(Jim) After breakfast we were sitting there looking at the guide books while the kids were making forts upstairs. It was quiet anyway – that’s all that matters. We had made plans to spend a couple days next week on the white sandy beaches of Nusa Dua thanks to Michael’s good discount at the Westin. We asked Made about the different beaches on Bali. We had been to Lovina in the north before, and there was black sand that we assumed was from the volcanoes. Made told us that the beaches on the west side of Bali were “healing”. He had some problem that doctors around here couldn’t cure. So some local doctors buried him in this special sand up to his neck for an hour three times and he was healed. He said that the best “magic” medicine is now done by the Muslim doctors coming over from Java. Bali is the only Hindu island in the Indonesian archipelago.
We decided to get out today to explore. So we called Ketut to take us to Goa Gajah, an ancient Buddhist & Hindu temple also known as the “elephant cave”. A young guy met us at the entrance and guided us around the place, explaining the significance of each section. There was a fountain at the beginning fed from spring waters that are considered holy to the Buddhists. The guide said the water brings good luck if you wash your face with it. We decided “what could it hurt?!” There were tons of steps down, down to a river where a thousand year old stone temple was in ruin from an earthquake. It is amazing how the old stones in Bali turn green with moss and plants. There were some newer carvings nearby that looked just as ancient with the moss. The inner cave to the temple had little cubbies where monks used to sit for months at a time to meditate. That just reminded me – we saw a saffron robed Thai monk on the plane to Korea, and Charlie said quietly to me “Dad, is that one of those punks?”
Ketut dropped us near the monkey forest after Goa Gajah where we found a place to eat. It was a two story restaurant overlooking the rice fields. Funny that we saw tons of ducks in the rice fields and so many people in the restaurant were eating duck. Sort of like eating seafood at the Shedd Aquarium. There was a tour group from a province in northeastern China filling the room where we sat. They wanted to come up and take pictures with our kids. Charlie is the only one who seems to ham it up on these occasions. He has taken to making the peace sign in pictures the way my friends in Hong Kong do. Afterwards at home Sophie basked in the “movie star” feeling by donning her sunglasses, sun hat, and sarong.
Eliot and I stayed out shopping while Tina took the twins home to nap. I couldn’t convince Eliot to go into the monkey forest – just too freaky for him. But we did have an ice cream bar near the gate and watched some monkeys walking around. Luckily none of the monkeys saw us eating ice cream! We shopped a bit and then were so hot we had to stop for a drink. I forget sometimes the kids can’t walk and walk endlessly with me. At the place we stopped we noticed a huge fruit bat in the tree right by our table. The waiter said it stays there, so I guess it is either a pet or loyal to that garden. I was weirded out seeing that thing flap its wings hanging upside down in the tree. Every day there is some new creature around here!
We shopped a bit more and Eliot commented that he really wanted to buy everything! It all looks like art and this place has a way of making you want to bring it all home. Plus I think he is intrigued by the different stories surrounding some of the statues. We saw quite a few statues of Ganesh (the elephant god) in one shop, many of which showed him holding one of his tusks that was broken off. We had to check Wikipedia when we came home to find out the back story of why he broke his tusk off!
We had an early dinner at home with Ketut making fried noodles. Afterward we walked over to town to see the Kecak Dance (pronounced key-chack). It is an amazing sight with about 100 men dressed in the same style sarong chanting all of the music while the dancers act out the story. The men sit in a circle and sing the “chacka chacka chacka” and more their arms and bodies in a synchronized way. The dance tells the story of Hanoman (the monkey god) having some epic battle. The chanting put Eliot to sleep, but Charlie and Sophie were well napped and enjoyed it all. The dance ended with firewalking – an old man in a trance walked over red hot coconut husks. The scary part for us was that the guy kicked the husks a bit as he walked around, and I was afraid they were going to roll under our seats! Tina envisioned disaster trying to get out of the way with Eliot sleeping on her arm. Luckily it all worked out OK. On the way out Charlie excitedly yelled out “hey nobody died!” cracking up some Canadians behind us. (We will add a video clip soon)
Tuesday – Caught One!
The first signs of the kids’ missing their stuff: Charlie near tears out of the blue “Mommy, I never get to dress up. I never do, I NEVER do. I miss my dress up clothes.” BTW - meant to post this picture the other night. This is us sitting on the steps leading up to Miro's cafe. They put flowers on the steps every night. We had the same picture of Tina 14 years ago!
(Jim) I took a big walk with Charlie, thinking that we might make it all the way over to Sayan Terrace. That is where the Four Seasons Hotel is, overlooking this amazing river gorge with steep rice terraces. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn somewhere and we walked to Singakerta, about 2 miles in the wrong direction. It was still fun, except for my back. Charlie spent quite a bit of the walk up on my shoulders. For a while he was singing jingle bells, which must have been funny for the locals we passed by. We stopped at the home of one painter who had a sign on the side of the house that said “free toilet.” He and his five year old son were in the main room of the house, so Charlie and I talked with him for a while. He asked if we wanted to go fishing some time – there is a small pond nearby. Charlie was excited to try that – so we’ll have to make the trek back out to the house some day.
(Tina) We finally caught one! Eliot spotted a baby gecko and Charlie caught him in a jar. It was so tiny and cute, barely over an inch long! We were nervous to hold it, so we scooped it up on a piece of paper to take pictures. When the gecko tired of our fiddling with it, it turned over and played dead. We thought at first it must have died from fright so we put him on a leaf, and after a couple minutes it darted off. Whew!
We saw people bathing in the river on the way to dinner. This was right off of the main street! Although most homes have showers or mandis (kind of a mini bath that they just scoop water out of to dump on themselves), many Balinese still prefer to bathe in the rivers or waterfalls. I have fond memories of spotting that the first time we were here… Remember, Linda?
Charlie fell asleep at dinner after his big walk earlier, so we reinstituted naps. Of course he woke up enough to play cards a little. The bat swooped us again so we finished up inside. After putting the kids to bed, we heard a big “thunk” on the table and saw a frog there. The next morning Made told us that sometimes frogs jump out of the roof. Add that to the list of creatures in our space. At least he was kind of cute.
The rain hasn’t been as frequent as we thought it would be, so it hasn’t hindered our adventures or swimming much at all. I’m actually thankful for the rain some because Made told us that the termites swarm around the lights when it’s dry season and that we are very lucky to have come now. Sshhh, don’t tell anyone. The books all say this is the wrong time of year to come. Hey, it’s mangosteen season, so that’s good enough for me! My thumb nails are stained brownish red from peeling so many of them opened. Yum.
Oh, have I mentioned that we have a laundry fairy? It’s great! We just put our dirty clothes in a basket outside our room and at some point they get washed and I find them on the drying racks in the sun. Then if I’m not quick about it, I find the laundry neatly folded ready for us to put away. I have my suspicions who the laundry fairy is, but I don’t want to reveal in case he’ll disappear. J That great benefit kind of makes up for the fact that I haven’t had a good hair day since we’ve been here. A ponytail everyday is my only option. Just about all the women here have their pulled up all the time, so I’m not alone.
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