Tjampuhan

Tjampuhan is the name of the place I am staying. It means where two rivers meet.
I am absolutely in love with my new place. There’s a lot of quacking and weird animal noises at night, more than your usual Caribbean nights, but at a certain time they stop, the mornings are also a lot more quieter , with no dogs barking and only a few faith roosters. It is so quite here that I woke up at 7am instead of the usual 5am since I have been here. Before,I was up with the roosters.Althought, I did wake up in the middle of the night to a strange noise, someone was moaning than it would stop and people were talking than more moaning and it got louder everytime. For awhile I was thinking, can’t be my neighbors having sex, unless she having sex with other people that are in the room talking while having sex. This went on for almost an hour, you don’t want to listen, but I soon realize my palace must have bamboo walls! They must have been practicing tantric sex because after an hour, came the big moment, which I will spare you the details, but I felt rather uncomfortable and strange. I hope for them, their room has air conditioning, I cannot imagine mad passionate love in this kind of humidity. Unless, you have a spare set of sheets! She must of wake up not only me, but the next 3 villas. Then, it reminded me it was sad my husband was not here with me in such a romantic place. At that point, I had no idea how romantic this place was, until I went to the ceremony this morning which was at the temple down the river.
To more I find out about Balinese, the more I am starting to be in awe. I asked for new sheets because I didn’t like the smells of the ones I had, maybe the room was empty too long, and the musty smells is to overpowering for a nose like me. I also asked them to disconnect the automatic diffuser for artificial aromas. They are so polite, I thought I was polite, can’t even compare to their politeness. 3 men showed up at my room, they removed their shoes at the entrance of the balcony, which is far from my door. I was wondering why 3 mens were at my door. Room service ; special request. I was surprise that men were cleaning the rooms, so I ask the leader if this was custom of Balinese rules. Yes, all the hard work is done by the mens, and I asked again if doing the dishes was the men’s job and he confirmed, it was hard work therefore, it’s the men’s job. The women do the cooking, but the men do the cooking for special ceremonies, because that is hard work. I guess the women jobs is to look after the family and the house. The women clean their house, but housekeeping in a hotel is considered a hard job. The womens are also very busy with making offering baskets. The kept apologizing to me; excuse me man(madam), is the sheet ok now, what would you like everyday done, etc… They even agreed to find me a different table, for my patio. The patio set I have now is very pretty and comfortable, but not for someone sitting long hours typing on a computer.It was too low, and my back was killing me having to bed down to type. With 3 men busling around in my room, I felt I was in the way, so I heard the traditional music and ask if it the ceremony had started. They said yes. As I was leaving the room, one of them said, excuse madam, you must wear sarong to go to the temple. I changed into the bathroom and then he said, I must have a scarf around the waste. I had no clue how, so he help me, than he said, ok now you can go to the Temple. As I made it down the stairs, don’t forget we are on a ravine, I couldn't believed how beautiful and alive this place was. Almost at the bottom, I encounter the most beautiful and romantic place ever. You must see the cave “grotto” on their web site. It is huge, the entire ceiling, walls and columns is carved with flowers, goddess, monkeys, fruits, animals. In, the midst of all this, a beautiful lagoon, that winds through the caves. The most romantic place, I ever seen. I don’t even want to swim in the lagoon, I will look ridiculous alone in there! Below the cave was the Temple. The people are in their ceremonial clothes, they are so beautiful, the woman always wear this beautiful lace blouse, the men have the nicest sarong, and the little sexy headband their wear as a hat (none of these words describe the apparel), the kids with their white shirts are so cute. The offerings are so beautiful. It makes any fruit basket I ever seen look pale. The offering were piled high, baskets and baskets, all over the Temple. Today the basket are probably the biggest they have, similar to a big cake boxe.They do leave money in the baskets, so I left money in mine. I am curious what happens after. I had seen these baskets all over the markets and was wondering what they were for, they have a special shape and always a lid. Those baskets are for offerings only. As, I was entering the Temple, someone stop me, but a man said, it’s ok she has a sarong. Then I walk further down to the river, no one was there at the moment, which was perfect for taking a video and a few pictures. The spa, is along the river, all the