WOW! Time is really flying by now! We are down to just 3 1/2 weeks till we leave this beautiful island. It always amazes me how it is that once you pass the 1/2 way mark of a block of time, the second half seems to go that much faster than the first 1/2 did...and by the time you get down to the final days they seriously fly by! Oh well, won't think too much about the fact that we're moving quickly toward final days and focus on the fact that we still have more time here than most people have as their total visit.
During the past 10 days we've been focused on making sure some of the things we want to visit or revisit are getting accomplished so we've become a little more intentional about putting an agenda together to make sure we don't miss too many of our "gotta do that while we're here" list.
A week ago a friend from Canada arrived and so our twosome has become a threesome and we continue to find lots of fun and laughter along our Balinese journey. It is also fun for Lynda and I to see Bali for the first time again through Barb's eyes. I went with Jati to the airport to pick Barb up last Thursday and as much as that may not sound like a lot....it takes pretty much a whole day to do that. You have to assume it will take a good two hours each way (her plane arrived in the afternoon so both ways were during busy traffic times) and then you have to leave enough time for the "just in case" factor too. Our drive down to Denpasar was busy but uneventful. It was also HOT so Barb arrived to some smoking hot afternoon temperatures with humidity hovering around 90%. Jati and I had lunch at the airport while we were waiting for her plane to arrive and I gotta tell you the airport here might be even worse than the airport at home as far as prices in their little cafeteria goes! Here it seems even more obscene though as everywhere else is soooo affordable that when you're paying airport prices it hurts just that much more! I think our lunch cost a little more than $30 CAD. (I'm trying to put it out of my memory which is why I say "think"). The thing I'd like to capture here is what it felt like to be one of the masses waiting to greet arriving flights. OMG there are a lot of people and almost all of them are drivers so the experience is like no other that I've had in airports where I'm there to pick someone up. This time we were all crowded up against the rail. Everyone had signs with peoples names on them and many of them use a selfie stick to get their sign our in front of the crowd so their guest can find them. Every time another group of people come through the doors from immigration everyone pushes a little bit further forward in the hope that their person is in that group. We waited for quite a long time for Barb as there were several planes landed at the same time which caused a bit of a backlog at immigration for her. In the end it was all good, we found her.....or she found us.....it can be described either way and we were off to retrieve the car and begin the journey home. Jati, sweet guy that he is, had stopped on our way into the airport to purchase a frangiapani (plumeria) lei for me to give Barb at arrival. As a result our car smelled lovely and sweet with the scent of those flowers accompanying us all the way home.
In addition to Barb's arrival here there has been another arrival this week too. Lynda's son Mitch and his wife Viri welcomed their baby boy into the world on the 13th too. It was an arrival that had quite a few delays though and so from Friday night when things started happening for them until Tuesday night when he finally made his grand entrance Lynda stayed very close to home and her computer. Even though you know there is nothing you can do even if you were closer to the action....being on the other side of the world is really really far from the front line! All's well that ends well though and Lynda is excited and happy to know that grandchild number 5 is a healthy and thriving little boy whose mom and dad are settling into their new roles with the same rapidity as everyone whose ever been there will be familiar with.
While Lynda was actively engaged in waiting to welcome the addition to her family, Barb, Alison, and I managed to keep ourselves busy. Alison is from England and is a guest at Julie's house. She is here for 3 weeks and so our threesome is often a foursome or if Julie is also available we're 5 or even more when other friends are available to join us. Being here for so long we've really enjoyed getting to know many of the people we've met. Some of them are Balinese, others are expats living in Bali, and many are visitors to this beautiful place just like us. The difference between us and most of the other visitors is that we have 5 months here so we're almost like a hybrid....1/2 tourist 1/2 expat.
One of the things that Barb, Alison, and I did this past week was to go for another chocolate massage at Sedona Spa. It was a first for both of them and once again....the experience was "delicious". I resisted tasting my chocolate again this time (I don't want to ruin the sensory experience with the memory of the bitterness that comes when you taste raw chocolate) and I gotta tell you....this whole business of getting an hour long massage followed by warm liquid chocolate being rubbed all over you and then getting wrapped up like a baby so the chocolate can work its magic....all followed by a flower petal bath in a massive copper tub where you sip on ginger tea and nibble on fresh fruit....is some kind of wonderful! Even after the chocolate is gone and I'd left the spa....I could still smell the chocolate and remember the warm stickiness of it as I marinated in my little cocoon. :-). Barb and Alison also loved their massages but for some reason they ended up in rooms that didn't have the fantastic massive copper tubs so lesson learned...next time we will be sure to stipulate that we want the rooms with copper tubs!
Another thing the three of us did was to attend the Kecak performance at ARMA (Art museum) during the full moon. It was so different from the other kecak performances I've seen (first at temple on Jl. Hanoman and then at Uluwatu). This one was FULL of fire and was an artistic interpretation of the story of two monkey kings (brothers) who get into battle with one another (which is a different story than the traditional kecak follows). As much as I loved the kecak at the temple, this one at ARMA that only happens during the full moon and the dark moon was fantastic.
That same day the three of us had also visited the Pyramids of Chi for another fantastic sound healing session. It was a March special they had on where for 300,000 ($30) I could have 90 minute sound healing in the pyramid as well as a fantastic lunch in the restaurant. I LOVED it once again!
The five of us (Lynda, Barb, Alison, Julie, and I) have also gone to a couple of different venues for films. The first night we saw a series of 7 short films and I must admit that the short films in Bali are no easier to interpret than the short films in Canada often are! On the upside...we sure all had something to talk about and isn't that one of the intentions behind art...to give the audience cause to think and hopefully discuss? So...on that level I guess those short films were pretty successful. :-). The next one we saw was AMAZING! It is called Tana and is set on an island in Vanuatu. It is based on a true story and is a real life Romeo and Juliet who's story helped change the cultural traditions of their people. This movie I highly recommend...it was a 10/10 for the story, for the acting, and for the scenery.
