I am so angry with myself for leaving it so long between posts! Soooo much has happened in the past couple of weeks and I'm afraid so much will be missed in this blog as a result. I've learned over the years that when I'm travelling I rely on these blog posts to help me recall (years later) some of the amazing adventures we have along the journeys we've been fortunate to take.
Thank heavens we have a bit of a calendar here in the room that I can refer back to so I will be able to capture some of the highlights but....at the same time I know that much will be missed and stay a memory in Bali forever....perhaps that is what is meant to be though as "there are no coincidences".
Since last writing I know we went back to the english school, Prima Santi one night. This time there were three of us though and so the kids had "extra" practice as a result. In addition, Barb had picked up a few things in Canada for us to take to the school so we were laden down with pencils, stickers, and books to leave with the kids. Once again, we were a hit!
One amazing day was spent on a tour to the east with Pasek and his wife Nyoman joining Barb, Lynda, and I (along with driver Jati of course). It was Nyoman's FIRST time to any of the places we'd be visiting and when you consider that all of this is easily within a one day drive....and that Nyoman is well into her forties....it's hard to believe. We stopped at the seaside in Candidasa for lunch where we dined at a place right on the beach. Honestly I'm not sure....but it might have been her first time to the beach too! It's hard to imagine what she must have been thinking as we made our way through the day...everything would have been new for her but she simply took it all in stride as though she'd done it before a million times.
We also visited two water palaces on our tour to the east. Both were breathtaking and we all enjoyed walking around the gardens that surround those former royal residences. For me the highlight of the day was our stop at Tenganan, a traditional village where we spent a fair bit of time. I'd been wanting to go there to see the "honey man" for quite a while as I'd heard that he had both sour honey and sweet honey and guess what....we found him and yes he did have both of those versions of honey! The sour honey comes from tiny bees so small that they look like little black flies, not much bigger than a mosquito. Those little bees don't sting but they do fly in your ears and up your nose and in your eyes if you mess with their hive so even though they won't sting you...they sure can keep people away from their hive if they want to. The sour honey is like nothing I've ever tasted before. It is actually SOUR! Delicious but sour! We enjoyed our visit with the honey man so much! He welcomed us into his home where we met his mom and his brother and his brother's wife. We got to look into his grandmas house (where she was resting on her bed) and we got to see all the animals and gardens and hives and hives of bees. His bees provide him with sour honey, mango honey (mango blossoms when they're in season) and coffee honey (coffee blossoms when in season). The coffee honey is very dark and actually has a distinct coffee flavour. The mango honey is the colour of normal honey and you can taste a hint of mango beneath the sweet of the honey flavour. Soooo interesting! In addition to the honey production, several of the family also make baskets in the traditional way so we got to see how that is done, the vines they use to make them, the smoking process to cure and colour the baskets, and oh yes....we even made a purchase or two (or three).
Another event that took place since I last wrote is the Bali Spirit Festival and although we didn't take in many of the activities attached to that event we sure did notice the influx of Spirit Festival types in town for it! One thing we did do though was attend the final evening entertainment at ARMA where the One World One Stage acts performed. For me it was an exciting moment as I got to see Xavier Rudd live and the venue was perfect for him and his music. The magic that man makes with a didgeridoo is simply that.....magic! That night was March 26th and so for me I will now always think of March 26th as the anniversary of the night that I chose to celebrate my decision to come to Bali by seeing Xavier Rudd in Ubud.
The Spirit Festival attracts quite an "interesting" mix of people. All ages and likely all walks of life but the common denominator is that everyone is marching to the beat of their own drum! Lots of beads and feathers and glitter and skin....it was kind of like I imagine it would have been to have attended a mini version of Woodstock without all the mud and the drugs. The folks at the Spirit Festival don't need any drugs....they're kind of flying high all on their own. :-)
Speaking of flying high....I LOVE the back of the bike and over the past couple of weeks have had two more trips through the rice fields on the back of a bike. The first time was with Alison and the next time with Barb. Both times we went with Ketut 1 and Ketut 2, stopped at Sari Organik for lunch and made a fun day of it. On the trip with Alison it was fun to see Ketut 2 have his first trip through the rice field too! Yes....just as Nyoman had never been to the east...Ketut had never been past Sari Organik and into the rice fields! AND....both Ketut's had never been into Monkey Forest. I know it's bad that it took us more than four months to go into the forest but at least we've been in there. Now I can even boast that I did it twice as the only way Ketut 2 would go in is if he was with a visitor so I sucked it up...bought another ticket and ventured back into the land of those flea infested little thieves! No....they're still not my favourite animal....even after two visits into their forest!
But back to the back of a bike.....it is so wonderful to feel the breeze blowing past. As the "queen of sweat" I'm always dripping wet and so having a breeze is a real treat! Coming along the roads after we came out of the rice fields yesterday was even more special because so many of the panjars (sp?) are already up for Galungan Day tomorrow. Those panjars are soooo beautiful....magnificent in fact as they sway over the streets in front of every property. Every home (on the entire island) will have them up by tonight so I'm going to make arrangements with Ketut for another bike tour of panjars for day after tomorrow when he's back from his village. The panjars will be a couple days old by then and so not "as fresh" but they'll still be magnificent. He's gong to take me out by the rice terraces where you can see them more clearly away from the buildings of the city. It will take us about 20-30 minutes to get out there and the same to come back so it will be a fun day trip!
