Everything you should know about tea!

How to Make Matcha Tea with Lena the Tea Lady

2011-02-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

There will be ongoing posts for the Tea Ladt - with Fit for Two TV.

Fit for Two - Tea Time with Lena the Tea Lady

2010-12-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

Discover a whole new world of teas, Keemun Panda

2010-05-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been noticing a resurgence of consumers asking for loose leaf in the black teas. Usually, they have just discovered loose leaf is better than tea bags, but do not know any other choice other than English favorites like Orange Pekoe (which is not the name of a tea by the way, it is usually a Ceylon) and English Breakfast. They have not discovered Estate Teas yet. Estate teas, can come from anywhere in the world producing good quality teas. Unfortunately, today, in Ontario , the tea industry is where the wine was 25 years ago. I can remember going into the LCBO and you could not find any good red wines.Today the LCBO has improved greatly since the 80’s. In Canada, only two provinces are truly appreciating fine teas, Quebec and British Columbia. Anything in between, we have a long way to go, in creating a momentum and demand and educating consumers. At the present they are mostly drinking tea for its health benefit’s 90% of the time, unknowingly, they are not getting any health benefit , because they are drinking tea in tea bags. In my next blog I will elaborate on this subject. Today, I would like to talk about a wonderful black tea from China. In China, black tea is often called red tea. It is called red tea due to the color of the infusion. The rest of the world refers to it, as Black tea. Most of the black tea production from China is for export. Of all teas produced in China, Keemun Panda is probably one of the best known. Often compared to Burgundy wines, Keemuns have a complex aromatic cup. The aroma is fruity, with hints of pine, dried plum with a slight flowery note, displaying hints of orchid. Depending on the variety of Keemun, the cup might be more bitter and more smoky. Keemun Panda #1 is simply outstanding and without any bitterness or astringency.
Keemun are also one of the best keeping black teas, retaining their flavor for years if stored properly and will mellow their winey character. I strongly encourage you to go out of your comfort zone, and sip a new tea.Just find a tea shop that sells this tea. A good tea shop should be able to provide you with a sample. This tea, will also, entice you to try other black teas, now that you have discover that teas are like wine, from one terroir to another, from one garden to another, the aromas vary greatly. I also strongly suggest you to inhale the aromas coming from your cup, before tasting, it helps improving your tasting ability. You might not even be able to return to your Orange pekoe after tasting this tea. Orange Pekoe is for us, a grade of tea leaves, it does not refer to a kind of tea.

Why you should go to Bali

2010-04-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well sadly, like any good story, there’s an end! To complete this journey I will give you my comments about Bali and why I hope one day, everyone has the chance in their lifetime to visit what’s known as the cradle of civilization, Magical Bali! I have been doing some research but have not been successful to find the real reason behind its name “ The cradle of civilization” or “morning of the world”, I am sure I will find the answer but it will require more research and time, which I don’t have now. I will also answer some questions, which I was asked throughout my journey by various people I met. From the philosopher in the airplane to the taxi driver in Bali, and to those in the Western world . I will also give you some tips about travelling to Bali, just in case one day, you are blessed by life and have the opportunity to visit Bali. Once I complete my book, I will work on inserting images for each blog and have someone correct my text. I will also include some unique facts about their tradition.
Myself, I sincerely, want to have a house and a business in Bali. I would buy a property in the mountains, where the weather is similar to our summer, with breath taking panorama view. If ever, I don’t have the chance to be a homeowner, at least I want to return with my husband. I want to go when we will not be rush by time and visit Australia, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand as well. If you come all the way to the other side of the globe, you might as well, visit those countries. All, more beautiful than the other.
Travelling tips
ACCOMODATIONSBali is rich in architectural inspirations and craftsmanship that is outstanding. Wood carvings are everywhere, so are stone works. If I didn’t have so many books to carry and luggage to pack each time, I would off change hotels every three days. If you stay 3 nights you always get better rates. There is so many beautiful places to see, all with their own uniqueness. Often, the curbside look, like we call it in North America, is not very inspiring , once inside the grounds you may find yourself entering in a small oasis of wonder and beauty. So, don’t stop yourself from looking at a place just from what you see first. Many places are beautiful and worth visiting, not all of them are found in the books or web sites like Lonely planet. Many restaurants have booklets with ads of accommodations. They are one of the best way to discover these places, as some of them or not near the main roads but well worth the drive. If you are looking for houses to rent, many realtors can help you with this, or find a copy of the local journal, there is usually pages and pages. There is more and more foreigners immigrating to Bali, and they are opening places that are eco-friendly, sustainable and more. I also notice, the price on internet are what they are and what you will pay if you book through internet. But when you are there in person, negotiating a price you can do better. If you go from places to places, you will begin to see, who really offers the best deal. Sometime a good deal is not so good, for a couple dollars more, you could of have towels, waters, soap and shampoo, breakfast, air conditioning, etc… these are details that vary from one place to another. You will need to compare and ask a lot of questions.
You can find accommodations for very cheap. From $10 a night to $600 a night, there is so much to choose from! It is surprising how a $12 a night accommodation can be actually pretty good. Reviews, on web sites, are usually pretty accurate. I would off never chosen a $12 a night place, but the reviews were very good and it was near where I need it to be. The best accommodations are often between $60 to $100 a night, for the average traveler. If you are an executive, with a big budget, the sky is the limit!
In Bali two people with $100 a day budget can live comfortably, all three meals included and often left over for an excursion. Most accommodations include a breakfast and often have an all you can eat breakfast buffet. Those are the best, with plenty of fruits and juices and a omelet bar. I strongly recommend so try some of the Balinese traditional breakfast item, like the black rice pudding, who is so delicious, don’t stop yourself, just for what it looks like, it worth the look.
Bali is not for people out of shape or overweight. Unless, you only visit the beach areas. Bali is built on mountains and cliff, so every place you stay as many stairs. You will rarely find elevators as there is a rule in Bali, no hotel should be higher than the coconut trees. If its three floor high, it is only starirs. If you are grasping for air when you climb stairs in North America you will be worst in Bali with the air being so heavy and humid. If you have a physical condition that impairs you to climb stairs, I would only stay at places that are near the beach. Any other place would be mountainous and hilly. Often accommodations are built on the edge of cliffs.
If you are travelling with kids, strollers are not the best solutions. Most parent travelling with kids in Bali have a baby sac. The sidewalks are design for heavy rains, so they are flat, for only a few feet, followed by a steep slated hollow like a gully.
EATING IN BALIBalinese is not a place where you will have to worry about liking the food or not. The dishes are vibrant, colorful and so delicious. Even the small places in small alleys can be good. Don’t let the price fool you, you can eat a full meal for $7 in a restaurant that is an extension of a family compound and it will be just as good as a restaurant located on busy streets for $15. You can find international food everywhere is Balinese dishes are not suitable for your diet. Many places offer organic food, raw food, Ayurveda drinks, tapas, sushi, you can even find hamburgers and fries. You will not go hungry in Bali. The entire month I was there, I never got sick or even close to it. I miss the food very much; it is so colorful, fresh, healthy, tasty and very well balanced. Often the alcoholic drink cost more than the meal, eating in Bali is pretty cheap. It is a very trendy place, so they are to date with what is hot and what is not. Most restaurants don’t take credit card, make sure you ask first. If they do, you will pay extra for sure. You can eat at any time of the day, and some restaurants are only open for diner.
For breakfast, since most accommodation included breakfast with your room, very few places offer breakfast. But you can find some good breakfast; I actually had one of the best breakfasts in a long time in Bali. You must try one of those Ayurvedic juices, they make a difference in your day, especially in humid climate, little help from herbs and plants, is welcome.
They are very thoughtful; In many places they will great you with a fresh cold towel to refresh you before your meal. It is so humid, you will eat less.
If you have rented a villa or bungalow, you will find all your fresh fruits and vegetables at the market, but for meat and things like dairy, etc… you can find supermarkets with everything you need. You can even find wine and beer in the supermarket. Bing Tang is a well know chain in Bali, with quality and lots of variety. Ubud as also an organic Farmers Market which I strongly recommend, it is not located at the same farmers Market downtown. The organic Farmers Market is where all the foreigners go, it is clean and so nice. Look for a paper to find out their hours of operation.
FOOD ALLERGIES
If you have allergies to fish and peanuts you will have to be extra careful. Balinese dishes are often made with a shrimp paste, and lots of peanuts are used. The shrimp paste is in pretty much everything that has been spiced. If you are only allergic to peanuts, it might be still possible to find restaurants you can eat, but if you are allergic to other nuts, it will be difficult for you. Candle nut is like Macadamia, it is used to make the spice blend that is in every Balinese dish, you wouldn’t know it is there unless you know how it is made. They also used a lot of Cashews.
EXERCICE
High end hotels and resorts, all have well equip gym and trainers. If you are not staying at a resort, there is many good places offering, yoga, meditation, pilates, etc…Yoga and meditation seems to be the most popular in Bali. The local paper and magazine have many ads. The yoga barn in Ubud is an excellent place. Bali is very spiritual, therefore you will find more excercices that are related to the mind the body and the soul. I didn’t see any aerobic classes, but I wouldn’t want to do aerobics in this kind of humidity. If you feel sweating is what works best for you, try the yoga in a very humid and hot room, depending on each studio, the name vary, but they always refer to yoga practice in a hot environment.
EXCURSIONS
Don’t be fooled by the price of excursions. It is very Western common thinking that the more expensive something is, the better service and product you get. In Bali this is not necessarily true. If an excursions cost less than a other, and often with a substantial difference, it does not mean you will get less for your money. Very often a cheaper cost for a certain excursion, just means they have a very good reputation and owned by Balinese. The most expensive excursions are most often owned by foreigners, and you will get less for your money.
Refer to Lonely Planet and references of this sort to read reviews of excursions. Usually people writing the reviews are travelers, they have been around and use those reviews for guidance in many of their decisions. They are 90% of the time accurate. I strongly suggest you do the Eco Bike tour. There is many Bike tour and I had not seen advertisement of the Eco Tour at my hotel, I had to look their number on internet. Lonely planet had also their coordinates. It is in dead the best cycling tour you can take. One of the girl in my group was on her third time, always bringing different people along with her. The guide had no problem recognizing her! If you want to have even better, I strongly suggest you contact Sang Made Merta at; sangmer@yahoo.com, 62-812-3651778. Sang Made has very good English, which is unusual for Balinese. You can easily understand him. He is also very well interconnected with the tourist industry and worked for many years at one of the high end resorts. He is very passionate about his work with tourist and wants to ensure you will have a true Balinese experience and be fully satisfy. He will educate you on anything you wish to know about Bali. He will customize is excursion to your need and wish.

GETTING AROUND
It seems in Bali, everyone with a car can become a taxi driver when they feel like it. In Depensar, the blue cars are officially the taxi drivers with permits, but outside Denpasar there is no longer any bleu cars! So when you find a taxi driver you like, ask for his card and call him every time you need a taxi. They have cell phone there and they use them just as much as us! If your taxi driver does not have a card, because they are being printing (as everyone as the same excuse), most likely your taxi driver is a taxi driver Du Jour! Nevertheless, they are always pleasant, do you need a taxi is the most frequent question ask in Bali! Once a scooter stop beside me, as I was walking, asking me if I need it a taxi, his scooter was already full of stuff everywhere, I should of ask where he had intended to have me sit! As I mention before, they rarely have change, so be prepare otherwise a $2 dollars ride can cost you $5. Taxis are so cheap there, no need to take the local bus. The local bus would be a good option if you are going far and on a very small budget. Otherwise there is a lot of places selling seats in a mini van, more comfortable than the local bus for very little, but you need to be minimum two. If you are travelling alone, the local bus, is your best option or negotiate with a driver a fix price to the destination you wish, often you can get a good price. Depending where you are, but in some areas, all you might be able to find as a reliable driver is one with a scooter! They are very careful usually. I also find the drivers very respectful of their customers, while waiting for you, if they smoke they will not sit in the car and smoke, they will smoke far away from the car so the smoke and smell does not bother you. I had a very reliable driver with a very clean jeep. Dewa would pick me up whenever I need it or anywhere. If I return, he would pick me up at the airport. You can contact Dewa Made Ngurah at isiaty_balitour@yahoo.co.id or cell phone number; 6281-338-583-754 Dewa will gladly help you arranging any transportation you might need, at honest prices.
It is very easy in Bali, to rent a car, jeep, scooter, motorcycle and very cheap. But you must be aware that they drive on the other side, there is rarely any streets name or any indication once you get out of the city. I kept asking everyone, but who do you know where to go, the answer was always, you just know. Crossroads, rarely have any signs of direction to a nearby town or which way this road leads to. Also, there are no traffic rules. There is rarely stop or lights and if North America, the rule might be the one to your right as priority, in Bali the priority for everything seems to be, who honks first! You will need to learn the language of honking and understand it, as it is also a signal to you! You might think, it don’t matter if there is no indication, you can always ask, usually when you go out of the city limits, people rarely speak English, and you might have a hard time finding someone that can give you directions. I have seen maps, and they are not like or maps, there might be a road on the map, but it does not indicate you, you need to take the tiny ally to your right to reach that road, the map just shows the main road. Even by foot, maps are confusing! I wanted to rent a motorcycle so bad, but I didn’t want to jeopardize my health. The shifter for the gears is also on the other side, when you drove all your life knowing your gears are on the left, it quickly involves too much thinking, you need to think about the road, looking for street names, etc… It is very easy for Europeans and Australian but not for us. Also, when you drive a scooter or motorcycle, it is a bit like India, it seems everything is permitted if you drive one. If there a space for you, you go for it, even if there is already 4 motorcycles!

HOT SPRING BATHS
If you intend to try the wonderful spring bath of Bali, here a few words of advice. Do not wear anything, white, beige or yellow. The minerals in the water will stained your swimwear in a reddish or rusty color. Do not go to the spring waters when it is a Balinese holiday or there is a celebration coming. As the water is for them, purification, you might find it very crowded if there is some kind of celebration coming up, that involves purification. Also attend those springs in the morning; they tend to get very crowded after 11:00am. Anyone travelling near a hot spring should experience them, as they are very beneficial for the body. The entry fee are usually very low, anywhere between $3 and $10 dollars. Most places have lockers you can rent to lock your personal belonging. Don’t forget your suntan lotion, you should apply the lotion only to your face.
VISITING TEMPLES
If you wish to enter Temples, you must respect their traditions and wear a sarung, and appropriate top. Some Temples will even lend you one, in exchange of a small donation. There is so many Temples to visit throughout Bali. You should also educate yourself on the fundamentals of Balinese Temple, there is always at least three temple in a town. It is very interesting to learn the facts and belief the Temples have. They are very respectful of us, you should do the same, and even if no one is watching a Temple, do not enter without wearing a sarung. They are everywhere, you can buy one anywhere from $2 to $100 for a pure silk one. The sarung must be worn by the men as well. Photos are allowed and will provide you with many opportunities to take breath taking images of Bali. A woman in her menses should not enter any Temple as well. They would be horrified if they found out you did! This would probably require some special spiritual cleaning of the Temple! So, please respect their traditions. In Ubud there is one that is famous for being guarded by the Monkeys, the Temple itself is not spectacular, but the Monkeys are truly guarding this site. No one forces them to stay there, and they could go anywhere at any time, but they never do. In the sacred Monkey forest, they even have an area that if you enter, the monkeys will not be happy, as they feel it is their private space. There is another famous Temple that is guarded by poisonous water snakes. I didn’t have the chance to visit this one.
MEDICAL ATTENTION AND MEDICATION
If you are taking medication make sure you have everything before you leave. Pharmacies are not a common thing there. You will find herbs and natural medicine shops but rarely a drugstore. Item like toiletry can be found at the supermarket and small corner stores, along with things like headache medication, heart burn, upset stomach and more. If ever you injured yourself there, there is hospitals, from what I gather from other tourist which were injured, you will get a good and reliable service. If you have medical problems and wish to address them naturally, beside the post office in Ubud, there is a medicinal lady that can do treatment, she has also a gift and can tell you what is wrong with you. It is the same lady as the book Eat, Pray and love. You must leave your Westerner mind home if you intend to experience a treatment with her. But it is effective and you see results right away. You also need to be aware that you will most likely be in her shop for hours and if you are prude, this is not the type of treatment for you! If you wish to experience something different, it is worth every penny.

