Ubud, Bali

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We arrived at our lodging in Ubud, Bali after a basically uneventful 40 hour journey, including 23 hours in the air and the concomitant airport time. Jan couldn't stand the lack of excitement though. Our driver met us as promised at the Denpasar airport, and we were happily making our way to his car when Jan realized she didn't have her checked bag with her, having forgotten to grab it after clearing customs. In her defense, she was concerned that I was carrying too much and wanted to take something for me. Which, of course, made her realize why she had a hand free. I stayed with the driver while she frantically went in search of her bag. It took a while and I was getting worried, but she finally emerged with bag in tow. They had let her go backwards through the customs area and take an unattended bag, something that wouldn't have happened in most places these days. Anyway, it was enough to get our adrenaline pumping and keep us awake for the final stage of the journey, a hair-raising ride through Denpasar's rush hour traffic with countless motorbikes, some carrying a family of four, weaving in and out between the cars and trucks.

We were beginning to wonder about our choice of lodging when the driver pulled into a narrow alley, a hole in the wall of unpainted, ramshackle buildings. Until our host, Mark, took us down a winding path through the lush vegetation to our accommodation, one of two freestanding little apartments, surrounded by rainforest and overlooking a river valley and terraced rice paddies. We take our morning coffee outside on the patio and watch the ethereal clouds of mist waft across the valley far below.  The cost?  A mere 3.5 million Rupiah!

The bathroom is very cool... partially open air... the toilet is on a raised Dias and surrounded on two sides by a lily pond of sorts, including goldfish. I stepped out of bed this morning and right into the shower, cleansed by the cool rain and hot water, and surrounded by bougainvillea and palm trees laden with coconut.

As I write, Jan is out in the rain having a lazy swim in the pool which is perched on the hillside overlooking the verdant valley. It's been raining most of the night... December and January are the wettest months. We both love the rain, especially in a tropical clime like this. When the rain let's up some, we'll wander down the road and visit some art galleries and a Hindu temple or two.


We had lunch one day at the Lotus Cafe, across a shallow pond of lotus and lily pads, from this temple.  Every house here has a temple of sorts for daily prayers, which explains the plethora of stone cast gods and icons for sale everywhere.  Our meals, first class fare that would have cost upwards of $20 in the US, cost less than $4.

Bali is 92% Hindu, whereas most of Indonesia is Muslim. The Hindu new year starts in March, commencing with one of their most important festivals, Nyepi, a day of absolute silence which is even enforced by the constabulary... the thinking being that if everyone is quiet, the evil spirits will go elsewhere to perpetrate their mischief. Jan heard a series of loud explosions in the middle of the night our first night here, followed by another volley some time later. She was concerned and curious as it didn't sound like a car backfiring. We learned in the morning from Mark that this happens somewhat frequently... A family or group will decide that there are evil spirits about, and the noise is to scare them away. I slept right through it which I think proves I am not an evil spirit.

Mark had come up the path as we had our morning coffee, poignantly bumping his head on a low hanging Bird of Paradise, to strew our patio table with Frangipani petals. Just another day in paradise, and not an evil spirit in sight.

Maede, below with Jan, picked us up at the airport, and then drove us around all day yesterday to see the sights, and will drive us to Padang Bai, our next stop, tomorrow.  He's going to bring his fiance by later this afternoon to introduce her to us.  His first wife died before they had children... it's very important to a Balinese man to have children.

The roads here are very narrow and there are no traffic signs... they are shared with countless motor bikes and pedestrians, all somehow moving in concert.  It's not unusual to see a little motor bike carrying a whole family, including infants... or laden with more things than you might be able to fit in a car or small truck.  Truly a concert!  There's no haste or rage, just everyone working together.  And smiling.  Always smiling.

Hey, this cleansing can be fun!

Made and his fiance. In Bali, whether female or male, first and fifth children are named Wayan, and second and sixth children are named Made.

Made thought we should kiss for a photo - oh, alright!

And of course the ubiquitous rice paddies.  Made took us to one of the larger operations in the area.  The terraced design allows rotation of the growth cycles and for water to flow down from one to the next.

We had lunch with Made overlooking the operation

We spent an afternoon in downtown Ubud soaking up the ambiance and visiting a museum.  Which is not to say we didn't see a Starbucks on the corner!

The description of this sculpture pointed out the warrior's roaming hands

The union of lingam and yoni represents the "indivisible two-in-oneness of male and female, the passive space and active time from which all life originates". The lingam and the yoni have been interpreted as the male and female sexual organs since the end of the 19th century by some scholars, while to practising Hindus they stand for the inseparability of the male and female principles and the totality of creation.

A ceremony at one of the palaces

Now off to Padang Bai on the east coast of Bali...