Another week just flew by! We must be past the 1/2 way mark of our time here as now the days are going more quickly than they did when we first arrived. Somehow that happens....just like in life the years go by more quickly the older I get and on vacation the second half of my time away goes more quickly than the first. But enough of that....it was another great week!
We can report that we've been here long enough to have worn out 2 decks of cards! Yes....it's true....you can actually wear cards right out if you play them enough. When we were in Lovina we played a lot of scrabble and dice (as they had them available at our accommodation) but since then we've been pretty much sticking with the cards. Regular rummy, contract rummy, crazy eights, 31.....we keep rotating through them. We actually have a book where the scores are kept and in addition to wearing out 2 decks we've filled 1/2 a book with scores! Jeez....it sounds like we don't do anything else....but we do! :-)
We've both become pretty professional in the "being looked after" department. In fact, as our departure draws ever nearer the anxiety grows accordingly higher as we consider what it will be like to have no cook, no laundry service, no driver, no gardener, no housekeeper....yep....we're starting to get a little worried! But we're not going to worry about that until we have to so...in the spirit of crossing that bridge when we get to it....I will move on. :-)
As we've reported many times by now, Bali is filled with special ceremony days. Well, there was another big one a few days ago. It is to honour all things made of metal as well as all things sharp. So....in addition to acknowledging such things as a sharp mind, offerings are placed on cars and motorbikes and equipment made of metal. Knives and tools and cymbals and spoons/forks....yes....everything that is made from metal has offerings of appreciation made for it on this special day that comes around once every 6 months. Most noticeable for us was the significant amount of offerings that sat on the hood of the cars or were tied to the vehicles mirrors or the motorbikes front end. It was very obviously a special day on the streets that day!
What else have we been doing? Well....one thing that is sure to happen when you live in a place is that we've been meeting new people. Some of them have shown up in the blog already and there was another we met for dinner the other night. Jessika is a dr from Germany. About 6 months ago she left her practice and headed to the east.....the far east in search of new answers to the age old questions of wellness. Her western science based practice was good but often she felt that the best she could do was to put a "bandaid" on her patients problem and her desire was to be able to practice in a way that supported transformational change. So....it was off to the land of ayervedic practices and body work. At the same time as she decided to leave her practice in Germany, she applied for a work visa to Canada and voila....she got it so....in April, Canada will be welcoming a new temporary resident who brings with her a multitude of interesting knowledge and insight. I will be connecting her with my contacts in Continuing Education for sure as it is my guess that Jessika will make a great facilitator for an interesting general interest course! But that is Jessika's story....lets get back to Lynda and Lorrie. Jessica suggested a vegan place for dinner and since we'd never been there before decided to give Sage a try. Wow! Who knew that vegan food could be so yummy! Honestly, there is so much great food here....it must sound like all we do is eat!
At the moment we are in the city of Sanur (south of Ubud). We had to get out of our place for 4 nights as there were others who had already booked those dates in the room. These forced "getaways" have proven to be great excuses to visit other towns for more than just a day trip. First it was 3 weeks in Lovina and then a week on Gili Air and now 4 nights in Sanur. We opted for a place on the beach here and it is a really nice treat to have that vibe and access to 3 separate pools. As well, we've got a bungalow with two bedrooms so once again....it gives us that little bit of extra space. Not that we need it.....we're still talking and playing cards. :-). Seriously, we know how lucky we are to be able to get along so well that we are able to do this!