MONEY
Don’t bring travelers check. The banks don’t even want to change your travelers check, if they do you will have to make a few trip and they only allow $200 a day. In the end it will cost you more money than using the ATM. If you use the ATM smartly, it is your best option. Just be aware of the limit of the ATM you are using, some will only give you $50 others might allow $300, the less you use it the less transaction fees you will be charged. Credit cards are only accepted at upscale places and high end hotels. If they do accept credit card, they are not shy to charge you a 3% fee on top of your bill. If you bring US dollars, strangely in North America, no one wants to take your $100 bill, in Bali, the bigger the bill the bigger the rate. You will get less for $20 dollars bills than $50’s and $100 is the best exchange rate of all. If only, I had known! Bali is also pretty safe, it is amazing how you go into these tiny shops to exchange your money, and they have hundreds and hundreds of dollars, day after day, and no one goes in there to rob them. There is no security and often a tiny woman is tending the shop alone. Thieves are not a common thing in Bali, I am not saying they don’t exist, as a thief could be very well, a foreigner, but it is very safe. Safer, than anywhere, I have been. In Bali a $5 bill is actually a large bill for them, they never have change and often when you change money, you will get either lots of $5 or lots of $10, rarely you get denomination that are higher. You will find that you can go a long way in Bali with a $5 dollars bill. It is pretty easy to figure out the money, you just remove a few zeros. $10 is $ 100 000 Rupiah. Make sure you always have plenty of $1 and $2 dollars bills (10 000 & 20 000 rp) on you. A cab ride is often $2 but might cost you $5 if you don’t have change.
80% of the time, the tip is included but it is so minimal, it is recommended you leave them extra. For them .50¿ is a lot and so little for you.
Changing money is not a problem, shops, post their rates on a board on the sidewalk. Always change your money between Monday and Thursday. Never on Friday, Saturday or Sunday as the rates are always lower, you get more for your money when the banks are open. If a Balinese holiday is coming make sure you change your money a few days before.
You will see many banks but only a few banks accept to deal with foreigners. If you did bring travelers checks, you are best to exchange them in the shops. The bank will make you come back two hours later, and often you come back and they will say, sorry the internet or computer was down, so they could not confirm with American Express if your checks are good or not. They also only exchange two hundreds at once. The shops can exchange up to $500-$700 at once. But be aware, sometimes the shops, or the bank will argue you saying, it is not the same exact signature, make sure you are signing exactly the same way, otherwise they will not cash it in.
SPAS
Bali, is the epicenter of pampering! They have a way to take a massage and make it their own, adding their own touch and techniques. Avoid spas that have a Japanese name and fancy fronstore, you will pay astronomic price there. They are owned by Japanese and have almost exclusive Japanese clientele. As they are known to spend the most money to preserve their beauty. You can get the same and better treatment without the extra frills for a fraction of the cost. You can be in a spa for 3-4 hours, being pampered and your bill will be less than $25! While in Bali, try to have at least one massage a week, it is so beneficial for your skin, your health, your moods. A simple shampoo there , can turn into a myriad of talented hands and a short trip to la la land! Don’t miss out on such experience. Balinese woman are truly gifted and are very timid, they will not bombard you with questions while you are trying to relax, they work tirelessly on your body, firm but gentle touch always. I was very impress they actually do pedicure the way I believe they should be done. I used to do Holistic pedicure, and people prefer to sit in a chair, that gives you some kind of massage, which I have always found annoying, because it is not the real sensation of a massage. And they don’t feel like they are having a good pedicure if there feet doesn’t soak in water for 10-15 minutes. In Bali they do it the right way. Have you ever try to sand a piece of wood that is wet? If you try, you will see that sending a wet piece of wood, gives you poor results and you will need to send again. It is the same with our dry, crackled feet! If you wet it before, you can never do a good job, and it actually damages your skin. You never notice that not long after a pedicure, already need more buffing? If you do it on dry skin, the job is well done in no time and you don’t need to do it again, for a long time. In Bali, they do the feet soak at the end, with flowers and real botanical and essential oils. No fancy equipment, just a beautiful bowl, fresh flowers and water! That is a real pedicure! I would hope one day, consumers will get it and accept to have a different kind of pedicure. I would trade that nice comfortable chair for the leg massage they finish the pedicure with. If you are having a pedicure at a place where they truly know the art of pampering, they should apply a hot towel on your feet. In a split second, you feel the difference, it will pump your blood back up, and you will feel so good. Now, when I have a pedicure without the hot towel I never feel it is complete. The Balinese have not yet, caught on to this, but the Thailand spa have, so I assume Bali, will one day have the perfect pedicure.
You must also try their facial, there is nothing better than a real facial and this is rarely available at any spa in North America. A truly beneficial spa, should do facials with botanicals and organic matters. I had a wonderful cucumber and honey facial, my skin was radiant for days and my sunburn redness disappeared. I could talk about their various treatments for pages and pages, you are just gonna have to go and find out for yourself.

SHOPPING
Shop, early in the morning. For Balinese, the good luck of the first buyer is very important. If they didn’t make any sales at the end of the day you might get a deal. The shops owned by foreigners will not bargain any prices or make any deals. Those shops are easy to recognize with their nice glass doors and windows. Very modern looking. The markets and small Balinese shops are the best place to bargain. Of all Bali, Ubud is the shopping paradise and don’t make the mistake of thinking you will get a better deal in the next town your heading off. It will be more expensive and lot less choices. The next time I go to Bali, I won’t bother packing a suitcase. Many people also buy their suitcase there, because they get a fancy brand name for very little. The shops in Ubud have something for everybody, almost. If you are overweight, you will have difficulty finding clothes for yourself. Nothing goes over size large, there! But if you are a small or medium size, your choice are endless. You will find the perfect clothing to wear in climates like Bali. It is so hot there, even a t-shirt is too much! Spaghetti dresses, light skirts, spaghetti camisole are the best to wear. Anything to heavy will stick to you and get soak.
If you want to buy gold, there is an artisan village near Ubud where all the handcraft men, crafted beautiful 21k gold jewelry. You can also buy really good gold in the Ubud market, it might surprise you, as the gold shop might be near the meat or the fruit vendor, but it just as good quality. If you get to know and trust a Balinese, you may want that person to make the purchase, as there is a Balinese price for gold and one for foreigners.
Before heading to Bali, don’t even bother getting a pedicure or a manicure, save your money you can have a pedicure anywhere from $6.00 to $25.00 the average with a leg massage and fancy nail polish is around $14.00 at the most. If you go to a Japanese owned spa, you will pay $25-$45. Japanese owned spa usually have a Japanese name so there are easy to recognize and their design is lot more fancy than your typical Balinese place. So if you don’t mind the décor, you can have a really good pedicure, in a shanty looking place, with a really good massage for $12, or pay for the ambiance and have an ordinary pedicure.
Another thing you should not bother to bring. Leave your make-up artillery home. No one wears make up in Bali, and when you do, you stick out of the crowd! It is so humid and hot, make up on your face will feel uncomfortable, foundation will probably cake on your face and anything else will run. It is so humid, you don’t need moisturizer either. If we are on the subject of leaving things home, I would also add high heels. Most likely you will not wear your high heel once. And if you do, they will be doom for the garbage after one night! Most of the sidewalks and resort are handcraft with little pebbles, making impossible to walk on high heel. In the street, it is like cobble stones. For the space they will take in your suitcase, it’s not worth bringing any, you can buy a pair for really cheap there , if you insist on walking with high heels.
ANSWERING ALL YOUR QUESTIONS
What was to most unique thing you saw? I was very fortunate to see a really rare sight. A Komodo dragon who is in fact a giant lizard! The Komodo dragon made the news upon my return, for the first time ever, a female Komodo gave birth to six eggs without being expose to any males. To date, only a few animals have been recorded to be asexual, the Komodo dragon was not known to be one of them.. You rarely see one because they are very shy and run from humans. I tried to get a picture of it, but it was going to fast into the deep jungle to snap a photo. Komodo dragons are also one of the oldest species on earth going back to prehistoric time. They are truly as big as the say they are. They have a face that is cuter than the rest of their body. They are not very colorful, mostly dark brown.
What is your biggest deception about Bali? They allow merchants to sell Ivory. Elephants are killed every day, simply for their ivory tusk. When you think an elephant takes 20-22 months before giving birth, and is a toddler for another 24 months, it is obvious at this rate if we keep killing them, they will disappear. Balinese are very talented and make beautiful sculptures and carvings with the Ivory, there is no doubt about that, it is a beautiful.
What did you like the most about Bali? That is a tough answer, because I liked so many things I cannot answer with one word. I like the most is their people and their culture. And culture includes food!
What would you change about Bali? I would clean up their beaches. I would campaign for everyone to help, there beach are not always clean and the ocean is worst. There is a lot of beautiful villages on the oceans, and they are dying for tourist. They don’t realized that the way they keep their beach will never attract tourist. For them the beach and the ocean is something different, it is not a leisure place. I asked a lot of questions and observe a great deal while on their beach. I didn’t understand why their beach are so polluted with detritus. I never saw anyone throwing or leaving anything behind. So I couldn’t understand , when I asked, they would say, it is the fault of the older people, they don’t understand plastic does not return to the earth. The elderly spent their entire live living of nature, and returning things to nature, for them, it is unconceivable that something cannot be return to the planet. They know a banana leaf will eventually return to the earth and plastic should do the same. But it still didn’t make sense, until I came home and did some research. The culprit is not really the Balinese. It didn’t make sense to me, people almost everywhere I went I was so impress how the streets and the villages were very clean, compare to Jamaica,India,Republic Dominican, China and places like that. Bali, specially Ubud are the ultimate, cleanest, tropical destinations I ever seen. So, why so much garbage in the ocean? Please google “Citarum River” and see those videos on you tube and more. This is something the entire planet needs to be aware of. I have never seen something so horrible, if we don’t do anything about this, the entire planet will be affected. Costeau’s son, recently, reported they found flip flops in the bottom of the ocean at the north pole. I assure you, no one wears flip flops in the Arctic. The Citarum river is in Indonesia just oust of Java. Java and Indonesia are like a different world compare to Bali. There is a lot of similarity with Bali and Quebec in Canada. It is like a country within a country, but without being a country! Balinese are the only one in Indonesia to speaks that language, although they must learn Indonesia in school, they have a different religion than the rest of Indonesia who is Muslim, they are living very differently than the rest of Indonesia. They respect the nature and life. They believe about balance in life and would never hurt nature as they know it will revenge. Their culture is different, there food is different, everything is different than the rest of Indonesia. So Bali is not responsible for the Citarum River. You can also log on to; www.feww.wordpress.com fire earth is an organization denouncing abuse of the planet. I warn you, those photos are very upsetting, it is unconceivable, humans can think there would be no consequence to such collective behavior. If there is anyone out there, reading my blog, and as a solution, an idea for action, anything, please contact me. We simply cannot leave this up to them, they will keep destroying and polluting important bodies of water. Too bad their religion, does not preach respect nature in all its aspect. They are so fervent of their religion, if this was in the book, they would never act this way. Sadly, the nature might revenge before we can act, with great consequences. And then it will be too late!
Is it safe there? I felt safer there than back home! There is only one jail, it is in Denpasar, a big urban city with millions of people and immigrants. Because of their culture and respect for life they would never think of doing something that would not be right.
Will you insert photos in your blog? Yes, my intention is to do so. When I have time and money, I wish to have the text edit and I will add some very interesting facts about Balinese life and culture, but for now, I must focus on completing my book.
Why would you want to live there? Because Bali, is about everything I embrace in life. Their culture is beautiful and they believe and live their life with respect to life, nature and humans. They believe that everything in life is about balance. Their priorities are family and friends. I love the food, the availability of fresh produce, the climate, the scenery, the people, the music, the choice of restaurants. They have an open mind. There you don’t have to have a commercial land to open a business, you just need a beautiful setting, a good business project and staff and there you go. Here they don’t grasp that eco tourism, must be considered differently. In North America, you can only open a business that is granted commercial zoning. Who wants to spend the night in an eco tourism business that sits on a commercial road . An eco tourism business or green business, must be in a green environment, with a scenic view or stunning green space. For example, we have a beautiful property in Hockley Valley, with one of those million dollar view, but better!It is sheltered by the forest, it is like an oasis on top of a mountain, with a 360 degree view. The view of the valley is stunning, only from there, you can see only picture, the glacier gliding into the valley, it is very obvious, the valley was created by them. We are actually a lot higher than the Hockley Ski resort. For years I have dreamed of opening a spa with finish bath and sauna. One, as since open in Collingwood, but in Hockley it would be such an addition to the region, being only an hour away from Toronto. We could never dream of opening such a zen place, because the authorities of the Niagara escarpment and the town of Mono, can’t think out of the box. They have not think about green commercial zonage yet, eco tourism would be such an asset for Ontario. It would bring so much to the world, people would be more conscientious of their planet.
If you had to describe Bali with one word only, what would that word be? Magical!

Thank you for following this journey with me.

Sadly on my way home, leaving beautiful Bali

2010-04-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

Last day in Benoa. The weather is still beautiful, I just can’t get over the fact, that a month as gone by already. It truly does not feel like it.
I didn’t go to Jimbaran, I didn’ t know why I didn’t really want to go eat live lobster, I had many reasons but didn’t exactly know why. Here everybody as a friend that owns a restaurant on the beach at Jimbaran, and offers to pick you upand drive you back for free! This did not raise any questions in my mind, because I saw Mc Delivery here, pick up is not good enough, here McDonald will deliver your fast food . First I thoughtI just didn't want to go anywhere I need it to drive too, I wanted to stay in this area, I don’t have time to go there and there. Also, I felt guilty having a mouthwatering crustacean without my husband who loves crab. It didn’t feel right with me and I would not of enjoyed my diner alone with a big lobster. And the third reason is, do I really want to go somewhere they will screw up my lobster. Every time I have ask for cold shrimp in my salad, they yes it is possible, but the shrimps are always arrive hot. Here a shrimp cocktail is hot, never cold. So I know they would off serve me my lobster hot, and only like seafood cold. When its cold it brings the sweetness and flavor out lot more than hot. But if it's luke warm I will not enjoy my meal.
On the way to the airport even the taxi driver ask me if I been to Jimbaran I said no, he made it sound like I miss something extraordinary. I ask him to stop at the big nice monument in town so I can take one last photo and ask him what the monument was about, and he said, for the bomming victims. I knew one had been in Kuta, I didn’t know where was the second one. Jimbaran is where the last bomb hit. Now, I know why everyone want you to go there. I guess many tourist stay away from that area, and all the Balinese are connected together to bring tourist there. It is known to be the place for live seafood, caught right there in the ocean in the morning. Did I mention that the thought of eating a lobster in water that if full of garbage didn’t appeal to me either? If the only two beaches I seen were dirty, most likely the rest are too. I was explained what is happening in Bali, since the beginning of time, the habitants of Bali found their food in the nature and cultivated some of their food. Then, they throw everything back to the nature. If they eat in a banana leaf plate, the leaf is thrown back to the nature. If they cook food in a piece of bamboo, the bamboo goes back to the nature. They live their entire life in symbiosis with the nature. The last generation now, has been throwing back all plastic to the nature, because all they know, is that you can make anything from the nature and the nature will decompose it. They cannot comprehend plastic is not decomposable, how can something found in this planet not decompose. It is hard to educate those people living in remote area, or very pool. I was told that in school the kids are thought not to throw the plastic away. But the eldest really don’t get it, they either burn the plastic or throw it in the nature. The younger are trying to teach the oldest you can’t throw plastic into the nature or burn it, as it is very toxic. I can understand what is going on, what happen to the Balinese, they got invaded by plastic too, and they didn’t know at the time it wouldn’t decompose or you cannot burn it, they might have had a second though.
They also believe that the water makes everything disappear because it always did for hundreds of years. I saw in Benoa some students that were cleaning the mangrove, which is a good sign. They understand the importance of the mangrove and the younger generation will try to save it, but what is happening in Bali is happening everywhere else, with the poor countries of the world. Now, we have to reverse the damage, and a lot of the damage in poor countries is done unknowingly by its habitants.