A couple of other memorable moments from the past week or two have been times that I've actually managed to get cold! The first came when we visited a salt therapy spa. They keep the salt room quite cold....so cold in fact that Lynda needed two blankets and Barb needed one tucked all round them. I on the other hand just lay there in my shirt sleeves loving every blessed minute of the frigid air! Oh ya...and breathing in the salt was pretty awesome too. :-). The other "chilly" day was when we visited the spa at Tjampuan Resort. They have natural hot and cold springs as well as sauna and steam rooms you can use. We paid our money and while the rest of the girls enjoyed the saunas etc I pretty much just LOVED my time in the cold pool. I sunk myself down to my neck and just stayed there for as long as I could. The final outcomes was that I was actually cool and not sweating for more than an hour afterward! Loved Loved Loved that!!!
On the day before Nyepi we hired a driver to take us on an Ogoh Ogoh tour of the surrounding area and what a fun day that was. We got to see all of the village ogoh ogoh's that we'd otherwise never have seen. Ogoh Ogoh is a monster (very scary) meant to attract the evil spirits during noisy day (day before Nyepi). At the end of noisy day those monsters are destroyed (often burned) taking the bad spirits with them. During the evening of noisy day all of the ogoh ogoh's in every village (or city) are gathered for a parade and there is lots of noise to attract the evil spirits as they march down the road with throngs of people on both sides. Each ogoh ogoh is carried by many many Balinese men (or sometimes youth). The largest of the ogoh ogoh's will need at least 50 men to carry it! The next day, Nyepi (silent day) is the first day of the Balinese new year. Everyone on the entire island is required to stay indoors and to be quiet. The intention is that everyone will reflect on the coming year and their role in it. Giving thanks is also part of the process. Bali is a culture that is rich in showing regular appreciation through their offerings and ceremonies. Alison and Barb were able to come to Lynda and my place during Nyepi as we all live down the same little alley so no one had to go onto the road to get here. No one is allowed on the road and we found that out in no uncertain terms when we thought we could just go and peek out onto Monkey Forest after dark. We wanted to see what it would look like to have no lights and no cars and no people in a place that is usually alive with busyness. But....just as we started toward the road from the front of Barbs place....a 5 cell flashlight shone into our eyes as the cultural police spied us sneaking in the direction of the road. They told us to go back....no one was allowed out and so like the good girls we are....we did what we were told! Yikes! Go figure....just at the exact moment as we were going to look the police just happened to be at the exact spot where we were going to look from! DAMN!
Somewhere in all of this we also had to say good bye to Alison as she headed back to England, we had a pizza night with Jati and the two Ketut's, we had dinner with Angela at Sage, and we visited Tirta Empul for a traditional water blessing at the holy waters of that sacred place. Once we arrived at Terta Empul (holy water) just after dawn we donned sarongs, made our prayers/intentions, climbed in (there are three waist deep pools -with fish), and completed the traditional cleansing process under 15 of the holy spring spouts (11 in the first pool, 2 in the second, and 2 in the third). The early morning start (5:30) meant that we were almost the only people there which made the experience even more special! Believe it or not...our water blessing was so special that the earth moved while we were in the pools! Yes, another earthquake during our time here...I think it was 6.2 but no damage we've heard about. Afterward we Changed into dry clothes, located a shop that sold dresses and food (yep...you read that right-it was an interesting combination of product for sale but we needed breakfast!), Afterward it was off to Jati's home in Kintamani where we all got to cuddle a new baby -his nephew- 17 days old). From there we were off to lunch at d'Alas where the views were stunning and the food was pretty great too. Final stop on this 11 hour tour day was the elephant cave which lived up to its reputation for being something worth seeing (even if I had to climb up 81 stairs to get back to the parking lot!).
Another tour day was when Barb and I headed north and west so she could see the Holy Tree. It was another great adventure and made all the more fun as Ketut 1 and Ketut 2 were along for the ride too....and of course Jati was our fearless leader/driver. It was a 16 hour day but we covered a lot of ground! It was especially fun for me as I was the only person in the car who'd ever seen this part of Bali...even Jati had never been to some of these places before! We saw the sunrise over the volcano, we survived torrential rains in the mountains, we lunched at a magnificent viewpoint restaurant, we stopped at the temple by the lake where we were the only people there, we visited an ancient temple overlooking the ocean that even I'd never been to before, and we supped on seafood along the south coast. In addition, we all enjoyed a full day of laughter and 100% english as both Ketut and Ketut are focused on honing their skills. It is almost impossible to remember that Ketut 1 had almost NO english when we arrived in November. Now he is able to carry on a full conversation about almost any subject! In fact, the other night we took the boys for their first ever movie experience (to Paradiso) and Ketut was able to understand almost everything in the movie! He has worked hard to get to where he is and we both (Lynda and I) feel pretty darn proud of his accomplishment as we know we've helped him get to where he is today.
This past week also saw the arrival of another friend from Canada. Alison Grittner arrived the other day and her timing was perfect as she was able to join Barb, Jati and I as we headed off to see high priestess Ida again for another water blessing. I really wanted to see her one more time before I leave (and that is just days away now) and it was a first for both Barb and Alison so they were anxious to come along too. Once again, the experience with Ida was very special and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to have it. To make it even more special Jati took us via the bamboo forest this time so we got to see the beauty that is driving through the shade of a forest made up entirely of bamboo trees.
Tomorrow is Galungan Day.....another very special day that comes around just once every 6 months (210 days). Galungan is a day that celebrates the balance of life and the triumph of good over evil. The circle of life (eternity symbolized by a circle), the trinity (symbolized by a triangle) and the four quadrants (symbolized by a cross and the swastika) are shapes that make their way into the ceremonial panjars that line the roads for this auspicious celebration. The panjars are LONG LONG bamboo poles that have a curved top that hangs over into the street. The pole is decorated from base to tip and every bit of the decoration on it has some symbolic meaning and offering. For this lay person....I can just say that I've never seen anything so beautiful! .....and on that note.....I'm going to call it a night.
Till next time,
L & L
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