This morning we were up bright and early and ready with the breakfast we got "to go" last night from our friends at a little restaurant right next to our hotel called the "White House". We love that little place! The young people who own it were high school friends. After travelling a little and studying (a couple of them are chefs) they opened this place and are working to make a go of it. We've been doing our best to support them! Last night while we were there for dinner one of them "checked the pantry" to see what he could come up with for a 'to go' breakfast for us. This morning we found: a couple of hard boiled eggs, some coconut french toast with a vanilla custard to pour over it, a piece of delicious banana bread, and some vermicelli rice noodle salad that had all its components separated into little bags so it wouldn't get soggy. Lynda and I enjoyed this gourmet breakfast in the sitting area of our hotel lobby along with the complimentary coffee that is there 24/7. As soon as our breakfast was over our driver arrived to pick us up for a day tour package to Lembongan Island. Yes.....Landlubber Lorrie would be getting on another boat! In the end, the company we went with was called Scoot and I cannot say enough good about their service. The trip to the island took about 20-30 minutes and thankfully we were on a fast boat (that can carry about 30 people plus crew). The swells in the sea were higher than the boat and even though I made it through the trip without getting seasick there were a few moments where I wondered if our little boat was going to be lost in between some of those swells! (actually I've been doing really well on all of the water vessels this entire trip!). Lynda and I were sitting outside the cabin at the back of the boat right in front of the four massive engines that were insanely loud. At one point while our boat was lost in between two massive swells there was another boat that materialized from nowhere and that was just about 50-100 feet away beside us! It too was disappearing in between the swells and so I'm guessing at least some of the people on that boat were just as surprised to see us as I was to see them! I'm sure our captain knew they were there all the time but as I was facing backward and the swells were pretty skookum.....they sure took me by surprise! Our day on Lembongan was great! Almost as soon as we got off the fast boat we were hustled onto a glass bottom boat that would also be the snorkel boat for those who wanted to go snorkelling. I had opted to stay on the glass bottom boat but Lynda was uber ready for getting into the water so had her snorkel gear on almost before the boat had stopped. There were 8 of us on the boat in total. A couple from Australia, 2 couples from China, and Lynda and I. As soon as our boat stopped at the snorkel site the younger Chinese woman said she needed to go back because she didn't feel well. Then her mom said she would go with her so she wasn't alone. Her husband was already in the water snorkelling and her father was getting geared up for his snorkelling too. There was really no way to accommodate her request but Mei (our morning guide) was able to get the speedboat that pulls the banana behind it to come pick her up. I told Mei and the two Chinese women that I would go back with the younger one so the mom could go snorkelling (easy decision for me to make!). It was all agreed and everyone was happy. The speed boat arrived and the young Chinese woman and I boarded (yes...balanced and jumped from boat to boat bobbing out there in the salt chuck!). right behind us came the Chinese mother and then the father and then the husband who had climbed out of the water and jumped aboard with his snorkel still attached! They had decided that they all needed to stay together and so the little speed boat that was made to carry just a couple of us back now had 5 additional passengers (plus 2 crew) aboard! In the end, it was all good. One of the crew, another young man named Ketut, and I had a great visit and a fresh juice at the restaurant while waiting for the 3 lone snorkelers to finish their 90 minutes and come back for lunch. Poor Lynda! When she got out of the water and discovered I was gone and then discovered that there were only 3 of the original 8 left on the boat....she wasn't sure what had happened! After a nice lunch at a beach location we had a little free time before heading off in the back of a truck to tour the island. First stop was mangrove forests where we climbed back into a boat! OMG! What is with all these boats?! This water was very calm though and the tour through the mangroves was incredibly beautiful! It was soooo quiet! Lynda, Ketut and I were in one boat and the 4 Chinese people were in another. The Australian couple had not signed on for this part of the tour. The type of boats we were in for the mangrove tour are the same boats that the locals use for their seaweed farming. These boats differ from fishing boats as they don't have the big bamboo arms that help them stay balanced on rough seas. These skinny boats also have no motor...just a guy that stands on the back poling it along. The seaweed farming they do used to be in the ocean but now most of it is done inland in fields kind of like rice paddies. They can only do the seaweed farming in the dry season so we were not able to see one in action but it was interesting to hear about them. The seaweed (once harvested) goes to China for use in face creams (most of which also include ingredients meant to whiten the skin). After about 1/2 hour poling through the mangroves we popped out into the open ocean and then rounded a corner on open water where we were then able to get back into the mangrove and make our way back to our truck. From there we were off to a couple of lookout points where the views were stunning! White