I arrive in time at the airport,early enough so I can eat. I am a bit surprise how you find many McDonalds in this area, but it is logical for them to be here. Lots of tourist, it’s a big city, culture goes out the window here too. I was curious to see the menu here, but too much luggage to check it out. If you want to eat here, the restaurants are all outsides in the scorching heat, No food inside the airport, that is a bit strange and I am glad I asked, otherwise I would off been stuck inside the airport with no food to eat but junk. So I ordered take out and went in, in the much cooler environment. I am flying with Air China to Taipan is it is very interesting to observe the Asian's behaviors. I watch them in Ubud as well, as they would go to Ubud in a charter bus to shop for the day. When they were in Ubud, you couldn’t walk on the sidewalk of Monkey Forest Road. They were so numerous. They must be the champion of shopping, not just their women but the men’s as well. I think brands do well because of their fierce appétite for brand names. They love brand name, the more expensive, the more popular the brand is!One thing boggles me, they seem to be champion at shopping, but I would like to know where they get their sense of fashion. It is absolutely indescribable. They will wear a Coach purse, with some backpack that looks like it belongs to a two year old, some ugly designer skirt that looks like it comes from Value Village, a top that is far from matching anything they are wearing, with a bright neon oversized pair of crock's! They own every gadget on the planet, as you watch them wait, they are all busy pushing some bottoms, no one talks to each other, they have a conversation with a piece of metal and plasticl As I Iook around, they all have an ipod in a pocket, a camera around the neck and either standing or walking while texting. For them, going to Indonesia to shop, is like going to heaven, they get lot more for their money as their currency is very strong (Japanese). Many just fly over for a week end, it is still cheaper than shopping back home. They are also, starting to invest in Bali. In a newspaper I saw a statistique of the increase of foreigners residents in Bali. Japan was first in the progression of foreigners moving to Bali with an increase of 41% compare to last year. The official number of Japanese immigrants, was 1797 in 2009. They are now, side by side with the Australian who have been immigrating for years to Bali. If you are curious Canada is in 11th place with only 210 immigrants. I sure hope to be in the new statistic one day.
The return, is a long flight but shorter than when I came in. From Denpasar, we have a four hour flight to Taipei. In Taipei some two and half hour wait for the next flight. There I spent some time looking at their duty free shop, our duty free shops are nothing compare to Taipei!. If you want to see rare and fancy liquor they have it all!. I have no more doubt now, believing, as I heard they spend $1000 on a tiny bottle of iced wine from Canada. They have exclusive cognac, sake, iced wine and so many special edition liqueur. Even special edition from France. I don’t like liquor but it is fun to look at the bottles who are all more exclusive than the other. They are so expensive they are in a glass case that no one can open.Sometime a guard stands beside a particular one. I am glad, I didn’t buy any liquor. Because when you have a transit, you have to go through security again. No liquid is allowed over 10 ml. They don’t care how much it’s worth they take it away, no matter what.
We arrived in Vancouver early enough for me to see the beautiful mountains, covered in snow. Since I have been away for a month, I have no idea how the Olympic went, since when I left they was not a lot of snow for the competitions. There is still a few athletes in the airport, returning home, but they are all in a wheelchair. I still have a few hours to go, so I go to Tim Horton to get a bagel and a coffee. I have not had anything like this in awhile. The coffee was aweful; I forgot how I don’t like Tim Horton’s coffee, I have been drinking real good coffee in the morning, without any bitterness and full of flavor. The coffee in Bali is so good that I barely used milk, when you did used milk, the coffee still remain dark. It was nice to hear Canadian news on the big screen tv in the waiting area, but it made me realized, do we ever go without any murders for a week?. We have so much violence here compare to Bali. The only jail is in Denpasar, as it is a big city, there is sometime trouble there too, but I was told murdering someone is an extremely rare casualty. Crime there is mainly theft and still for a country that is not so rich, theft is not common as we would imagine. Once we boarded the West Jet flight, it really felt like I was truly on my way home. We had West Jet most friendly and funny flight attendant team ever. Specially Wendy who was the Flight attendant in charge, she had a talent and should be a one woman show! After her first announcement, I said out loud, I need some of that coffee you are drinking, everybody laugh and the men next to me said, that is not coffee, but something else! Here is some of her funny instruction or announcement;
On the welcoming announcement she invited anyone with a bad mood to walk of the plane now, as they do not take passengers in a bad mood! She then announce the light will be tame down during the flight as recent studies shows that when reducing lights during flights, it slows the appearance of wrinkles of the flight attendants. Please, be aware that the arm rest can be lifted in case you need to stay tucked in your seat, please use the arm rest, if you don’t wish to be found drewling all over your neighbor in a big profound sleep! For your convenience the head rest, also wraps around your head for better stability. If ever the cabin pressure drop, a mask will drop in front of you, put the mask over your sniffer and kisser…Ok let’s get this Boeing going!...This buckle belt as been around since the 60”s, if you never seen one of those, we have them here…. If you have any question write it on the back of a $50 bill, I promise, will get back to you…The lighting system on the floor as been approved by Martha Stewart…
She was so hilarious, everyone clapped at the end of her last announcement. It was nice to laugh like this, after a long trip and nice to see there is still people with a good sense of humor. And the entire team was happy going with lots of vitality. If she would off worked for Air Canada, they would probably penalized her for inappropriate conduct, during her announcements. I am very happy and so were the other passengers, that West Jet lets her bring some humor into those boring announcement. I hope to find the time, to let West Jet know that we appreciate her sense of humor and the team smile. Someone like this deserves to be notice. She was so funny and talented; I was thinking if I was a producer I would get a hold of her!
And I arrived in Toronto at 6:00 am not a minute before, as we are not allowed to land before 6am, in a beautiful sunny and warm day. We all say good bye to the people we have made conversations with during the numerous flights and it really hits me now, back to the normal life. I will greatly miss Bali. I love travelling and appreciate every culture and country I visit, but this is the first time I encounter a strong sense of belonging there, and wanting to move there. Rather I will ever be able to convince my husband of this is another story! I am sure it would be an easy sell if it wasn’t on the other side of the globe! When you think of it, it is far away, I was only two hours away from Australia. When I arrived home, it felt so weird and different. The morning are so quite, compare to the wonderful birds signing in Bali, it was so strange that I went for a walk in the mountain, still, there is no birds signing,during mid day. I will miss all the birds you hear every day, they kind of fill the background for you. Now, I will have to put on, one of those CD you use when you are at a spa, with the birds and the water in the background, it is so relaxing, it as a soothing therapeutic effect. I know now, as I feel strange without the noise, they are truly calming and soothing.

I would like to express my gratitude to my loving husband, who probably just had the longest month of his life. I am greatful for his fidelity and trust, patience, understanding and love.I would like to thank everyone who followed my journey, I did not feel so lonely with you in my life. I know the blog was full of spelling mistakes, as someone amically commented that the orthography would make a second year English major blush, but this blog is at least authentique! What matters is not the perfection of the English text, what matters is the journey.I hope, you still understood the fundamentals. I wish to thank every one that had a thought or pray for my computer, so it does not let me down due the humid heat it had to endure. My laptop made it home without crashing! If you wonder what made it possible, it is called Quantum physics, you should look it up, I cannot explain this one to you but I can give you something very powerful to do. I did it while in Bali, and good things started to happen, as you witness on my blog. Do this exercice once a month, it takes only 23 minutes of your time, you dont need to understand how it works or what you read, just sit there and go with the flow, see how your life will start to change. It is free, so use it, pass it along to all your friends. It was important for me to introduce you to Quantum physics as I talk about it in my book.Go to;
www.quantumk.co.uk/quantumk_video.htm
Do not hesitate to send me your comments and I do accept donations for my future return to Bali!! Love you all, read my last blog about Bali after Easter, before we return to blog about tea!Donations and comments can be sent to; thetealady@bellnet.ca
And don't forget to have a good laugh today, laughing is what keeps us young at heart and happy. A life without laugh is also a life with illness and health issues. Laugh is the best medicine, and one that no one can charge you for it!

Cremation of the Balinese

2010-03-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

For a change I woke up to the birds signing, not the roosters! I slept very well in my new pad. This place is so peaceful and beautiful. What a change from the busy place of Ubud. I spend the day writing at the beach, I know I have AC now, but why would I stay indoors, when I am fortunate enough to be in the tropics. I have the beach all to myself, comfortable chair with a good table and straw roof. The water did return to its normal level, but the beach is still a deception. Again too much garbage washes on the shore. Beside the garbage tons of weed ends u on the beach and the hotel do not sweep it. The water is also full of seaweed. I went for a walk on the beach, I didn’t go too far. Being alone I have no one to apply sunscreen on my back and shoulders. There is a lot of water sports here. And the beach is not a true white sand beach. Everywhere it is advertise as a white sand beach, I can understand why it is white to them with so many black sand beaches, but it is more like a pink golden color. It’s a coarse sand. Some part of the beach are impossible to walk, you sink so deep into the sand, it feels like quick sand, but I never experience quick sand so I am not sure. I am amazed how fast the day went by. Then I lift my eyes from my laptop and the water has recess without me noticing. I go in the room to grab my camera but I had to return to bring it back. Trying to look through the lens I kept loosing balance, and I was wondering what was going on with me, I have been drinking only water since Nyepi. The water had not completely withdraw and the attraction is so strong that you can’t stand still, you feel the ocean pulling you. As I never been to the Bay of Fundy, I have never experienced a tide under my feet. I actually like this phenomena. I can walk on the sand far away, near where the waves are breaking, at least a mile walk. The water is so warm here, it does not shock you, when you enter, no acclimatization is needed it. The water is probably at the same temperature as my body, it is so hot. If you want to cool down, you go take a cold shower! Even far away where the waves are, it is warm. You can’t really stand in the water, waiting for the waves to hit you, you feel being pulled forward. Even bending down to look at sea shells in the water, I kept losing my balance, fortunately I have put the camera away. I was lucky to found some rare sea shell and some red coral. Highly prized and prohibited to take, while its alive. Luckily these are pieces that have been broke off by the ocean. This cute little Balinese boy, no older than four years old, was throwing the star fish back into the water, as some of them get stuck on dry sand when the water recess. I thought this was really neat, even that young, they respect nature. His mother didn’t seem to worry he was so far away alone in the water. The sun was coming down and I know what they mean by there is no sunset; you see the sun coming down only to a certain point, as the sunset is on the other side. I had to hurry back, I didn’t notice the sun going down and its coming down fast. Going out for diner it easy here, I just cross the street and you have many choices to pick from.
As promise, I will explain the cremation of Balinese, their last journey. They believe they only finished a cycle of life and will come back for another cycle. They believe, the human body is made of the five elements; earth, fire, air, water, and light. Cremation, allows the spirit of the decease to leave and to be removed from his now useless envelope.
Cremation here is a lavish affair. Impressive and spectacular, with an astronomical bill, only high rank people, like Brahma priests, master of rites and descendants of the Royal Family, who is no longer in power but highly respected by the Balinese, are entitled to individual cremation. For other Balinese the ceremony is collective. If someone dies they are buried into the cemetery and will be dug up for the collective cremation usually every three or 5 years at the maximum. A collective cremation, consist of people from the same village. The date of the ceremony is decided by the priest, for a favorable day accordingly to their calendar. Before the body is buried, a piece of metal is inserted in their mouth to ensure they will have solid and good teeth in their future life. They cover the eyes with mirrors for future bright eyes and the eyebrows with a leaf of intaran to be attractive in their future. Maybe that is the secret to why all Balinese look good, either it’s a women or men, they have a beauty that is hard to describe. Before the cremation, three weeks prior to the ceremony, all men of the village must dedicate two hours of their time on a daily basis to help with the preparation. The sarcophagus and the tower must be built. The sarcophagus have different shapes, according to their clans; bull, lion or fish. The sarcophagus will hold the decease and will be set on fire. If the body has not been buried, the body is placed in the tower. If it has already been buried they place a portrait or a photo of the decease on top of the tower and collect their remains at the graveyard. On the day set by the priest, the entire village dressed in ceremonial outfits, and walk to the ceremony. Women walk ahead, carrying their offerings on their heads followed by the empty sarcophagus, carried by men, and then the tower. The orchestra closes the procession playing and singing. Once there, if the cremation is collective all the towers and sarcophagus are placed next to each other. Each family unearths the remains of the body, wraps them in a white cloth and puts them down on a bamboo base until a drum gives the signal. At the signal the bodies are placed inside the sarcophagus along with offering and portraits of the dead sprinkle with holy water. A metal container is at the bottom, in order to collect the ashes. After they have collected the ashes, on the same day, they must carried and spread the ashes to the sea of to a river that ends up in the sea. As they believe water is the beginning to every life.
Twelve or Forty-two days after the cremation, depending of the region, a ceremony called Nyekhas is organized. During this ceremony they place a portrait of the decease in a new tower then burn it too. This way, their spirit, finally freed from their body, will take its place in the family temple, among the ancestors.
Cremation are like a playful riot, it is believed a show of grief disturbs the spirit of the deceased and prevents it from leaving the body. Arak, the national drink (palm liquor) flows freely at these events, fueling the bearers who must twist the funeral tower at each crossroads in order to shake of any recalcitrant demons. The tower and the sarcophagus is on the same bamboo structure they put the OGOH-OGOH on, like a grid, with a man in each square of the grid. The tower is also called a pyre, the higher the rank the higher the tower is. Strange as it seems it is in their cremation ceremony that Balinese have their greatest fun!
The cremation I witness was a beautiful bull. Balinese are very talented artist. Everything they touch is beautiful. They are master at intricate decorations.

Benoa and the beach

2010-03-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

I was a bit nervous going all that way without reservations, none of the hotels I e-mailed reply, and phone calls is not as easy as back home. Off course you can make calls from your room but its $3 a minute each call. Rather you make a 20 second call or 1 minute, it’s $3. It can add up pretty fast if you call a few hotels. When we arrived in Sanur, I don’t really like it, it is still too close to Kuta, extremely busy and noisy. Dewa tells me that he used to work in Nusa Dua and he could make a phone call to the hotel he used to work. So I told him that I was debating going there too, but on the map it seems far from the airport. Since it’s at the very tip of the island, the most southern part of Bali. He said, no it is much closer to the airport. He also mentioned Benoa. Benoa is the place the lovely couple from Nice had suggested I go there, she had given me the page from her book with photos, but the hotel never replyed to my request. They had spoked highly of Benoa saying it was very quiet and if that’s what I was looking for, I should go. After finding out that the hotel in Nusa Dua was over $100 a night, no breakfast included I said to Dewa, let’s go, I don’t even want to go visits the hotels on my list. They were beautiful hotels, but I can tell Sanur is not for me! As soon as we enter Benoa without knowing we are here, I said to my driver. I like it here, what’s the name? Benoa. All right this is where I am staying. It is close to the airport, we drove by, and the beach is beautiful just from seeing it from the road. We passed a name I recognized, having looked at everything about Bali, I know the name of the two most exclusive hotels in Bali, and rank among the first 10 in the world. If they are located in this area, it means it’s a good place. We stop at a hotel, Dewa says it’s a nice place and ask me if I want to look, of course we kept driving by the five stars, I know I can’t afford them! The place he suggested does not look like much from the parking. They shows me a room that I immediately loved! I don’t need to see any other place this is perfect. I can see the beach from my balcony, it is very private, and each room is a small bungalow, all sitting in an impeccable manicure garden. My balcony is very private surrounding by stunning bird of the paradise! Beautiful pool and the beach a few steps away. The room is also perfect for working; It is the best chair I‘ve had so far! A nice bathroom with a clean comfortable tub, mini bar, air conditioning and a TV! No insects, the place is very clean compare to Ubud and no insects crawling around. The room smells good. A smell not enhance by fragrance. This will be strange to have a tv, I have not miss it, at all, but I feel like I have been cut off from the rest of the world. People are talking Obama and I have no clue what is going on, he is supposed to arrive in Denpasar the day before I leave, but apparently he cancel but no one knows why. Someone else told me the Macchu Pichu has been closed for over a month. Last time this happened to me, Pavoretti had died and I only found out 3 months after. I was in shock I never heard about it, but I was away for a month without tv again.
And today again, I thought I wouldn’t have anything exciting to talk about, but the island of gods, always blesses me with something! I was fortunate enough to see a rare event happening, and one that is even more symbolic than Nyepi. I had heard so many things about their cremation, the equivalent for the Western world is Funeral. Last year in Ubud, some tourists were very fortunate to see the cremation of a member of the Royal family and that is even more grandiose. A heafty bill of billions of rupies, I was told. To transport the tower into the street, 500 mens were needed it. And I will explain furthermore, on the next blog, but the tower is not the only element transported. So, as we are leaving Ubud, we need to take a street that leads to the main road to Kuta area. The street is closed, so we have to find another street, to complicate matters, many of the streets here are one way. I see a beautiful procession and Dewa says, Cremation. Are you serious? Yes, cremation, you want to see? What a question. I get off the car and ran to the next street, it was quite far away, I arrive soak and wet, but I am not the only one, many tourist ran in order to get a few shots and to witness one of the happiness moment of Balinese life. They party even more than the day before Nyepi. As I mention on my blog, I did not see anyone with a drink on that day, and it was pretty low key compare to our New Years eye. A cremation is the only time, everyone drinks and they must have a good time. Nobody must cry. I can see even the women’s must off had a drink as well, they are smiling so much, I should say laughing, not smiling! I had already known the basic of this ceremony, but it is so unique, to actually see it happen, it really gives you a complete understanding of the whole concept. As much as there is flower s everywhere in this country, in every step of restaurants, offerings, statues, there is no flowers for the cremation. The whole thing looks to the eyes of a Westerner like a parade. If you didn’t know you might think it is a celebration of some kind, you would certainly not think it’s a funeral. First of all there is no casket. At the beginning of the procession a few men carry some kind of decoration, much further; a few mens are carrying something that looks like a pedestal, all decorated with gold material and beautiful details, that only Balinese know how to do. Than much further, a man that gives the signal to either stop or move ahead. They alternate, walking to running than to a complete stop. I supposed the rhytm is to allow the carriers to catch up their breath. The next podium is a huge bull, carried by about 20-30 men. The bull is bigger than the one standing on Wall Street in New York. A man on each side of the bull is standing. Further down 30-40 man carry the tower, followed by the bells, the musicians and the guess and curious!
Once settle in Benoa, I went across the street to have lunch it is pass 4pm my breakfast is pretty far. I noticed right away, a gentle breeze is felt! Ah! Some fresh air, less humidity, still very hot but less heavy on the chest! I have a really nice green Papaya soup. I want a light lunch I am dying to swim in the ocean.
And I go put the gear on, hunt for a beach towel and off to the beach! Both my arm drop when I go to the beach. This was a shock, A very old German guy standing by the beach saw my reaction and had a good laugh, he said” arrtomorrow you srwim” . Buy the way this hotel is all retired Germans, and they are nice with me, they all say hi to me in German, all I can say is sorry ni speaking German, I am sure by the end of the three days, I will know how to say hi, it just sound like the noise your about to make when you spit, reahrrr! The old man said tomorrow you swim, it took my little while to understood what he said! It is a good thing I didn’t go see the beach when I visited the room, because I would off said, not here. The beach was gone, at first I was devastated, but when the German guy showed me with his hands I understood that it is the low tide at the moment. So I went back grab my camera and went into this amazing natural phenomena, for exploration. First it was like crossing a marsh, with small soft grass, than it looked like sand dunes, than enough water to puddle. For about 40 minutes you walk and the water is to your ankle, than it the deep ocean with a wave breaker. It was amazing opportunity to see things and capture them on film, sea lettuce, hundreds of star fish, probably four different species of starfish, and I have never encountered any of them before. I saw a few rare things I don’t even know their name. It was fascinating, the water was so warm I had to sit in it and let my legs relax, I would off miss all that if I would off seen the beach, because my first thought would off been, there is no beach here. Apparently the beach is a faitful one and will be back tomorrow morning. Haven seen its bottom, I know it is clean.
The place where I am staying is so beautiful, so private, it almost feels like I am home. I wish my husband was here to see this, to see this beauty and this atmosphere. Three more days...

