We arrived in Bali late on Thursday night so Bill (the event producer) let us sleep in and did not open the leg until 11AM on Friday. Nice !! This is a par 5 leg of the trip which means we spend longer than normal here (3 1/2 days) and get to see / do more stuff (there were close to 60 scavenge options). So, sorry for the longer blog and more photos, but there is so much beauty here that I felt compelled to keep adding more and more photos. We spent a fair amount of time with Alan and Michael as well as Ben and Jordan here and I have shamelessly stolen photos from all of them for this blog.
The Balinese are very religious and there are gods and goddesses at every turn. Many seem frankly terrifying.
Everywhere you go there are offerings left for the gods. Frankly, I was eyeing the cookies but there is probably terrible karmic jou-jou for eating a God's snack, so I abstained.
It is SUPER hot and humid here (many would say "sweltering") which should explain why we look somewhat wilted much of the time. But the monkeys are totally unaffected and scamper everywhere.
Our very first scavenge in Bali was to visit the elephant park and play with the elephants. Having a professional Mahout in tow (Ben did a Mahout training program in Thailand last month), we felt like we were experts at the whole thing (or at least accompanied by a pro).
When we got to feed them, the greedy ones would literally fill their cheeks with food and still put out their trunks for more.
Great cheeky elephant photo
Sometimes the paparazzi just will not leave you alone....
There is an green to Bali... and yes, I mean color ... that is hard to describe. The volcanic soil creates a uniquely vibrant lushness: like in the rice paddy fields. So beautiful and strangely calming.
We had lunch one day in a rice paddy town... and this was our view from the terrace where we ate. How can you not love your meal with this ambience?
The first afternoon we also went to Tirtha Empul to purify ourselves in the holy waters. Balinese take the whole ritual seriously and not only fully immerse themselves in the water, but also drink three mouthfuls of it directly from the spouts.
We did the more timid scoop-the-holy-water-onto-your-face-and-head purification ceremony.
Next we visited the amazing World Heritage site of Poet's Mountain (Gunung Kawi), a very old Hindu temple site carved straight into the mountain and next to a babbling stream. Before entering, you have to first sprinkle holy water on your head. (They obviously did not realize that I had just purified myself at the last place, but I complied anyway).
This place is a WOW: over a thousand years old and so majestic
The next day we decided to do a bonus scavenge of climbing Mount Batur. Remember, we know nothing about what we are getting ourselves into as we cannot research anything online and we don't have guide books or any reference materials. We just blindly choose things and hope for the best. Two clues that this "hike" was going to be dang hard (which we, of course, ignored): (a) we had to leave the hotel at 1AM to get to the top by dawn and (b) everyone at the bottom of the mountain was young and hearty. It was not until the sun rose (many hours later) and we were safely back down that we realized we had climbed a full-out volcano.
The hike itself was SUPER hard. You climb up an old lava flow so the rocks are jagged and uneven and the incline is STEEP. And you do all of this in the pitch dark with just a flashlight in one hand. Plus - just to guild the lily - it started raining.
When we first arrived, a man offered to sell us rain ponchos for $1.50. A few minutes later - after it started to drizzle - we went to buy four ponchos and he'd raised the price to $3. In protest (stupid protest I might add) we refused to participate in the situational price-gouging ... so we ended up wet and cold for the entire trek. When we first got to the top, it was still dark and we huddled in the hut until dawn.
Needless to say, reaching the top - and seeing the beautiful, although subdued, sunrise - was quite an accomplishment. Worthy of a celebration of warm banana mush sandwiches (which are exactly as gross as they sound) and hot tea.
We literally stood among the clouds
Next up was the hands-down creepiest scavenge. We were told to take a boat across a lake to this secluded cemetery. So off we set...
When we arrived, it was a cemetery with open bodies and skulls - many piled on top of each other
There were even bodies left open to the elements covered only with bamboo sticks
You had to be careful where you walked because there were body parts and bones everywhere
The last morning, we went to Besakih (the mother of all temples). What should have been a 2 hour drive was a 3 1/2 hour drive because the last 10 miles was bumper-to-bumper crawling traffic. Why? This weekend is the largest Hindu ceremony of the year. How cool is that? We got to see tens of thousands of devotees in their splendor (white or colored lace blouses for the women with flowers in their hair and white shirts and colorful sarong skirts for the men with handkerchief hats).
The women bring their offerings for the gods - as well as their family picnic stuff - in elaborately decorated boxes. The Bedazzler machine is clearly making a comeback in Bali.
And yes, I got totally enthralled with the "please buy postcards from me" selling pitch of the little girls and got caught in their snare. My money went to the little one on the right in the too big baseball hat.
We spent the last afternoon learning to cook Indonesian food and then ate our way through three courses of chicken stay (with made-from-scratch peanut sauce) plus mei goreng (ramen noodles with vegetables) and dessert of sweet battered and fried bananas. I had to waddle out of there.
Again, a country where the manliest of men wear skirts (or sarongs) and the Balinese even dress their gods and goddesses. Basically everyone - and everything - in Bali rocks the sarong.
Yes, we spent a lot of time in Bali in skirts
After Melbourne, Rainey and I are in second place all-around... but not much motivated to either try for first or even strongly defend second place. We are having fun doing a more mellow event this year. We are heading next to a quick 5 hours lay-over leg in KL, Malaysia and then on to Abu Dhabi (UAE). I see camels in our future.