way to the bottom of the ravine, but higher by at least 30-40 feet above the river. Each room as its own tub and massage bed over looking at the river. The river cascade's down the rock, covered in a green moss, with spectacular vegetation.The rooms are very private despite the fact everything is open, There is a total of 5 cabins. I must cancel my appointment at Ubud Sari, and experience a massage here. And I taught Ubud Sari was cute, it does not even compare! I didn’t stay for the entire ceremony. Each member of the staff and their respective family gathers to the Temple,the sun was getting very hot, I can’t wait to take some layers off! On the way back I filmed some more of the grounds and discovered a fresh water pool, feed by a spring water. The water goes through a bamboo pipe and falls directly into the pool, 20 feet from above the pool.The pool is all handcraft with stones, and intriquate stone work.The water is so inviting, I go back to work and come back when I can’t take the heat anymore. The water is so refreshing it makes me so happy. I never ever swim in pools, the resort in Republic Dominican had some of the most beautiful pools I ever seen, I didn’t go in any of them, because of the chlorine. Chlorine is really bad for you. It scorches your artery, don’t forget your skin is your biggest organ, when you are in a pool, you are no different than a sponge. There is also a bigger pool and a very pretty one, near the river, also with all kind of stone carving, but it has chlorine. Everything here is so pretty, someone has the job to harvest the hibiscus flowers and decorate the entire grounds with them. In the cave, everywhere there is a hibiscus flower, at the pool, the big sculpture of a frog has a flower in the corner of her mouth, and every nook that could hold a flowers has one! The red of the flowers is stunning in contrast to the black volcanic stone.
Breakfast was amazing, the restaurant is as beautiful as a Temple, you feel you are in a temple. It overlooks at the grounds towards the ravine. The buffet is amazing, the other place had two choice for breakfast, after awhile you get fed up! I had the best breakfast in a long time, the buffet has a lot less than the 7 star resort I just returned from, but everything is more delicious. I tryed something that look like black bean, in fact it was a red rice puddding. If you close your eyes, it is very similar to our dessert, rice pudding. When you look at it, you cannot imagine it taste like that! It looks like refried black beans!
I had to take some time off as my computer needs to recharge so I decided to go and check out the Monkey Forest. I was not to thrill about going there, I seen many monkeys and this is just a forest of it. I take the shuttle that drops me right in front of the entrance, the forest is at the bottom of Monkey forest road, a very busy street with tourists in Ubud. The forest is called Mandala Wisata Wenera Wana. It takes about an hour to walk the entire forest if you don’t take photos. The monkeys are sacred as they guard the Temple and the forest. The temple was built during the mid 14th century. Again, if you wish to enter the temple, one must wear the sarong, if you don’t have one, they will gladly lend you one, in return you can give a small donation. The habitants of this forest are the Balinese Macaques(long tail macaques), dears and birds. I must say, after spending all this time with the monkeys, I am starting to like them or I should say those ones. This species of Monkey is no bigger than 8-10 kilos for the male and 4-8 kilos for the female. Around 300 monkeys live here, belonging to one of the 3 groups. I am only a few meters from the entrance taking pictures of 4 mothers with their tiny cute babies, there is a group of tourist around them, one of the mother try to climb on me, she kept trying and was following me,the guard would tell her to go away. Among all people there, they come to me again! Then I walk further and again one monkey is fascinated by me, he sits in front of me and looks at me and my lens. I am sure my pictures will be outstanding. The group of tourist kept following me and commented, it is strange how I attract the monkeys, and it is strange, because I had removed all jewelry and my tiny purse was close with no food in it, just my money and keys. Back in India and Sri Lanka, the group I was with, also noticed how the monkey and I had some kind of attraction! One even climbed the window of our bus while I was sleeping, I took some amazing photos and used an entire chip! One monkey was trying to grab my fingers with his hand and feet while sitting, I let him do it, even if they suggest not to. Those little monkeys are not as tempered and violet as of those in India. The tourist are prohibited to feed them peanuts. I asked why, too much cholesterol, monkeys get fat. I saw a monkey that was taking some pretty funny pause, he was lethargic, the guard told me he had to much of the wrong food. Probably junk food from tourist. Unfortunately, some tourist don’t listen and feed them with food other than