2010-03-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today is my very last day in Ubud and still so much to see!I am sad I didn't get to visit the artisanal villages Sang Made wanted to show me,specially the gold and silver craftsmith. He had also found me a cock fight that I could attend, I am really sad I will miss that. It is another part of their traditions I wish had the chance to witness.Not enough time. There is still a few restaurants I wanted to try, notably I just find out, just up the road from where I am staying, there’s a good restaurant with a view on the paddy fields, who serves all organic food. I could off gone tonight but I had to pack and write, instead I went up the road, to buy my last can of cat food for my poor Bamboo, who was faithfully waiting for my return from Lovina, not far from my room. I now, have to leave him for good. I hope the gods will take care of him. I think the staff as gotten used to him and they will probably keep him. One admitted to me, that he had given it sausage while I was gone. At the small restaurant, I didn’t ask how much, just if they had take out. She said yes, I told her the three choices I wanted. Snake beans, corn fritters and vegetable noodles. She wrapped everything in a brown wax paper and stapled it, that is my take out container! You eat in it as well it is fully biodegradable. Very little packaging and no pollution, also a lot less cost for the operator of a food business. I had to make her repeat when she told me how much; the cost for my meal was $1! And it was very good. Sadly I discovered here, that MSG is also everywhere and I sure would like to find out how this was introduce to them, because I know every family cooks with it. When we went to the market with my cooking class, we bought our ingredient at a stand, while she is explaining me a few things, people come by and buy this bag with white crystals, I know salt enough to know this wasn’t salt so I ask her, what was that white bag every- one was buying. She said MSG . I was shock, MSG who ever thought them to use that in their great food! Probably some government brainwash about preservative, since they only cook once a day. Also here, a few things are subsidize if you live by the rules set by the government For instance the rice. The government is the one asking them to use chemicals for faster and more frequent crops. If they don’t used the chemicals, there is a catch 22, just like they first subsidized the seeds for rice. Instead of keeping some rice to replant, an incentive program was in place that they buy the seeds. Farmers didn’t know that humans could manipulated seeds, the seeds they were buying were GMO (genetically modified) if you use the seeds from that crop it does not grow again, it is design for a single crop, so farmers keeps buying seeds. The seed company ,were also allowed to patent the seeds since it is not found in the nature this way. Many farmers didn’t keep seeds from previous crops when the GMO’s arrived, so now, they all have to buy seeds for their rice. And yesterday I was told people don’t bath so much in the rivers because it gives them itchy skin, for the first time ever, they are starting to have diabetes, which here they call the rich disease. All, from commercial food ,entering the doors of Bali. Funny enough I found a MSG free diner tonight, and yesterday, I had completed my chapter “Be aware” and MSG was a big part of it.
In town in did my few last errands, buying some ingredients for Balinese dishes, a few good books that I know I will not be able to find in Canada, otherwise I would wait, books can add to luggage weight pretty quickly. Mailed my last post card and this was an interesting stop. I ask the young girl for 2 stamps for Canada, than I ask her if she could show me more stamps. She didn’t understand, so I pointed to her book and ask her to see the stamps. First page are the ones she just gave me, no, no next page please, yes give me one of those. Then she says, but not the same price, it’s ok I said, she gives me the stamp but takes back one stamp from before, I said no this one is not for Canada. She looks at me, and I say,for collection ,not to mail. I ask her more stamp and she ask again for where, I said, next page please. I ask for that stamp and I said how much, she gave me my total, on the last stamp she gave me one of those looks like I was a lunatic or crazy person, you want stamp but not too mail? Collection means nothing to her, she does not know that as Westerners we have money to waste on things that we will never use, or even worst spend money on a collectable item with great expense, which would feed them for a whole year! I knew there was more stamps in the book, but my husband will have to be happy just with these two stamps for his collection. I was near causing a riot there, as every one behind started to talk and look over the counter and wondering who’is the cocoo buying stamps that will never be mailed.
I went to watch a movie at the Rendez vous doux café, own by French people, it is a café library style. You can buy all kinds of used book and they have a giant screen. Everyday there is a screening of “ Bali 1930”, filmed by the anthropologist Miguel Covarrubias. Although, black and white and silent, it is a magnificent film. Back in the 30’ the women were bare breast, the young girls too. The film shows that very little has changed since. Their food was prepared the same way, the men wore the same cute scarf around their heads, and the dances were very similar. The Temples were exactly as you see them today. You can also see the Temple of Uluwatu, which is a very popular tourist `attraction; the Temple sits on a tiny island, mainly rock, in the ocean, apparently guarded by poisonous snakes. I am not sure if there is many left, just by looking at all the purses and boots you can buy here! Most of the beautiful “post card rice paddies you see, are already in the film. This means they have been standing there for at least this long, back in the 30’s this was no easy task to build the terraces. At some point in the film the women are wearing a sarung around their breast. When I return, the porter knew I went there, because I couldn’t find the place before and he told me where it was. I asked him, he said it was around 1940 that the Balinese women started to cover their breasts. The screening is free, and well worth it.
I had a French onion soup, I wasn’t expecting too much of an onion soup in Bali, but the broth was from a French cook for sure. The cheese was very different , it didn’t sit on a crouton and was not “gratine” but some melted cheese was in the bouillon, I could not recognize the taste of that cheese. But the soup was good. There is a lot of French restaurants here, as many French people live here. They are called the “expats”. They have been here for a long time and are part of the foundation that made Bali such a good tourism destination. Balinese admit they only know how to farm, business is not part of their skills. Bali is what it is today because foreigners help in a big way. Most of the shops here are either own by Asians (mostly Japanese), Australians, French and a few Americans. As I read the French paper this morning, they even have quite the repertoire of school selections for their kids, from kinder garden to Natural and Eco friendly school to High End Private schools. If you want to buy a house in Bali, you can find a long list of professionals that can help with the legal expertise and advises, most of them are French. So I would have no problem!
Did a few last photo shots, while I was down at the spa, I saw the lady that did my massage, she said hi and she remembered me very well and even told me what massage I had, she was wondering why I didn’t come back, I told her I was here to work, and I had such a bad sunburn, massage was out of the question for awhile. I told her she had an amazing memory, as she seen many people since. Today is the day I could off had another massage, but I have no money left, I need to keep what I have left for my accommodation and food. Also, going to the beach is more costly, the rooms are not as cheap as here. I had a change of heart and decided to go to Sanur. Seminyak is too busy and apparently too many single people, for someone that is not looking for company! Also Seminyak being on the west coast has the beautiful sunset, I am going to the East coast which is beautiful sunrise, It just seems to be fitting my life now, to be attracted by the sunrise rather than the sunset. Not to mention, sunsets are far too romantic for someone who greatly misses the love of her life! I will keep Seminyak for when I return with my husband! Sanur is known as the “snooze” place! Meaning; older people. It suits me fine to be in that category. I am glad I was made aware of this, before actually being there. And it is funny, at the same time I realized why I could never stay at the other place I was supposed to stay in Ubud. The room was very nice, it had windows all around it, but it was right next to the pool, I mean, 5 steps and you’re in the water, so ever one would see me all the time sitting on the balcony, thinking I am lonely and probably need company. I even went back twice and couldn’t decide to stay there, I didn’t know why. Now I know why, because every time I went, all I could see were single guys, every time I walked by, as it is on Monkey forest road, I could see only men’s walking out of there. And they all looked lik,e the kind of men’s that have no string attaches, with lots of bugs, if you know what I mean. The ones that never resolves any issues they had in life and always blames the others. I am glad now, I have the answer, my instinct knew and I followed, but I didn’t know the logic behind. Now I feel much better, I was truly feeling guilty for not staying there, because it was really nice for the price, I could off save lots of money but I rather have paid more and be left alone, with no one feeling I might be lonely! Every one guarantees me that I will have sea breeze in Sanur. I can’t wait to see the golden sand, walk on flat grounds and feel the breeze on my body. It is 11pm here and my thermometer on my clock says 82 degree, that is without the humidity factor!
Again today I witness the power of the nature, somehow there was a dead tiny scorpio on my floor in my room, yes, I was pretty discussed myself. I have no idea who kill it. In the evening the staff always come to your roam and prepare your bed, close the curtains, change the mosquito coil and open the lights. Many one step on it and didn’t know or maybe kill it but left it there. I just know it wasn’t there when I left the room. The tiny aunt that live here, seem to have a highway from the balcony directly to my bathroom and underneath the sink they probably have an access outside the wall and their nest not far behind. One night I had kill three huge aunts, who usually never came in, I had left them on the floor and when I return they were gone, I could tell the staff I not been in my room either and I thought that was strange! Now I know what happen. The aunts were carrying this scorpion, all the way to the bathroom and than I thought, there is no way they can go up the wall, well did they, many time falling right back down, but they manage to carry their heavy load, 500 times bigger than them to their nest. Now, I know what happen to the aunts I had killed.