The Balinese are very religious and there are gods and goddesses at every turn. Many seem frankly terrifying.
Everywhere you go there are offerings left for the gods. Frankly, I was eyeing the cookies but there is probably terrible karmic jou-jou for eating a God's snack, so I abstained.
It is SUPER hot and humid here (many would say "sweltering") which should explain why we look somewhat wilted much of the time. But the monkeys are totally unaffected and scamper everywhere.
Our very first scavenge in Bali was to visit the elephant park and play with the elephants. Having a professional Mahout in tow (Ben did a Mahout training program in Thailand last month), we felt like we were experts at the whole thing (or at least accompanied by a pro).
When we got to feed them, the greedy ones would literally fill their cheeks with food and still put out their trunks for more.
Great cheeky elephant photo
Sometimes the paparazzi just will not leave you alone....
There is an green to Bali... and yes, I mean color ... that is hard to describe. The volcanic soil creates a uniquely vibrant lushness: like in the rice paddy fields. So beautiful and strangely calming.
We had lunch one day in a rice paddy town... and this was our view from the terrace where we ate. How can you not love your meal with this ambience?
The first afternoon we also went to Tirtha Empul to purify ourselves in the holy waters. Balinese take the whole ritual seriously and not only fully immerse themselves in the water, but also drink three mouthfuls of it directly from the spouts.
We did the more timid scoop-the-holy-water-onto-your-face-and-head purification ceremony.
Next we visited the amazing World Heritage site of Poet's Mountain (Gunung Kawi), a very old Hindu temple site carved straight into the mountain and next to a babbling stream. Before entering, you have to first sprinkle holy water on your head. (They obviously did not realize that I had just purified myself at the last place, but I complied anyway).
This place is a WOW: over a thousand years old and so majestic
The next day we decided to do a bonus scavenge of climbing Mount Batur. Remember, we know nothing about what we are getting ourselves into as we cannot research anything online and we don't have guide books or any reference materials. We just blindly choose things and hope for the best. Two clues that this "hike" was going to be dang hard (which we, of course, ignored): (a) we had to leave the hotel at 1AM to get to the top by dawn and (b) everyone at the bottom of the mountain was young and hearty. It was not until the sun rose (many hours later) and we were safely back down that we realized we had climbed a full-out volcano.
The hike itself was SUPER hard. You climb up an old lava flow so the rocks are jagged and uneven and the incline is STEEP. And you do all of this in the pitch dark with just a flashlight in one hand. Plus - just to guild the lily - it started raining.
When we first arrived, a man offered to sell us rain ponchos for $1.50. A few minutes later - after it started to drizzle - we went to buy four ponchos and he'd raised the price to $3. In protest (stupid protest I might add) we refused to participate in the situational price-gouging ... so we ended up wet and cold for the entire trek. When we first got to the top, it was still dark and we huddled in the hut until dawn.
Needless to say, reaching the top - and seeing the beautiful, although subdued, sunrise - was quite an accomplishment. Worthy of a celebration of warm banana mush sandwiches (which are exactly as gross as they sound) and hot tea.
We literally stood among the clouds
Next up was the hands-down creepiest scavenge. We were told to take a boat across a lake to this secluded cemetery. So off we set...
When we arrived, it was a cemetery with open bodies and skulls - many piled on top of each other
There were even bodies left open to the elements covered only with bamboo sticks
You had to be careful where you walked because there were body parts and bones everywhere
The last morning, we went to Besakih (the mother of all temples). What should have been a 2 hour drive was a 3 1/2 hour drive because the last 10 miles was bumper-to-bumper crawling traffic. Why? This weekend is the largest Hindu ceremony of the year. How cool is that? We got to see tens of thousands of devotees in their splendor (white or colored lace blouses for the women with flowers in their hair and white shirts and colorful sarong skirts for the men with handkerchief hats).
The women bring their offerings for the gods - as well as their family picnic stuff - in elaborately decorated boxes. The Bedazzler machine is clearly making a comeback in Bali.
And yes, I got totally enthralled with the "please buy postcards from me" selling pitch of the little girls and got caught in their snare. My money went to the little one on the right in the too big baseball hat.
We spent the last afternoon learning to cook Indonesian food and then ate our way through three courses of chicken stay (with made-from-scratch peanut sauce) plus mei goreng (ramen noodles with vegetables) and dessert of sweet battered and fried bananas. I had to waddle out of there.
Again, a country where the manliest of men wear skirts (or sarongs) and the Balinese even dress their gods and goddesses. Basically everyone - and everything - in Bali rocks the sarong.
Yes, we spent a lot of time in Bali in skirts
After Melbourne, Rainey and I are in second place all-around... but not much motivated to either try for first or even strongly defend second place. We are having fun doing a more mellow event this year. We are heading next to a quick 5 hours lay-over leg in KL, Malaysia and then on to Abu Dhabi (UAE). I see camels in our future.
2 comments:
Loved the blog and the pictures... want to do that cemetery.. thought we knew every place on the island... congrats on the climb. you are all really really blessed.. keep going and enjoy.
You know I love Bali... so sweet! Thanks for posting and keep on keeping on...
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