bananas, yam and coconuts. The kind of tree featured in Avatar is in the park, impressive, majestic and massive, I wish I had brought my chip for video, I will have to return and film the park, because it is impossible to captured everything on film and the tree is too big to be captured in a single photo. The tree stand hundreds of feet high, the circumference is approximately 20 feet for the core of the tree, but the tree has all these branches coming from the ground towards the sky, or is it the other way around?Impossible to know just from looking at it. Time to go back,the park closes just before the darkness.Walking back to the pick up point, I must off been offered a cab ride 10 times, everytime I would politely say no thank you,they would say, ok madam thank you and good night. Anywhere else you would get the mean dirty look! While waiting for the shuttle, I noticed all these scooters taking this tiny path behind the welcoming sign. A lot of them carrying on their shoulders a yoga mat bag. I asked and someone said this was the way to a very good yoga class. Many tourist come here for yoga retreats. The yoga place is just adjacent to the monkey forest. I walk back to meet the shuttle and I had a long talk with the driver. On our way back, a procession was walking the streets, going to the Temple,as tonight is the final ceremony for the money and the gold. The traffic control men would let the scooters go by, but no cars. We sat there for around 10 minutes, the driver never got impatient, they are so calm here. He ask questions and I did to. I found out the place I am staying has 3 hotels here in Bali. The upscale one is just up the road from my room. It is called the Royal Tjampuhan. The one I am staying is the low end one!I asked him how can it be nicer than where I am, he said they are all private villas with each a private pool. I asked him if they also had the carved lagoon and he said better! Better, I better check this place out, I didn't have a honeymoon, as we got married a couple months after I opened my business, it was inconceivable to go away for both of us. My husband always wanted to go to Australia, so now, I have to convince him, were going to Australia, and will finish the trip here in Bali. I read in a magazine yesterday, there is a place here that was voted 6th of the top most unique destinations in the world to be married, by the Discovery Channel. You get married on elephants, it is very exotic and the setting is beautiful. A lot of stars have been there, Julia Roberts, Tony Blair, David Beckham, Jean Claude Van Damne, Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield, crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, who is sadly, no longer with us. Check it out; www.elephantsafariparklodge.com. I would say Bali is the most romantic place in the world, Ubud is romantic, and it’s a town, usually towns are just good for museums and shopping. Shopping here is a paradise, I would say dont even bother packing, and if you are liked me, your clothes wont fit you here! Water retention is something I never experienced, not even during pregnancy, I am at least one size up more!Here, you find the best looking clothes, lots of brand name too, for those who live by them, Dolce Gabana, Chanel, Burberry, Billabong, and the list goes on! I go for the beautiful real Balinese cotton, with vibrant color and so light.Everything here is at a fraction of the cost compared to back home. I was wondering why people are buying so many suitcases and carrying them on their scooters, now I now why. For an entire month here, I could never visit all the shops. If, I was to come here for my honeymoon, after Ubud, I would visit the beaches and other parts of Bali.Look for my last blog, as at the end of my trip, I will dedicate an entire blog as to why you should put Bali on your bucket list! I am very tempted to rent a motorcycle, but I need more time, it’s easy for all the European and Autralians here, they are used to drive on the wrong side of the road. This is a paradise for motorcycle and scooters. Entire families ride on them, they fit as many as they can, they don’t wear helmets, very few do! I even saw a family of 4. The little boy was standing between the mother and his sister. If he would off sit, he would off taken too much room, his father was driving. I see tourist doing the same with their kids. Everyone here as nice scooters or cars, you don’t see beat up cars, and stinky dirty vehicle. Everyone takes pride in owning wheels here. My driver as an older Toyota jeep (SUV), the inside is so clean and shiny; you wouldn’t think it is old at all. Quite different from Mexico, or many places in the world,when you know if you hall a cab, your ride will be in a clunky dirty old car. They have no standards for taxi, anyone with a car and a license can be a taxi driver in most places. Here it seems that they dont need rules as they are too pride to let their possesion deterioate. When I return to my room, they had found me a table and chairs. I can now,write outside. Why, would I ever want to leave this place?