Eco tour to Mt.Batur

2010-03-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

This morning I was picked up by a small van to go biking. I am the last one being pick up and the mini-van is full. I can feel already I am in a good group. Our guide speaks good English and Dutch. He tells us a few interesting things. We had a good laugh when he talk about his childhood on a farm in Bali, the magic box came before the electricity in 1984. Everybody seems to know what was a magic box, I didn’t, so I asked, turns out no one knew what he meant, since they taught he was talking about the x box! Magic box was tv! Magic, because they still don’t understand how come there is live image there! The first one they had run on batteries. So electricity is a fairly recent modern change for Bali. Sanur,Ubud and Kuta were among the first to have electricity back in the 70”s. He tells us how he up end being a guide and that he is happy and married. We had a good laugh because he talks about how his wife didn’t get along with his mother, so he sent his wife to school, and now she is a teacher and very happy. She does not have to spend so many hours in the compound with her mother in law. Often a compound can have around 40 people living in it. With one kitchen, here they cook once a day only and that’s it's for the entire day. If you only saw how their kitchen are, you would want to cook only once a day. That’s one thing I must say, I could live the way they do, with raising animals, growing all my food, hunting for wood, harvest and all, but I would need a kitchen little more complete with more light and a sink. If they would saw our Western kitchen, they would not believe it, as the kitchens in North America are the center of every home, usually one that cost more than any other room in the house and in second are the fancy bathrooms, another room they would not recognized! In the bus we have a guy that works for KLM and from Holland. He is really funny, he decided to come to Bali last Friday and arrived here just a couple of days ago. A mother and her sister, from Finland visiting her daughter studying in Denpasar, she is learning Indonesian and business. Indonesian is her 7th language! She is a very pretty girl and very nice, we had some good conversation, like me, she eats well, looks for organic only, does Yoga and she told me David Wolf was here a couple of weeks ago! She has been in Bali for over three months, I wouldn’t be surprise she never leaves the island! The two girls in the back are from Sydney Australia, they are really funny to, also they have a different accent from the girl beside me, who is from Perth, every word she says I don’t get right away! But she is a sweetheart, she is here with her parents, they wouldn’t do the bike tour. We had great conversation and I learned a lot about Australians. I didn’t understand why they were so many here, as they have a beautiful country too, full of beautiful beaches for surfing or for sunbathing, plenty of sun and not as humid as it is here. For them it is cheaper to flight here for a holiday, rather than taking a holiday in Australia! She did admit that they have a bad reputation, because the young Australians, party hard, they mistreat the Balinese, they are rowdy and rude. She says not all Australians are like that, is just that those who are like that, all go to Kuta. I was explain that KUTA in Indonesian means K=KOTA(City), U=UNTUK(For), T=TAMU(guest), A=Australia, City of for the guest of Australia! We start our day with as breakfast at the Mountain View restaurant, who is perch on the side of the mountain, overlooking at a spectacular view of Mt Batur, and its crater. Mt Batur last explosion was in 1963, it is still an active volcano, with only faint traces of smoke. At the bottom of the volcano, is lake Batur, the view is spectacular. You can see the black lava, which nothing grows on it, not even moss. It imparts a more dramatic landscape. The breakfast is also very good, we are sitting on the edge of the cliff, with a beautiful view and magnificent sun! On the way here, I also experienced another stunning view, we made a stop to one of the most beautiful rice terrace I ever seen! I saw a lot of beautiful rice terrace, but I was starting to wonder, where were those on the post card?! Today I stand in front of the very one that is featured in many post card. It is stunning, with its shades of green. My photos will not be spectacular, as it was early in the morning and the sun was too bright! I have the camera to do it, but not the skills! I am surprise to find out, we are stopping at the LUWAX coffee place. I had plan to go there another day with Sang Made. I booked the Eco Tour cycling tour, because everyone I met said it was the only one to do, even the lonely planet, but there was no brochure at my hotel, so I had to find their number on internet and just reserve. I didn’t know all we were supposed to do. Before we saw the coffee, we walk through the organic gardens, I had learn a lot from Sang Made, but there is always something new to learn everywhere you go. I saw a tomatillo tree, it looks like a small plum tomato but taste like the Guava and a bit of tomatoes. Tomatillo is great in salsa, but here many people eat it just like that. Than we saw the animals that eats the coffee berries. Than they collect the excrements all over the forest.It looks more like a ferret than a fox. It is a timid animal, apparently it is a smelly one, so it really sounds like a ferret, but here they call it a civet. I am sure it is in the same category.A young lady who separates the male coffee from the female, sits patiently all day at the task. There is a lot less male coffee beans than females. They are highly prized by the coffee next to her is a man sitting beside the kitchen fire, who roast the coffee all day long. Sitting beside a fire all day long in this kind of heat must be very exhausting, he is roasting the coffee, which takes roughly half an hour with constant stirring. The coffee sits in a clay pan that looks like a wok.As for the Luwak coffee, Lukak is the name of the animal. The beans are rinse than wash, sun dried than roasted. I can’t believe it I did it, I ordered a cup of the Luwac coffee. Included in the tour we had a cup of each; Ginseng tea (different kind here, the one you eat the leaves) Ginger Tea, Hot chocolate, Bali coffee, Lemongrass Tea. The Luwax coffe was extra, $3 a cup. It actually comes with a small teapot of coffee. It’s a stronger coffee than the Bali coffee, not bitter at all, very smooth. I didn’t really enjoy my cup, here coffee is served without milk. If you want to have a degustation that is the proper way!The best was the hot chocolate made from the cacao on the farm. Each table was also supplied with rolling paper, pure tobacco and matches. This spice farm also grows organic tobacco, and they want you to try it. I asked my guide to roll a cigarette for me, the paper as no glue so you must hold it. The cigarette as a sweet taste, the paper is made of sugar cane. Very natural, but I only took a couple of puff, just to try it, it does taste much better, if anyone has doubt cigarettes are full of chemicals beside tobacco, have a cigarette of real tobacco. The tobacco does not even look like the loose tobacco sold in Canada. The taste is very different. Natural or not I got an instant headache, and one that kept getting worst, just from a couple of puffs! I haven’t had tobacco in a long time, it will be even longer before I try that again! I shared my coffee with the guide, I can only drink one cup,too much coffee would mean doing many pie stop! it would be a shame to waste such a rare coffee! After, we enter a shop, which at first sight, looked small, it was in fact huge. They sold all kinds of spices, pure essential oils and natural product. I bought organic coconut oil and essential oils that I can get in Canada, great for making perfume. The essential oils are made with rare flowers and one of my preferate is Lotus flower, a rare oil. I also got a few scrubs for my body . This was a really nice stop. I also asked a lot of questions about the oils, they are distilled with steam not alcohol, a sure sign of it's good quality. We hop back into the mini van, at the next stop our bikes await for us. They give us helmets and we all said; is that really mandatory? I probably had the worst mountain bike of all, squeaking everytime I push the pedals, but amazingly for three hours I barely had to pedal. Once my chain came off, right away the van behind us fix it. It is downhill the only time, rarely going up. We stop three time in between. Once to visit a family compound of 40 people, this was not a beautiful compound like Sang Made’s family, but we still learned more details. The life of Balinese is truly unique. I will keep these details for the last blogs. When you see an old person here, no one knows how old they are, as no records were kept! The next stop was at a Temple. I have seen many temples but this one is going under a very special celebration. Once per generation , approx. every fifty year, the Temple must be purified. It is a very costly celebration and the amount of preparations that goes into it is gigantic! I mean, you cannot understand, until you see the temporary shed, built with Bamboo. The shed contains all the offerings they have been handcrafting since December 19th 2009, everyday they are making new offerings, there are rows and rows of them, stacked on shelfs 4 storey high! Today, they were making natural play dough, rolling in it in their hands and shaping the dough into all sorts of offerings. At least 20 women’s have been working at crafting these offerings daily since December. They have another two weeks or so to go. The Balinese think about everything when it comes to spirits. I saw this in every temple but just thought it was a decoration, it is a piece of bamboo, that's stands high and other pieces turn in the wind, making a nice hollow sound, all made from bamboo. The wind turbine, if I may call it that way, is actually a radar for the spirits, so they know how to find the Temple without getting lost! Pretty good. We make one last stop before we eat and we divide the group, at this point we have the choice, those who wish to do the last 45 minutes downhill and those that want to go uphill. I do not want to go uphill, it is too hot and my headache is pounding so bad, I feel like throwing up. So I take the easy ride. The three hours of biking were absolutely easy, beautiful scenery and I wish we could of stop to take pictures of these woods carvers. An entire village is busy every day carving doors, with intricate flowers and animals. The massive doors are carved so beautiful, there is not one inches of wood left uncarved! Than with the doors, the matching overhead. Than the mini van pick us up, gave us some fresh cold towel and water. The guide had everything possible for any illness in his little bag, so he gave me something for headache, I don’t recognize the name but the Australian girl said yes it is like Tylenol. I never take pills but at this point I must try something. In our $36 excursion is also included a really nice lunch. Actually I believe it is the best lunch I have had so far! In a very nice setting, in the middle of the rice fields. I wanted to take a picture of the buffet, again my chip is full. I had ask for vegetarian, and what we had was fantastic. Conversation around the table were great, every one talking to each other. The group that went up hill, arrive last and soaked! It was one of my best days along with the rafting. I am really lucky everytime, I am with a great group, we are a great group. I was looking at the other group from another company eating their lunch, no one was talking to each other. Also, this tour keeps their groups small, 6-8 maximum. The 7 of us, had a great time, we all exchange e-mails and as we drop everyone of, we had a good laugh, as the Dutch guy said, now I can go try my avocado face mask? In the shop at the coffee place, you didn’t hold your shopping basket, someone follows you everywhere with the basket. He had ask the girl what would be good for him and she had suggested avocado facial mask for his beautiful face! We had a great time, I am ready to go nap, my headache still there but I don’t feel as bad, everyone looks like they are heading for a nap, we all agree it is a good thing it is a really easy bike ride, as it is really hard to bike in this kind of heat. I must say the cute little villages we cycled through were fun, kids returning from school, would be so happy to say hi, stand on the side of the road with their hand out, so we can give them a high five! I don’t know how many hands I clap but made a lot of kids happy. For them we were the entertainment of the day! What was touching was, they were so genuinely happy to see us!All the girls in this groups are going to Seminyak, and me too, too funny! I am heading for the white sand beaches, I was promess a sea breeze there. I only have a few days left, as the last days will be hard working days sitting all days, I really need some fresh breeze on my sticky body. It gets so hot, my keypad does not recognise my skin!I wish I had brought a nice!

Silent day in Bali

2010-03-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

Nyepi day is celebrated March 16th 2010. The Balinese calendar has 35 days instead of 30. Nyepi is the day of silence for Hindu followers. Its starts from down on Tuesday, to sunrise on the following day. The entire island is closed down, the airport, the ports and harbor are all closed down as well. No one is allowed on the street or even to turn on the lights for a full 24 hours. No fires are allowed either. Balinese cooked with fires. To enforce these restrictions, Bali traditional police called Pecalang will control the streets. The only exception are hospitals, hotels and public safety facilities. No one is allowed to work except the staff of those institutions. Around 1:00am I heard an airplane taking off, we never hear any planes here, the runaways must have been busy till that time. After that still a few fire crackers and the usual concerto of insects and amphibians! It is funny, I was wondering why the roosters here, are even signing in the middle of the night, and today I read in a book, they get confused by the sounds of frogs and insects and often think it is the morning again!
My big deception was that we weren’t allowed on the streets. I would off love walking in this profound silence. Our hotel even had the doors of the hotel shuts, I didn’t even know we had doors! Our hotel as given us a flashlight for when the authorities shut down the power, but I was told it will be somewhere in the middle of the night, while everyone is asleep. They also organised a nice buffet, usually here everything is a la carte.We must attend between 5 till 6:30pm. The cost is around $18. They didn't abuse of the situation too bad!I don’t know what is going on but the hotel is completely full. I woke up to the phone call of my husband and felt like I was disobeying. I was keeping my voice down. You couldn’t hear a sound coming from the street, it was like we were suspended in time. Only the diner felt different. The restaurant is never full, and I have never seen the hotel fully book, I was wondering how they would seat everyone. Sure enough everyone was seating to whatever chair was available. I was seatted with two gilrs from Switzerland and I felt rude, interrupting their diner as they were eating. So I went to the buffet right away. They spoke a good English and we had some really interesting conversation, and the diner turned out to be pretty good and fun. They have been to different parts of Bali, there is just so much here to see. They spoke highly of Gillie Island, and they stayed on a small island near by, that is usually not visited by tourist. They said they never seen so many crazy people like this in their entire life, apparently they have magic mushroom growing on the island, and everyone is on it! They loved the island and probably had a good time! It sure didn’t sound like Nyepi in the restaurant as matching people with other tables turn out to make everyone having conversations. It was quite loud. Those girls are leaving tomorrow and most of the guest. They couldn’t find a hotel anywhere, so they kept driving till they got to our hotel, many people did the same thing. Starting from one end of the town to the other end, we are at the other end of town, people had to wait last night for the parade to finish before they could cross the town. Can you imagine how peaceful it is, strangely even the birds have quiet down.
The hotel has kept the spa open. I didn’t bother going as I am sure everybody is going to do just that, as there is nothing else to do. I kept working all day in this wonderful silence. You can’t have a better green day, if the airport is shut down, it means thousands of carbon fuel saved. No pollution either as no one is allowed to drive. It is a huge energy saving. The next day is said to be a cleaned and new world, where humans have exhibited their control over themselves and forces of the world. The elderly Balinese usually fast.But fasting is not mandatory, more a personal choice. I tried to fast lunch and couldn’t I was too weak! My hypoglycemia is really starting to bother me, I have to figure out what I am doing differently, I think it is the humidity. It seems like it is also getting hotter and more humid.
I don’t think I will ever get to experience this again, unless I come back to Bali, but I think it is a great idea, we could do the same, without religious belief, simply to show the world Ontario is committed to be green and so are its habitants. And many provinces could follow. We have a green day, but it does not have the impact the silent day here as. Everyone would cry it is not possible, they have made it possible here, and they have more tourist than Toronto could ever dream of, so it is possible. Again, my only disappointment, I would like to feel that silence and walk outside. Next time I will have to be staying somewhere that has a view on the busy streets!

Pengerukan day in Ubud

2010-03-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

I had to leave Lovina at 6:00am, and again I didn’t sleep. The German neighbor is gone, but there is a loud noise waking me up in the middle of the night. Sounds like, some animal is in my room. After making sure I wasn’t dreaming, I got up and look for the culprit. I was somewhere in the outdoor bathroom, couldn’t find anything, so I shut the door, but could still hearing it for the rest of the night. We had to leave early because today is Pengerupukan, and at each and every village intersection, they will be brocades. Because, the entire country of Bali is getting ready to celebrate the New Year.
The driver is the owner of Bayu Mantra, he is not too happy he is driving me back, but he’s the one that offer to taxi me. He even asked me for the money two nights before. I didn’t like that, so I told him I didn’t have money, I was going to change money at diner, when Made picks me up. He said no problem I drive you right now at no charge to the exchange shop. At least, he showed up this morning and the drive back is even more beautiful than coming here. The sun rising between the two mountain peak and the beautiful valley, full of garden, the scenery made up for my speechless driver. I can’t ask him too many questions either, often I would ask, what is the name of this town? and he would mumble something in Balinese without answering me! We are coming the same way I came in, except for the end, we seem to have taken a short cut. I think I drove by the town that Sang Made has been telling me about, where it is where the real artisans are, not the commercial stuff in the shops of Ubud. The kind of place, if you shop there, you’ll need a container to go back home, as everything is so beautifully handcraft with rare wood, paintings that are true with their colors and originality. Most of the art in Ubud is now commercial and the same painting over and over. I saw furniture and hand carve head boards for bed, beautiful doors. If ever, my wish comes true and I have a house in Bali one day, this is where I come to furnish the house. I arrived at Tjampuhan at 8:30am, they have kept me the same room as before, I very happy about this, why change if you are happy with something. So I went for breakfast in town and had my first real scramble eggs with cream, they were fluffy and perfect. With the most amazing bacon I ever tasted. I normally don’t eat bacon, as I have remove bacon from my diet, ages ago, even if I love it. The bacon we have at home is full of nitrate, salt and chemicals. The bacon I am tasting today is so succulent, I can’t recall having bacon this good. You can tell, it is smoked naturally and not overly smokes, barely any fat, and cook to perfection. I had to try the tiny sausage in my plate as well. I have remove sausage from my diet as well.This one has no chunky fat, that gets cut between the teeth, the texture is almost creamy, it almost looks like it is made of chicken but pork would be the logical choice, the taste was quite good and quite different. I could taste the Balinese spices in the sausage as well, I have never had a sausage that taste like ginger, it is actually tasty but I bit too fragrant for the first meal of the day. I feel my stomach might need a clean-up from eating in Lovina and order a Turmeric ginger and lime juice. If you’re not awake that wakes you up better than any coffee. My very first latte is very tasty, but I believe it’s a cappuccino I was served, as there is barely any milk. I did a few things in town and return to my room, still too early but they gave me my room before noon. That was nice they broke the rule of check-in after noon, most places are after 2pm. I wanted a shower so bad and I felt dirty from being in Lovina. Althought, there was a hot water tank on the wall of the bathroom, I don’t think it was working. The shower was so cold, and the shower head was spitting more than pouring, I never ever felt completely clean after my shower. I returned to town after having a good shower and a change of clothes. My hair is a mess, and in a pitiful state, my brush won’t even go through it. The salt water is not good for long thick hair. Back in Lovina I couldn’t rinse my hair because of the shower head, I would off been rinsing for hours before I complete the task. I went back to my usual place (Milano), I knew they had something called cream shampoo. I was just praying they are still open, because tomorrow nothing is open, not even the front door of our hotel. I was so happy they were open, and the woman I had was amazing. She does a good wash of the hair in that sick that is such a pleasure to have your head wash, I can’t believe with all the modern and fancy salons we have back home, no one as this comfortable sink. And the bottom of your feet, as a section you pull out and it makes you feel like you are in a lazy-boy or a bed! She applies the cream, which is mostly only avocados, and essential oils and your hair goes under a blow dryer, that sends out steam, not hot air. Before she applies the cream she does a nice massage of the head and the shoulder. After the steam, she does another massage of the head, neck and up to mid back. She also does both arm and heads. I just wish I was in a bed, I can’t hold my head I am so much relax, specially with only a few hours sleep, I could crash right here and never wake up! The hair dresser comes to trim my bangs. I was so hungry they gave me a nice cup of ginger tea with cookies. Total of my bill $12! After I walk to Clear’s café for a nice lunch I better hurry it is close to 4pm, and most of the shops are already close. I was the last customer in. I also order take out for tonight, I am not sure if anything will be open tonight. After a nice lunch I walk to the cross road of the center and still have a bit of time to kill before the OGOH-OGOH starts. It makes no sense to take the shuttle back, by the time I get there, it will be time to come back. So I sat in a very nice Contemporary lounge and order a long Island Ice Tea. When my drinks arrive I understand why it cost $9. They also brought along a nice healthy snack, which I can not even say it is made with, contains peanuts and herb, but I have no clue what the cracker is made of. A fresh cold towel infused with essential oils, which is quite nice after walking all this way under the scorching sun. The towel is so cold, it is so refreshing. I am very comfortable in the cough and I didn’t know but there is already some action and we have the best seat in the house! I recognized the Australian couple that was at the hotel before I leave and they were very nice, they were happy I offer them to seat in the comfortable cough, instead of the bar stool they were sitting in. We had a good time, they are a really nice couple, I think they have been here 8 or 9 times. This time he insisted to spend New Year here (Nyepi) as he feels he has some demons too and needs to start fresh. We all do, and here it really feels like tomorrow is a day, we truly start fresh and a New Year. My drink is so strong and gigantic, after I had to take an iced cappuccino to keep me grounded, I don’t have much alcohol here,, when you do, you always feel its too strong for your little head! I am mostly on water and lime, and if I find a cucumber I sneak some in my bottle, that’s my fuel for the day. I don’t see many people that have drank too much, is a matter of fact, you see none here, even the tourist are pretty low key. Everybody loves the fruit juices here. All the couples around me had ordered either beer of fresh juice. I didn’t feel like a juice because at Clear café, I drank a raw juice, that I knew I would dislike, but that it could help my stomach that is hurting. This place as a few cool designer elements as well, very Japanese. When you are in the bathroom beside the toilet bowl there is a mini water pool filled with colorful Koi fish, the pool is along four stall that are all line up beside the water. The kitchen is high tech. We had a good time, now it is time to walk and go watch the procession. The OGOH-OGOH are giant monsters, and they have been working on these since I have been here. They cover the structure with tarp and use bamboo as scaffold. The core is made with wire than the wire is covered with something that is like rice paper, it probably is, than the paint it and décor it with as much natural things they have. The hairs are from the coconut trees, etc..They are true artwork. As we drove back this morning, I saw some really awesome one, but I couldn’t ask him to stop so I can take a picture. Each town as a procession of them, the further we were from Ubud the smaller the OGOH-OGOH were, when we were close, I knew just by looking at those monsters. So at Pengerupukan all the villages perform an exorcism at the main road cross, which is considered the meeting place of the demons. A Siwa priest (the one that blesses me), addressing the gods, a Buddha priest, addressing the middle world and a Sengguhu priest propitiating the nether world are all in attendance and at night all the demons of Bali are let loose on the roads in a carnival of fantastic monster, the OGOH-OGOH. The OGOH_OGOH of the demons is as relaxed as Nyepi is serious. It took on its present shape some fifteen years ago, when Nyepi was emerging as display of religious power it has become today. Since there had to be demons the Balinese made them, ever more monstrous to be used once during the OGOH-OGOH procession and burned immediately after. To start the year fresh and without demons. Thus on Nyepi day, the world is cleaned and everything start new, human having exhibited their control over themselves and force of the world.
I had a pretty good spot, but somehow, we end up 8 in a small that could barely contained myself. I had my lunch and purse to carry and my backpack. People were pushing because the sea of people in the streets were pushing too, as the OGOH-OGOH were processing, moving forward, than back than sideways, and I might add, this was no easy task, carry by at least 20 or so men, that needed it to coordinate their movement each one, stuck in a square between the bamboo and lifting the weight of the huge monsters, with sometime 3 or so people on it as well. They was even a small monster made by the 5-6 year old going to the Rainbow school, which is a school for foreigners kids, living in Bali, they were also carrying their monster, help by a few parents, but the kids were also wearing the traditional costume of the Balinese. They were so cute all in white and no higher than my suitcase! I saw Rio Helmi who was there to photograph the procession (the man that signed my book) and I hope he puts together a book of these celebration, the monster are truly beautiful and most of the time, made by the teenagers in each town, it requires a high level of imagination and skills. Many have to make a monster with almost nothing, for Ubud sometimes, they have too much money, has tourist were donating money, and you could have your name on the board. One of my favorite one, was Avatar, sitting in the same hunting position as the movie. This reminds me, that I don’t see James Cameron as a complete genius anymore. I had thought he invented the story, which was around beautiful fundamentals of life and respect of our environment. I can’t take away that James Cameron did a wonderful job bringing the story to life and in the theaters, but he did not create the story. Avatar has been a cartoon in Indonesia and I think Japan as well, for a long time. The cartoon also respects the animals, the life and the trees. Also, the tree of Life, Banyan, who is the tree in the movie, is the same sacred tree Indonesia as. I learn from Sang Made it is called the tree of life because the tree never dies. The main trunk might die one day but the tree is still alive as it as all these branches that keeps growing. If you read the blog who I talk about this tree, which I was unable to be capture in one single photo, due o its size and I wasn’t sure if the branch grew from the top down or down to the top. It is actually from the top down. Once the branches reaches the ground, the branch become another trunk and it keeps getting bigger and bigger.
It was nice to see the enthusiast of the Balinese, and very different to see people having such a good time, and no one is drinking no one as even a bottle in their hands. After a procession of at least a dozen of them, I am so hot in the human sea, my feet are killing me from standing on the edge of my spot, I decided to walk back. I actually did it at right time, made my way to the street and after the roads were clear with no one in site. Just before I left, I almost caught a white dove, as it was release from the belly of one of the devil, this one did not fly away. The light structure in front of me made the bird land on a tourist hands, he kindly look after the entire time. Many foreigner were dress for the occasion just like the Balinese, so were so handsome and some looked ridiculous, I guess it’s a matter of doing well or doing with without taste. One man had nice white shirt and an ok Sarung, but he had socks in his sandals, not ankle socks, half sock! Brown sock on very tall legs, black sandals, taupe and green Sarung that were too short as he is so tall, with the scarf that ties the Sarung yellow, and white shirt! He had some kind of scarf on the head but not the real thing. I think if you will wear the traditional Balinese clothes you must also honor it, and respect every single aspect and dress code. For instance, the Sarung look ridiculous in him, because he was so tall, here Sarung have one size, he should off have his custom made, you are not supposed to see so much legs! Another guy, over did it, I had to take a picture because it was quite something, he reminded me, of a cult guru and a cross between a man and a woman! On the other side, there was this beautiful woman wearing the true Balinese clothes, her husband didn’t but it looked good and matched hers well. I wish I was more of a tabloid reader, I would know how she was, she is definitely a model or maybe an actress. With a true beauty, she did not have make up on, her hair were a Barbie blonde but natural, she had a glow of an happy person with a really nice smile. Rarely you see a woman that shines like that. Many shine artificially, not her. Many Balinese were talking to them, so they are known. I also think I saw Julia Roberts, she look at me and I looked at her, we both walked to fast, I could not take a second look, but I am pretty sure it was her. If I am wrong than its her Susie, but why a Susie would try to hide? And I must say not too many people have her lips. As I walk back in the desert streets, firecrackers are starting to crack all over. I am pretty tired, quite the day, quite the week! When I arrive at the room, they have given us a beautiful plate of fruits, not cheap fruits either, Rambutan, Snake skin fruit, which I know how to open now, since Sang Made show me on the trekking, it easy once you know how, otherwise you need a knife. We also have nice oranges. I am just sad Bamboo is not at my door anymore. I really feel like this is a New Year celebration, must be the atmosphere getting to everyone, I wish I had a demon to burn. They do this because they believe and they are right about this, that we all have demons and goods, that we need a balance of both, they strongly believe about Balance in life. We all have negative thoughts, negative feelings, negative energy etc and the positive balances everything. I think I had my demon in my sleep I threw someone over a cliff, it’s just as good as a demon, it was a pass relationship, that was horrible and long time ago, but I guess it represented a demon! I would like to thank the management of Tjampuhan who did all the hard work to explain Pengerupukan and Nyepi in flawless English.