sand beaches and azure blue waters...it doesn't get much better than that! Our final stop up top was at the Devils Tears which is the name given to a massive cave/blow hole where the bigger the wave the bigger the misty white spray that blasts out and onto the surrounding rock. What a great stop! The majesty of mother nature was sooo present here! Sadly, also present were a lot of very foolish people who were going right up to the edge of the cliffs. Honestly, it was kind of scary as it was easy to see that each of the big waves that came could have washed any of them away. Many of them even had their small children with them! Tourism is very new on Lembongan....just 6 years old. I am hopeful that they will post signs warning tourists to stay back from the edge before too much more time passes. Our guide Ketut told us not to go near the rock (our chinese foursome wanted to) but I guess not everyone's guide was as safety conscious as ours. The rapid rise of tourism on this island is due in very large part to the Chinese visitors. They flock to Lembongan and have been ever since 2010 when they were involved in it's early development. Lynda and I couldn't get over the level of infrastructure that exists in such a short time and the fact that the part of it that we saw was all running like a well oiled machine. The population of Lembongan (about 6000) is now all employed. On the downside...the increase in tourism and boat traffic has caused pollution (oil leaks etc and the need to use beaches for tourism related business) in areas of the ocean and beaches that used to be used for seaweed farming. There are still a few seaweed farms a little way offshore but most are now inland and require a lot of hauled water. By the time we made it back to the Scoot office at the beach it was almost time to board our boat for Sanur so once again we waded into the water to climb aboard. (knee deep unless you're unlucky and a big wave comes at the same time in which case you are waste deep!). We rocked and rolled a bit right at the start of the return journey but once we settled into it and got our internal rock and roll on the same beat it was all good. Our driver was waiting back onshore and in no time we were back at our hotel and ready for a shower!
But I should backtrack a little too. Our first couple of days here were pretty much spent poolside. The first evening we hit it lucky and were able to enjoy complimentary entertainment right here on the hotel grounds. Not only was it right here and free....we were pretty much the only people in attendance and so had front row seats! The performers were all from the same family. Dad and the youngest son played the gambolan (one on each side of it). A gambolan is kind of like a xylophone and it is played with metal hammers (am guessing they were given a special offering on metal day!). The gambolan is different than a xylophone though as the player has to use both hands. One to hit the key with the hammer and the other to grasp the key which stops the note before the next is hit. The sound is very unique and if you've got facebook you can listen to them play on my page there or if you don't have facebook...I encourage you to youtube it so you can see and hear it for yourself. The mother in the family played a cymbal type drum and the eldest son played a different drum and a gong. A friend of the boys played another type of drum and the daughter was there but I'm not sure what her role is. In addition to playing the gambolan, the youngest son also performed two very traditional Balinese dances and in between them he stopped long enough to demonstrate his amazing prowess on the drum that his buddy was playing too! What a talented young man! What a talented family! What a great show! Seeing as we were practically the only people there and in the front row....they pretty much gave us a private performance and afterward came over to say hello. It was at that time that I'm pretty sure Lynda agreed to go on tour with them! Yikes....I wonder what instrument she will play? I know she wants to learn how to move her hands and eyes the way that the Balinese ladies do when they dance so .....maybe that will be her claim to fame on their tour! :-)
Speaking of music...that leads me right into my final story for this post. I said right at the outset of this blog that my intent was to "live" in Bali and tonight the evidence of just that really presented itself! On our way back to the hotel I had noticed a restaurant called the White Orchid just a couple doors down from our hotel and since we were dead tired and not wanting to walk too far....decided to give it a try once we were cleaned up a little. As we entered the restaurant we were met with the smiling faces of two musicians we've met in Ubud! They were as thrilled to see us there as we were to see them. Both Lynda and I really enjoy their music! I'm sure I must have mentioned them in an earlier post as we've seen them a couple of times at the Art Kafe in Ubud. Their names are Moses and Anthony and their style is pretty eclectic. In fact...they can play pretty much anything. Both play guitar and sing. Anthony also plays harmonica. ( I know those names don't sound very Balinese so maybe those are just their stage names). As we entered the restaurant they both gave us a high five as we walked by, they dedicated songs to us (the ones they know we've requested before), and when we left after dinner we heard through the mic..... "good night grandma Double L" as it seems that is destined to be our moniker! LOL!
Yes....you know you're a resident when you can travel around and still have people recognize you and say "hi". So yes....we've got just 2 months left in Bali....but I'll bet we can make a few more new friends in that time! :-)
Till next time,
L & L
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