Wow! Time seems to be flying now as we near the end of our 3 weeks in Lovina. Can't believe it's been 3 days since I last updated this blog. No excuse for yesterday (as it was just another lazy pool day) but the day before was a full one so I actually have a bit of real content to include in this missive.
Lynda is away today on a snorkelling adventure to Manganen Island which is supposed to be Bali's absolutely best spot to snorkel. It is just off the far northwest point of Bali so she headed off early this morning with a group of other like-minded folks. For those of you who know of some of my misadventures with the deep blue and snorkelling....you'll understand why I decided to forego this "opportunity"! LOL. While Lynda is off on her adventure I am taking advantage of the time to get caught up on this blog and a few overdue emails etc.
So to backtrack a little....on the 21st we set off with our driver Ketut for points west. The plan was to do a circle tour of sorts that would allow us to really explore this western point of the island. Parts of it would be on the main road but much of it would be on side roads too so we'd really have an opportunity to see Bali life in motion.
Our first stop came pretty quickly in the city of Sererit when we spotted a flower market and made Ketut drive around the block (a really long block as it was all one way traffic) so he could pull over for us to get out. Ketut replied with the standard "seng kin kin" which means something like "no problem". This response/attitude permeates pretty much every conversation you have with the people here....everything is just taken in stride and accepted for whatever it is. Once Ketut had made his way around the "block" he located a spot to park and Lynda and I set off on foot in search of the market that we knew would be just around the corner. Sure enough, we found it and in no time one of the vendors had given each of us a blossom of the most beautifully aromatic flower to put behind our ear. (Balinese people put a flower behind their ears after they pray so it is very common to see men and women with small white flowers tucked behind one or both of their ears at any time of the day or evening. You also often see them with grains of dampened rice stuck to their forehead or just at the base of their neck between collar bones. This is for the same reason as the flowers behind the ear. Flowers and grains of rice are left there until they naturally fall off.). So....both Lynda and I had the added gift of being able to get a whiff of that amazing blossom every time we moved our heads for the rest of the day! The flower market was a buzz of activity and all of the blossoms were for the purpose of offerings. The Balinese all do at least 2 offerings/day and then there are the added ceremonies that may require literally hundreds (or even thousands) of offerings made in advance. The culture here revolves around ceremonies and taking the time to be grateful and intentional through these regular daily offerings. Each of the offerings/blessings that I have witnessed includes incense (at least one stick), a small basket of stuff that includes flower petals and maybe some kind of food (fruit, rice, cake) and maybe a cigarette or something else that the giver would perceive as valuable. The blessing also includes the person sprinkling water from a bowl with a branch (or a handful of grasses that are a bit like a branch). This sprinkling of water seems to have a bit of a prayer that goes with it and I think it is done three times. Once when I was watching a hotel staffperson do the blessings at her work....she had a huge tray of the components for the blessings and then as soon as she'd completed one blessing at a predetermined location she would move on to the next location (maybe only a few feet away) and repeat the exact same process until all sites were blessed. Again...I think this happens twice/day so you can sort of see that there is a lot of this going on everywhere you look especially at start and end of day times. But ....back to the market.....so many colourful blossoms....so many wonderful aromas......so many people stopping to pick up their "supply". That is the other thing that I'm reminded to mention here....the aromas in Bali don't stop with the blossoms that are pretty much everywhere....there is also the smell of incense that is burning somewhere most of the time no matter where you are. It might sound a bit overwhelming when you read that but honestly...it isn't....it is actually really nice. The incense is almost always outdoors and so it is kind of carried on the breeze. Now don't get me wrong...not all of Bali's smells are great! LOL! Of course there was the incessant exhaust fumes that were right beside the beautiful flower market in Sererit so don't let me focusing on just the good stuff fool you into thinking that it's only perfect here. :-).
After we left the market in Sererit we continued west along the north shore until we came to the little town of Pemuteran where we stopped at a local bakery for a cookie and a cup of delicious Bali coffee. Pemuteran is smaller and quieter than Lovina and pretty much everything fronts right on the beach. The sea is a little rougher here and as we sat on the patio of the bakery enjoying our coffee we watched the little local boats along the shore rock and bob on the never ending waves of the sea.