Dolphin adventure

2010-03-15T06:43:00.001-07:00

Just as I was starting to have a deep sleep, someone knocks on my door, I knew I had to jump right out of bed, otherwise I would never wake up. I barely slept last night.The walls here are definitely all made of bamboo anywhere you stay! I could hear my neighbor, all night he cough, choke,and an aweful lot of sounds . Actually, it sounds like he has lung cancer, maybe that is why he is so miserable, maybe he is spending some quality time in Bali while he can, I don’t know but it sounded pretty bad, and he smokes like a cheminy. The ear plug didn’t do a thing! When the knock came, I was out of my room in 5 minutes, I had prepared everything. But we are waiting for two more people, Malaysian girls on holiday in Bali. One speaks English the other only Basa. I didn’t know but they can communicate with Indonesians because they speak Basa as well, she said it was like my French and the French from France, different but you get to understand each other. Her friend does not speak a word of English. I said to Made, but how are we going 4 people on a bike, no we walk to the beach my boat is just over there, ah! good! And his boat is really a 1 minute walk; he lives right on the beach. His young wife helps him push the boat into the water, it is a pretty big boat to push. It is dark and quiet, no different if its 6pm or 6am still no breeze. I am sure in the middle of the ocean the winds will refresh us. It’s the same type of boat as the Polynesian uses, a narrow and deep boat, with bamboo floaters on both side, keeping the balance of the boat, so if you stand you cannot tip the boat, this is kind of reassuring as I brought my good camera. When I sit on the wood planks my feet don’t even touch the bottom of the boat, it is narrow and deeper than a regular boat. He does have a motor, because the way the boat is made, the motor works almost horizontally, somehow it’s still has propulsion! It is a slow pace but at least we are making some grounds. We witness the sunrise behind the mountains, even at 6 o’clock am, it is not even slightly chilly, I had brought my towel, in case I need it to keep warm. No need here. For roughly 40 minutes we are just going forward, to my deception we are not the only boat going dolphin seeing, there probably another six or seven boats, same type of embarkations, but we are the lightest, as we are only 4. The boats are making circles when they reach a certain point in the ocean, and now the motor is on throttle, we patiently wait. I am not saying a word, instead I am starting to visualize the dolphins and not too long after, they show up.The bottle nose dolphins make their apparition. Two large school of dolphins, in front of them the Tuna jumping like crazy over the water. The dolphins would swim, play and jump than disappear, than our captain would watch for the tuna to jump and direct the boat towards that direction and not long after the dolphins reappeared! More than once, they came so close I wanted to jump in the water, Made said, you can’t swim here to dangerous, sharks. No problem the dolphins will protect me from sharks, no, no, you can’t swim here. I think they just think you can’t swim anywhere you don’t see the bottom! More than once the dolphins came under our boats, I took hundreds of photos, but it is a hard task you always miss the good shots as they are faster than you. One did a big swirl in front of us. We watch for almost an hour an half, at one point I didn’t want to film or take photos anymore, I just wanted to enjoy their presences, when you are shooting you can’t see them as good. I was so happy, I got overwhelm again, and felt tears of joy dropping down my cheeks. What a wonderful moment, a true natural experience with the most beautiful animal on the planet. I don’t say that because they are cute, because they are truly more intelligent than us, they are kind but when they need to attack to protect themselves they do, they are the only one that can kill the sharks if attack by them. The only enemies they have are the humans. I could talk about dolphins for hours as I am very knowledgeable of the subject. This moment was very special, since I know more about them, I refuse to swim with dolphins in a pool, it is a torture for the dolphins, in the nature they only function by radar, the radar they have is meant to bounced back to them to give them signals, except it is meant to be in the ocean, in a pool, the radar bounced back at them like a hammer on their heads, they live with constant pain, not to mention the lack of freedom, they are such playful animals, it’s a shame we do this to them, just in the name of money again. I used to go anywhere to swim with dolphins, but now, I will not encourage such a cruelty. There is a movie that I wish I had the name with me, so you can go and rent it. Because the Japanese are killing thousand of dolphins every year, this documentary had to be film with special equipment because the Japanese, have a police to watch anyone trying to capture this on film and throw them in jail. The killing is really sickening. The sea is red for a few days. The people that film the documentary had tremendous courage and bravery, and I wish everyone would see this video, because more people would want to do something about it, just like me. There is also, another carnage you can see on internet, just” google” slaughter of the dolphins in Danemark on “you tube”, you can see these students that kill every year,l hundreds of dolphins just for fun as an initiation challenge. They kill all the dolphins for no reasons; the video is live and brutal. It makes you wonder how such a thing still exist in 2010, even so, why no one does anything, how come nobody is trying to stop these students from such a terrorist act! Since the Japanese have been exposed, I no longer buy anything from Japan, and I have not eaten in a Japanese restaurant since. Except for a Miso soup at the JFK airport and some California roll which is not sushi. Until they completely stop the carnage, I will keep boycotting.

I feel so bless, and I am so happy I came here to see the dolphins and my wish came through. It was even better than I expected, as they came so close I could have an eye contact, and they did look at us, we are one of the few boats that the dolphins came so close. They were so close I couldn’t get a good shoot, as I had switch my lens for close up from far away. They were so close, the camera could not focus, just a big blur. I had switch lens, since so many people told me you see them from far away, I thought well at least I will get a good shot from far away! I didn’t try to touch them, I didn’t want to scare them away, what would I’ve given for it! They were so playful and so elegant, they seem to be gliding on the water, effortless. I saw one underneath our boat, that had his belly up and looking at us from underneath, I thought that was pretty cool. Their belly is white. I could off stay here and sit for hours, it was so peaceful and a rare, precious moment. As we return, it is so hot, I leave my feet drag in the water, the water is so good here, really warm even in the very deep. We say goodbye to the dolphins, who are also moving on with their journey. Then we are heading to the snorkeling spot, as we approach the area, we can see the fish underneath the boat, lots of them and plenty of colors. The snorkeling was amazing, as I seen things I have never seen anywhere; a fluorescent blue starfish, the true giant shell that hides a pearl inside, and a few fish, I don’t even know their species name! Now I understand why everyone on the beach was selling pearls, they must be real, I better find out! But sadly, they must be exploiting the abundance of the shells, and one day, we might not find pearls anymore in Lovina, as they seem to be no rules either. Made does not know it, but I have return to the sea, everything he had dive and collect to give me. I know he meant well, but I could not kill something just because its pretty and I should take it home. Than I saw something on top of a rock moving, it was curled up like a snake, I went to get Made to ask, he said no,no, no snake here, than he dives down with just a mask and a tube, as I watch, the” snake” retrieves and as it retrieves, it reveals its beauty, it’s the giant sea shell, probably with a pearl in it! The mollusk opens its jaws wide enough for Made to put something in it, the sea shell is not letting go, I dive down to check it out, the sea shell will not let go and will probably turn that piece of coral into another pearl. It is a beautiful shell, never seen one alive, it is hiding very tight between two big coral rock and no one couldn’t touch it without tools and I hope no one touches it. It is tuck away so tight, you would need to seriously damage the shell to get to it. I am glad I didn’t try to touch it and get my finger stuck in there, the shell is tight lock around the piece of coral Made inserted. 5 or 6 kinds of fish follow me, everywhere I go. Sometime, nibbling on my hands, even ,if I have no more bananas left. The coral here is not impressive and almost colorless, but the fish are amazing, many varieties and so many beautiful and colorful varieties, you rarely see so much diversity in one spot. I saw the entire cast of Nemo’s and more. Many fish I have never seen. The girls are too afraid to swim and stay in the water holding on to the bamboo, still from there they can see a lot. Made brings me back a beautiful red shell, as we climb the boat, the girls drop the shell by accident into the water, so Made went down again to look for it, and he did find it. I asked him if it was alive and he said no, this one really look like it wasn’t, it had some green moss and something that looked like rust. He said when it’s alive, there is something living in it, and you can see it. So we put the shell on the bottom of the boat this time. Few minutes later, one of the girl is screaming saying the shell is walking, and it is. Made grabs it, it’s a funny mean looking crab that has the same legs as a black widow spider, in a burgundy color, same color as the shell, also has antenna’s and the cute eyes of a crab, I couldn’t get a photo because my camera was already put away. I sure wish I had an underwater camera, I could off made stunning photos. The water was clear and so warm. I could off stay there hours. Going back the sun is so hot, I use my towel to protect myself, and even in the water I could feel the heat on the back of my white t-shirt. On the way back, I can’t believe the morning I just had, not too often you have sensational days like this. I will keep this moment for the days life is not so kind and I will vision myself here again. A keepsake forever and I hope more people find moments like this in their life, it is so important. And as I am writing these last few lines, I am reminded that not all moments are good, as they just slaughter a pig in the backyard in front of me, writing about these happy moments, I have to stop because I can’t see, but sure can hear his distress, this is not a normal scream, and as I stand still so does the chickens in the garden here, the hog as a slow death and his trying to hang on to dear life so bad. He is suffering, his cries are unbearable. As I stay still, unable to keep writing, I feel something cold on my legs, it’s a small gecko, even the geckos are different here, they climb on you, but I must say there was a mosquito on my leg, that is why he crawl on me. I didn’t get bite once since I arrived in Bali, at the hotel there is always a natural coil burning in a coconut shell, also they had a natural solutions there. Many resort fumigates their grounds, here in Bali, they just make sure each body of waters has tons of fish. One day I asked why so many fish everywhere, and the answer was mosquito management! As for the poor hog that will be a feast for a few families here. At least here they are humanely raised. Pork is the national dish, suckling pig is famous, and everyone here is getting ready for Nyepi day, Nyepi is not the day they eat, is a matter of fact many will fast that day, and will not speak a word, but the biggest celebrations of the year is tomorrow.
Speaking of Nyepi day, for the first day, I will have to skip a day on the blog. I knew we had to keep silent, and a few more things. But we received notice, that at a certain time, the power will be complety shut off, leaving the hotel (back to Ubud) in the dark. Flashlights will be supplied, and no one is allowed on the street. I had hope to walk just to get a feel for this very unique occasion, to experience silence, but they will be an actual Police patrolling everywhere, to make sure no one brakes that rule. Tomorrow I was going to download the blog about my return to Ubud, and the evening of Nyepi, but they will be no electricity, the entire country is shut down. I will give you more details later about Nyepi. It will be very interesting to read. I really feel like I going through a new year, I can’t say again, because I didn’t really have a New Year this year! In the mean time, let’s see if telepathy can work all the way here. I need everyone to pray for me, that my lap top does not let me down, I still have lots of works to do, it’s been giving me a hard time for over a week, often it will not power up. I think the heat is even getting to my computer! All I need is another 10 days, please don’t let me down.

