Final Days in Bali

Thursday, I went on a bike ride through the villages. My guide took me to a home and I spent some time with a traditional Balinese family. These kids loved getting their pictures taken. I  had chance to teach them some English, which they eagerly accepted.

We spent the evening at Made’s village for a ceremony celebrating the 3 year anniversary of their temple. The Balinese have ceremonies for everything, even for new building or cars … and they treat everyone, like we treat out weddings, preparing for months.

I  woke up early Friday, after an earth quake, to prepare for a sunrise hike up the volcano, Mt Batur. I was picked up at 2:30 am with other 5 other crazy people from Denmark, England, and Taiwan. We all started in the dark and got to the top in time to see the spectacular sunrise.  The fun part was coming down in the light to see what you had only imagined in the dark.  It wasn't easy and it gave me flashbacks of my grand canyon hike in difficulty

I will have to post pictures later, because it is taking so load to upload them and we have to get ready to leave today.  It is 16 hours ahead in Bali from CA so we get back on the same day!

Closing page to follow…Heading to the airport soon.

Feeling Better with 3 more nights to go..

3 hotel changes and food poising was not part of the adventure I wanted. However, I am a grateful to be over the illness with the following steps endured:
2 feverish nights, 1 rash on front and back from a self prescribed antibiotic , a trip to the Ibud Clinic to confirm food poisoning, not malaria and 1 yoga class.
Now we are back at the Ubud Bungalows where everyone knows our names.

Corynn did not miss me when I was down and out: Corynn and her new friend,. Made, have been hanging out everyday.

Today, I was the only one in the tour though the rice fields with Lilir, a traditional Balinese healer, who showed me medincianl herbs in nature. Then, I had the privilege of chopping and crushing herbs and roots following her recipe for Jamu, a tonic that just happened be good for my stomach and anything else wrong with me. Ask me for the recipe.. I am now and apprentice healer.

What I loved most was finding out from her that men do not choose women for looks, but rather for skills.   Skills, such as cooking, hard working, etc.. No plastic surgeons needed here..

I loved that we stopped of to get a coconut water from this guy for 50 cents. It beats the $2.75 they charge at the health food store for the one in the carton.

Back to Ubud, where you know you are in Bali

With a 250,000 rp investment ($27) and hour long ride inland, we are back in Ubud. The contrast is apparent as we are greeted by flock of ducks at our new hotel. This one is a little too remote as you can see from our view...but much welcomed after the 2 nights in Kuta.

Corynn is off to white water raft today by herself as I am still sick and also uninvited by the rafting guide who invited her back.  I now feel like I am tagging along on Corynn’s vacation and I have stopped hearing requests from her to change the flights.

Here are pictures from a stop on the Ayung River from a few days ago. It was amazing scenery

Nypei: Bali's National Day of Silence

We were waiting all week for this day. Nypei is a national hidu holiday where the whole country has a day of silence to reflect, pray and meditate. The country shuts down an the Balinese stay inside with the lights out. Tourist are expected to stay in the hotels and not come on the streets.  The night before there is a parade where the ogoh-ogoh (monster) is carted down the street and dance performance and acts are performed. Is is like religious Disneyland. 



I made a mistake and moved from Ubud to Kuta for Nypei. I did not realize that Kuta was a party town for Australians. They spent the day of silence completely disrespecting this special Balinese holiday, drinking and screaming in the pools. You could see the pain on the staff's face as they had to cater to them. Mid day was a down pour and it seemed as if the Gods sent a signal for them to shut up and cleared them from the pool.

Today I will look for a new place to stay, but I am sick today..probably something I ate in Kuta.

Images of Bali



The view on my walk through the rice fields.



A scare crow made of coconut and palms.



Decorative egg art



The Temple




A boy sneaking away from a ceremony in the temple. ( I took this picture over the temple wall.)




A priest performing a a blessing at the ceremony.




This was at a ceremonial procession.. They were moving fast down the street, but they ALL had time to share a smile.



Chickens are everywhere, from rice fields to our bungalow.



Baskets of offerings to the Gods. We see hundreds of these a day. Some include candy, flowers, rice and or money.



Beautiful Bali

We settled into Ubud, Bali. Organic Cafes, rice fields, bungalows and all the Balinese crafts one can purchase surround the town.

Again we lucked out with having a wonderful guide today. Wayan, who runs the Ubud Bungalows where we are staying,  drove us to temples, through villages, rice fields up to the still active volcano,  Gunung Batur. We had plenty of laughs comparing cultures and loved his willingness to share his knowledge and personal Hindu practices

Last day in Thailand..We are ready for Bali!

We spent the last day in Thailand on a canoe tour around Phang Nga Bay.  There are 42 islands , mostly uninhabited, which we cruised around on a boat.  We were dropped into canoes to explore caves that took us inside one island. Staring up at these limestone cliffs from the inside was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Most of the people had guides steer them though but I opted to take this one on myself. Corynn did not appreciate this as much considering I also wanted to take pictures.  This  meant an occasional hit to the interior cave wall.

Corynn and her charmingness attracted her new friend. “ Jack” (his self assigned non-Thai name), who offered to take us Patong…  I know, I just dissed  it in the previous blog,  but as the great yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, environment is great then will power.   As about as opposite as you can imagine a quite sea cave, is Patong. A few hours there was enough with neon signs and screaming techno music, It was crazy and I am too old for it.

Thank God for Bali, the Island of the Gods, we a resting well tonight in artsy Ubud, Bali