Next stop was the furthest westernmost point of Bali. This town of Gilimanuk truly is the end of the road. To get to it you have to turn in from Cekik (pronounced Checkik as the letter c in Balinese is pronounced ch) and Gilimanuk is the only port where anyone can travel from Bali to Java so it is a bustling little place. There are ferries that travel back and forth 24/7 and the trip to Java only takes about 1 hour and the distance across the water is just 3 km. In fact we could see Java quite clearly....it did not look like it was 3 km away! (Actually....I should insert here that the place where Lynda is snorkelling today is quite near that part of Bali. Menjangan Island is just off the northwest tip of Bali). Gilimanuk was an interesting stop for us as we watched women hard at work carrying stacks of roofing tiles on their heads. They were carrying anywhere between 13 and 16 tiles at a time and the stack was so high that it didn't seem they were going to be able to reach high enough to put those last few on the top. These women are "helpers" and they earn about $6/day for their labour. The tradesmen they are "helping" are on top of the roofs laying the tiles. These men are paid about $10/day for their expertise. This is more than many people here earn. For example someone working in a restaurant (cook or server) would be paid about $30 month for full time work. (The labourer on the job site gets so much more as they might not be able to find regular work.). As well the person working in the service sector has the possibility of tips to supplement their income. Our driver today is charging us $65 which includes more than 8 hours of his time, all of the fuel and other costs for his vehicle, and parking (you pay to park everywhere! Parking is just 20 cents but nonetheless it is all factored into his fees). For those of you who have me on facebook you will have seen the video of these women carrying the tiles on their heads as well as another one of the men on the roof who are taking those tiles and tossing them up to their colleague like they'd done it a million times before....well....maybe they have! :0). Gilimanuk has a massive statue of Buddha standing at its centre as well as another massive statue of Shiwa who is watching over the harbour and the comings and goings of the vessels. Because this is the only way to get between Java and Bali....this place is packed with trucks! Pretty much everything is cheaper in Java than in Bali so fruit, water, rice, etc etc is all being trucked from Java (and other points west) to Bali for resale. Most of the trucks heading from Bali to Java are empty but the ones coming off the ferry are filled to overflowing! Seriously....overflowing! There are no DOT vehicles checking width and height here!
After Gilimanuk it was back down the road to Cekik where we picked up the south east route along with all of those overfilled trucks headed in the direction of Denpasar (the main city on Bali). It wasn't too long till we reached the city of Negara where we left the main road and headed off on a little side road that would take us further south along the coast and through the farms that completely fill this beautiful region. Our destination was Perancak (remember c is ch so you say Peranchak) where we were heading to see one of the oldest temples in all of Bali. It is set right on the sea and the location promised to be worth the drive. Again...for those of you on my facebook, you may have seen the video that took us through the rice fields....that was the road we took en route to Perancak. It was beautiful and the drive was definitely worth it! We did have one little "adventure" along this trek....there was a makeshift sign saying the road was out but Ketut didn't think it would be that bad so we went forward anyway. It gave us an opportunity to see some more really neat stuff like the mangroves and a guy fishing with a gun off a bridge and lots of other guys fishing with fishing rods, and another temple and lots and lots of farms and fields and all good stuff. Ketut was a little embarrassed that he'd made that error but we assured him that Seng kin kin worked both ways and we were happy to have had this little detour. :0)
Pura Perancak was as beautiful as it had promised to be. The temple has seen a lot of recent renovation so it was as though they had repainted it just for our visit! In addition, there was a small family ceremony underway in the inner sanctuary that we were able to be a small part of by simply witnessing it too. The fragrance of the frangiapani was heavy in the air here. (Frangiapani is the national flower of Bali and from what I can understand from mr Google it is the local name they use for plumeria-the flower used to make leis in Hawaii). Along with the floral frangrance was the ever present hint of incense too. This mingled with the sea air and the calm zen vibe of the place....it felt like an invitation to stay here for a very long time.
But the road called and the day was moving toward night much to quickly so we were off again. This time we took a fairly direct route back to the main road where we headed east again until we turned north again at Pekutatan. Our next stop would be the Holy Tree at Bunut Bolong. This holy tree is a massive tree that spans the road and that you can drive right under/through. The only caveat to that though is if you are part of a funeral or a wedding you must use the road adjacent to this one through the holy tree. It would be bad luck for either the marriage or the funeral if it were to pass through the tree. Again....there is a video of this on my facebook page for those of you who have access.
Our entire day had been one of sunshine and blue skies until we hit the holy tree. That is when it started to spit just a little. We could see that ahead of us in the mountains (that we would have to cross to get back to the north shore) there had been a lot of cloud and what looked like rain so we hunched that we might be in for a bit of it on the way home. In fact, we really didn't hit any rain but what we did hit was the consequences of some HUGE rain! There were "puddles" that came right up over the axle of the motor bikes. There were "waterfalls" that hadn't been there that morning. There were places where the asphalt had been eaten away by the new "river" that was running along the side of the road. And....in the end.....there was a missing bridge that had been there that morning which meant that we had to backtrack (only about 1/2 hour) to find another route through the mountains and hope that the bridges on that road were still in tact!
In the end we rolled into our home at Seraswati almost exactly 10 hours after we'd left and we were thankful for take out that night. Neither of us felt like going anywhere for dinner but the cookie and coffee we'd had in the morning at that bakery had long since left a hole in our bellies that was calling to be filled. So takeout it was and our satay and nasi goreng was as good as any we've had anywhere...or maybe it always tastes better when you're really hungry and a little tired too. :-)
Yesterday was an R & R day at pool side and today...well....you already know what we're both u to today so....till next time.....
L & L
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