Bayu Mantra and the hot springs

2010-03-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

At Bayu Mantra, breakfast is a snack compare to my palace,back in Ubud!You are allow one cup of coffee, only, here the size of a cup is one of a small cappuccino.Still amazing that for $12 a night breakfast is included. While I waited for the young man taking me to the hot springs, I spoke with a few tourist, and off course the German next to my room, does not even say hello, they are all like that, they only speak to German people. I know he speaks English I heard him talking. But all the other tourist are nice, but they can’t believe I am here only to see the dolphins, well, while I am here, I will see the hot spring, but yes, that is mainly why I made it all this way! They are all worried for me, saying it’s a joke, there is no dolphins here, the only one you are sure to see are the sculptures all over the town. Everyone agreed,and said you only get a glance at dolphins, they are so far away. I am not worry, I had the feeling not to go see the dolphins this morning, as much as I am eager to see them, I have a feeling that I should go see the dolphins tomorrow, not today, that is why I have booked the hot spring and the waterfall. I was a bit shock when the person who is taking me to the excursion showed up in a bike(motorcycle). We are going with a motorcycle? Yes, don’t worry I drive slow, and he hands me a helmet. At least here the helmet is mandatory; in Ubud no one wears one! It’s a good thing I am wearing long shorts otherwise my skin would stick to the leather seat. We get to see the center of Lovina, it didn’t take me long to figure out, my place is quite far from everything, the only thing that is walking distance are the few shops and the rasta place, the rest is at least 3 kilometers away. It is too much, of a long walk, in this kind of weather. What I saw on the beach is even worst on the streets, my nostrils are constantly irritated by putrefaction smells and the river is littered with rubbish, the streets and every empty land. I was so proud to say Bali was a clean country, so I must now adjust my statement to Ubud and its surroundings. I am not surprise the tourist are not rushing here, and at one point there was a lot of potential, 5 stars resorts are along the main road with properties right on the ocean, each one of them, does not have too much activity. Nothing is kept nice, there isn’t one shop inviting enough to go in. Nobody wears the sarung and the cute scarf they roll around their heads. There is no more compounds here, more little house that looks like the ones in India, that is for the nicer one, and the poor ones are like the Haiti shed or mud hut you see everywhere in all third world country. No wondering they are starving, they have pushed away the tourist with the way they do things. I don’t even want to walk here, as everyone will stop to ask me something, do you need a taxi, do you want to by this, do you want to see the hot springs. Anyone here pretends to be a taxi driver, even on a scooter, I don’t think the industry of taxi here, is regulated. You really need to rely on your instinct. I might be sitting on the back of a motorcycle today, but I trust who I am with. There are vineyards all along the shore and on the other side, all the way to the foot of the mountains, so I ask if there is vineyard I can visit, no there is no such a thing. One the side of the roads I see the grapes for sale, they look so good. This is where the Balinese wine comes from! It is a light wine, dry with some blackcurrantscurrants under tone. The perfect wine for a humid climate.
On the way to the hot springs, I ask if we can stop at a market to buy bananas, I am already hungry. I am lucky there is one on the way.I changed my mind once we arrived. The smell was so bad, I had to ask him to go in and buy me some bananas, all I got was two tiny and hard bananas, because no one had change, all I had was .20 cents and that what you get for twenty cents. The road that leads to the hot springs, is either an ally lined up with makeshift warungs (shops) or it is a tiny village with a very narrow road, not sure which one, my guide does not speak good English like Sang Made, so I can’t overwhelm him with too many questions! But the shops are pitiful and the smell of musty clothes is really bad, I would buy a sarung for a dollar as it would stink up my luggage. And one dollar is the advertise price! The hot spring is nice and well done, first nice thing I’ve seen so far. It is old, you can tell. There is three pool, the water is coming out from the mouth of a series of lions sculpture align on the back wall of each pool. The first pool is narrow, more like a lap pool, and shallow, it is the hottest of all three. I was expecting a stronger sulfurous smell, it is actually not bad, and it is a real hot springs there is so much minerals in the water you can see them and the white trim of my bikini is now copper brown! The second pool is the biggest and with up to 2 meters deep, you can really swim in this one. Which I like better, since all three pools have a slimy floor, due to its high minerals contents in a constant hot environment. I stayed for over an hour, did some aerobics in the water and floated around. We are only a few people and most of the time I have the entire place to me! Than the tourist started to come in, time to go and perfect timing, you can only stay so long in hot water! Fresh water shower, as fresh the water can be here, I hope this one is straight from the mountain not a run of from any town around here! I did not brush my teeth with the tap water, this morning; I might be pushing my luck if I did.
The sun is now very hot, I can feel its scorching rays on my skin, but this bike ride turns out to be a good thing, the fresh air is very refreshing to me. I don’t think you can grasp how humid it is here, just from reading my blog, it really feels like an infrared sauna all day. I don’t know what happen to the wind in this part of the world, but there is not even a slight breeze. It is like a dead zone. After the hot springs I asked him to take me to a good restaurant. We went back to the center of Lovina, which is a nice place, you can tell this place was once booming, but is now, in an advance stage of regression. We saw a nice precession of people doing their last offering before Nyepi day, there is some tradition here after all, but far less. We are in a nice restaurant and had a wonderful lunch. Then we are heading for the mountains again, and what a change the fresh air is not so far from the city of Singaraja, which is at the foot of the mountains and the biggest city here. I am so happy to drive thru this fresh air, I feel better already! The fall is a bit of a deception, I did ask to see brochures about the falls but they didn’t have that at the hotel. A tourist town without brochure, is nothing to help business! If I had known I would off skip that and kept working, the fall in the Ayung river is actually about the same size and better, because you can stand underneath! Here it is dangerous, the rocks and pathway are very slippery from the constant mist. The place is full of colorful butterflies,But the path you walk to get to the fall is another tourist trap, and they all beg you to buy from them. They don’t understand you can only own so many sarungs! The walk to the fall is a sad one, you can’t smile at any of them, because they grab your arm and pull you into their small tiny shops. They are probably 20-30 shops, all selling the same thing, over and over! I saw 6 beautiful fighting coqs, and as I am taking photograph of them, I am thinking, here is something interesting to do. I keep hearing about the sacred coq fight, about I go see one?! I asked around and no one seems to know where I could see a coq fight. Here's something Lovina could use to make extra money, allow the tourist to see the coq fights, who has been part of their culture for years.After the fall we go hunting for a snorkel tube, there is no way I will put my mouth on some snorkeling equipment here, all I smell is kerosene not bleach! And back to my hotel to work some more, till 7pm Made picks me up for diner. He is all dress up in his Balinese clothes, wearing the hat and no helmet, I told him he looks much better like that! He laughs. I asked where is my helmet, he said helmet not mandatory when they go to the Temple. Fine with me, I know you are not going far. He drops me off to a nice restaurant on the beach, with a few customers. He will be back after the Temple to pick me up. I ordered the fish Pepe, the dish I learned to cook in Ubud. I had my first bad meal. The banana leaves were not fresh because when they are fresh they stay green even on the grill, the fish was tough (tuna) and not nearly as tasty as the one I made. I made one cat happy, throwing him my fish! I ordered a avocado, pineapple and shrimp salad that also end up in the cats stomach, I did ask if the shrimp salad was cold she said yes. They don’t seem to get it here, that a salad should be cold, instead the shrimp is always hot. Instead of pineapple I have cucumbers, not the combination I expected. The bill was cheap so I did not complained, a glass of wine and two meals $9. I asked my driver what was his name, I have spend the day with him not knowing him name, I should off guest, his name is Made! Sang Made explained to me the way name works here, I kind of get the concept, but I need to get the full picture, One name represents the first, second, or third child, the fourth one as the name of the first one and another short name. Just by someone name here, they can tell if you are the oldest or the youngest, and then the family name that refers to the warrior, the priest or the servant, but I am visual and I need to see a visual example to get this 100%! Just before going for diner we had torrential rain, it was so hard than even under my porch I had to retreat in my room, the water splashing on my computer. By the time I went for diner the roads were already dry. I only brought a pair of short and three dress, if I had know I was going to ride a bike! I will be wearing the same clothes for three days!
I went to bed early, you can only write so long, even the bottom of your feet burns, from sitting to long on a hot floor, it is so humid my right index is starting to peel, from using the directional mouse screen on my computer. It either the humidity or computer contains very toxic substance we don’t know their effects yet, but I have been noticing my index for a few days and can only attribute this to the keypad as my other fingers are fine. I go to bed early tomorrow we must leave at 6;00am to see the dolphins. Made reassures me that I will see dolphins. I couldn’t sleep, that lamentation is going on again, I thought prayers were supposed to be en lighting and soothing to the soul, this sure doesn’t sound like soothing to me! Made had explained to me over lunch, the Muslims and Balinese tolerate each other but don’t like each other, he also said the Muslims here were the soft one. I guess he means there is no terrorist here!
There is something I must say about Bayu Mantra, I have been to 5 stars resorts many time, and the rooms smells like musty and molty, burning your nostrils everytime you walk in the room.Here it is pretty basic, but the room does not have any bad smell, if it as a smell it's one of a dormitory, it is pretty clean, it actually smells better than the Tjampuhan. As the Tjampuhan is the oldest hotel in Ubud.

On the way to Lovina

2010-03-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

This morning I leave for Lovina. The hotel is being very kind to me, they have accepted to keep my luggage while I go away for three days. I will be back just in time for Nyepi. I am a bit sad to leave Bamboo behind and feel like a traitor. One night, I had said good night to him, and was in bed when he made this strange meowing like he was being attack by something, I opened the door,he was proud to show me a big mouse he had killed, he was tossing it around like a football ball! I knew a mouse was hanging around as I discovered what the weird noise, I had originally thought was some kind of night bird was in fact a mouse! One night she had the nerve to walk on the patio while I was writing and squeaked at me! I am glad Bamboo made a meal of it, I never heard squeaking out my window since! I left him, a full bowl of food, but I know the staff will take it away and I worry, he was throwing up blood this morning, either the mouse was real bad, or he had starved too much before I met him! I just hope he makes it till I return, as much as he is ugly, he’s been faithful company here, and strangely the cat communicates with me, he really talk to me, and no, it’s not the humidity getting to my head! He knows exactly when I am awake even before I get up, he meows at the door as soon as I open my eyes. He never does before I wake up! When a storm is coming, is behaves a different way. And when I come back to the room, he talks away like a good thing.
Sang Made is on time, as usual, he brings his brother along with him, I suspect two reasons, he wants company for the return and he wants to be able to point and explain things to me as we drive, and that is exactly what he did. Announcing the particularity of a few towns, and answering all the questions a curious woman like me, as! He also plays a serious role of chivalrous gesture, opening my door every time I want to take a photo. I have not seen this kind of thoughtfulness in a long time! And there is plenty of stop on this very scenic road. First, we have to contour the Agung river, the same one I went rafting, since there is no bridge it is about an hour detour just to get on the other side of the river. Then we start climbing up the mountains to only go down again and then up again. The last mountain we climb was very different, no more rice paddies, just gardens of vegetables and flowers. Where are right in the heart of Bali’s garden. All the vegetables and fruits hotels purchase are from this region. A region rich in diversity, and I can see they have some technology, but it still remains a natural way, and an efficient way of preserving the plants. At least from what I see, I would have to investigate more to find out if they use fertilizer and pesticides. I already know, the rice they grow for their own supply, as each family as a plot or more to grow their own rice, contains no chemicals or any sort. But the rice grown for the international market is grown with the help of chemicals as the government commands. With chemicals they get three crops a year instead of the usual two. Going back to this giant garden, amidst this tall and steep mountain,no fancy irrigation system is need it, as this region see’s rain almost every day, when the clouds get above the mountains, the rain comes down. This is all throughout the year not just during the rainy season. Tomatoes, cabbage, beans, lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, hot peppers, peppers are just a few of what I saw. And the view is stunning; everything is grown in terrace just like the rice, giving the mountains a more dramatic look. This is the first fresh air I’ve seen, since I arrived in Bali,we roll down the windows and it is cooler than the air conditioning in the car. I welcome this change of air with great appreciation. I could live here, no problem! The view is a million dollar view all the way to Lovina. You need a good car to come here, without brakes you’re done! Than we enter a beautiful town by a fairly good size lake, with a Temple on it’s shore. Also, across the street another kind of Temple, some monotonous voice is lamenting in a outdoor speaker, Sang Made explains we are now in a region that has Muslims, Muslims pray five times a day, and each and every time, this lamentation is shouted throughout the speakers and loud enough to cover an entire town, I am not sure if its the same prayer, repeated over and over, or a different each time, it always sounds the same. We make a short stop at the Temple by the lake, the scenery is beautiful and for the first time I see beautiful green grass, an d evergreens. The gardens are magnificent, with their giant Datura’s the big white flower that looks like a trumpet. While we quickly visit the ground, a cloud of rain comes down, no worries, Sang Made even though of bringing an umbrella! I ask if where I was going, was also a Muslims area as well, since I was not aware of this, I thought they were more in Java and Jakarta. Yes, there is some here, and as we drive we see more and more mosque.
Before I left, I read a very serious report on what is happening in the world, something most of us are not aware, but the fertility rate is now 1.3 per family in Canada. It used to be 3.5 per family in the 70’s. We are now, among the lowest in all nations side by side with many European countries. On the other side of the spectrum, Muslims are immigrating in all Industrialized countries in the world, Canada, England, United States, Belgium, Australia,etc.. and they have a fertility rate of 5.5 per family, in twenty years they will be more Muslim on the planet than any other kind of nationality, and that is for the entire globe. For the first time ever, the number of Mosque has surpassed the number of churches in the world, the Vatican admits. What is the worrisome, Muslim religion believes that they should only be one religion on the planet and it’s theirs, any other religion should be destroy or eliminated. They have clearly stated that one day, the world will be ruled by Islam. And when it will happen it will be too late for anyone to react.
Since, that report, I am kind of reticent towards Muslims, I have never been prejudice, and I am still not, just reluctant to encounter them. Once you are aware of something, it is different than when you’re not. I shouldn’t ever worry, I might be dead by then, but I worry for my children’s future. Maybe it is a good idea to buy a place in Ubud, so they can go there if ever it happens! Bali has a fertility rate of at least 2.5 per family as everyone I met or talk to here, as minimum two kids, and often three.
We stop so I can eat, my guide and his brother never seems to hungry! I am always hungry, as we stop, torrential rain come down for around 20 minutes, tourist are rushing to where I am so they can have a shelter, it really rains hard here when it does. Not a good idea to be on the road, it’s kind of a blessing, that I was so hungry! When I finish my lunch, so is the rain! Getting to Lovina is a bit of a shock, we are in a very different region, I can tell just by the way things are, we have not even made it to the street where the place I am staying, that a guy on a motorcycle is asking us, if we need a place to stay. And he follows us. He does not have the reassuring look Balinese have, or I should say the Ubud people, have. We are still in Bali, but very few people here wear the traditional clothes, they have punk rock Balinese and Rasta Balinese. It looks like traditions were thrown out the window here. Sang Made, left after making sure everything was fine, and that I get the room I reserved, which I didn’t. I must say for $12 a night, there is nothing wrong with my room, but I am use to my palace, with fresh towels, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, glasses, water, etc. There is not even a bar to hand my towel anywhere in the room! The first thing I have to do, is to go buy toilet paper, soap and water. I cannot expect too much for that price. I must say it has its own charm; I have a little veranda looking at a garden, with chairs and table. I have air conditioning for the first time and an outdoor bathroom again. The garden is full of birds, many species enjoy this garden, I counted at least 6 different kind, and a nest in the decorative palm tree in front of my door, of little brown orange birds with a white head, they have the size of our chickadee. Really this place is a good finding for backpackers! And the more I see, the more I am happy I left my languages behind, as I would look like an extraterrestrial if I had them with me. Here, the only thing they own is a backpack! They all live for under $20 a day. The ocean is a throw stone away. I was so happy to see the Ocean, what a big disappointment I got, when I walk over there. The beach is filthy, you can’t walk, because there is fishing boats all over the beach, and ropes that you have to jump over if ever you decided to swerve around the boats, the sand is black, I knew that, but this sand is very coarse, you need shoes to walk on it, not flip flops. There is so much detritus of all kinds, it is very deceiving. I go into the water, there is more garbage at the bottom of the ocean, right from where I am, in a 5 feet radius, I can see all kinds of things sitting at the bottom of the ocean floor. The water is at a perfect temperature to have a nice dip, still I don’t even want to go in, anymore. Well, for consolation, I can always have diner by the ocean tonight, there is a nice restaurant at the corner, right on the beach, who just received a fresh Marlin today. She proudly showed me the white nice fresh flesh of a Marlin steak. I promise to come back for diner.
After a short nap, I guess I not used to fresh air anymore, I worked for a few hours, than when for diner, just in time to catch the sun set. The place is busy and I have a table right in front of the ocean, there is not a breeze and I am quite surprise, usually on a beach there is always some kind of breeze, here nothing, not even enough to flick the flame of the candle on my table! It is a Rasta place, with the colors of Jamaica all over. A rasta Balinese brings a menu but does not speak a word another rasta is sitting to my left with some young Australian guy, that obviously had smoke one too many, he eyes were red and he could barely talk, so badly I talk he was French, again, I have insulted one more Australian, as he is from Australia! I did talk with a nice couple from Australia, I had not plan to drink anything, but as the conversation went on, and I don’t drink beer, I order a glass of red wine to keep them company. Here, it only comes by the bottle, it took so long for them to bring my wine, I was sure they went somewhere to get it, sure enough, that what they did. I ask how much was the bottle, he said it was special wine 175 000 rupias, I asked if I can take the bottle with me if I don’t drink it all and he said yes. I knew I would not drink more than a glass. He said no problem. I recall seeing a wine price list, and if I am correct it was 150 000 rupias. My fish was good, but that was it. Seeing all these nice vegetables today I was not impress, with the pale overcooked cabbage mixture, served with my fish so I order a salad, in order to get more greens. Comes more cabbage, and for dressing a scoop of Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip. And sure enough when the wine arrived, the special wine is no other than that $7 Balinese wine bottle you find everywhere. Before I left I asked to see the menu, and as I thought it says 150 000 rupias in the menu. Not only did he rip me off, when I paid he said he had no change, he did that to every table. I didn’t say anything, but I had plan to take all my meal here, as it is a step away, now, they will not see me for as long as I stay. Tomorrow first thing in my agenda is to find change. Everywhere I went today, they never had change, rather it was for toilet paper, or water, internet, they didn’t have change. The only place I went that had change, was a store with only two little girls, I looked around to see where is the adult, but it looks like they are tending the store. The oldest one, who looks no older than 7 years old, tell me it’s 4000 rupias. I give her a 10 000 rupias bills, to my amazement she get the key to a drawer, and gives me the exact change. I can’t believe it, I can’t even get my employees to give the change back from the total, a they all rely on the till and have no clue how to do it manually! This little tiny girl knows how no problem, than I ask how old are you, she didn’t speak English, he father is actually just across the street talking with some men, he shows me eight fingers! I told him his daughter is very good! And all I have on me is 50 000 rupias bills which is roughly $5.00 bill and no one has change? The owner of the place I am staying demanded that I pay for all three night s in advance, along with the excursion tomorrow to go to the hot springs. Things are definitely different here. Will see what tomorrow brings!

