their highest source of income. It has a very low crime rate. Population of Indonesia is 270 million, of which 87.5% is Muslim and 6% are Protestant. They were under Dutch rule for 350 years, then from 1942 to 1945 Japan controlled them. In 1945 they became independent.
We ate lunch on the way back with Ben Intan and John and Yanda Prawiro at a stunningly beautiful resort overlooking a river (photo 2)—probably the most picturesque resort we’ve seen in our lives. Mary and I both couldn’t help but think of the Garden of Eden as we viewed the panorama of amazingly lush greenery everywhere in front of us. We could see rafters floating over the rapids below (photo 3). The Queen and I tried out an old Volkswagon that was parked by the entrance of the resort (photo 4). Over a delicious supper, we enjoyed fellowship with friends of the International Reformed Evangelical Seminary (IRES). On Friday morning, we strolled along the quiet, picturesque beach which looks out over the Indian Ocean (photo 5) prior to flying to Singapore.