Another thing that Barb and I did the other day (with Lynda as our official videographer) was to go to the fish spa again....it was Barbs first time and honestly it was as much fun for me this second time as it was for the first! Along with our fish spa we enjoyed some of their kombucha (which is my new favourite thing and I am excited to get home to make some of my own). In fact, today, I hopped on the back of Ketut's bike to zip over to the fish spa again so I could pick up a couple bottles of the stuff they make there so I could have it in my fridge here. Kombucha is fermented tea and it is supposed to be very good for you so in addition to tasting good and quenching thirst....it's a benefit too.
I love this hopping on the back of a bike business here! It is so wonderful to feel the wind whipping past on these hot days. Yes....that means I'm not wearing a helmet and I know that's kind of crazy but I also know that we're not going very fast (governed by traffic most of the time). Equally as crazy is that we just wear flip flops and shorts and bare arms. On the upside, the drivers (all Balinese) are masterful riders! As I've said in other posts, they begin learning even before they can walk as the bike is the form of transport for the family and often the little kids are standing at the front of the bike with their face peeking over the handle bars. Definitely they're driving the bike themselves (maybe with an older sibling on the back) by the time they're able to reach the footrest (around 10) and licensed to drive full time at about 15.
Lynda and I continue to keep up with the self-care routines we've built here which we both feel really good about. Lynda missed a couple of yoga sessions while waiting for baby and so she is making up for it the rest of this week. In fact, I think she might even be doing two classes this afternoon! I'm still doing my every morning short yoga session (in the room) and then 3 times/week I do another routine that is a little longer in the afternoons and it has become such a habit now that I actually kind of look forward to it. So the plan is to keep it up once I'm back home too. I've been really intentional about making sure it is something that is sustainable and enjoyable in support of that plan for maintenance so I'm feeling good about my plan and my progress! This week Barb and Alison also joined me for my reflexology treatment and they both found so much value in it that Alison is back for another treatment already today!
Yesterday I had a long hot walk to pick up our passports for the final time from our agent Komang at Bali Buddha (where she sits every afternoon from 2-5). It seems weird to think that this is our final visa extension! When we arrived in November thinking about getting extensions for the entire time seemed like a lot but now that we're at the end of it...it was a breeze. $65 each every month and we're good to go. :-). This extension takes us to the 15th of April and since our plane tix are for the 12th we're good even if there was some extraordinary delay.
Last night Lynda and I went over to Julie's house (just a couple of doors away from us) as I'd made a plan to do a "class" with two of her staff (Gede and the new Ketut). She'd purchased some syrups and a bottle of vodka and I'd promised to help the boys learn to make a couple of cocktails (and some mocktails too) so that when Julie has friends over she can offer them something other than the usual fresh fruit juices. Our cocktail party set out in Julie's garden by her jacuzzi was a huge hit and I had loads of fun with the boys in the kitchen. They had a cocktail shaker and it was fun for them doing a little dance as they shook their booty in time to the mixing of the drink. :-). In the end we came up with 2 mocktails (sunrise and berry surprise without the vodka) and 4 cocktails (sunrise: 1 vodka, oj, grenadine; chocolate martini: 2 vodka, chocolate, well shaken; berry surprise: 1 vodka, strawberry syrup, cranberry juice; and one other than I can't remember the name of. It was 1 vodka, strawberry syrup, coconut syrup, shaken together and topped off with some soda water to add a little sparkle. We learned during out "invention time" that the syrups are soooo sweet and so by the second drink we'd mastered our amounts and by the end you'd never know that we were using syrups vs different kinds of liqueurs. All in all the evening was a great success and this morning Gede stopped by to say hi (he was just off to his village for 2 full days of ceremonies for his aunt who recently passed away). Julie also messaged to ask if we can do it again before we leave....so lots of evidence that fun was had by all.
Lynda received a couple of emails yesterday from the kids at the school we visited a month ago. They were wondering if we might be able to come visit them again. Ironically, we had been having that very conversation! Barb brought us a bunch of stuff (books, pencils, and stickers) that we want to take to the school so Lynda is now working on setting up another time for us to visit them before we leave Bali. Yes.....more evidence that the time is drawing short!
I've just finished making arrangements for four of us (Julie, Barb, Alison, and I) to visit a woman (AwaHoshi) who offers sessions of sound healing with crystal bowls. My sister has a crystal bowl and I LOVE it so I'm certain that this session will be amazing! That session will be tomorrow afternoon and afterward Lynda will join us for dinner. Our plan is that we'll all go back to Bale Udung (the restaurant where the tables are set over a lake and the koi fish come round for you to feed them after dinner)
What else is new this week? Well, the ogoh ogoh's are getting nearer completion all the time. Its just 10 days till the big parades that precede Nyepi (silent day) and the excitement surrounding the massive ogoh ogohs that are being constructed in every village and community centre is building. They're pretty much finished now.....just a few finishing touches. The one that is just up the street from us in the soccer field is massive. It is also incredibly well done and very very impressive. I honestly cannot imagine what it will be like to see them all gathered for the start of the parade on the late afternoon of the 27th. This will truly be a sight to remember I am sure! As well, we continue to discover new sights and places to eat....there is a seemingly endless supply of those two things here. I actually don't know what it would be like to just be here in Bali for a few days (like most people). They miss out on so much! We continue to feel overwhelmingly grateful for all of the time we've been able to spend here and at the same time will be ready to head for home in April. Until then though...there is lots more planned and there will be surprises along the way too I'm sure. So till next time.....
L & L
No comments:
Post a Comment