Trekking in Bali

2010-03-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was such a big day that I had to divide the blog in two part. After the blessing I return to my hotel to change clothes to go trekking. I didn’t really have the right shoes for trekking, my puma running shoes are not exactly fit for this type of exercise.
Sang Made parks the car along the road and then we walk down a winding road, and cut into a field. The trek was for hours and not too long after the beginning of the hike I am already starting to my hypoglycemia resurface.I have not had any crisis since I have here, but this is the first time I didn’t have a real breakfast. Throughout the walk we go over rice fields, go up rice paddies, up the mountain and down the valley numerous time. I am happy my guide knows where he is going, because I have lost all sense of directions by now! The trek is even more enjoyable with Sang Made’s knowledge of his jungle. This surprises me, from a man. Right at the beginning, we saw something rare, a giant lizard, which diets consist of rotting dead animals. It is an easy animal to catch, all they do is put food in a bamboo log and cover one end only, the lizard will go into the bamboo, but cannot back up as it only has the ability to go forward. I saw clove tree, tapioca, coffee and also learn the difference in coffee, I had no idea there was a female coffee bean and a male coffee bean, the male is the high prize one for its size. Sang Made explained to me, that here, there is people collecting the excrement of the fox who eats the coffee beans, he likes the red pulp around the coffee bean, and the coffee bean is intact in the stool. They roast the beans. It sells for $3 a cup. I had heard of this very expensive coffee, but from the monkey’s excrement. We saw some fox poop, but it was a different kind of bean. I guess they have different fox here, as they have to climb on the tree, It is more a shrub than a tree. We saw yellow cacao and red cacao (chocolate). He showed me a flower used in cooking to make a type of Sambal, the flower smells very gingery, it is beautiful and very aromatic. He explained the irrigation system for the rice fields, very clever system. I saw the tree that produces Rambutan, the fruit that I go crazy for, the Durian tree, Papaya, Guava, Breadfruit. On the path was that big spider that I have been trying to photograph, but for some unknown reason, in my lens it disappears. To my horror, he takes the spider with his bare hands and let it scrawl on his face. You have to understand, the spider is as big as my hand! It lets the creepy crawling go all over him, he gave me the opportunity to shoot incredible photos, but I begged him to stop I couldn’t take it anymore. Big spiders like that are making me nervous, he says she is inoffensive if you don’t hurt her. We saw the unlucky cow, as they call it here. The cow is always tied underneath a roof and tied to the bamboo structure, the cow never gets to eat in the field. He says they are very well treated, but their purpose is to be sold for beef, and I must say, in the tropics usually when you see cows, they are so thin, you can see their bone structure, every cow I saw as plenty of fat and meat. They bring fresh grass every day. Everything here as a purpose, the grass comes from the weed they pull out of the rice fields. They often take the cow out for a shower and some massage. That’s right, the unlucky cow get’s a spa treatment once in awhile.
They really have everything they need to survive here in the nature. As I started to get really week, he said that we were really close to the place we were stopping for fresh coconut. When we arrive at these peoples house, you can tell they live with very little. Sang Made took me to their backyard, and we went to harvest some snake skin fruits. The fruit grows at the bottom of this shrub, but the shrub is guarding its fruits very well, the leaves are similar to palm tree and full of thorn, and not the same thorn as our rose bushes, big long spike of nearly 4 inches. The fruit is also full of tiny spikes, you rub something on the fruit and it takes the spikes of. I have not taste anything close to this fruit, it is kind of a cross between a pear and an apples, but without the juice. It is dry and chalky, I can tell this fruit is not going to recurred my hypoglycemia crisis, so I ask if they have bananas for sale, and thankfully they did. While I sitting in their compounds, I am wondering where are those coconut we are suppose to eat? Then the old man put his boots on and we follow him. Is he going to climb the palm tree? Yes, he will get us the coconut. I can’t believe, this man older than me, and does not an inch of fat! He chooses a tree with some coconut ripe, therefore the yellow ones. This tree is straight up in the air, a complete vertical ascension for him. I don’t excel at judging distances, but I would say for sure above 40 feet. Then he climbs down with the coconut, holding the stem in his mouth. Only when I had the coconut in my hand that I realize how heavy this must off been in his mouth. Than Sang Made cut a slit of the skin that he uses to make a funnel so we can drink directly from the coconut shell. There is so much water between the both of us, we can’t finish it all. Than he cut the shell in half, I was really surprise to learn that here they never eat the hairy coconut, they only use the hairy kind to make coconut oil. They eat the meat of the yellow coconut. The meat is half the thickness and very different than the hairy coconut. It is a bit slimy and less flavorful, but very nourishing, I feel better already. The lady was very proud to make me a cup of coffee, from her own beans in the back yard that she harvested, roasted and then crushed. I must say, the most flavourful coffee I ever had, without any bitterness or astringency. I was able to drink the strong glass she made me, without milk or sugar and it was truly different. That’s what a coffee should taste like, so good that nothing needs to be added to it. Ten they invite me to see her kitchen, she is making coconut oil. I have been wanting to do this since I am here. Now, I am not sure I could handle doing this in a Balinese kitchen. She stands in her tiny dark kitchen, full of soot everywhere, so it is even darker than normal, she stands beside the fire to stir the hot pot and don’t mind the heat on her feet. I can help asking, I am so confuse about the coconut, I need to understand clearly. So Sang Made went to get an older coconut to explain. It is the same kind of coconut as we just had fresh of the tree, with the small axe, he starts to chop the skin away. He opens the shell and it is full of hairy fiber, he keeps peeling that off and finally gets to the small shell, as we know in North American the hairy coconut. Him too, did not understand at first when tourist would ask him to have hairy coconut what they meant, since here they don’t eat the senior citizen of the coconuts! Until he figured it out, we get coconut all peeled off its protective hairy fiber because it cost too much for shipping. They use the fiber as combustible fuel for their stove. They let the fiber dry in the sun and uses as needed it. No more confusion, it is the same nut, they eat the one that is not fully ripe and drink the water of that one. The older the coconut is the less water it contains and the thicker the meat is. They only use the meat for culinary purpose. They say the older meat is not as healthy as the slimy one. But I am glad I finally understand everything about the coconut now! We return to our trekking, I give the lady 50 000 rupies, which is around $5 for her bananas and fresh snake skin fruits, so took the money out of my hand like if she was afraid I would change my mind, she probably as not seen the color of this bill in a long time. It is a lot of money for them. They have a very simple lifestyle with the bare minimum. Thankfully, coconut is very nutritious, it saved my life, there is no way I would off been able to walk some two more hours without food. This is not your average walk, but hard work, going up steep hills in this kind of humidity is not an easy task. You also need to be agile, jumping over streams, walking on the edge of the rice paddies, sometime no wider than 4 or 6 inches. Every person you meet here, as their teeth dark brown, if they have any, also from chewing the same preparation the priest has to chew every day. At the end, I am really starting to get weak, it is near two o’clock and I haven’t had lunch. The last couple hundred meters, are at least on a paved road. My heels are killing me, I am not sure my knees will last and I have a pretty bad sunburn on my shoulder, face and legs. This was the toughest work out I had to do in a long time, and I taught my Pilates teacher was tough with me! This kind of humidity leaves you, gasping for oxygen. I am sure if I had any toxins left in my body, I have sweat it out today. Sang Made is so thoughtful, when we arrived at the car he pull out of his cooler, fresh clod face towels, infused with essential oils, this could not be more welcome, it is just as good as a cold shower. The towels were kept in his cooler over ice. This made me feel better instantly! Than we stop at a restaurant in his village that does not have a menu, the only serve one dish, which they are famous for, miles around. The restaurant is in a beautiful compound, and this is the fourth generation operating this restaurant. I was given a tour of the kitchen, which was really cool to see, still the traditional cooking with the dirty kitchen but on a bigger scale. They had already prepare the food for tomorrow. Huge pots of everything, they go through a lot of food here. Huge baskets of turmeric, hot peppers, shallots. The dish consist of rice cooked with many ingredients, chicken, a boiled egg, marinated in some kind of liquid, giving the egg a yellow brownish color and a tastier taste. Served with the traditional snake beans salad. It was very tasty. I am learning so much with my guide, he has been working with tourist for over 12 years, since he finished high school, so his English is impeccable, and I have no difficulty understanding what he is saying, as he learned English very young. He also help me understand the banana world! There is more bananas than we know back home. Many trees in the jungle have bananas, but they don’t eat those, they harvest the big nice green leaves, that everyone uses for lining plates and dishes, it is also the same kind used to cooked fish in it. We saw an entire load of the leaves all ready to be sold to the hotels and restaurant; everything was neat and so interesting to see. Even the rope around the pile of neatly fold banana leaves, are made from palm trees. That type of tree is called stones banana, bearing such a name due to its big hard seeds in the middle of the banana. No one eat this kind. There is also another kind of banana, used only for offerings. There is a type of banana here than is green, the inside reveal in sweet and ripe banana, Some green banana are only for cooking, you recognize them by their square shape.
It is close to 4 o’clock and all I can think of is to go for a nap. I am exhausted; this was a big day, worth every penny. I was very fortunate to do site seeing alone, without twenty tourists behind me, you learn so much that way and you can go at your pace. If we were with a group, I would say another hour would off been need it to wait for the people that are in worse shape than me! Sang Made was also in charge of bird watching tours for Alila Ubud, a five star resort, near where I am staying. I was nice to be with someone that can point to the birds and show me in the book what kind it is. The birds here have unique calls and signing. This was a day that will stay with me a long time.

Blessing with Ida Pedanda Gria

2010-03-11T17:06:00.000-08:00

Today began early. And, not just a regular day. Today, someone is taking me to a highly rank priest, Ida Pedanda Gria as they say it here, after him, its god! The priest has accepted to bless me. His ritual is early in the morning and as much I got up early, I didn’t really have a chance to eat breakfast as the kitchen opened 15 minutes before I had to go. We arrive at his compound, a beautiful one I might add, and my guide is Sang Made Merta who has made all the arrangements, his mother even made the offering baskets for me and lent me the traditional clothing to enter a temple. There is so much to know about Balinese culture, that I don’t think a year would be sufficient to learn it all. The compound is built specifically around rules and traditions. The house of the father is always to the north, this is even more meaningful for a priest as here they believe the north is Holly (where their god is). The kitchen is always to the south. And there is always two kitchens, one called the dirty kitchen and the clean kitchen. The one called dirty kitchen is the one where they do all the cooking, so the inside of the building is all black from the smoke, as there is no chimney. They have the traditional kitchen with the fire just like the one I went for cooking lessons. One building is reserved for ceremonies only; it is usually the most beautiful building in the compound with its rich ornaments, gold paint and sculptures. This building is always the one with a beautiful floor, even if you are not rich this building as ceramic floors. There is more rules, like the three dimension every compound should have, the compound as three respective area representing the three parts our body is ;the head, the stomach and the legs. The head is all the buildings where people live, the stomach the kitchen area and next is the back yeard representing the legs. I hope I remembered all this right. So in a compound, is always lay out in a rectangle, the living quarters in front than the kitchen and followed by the backyard who is always in the back. The Temples are subject to the same three dimension rules, I believed that instead of a garden representing the legs, it’s the building where they dance and have celebrations. I can’t remember which building is the head and the stomach, too much info in one day. I was always wondering why there is so much Temple in a village. There is always three temples. Even in tiny villages, you see three Temples. One is for celebrations representing the birth, another one for when people die and the third one for rituals and celebrations all throughout the year. When we arrived the priest was already reciting his Mantras. He is sitting on the floor, in a yoga position, his back is straight as an arrow and he sits in this smaller building that is higher than the other building as the holly building is always the highest building. If you didn’t know he was a priest, you would know just by looking at him, he has this spiritual look and presence that is unique only to those people. For every Mantra recited he rings the bell, and dips this beautiful wand made by his assistant with flowers at the top, into the holly water, and splashes some water every time a mantra is completed. I was fortunate to see his assistant at work, preparing the flowers and the holy water and everything needed to do his holy duties. Today, he had to go to another village, for a ceremony near the ocean, Melasti a purification ceremony, as the ocean represents the cleansing. The ocean is also where they will distribute the ashes after cremation. When a village requires his service, they come to pick him up. The talent of the assistant is remarkable, what they can do with a knife and some flowers is an exquisite art. Very few tourists have the chance to see this or even the Balinese people. They had prepared some flowers for my hair, the holy water, and the wand. Just before it was time to go see him, his assistant was preparing his chewing preparation. He opened this ancient chest, took some bitter leaves, some tobacco and some chalk and bitter nuts. This chewing preparation is part of the older generation’s traditions, the younger don’t chew this anymore. It makes their teeth go dark brown. It is believe to give them energy. The priest has to chew this as part of his duties. When we trekked in the jungle later that day, every person I say, had those brown teeth, if they had any! They keep this preparation in the front of their lower front teeth, making them look like they have a swollen lip.
While the priest is doing is Mantra and getting ready to bless us, a process of approximately one hour, which he has to do many time during one day, Sang Made is filling me with information, as a tourist I could never get. I even saw those ancient books they keep from generations to generations. Then the priest announced he was ready and Sang Made’s mother came with me to be bless as well, and thank goodness she did, I had no clue what to do at the right time, and you certainly don’t want to do something that would insult the priest, like going up the stairs with your shoes, as for us Westerner it is something we don’t even think about. I was allowed to look at him and see his eyes and how profound they were. Sang Made says the priest can see the energy of the people and often their auras. I followed everything she did, Sang Made was taking picture which I don’t think will be very good, as water is dripping down my hair and face, I probably look like a wet cat! But the photos is not what is important, what is important is how fortunate and thankful I am to be here. Something strange happened and I even had to ask if the water was hot or boiled before the priest used it. There was three different kind of water, one of them he poor the water in your hand and you drank the water from your hand, my hands were burning like if he had given me hot water. His voice was something I will never forget, almost surreal, and he did smile at me with kindness. He also accepted to bless my book. This was the blessing part than you have to sit on the ground with your knees under you, and make a prayer, you need to rub your hands over the incense, than you need to take some flowers and hold them on the tip of your finger has you put your hands together, in a praying position. I always wondered why incense was so important in ritual. They believe the incense can reach the creator or their god more than anything, as the smoke just goes up and up towards the sky. I was also told that when you get married here, you must go see the priest and he is the one that will indicate when to get married. He will give you a few choices for dates, as those dates are the best for both the groom and bride. The ancient scrolls is called Melasti and for this, he needs to consult this ancient book.
People line up in front of Mr. Ketut’s house hoping to meet a spiritual man, and in a way he is, but I got to meet the real spiritual man, with a presence that no one could denied his power and wisdom. Even with his ages, he has a beauty that seems to never change with time. One, cannot leave here, without feeling some kind of connection with him and something more profound for words to speak. There is no church than can give you this kind of experience. And I am sorry to say this, no offense to the Catholics, but at 16 I was at the Vatican, and the Pope at the time, touch my hand when he drived by, everyone in my group and the crowd around me, was all over me, because it was a sign of some kind. I still remember this moment and I felt like the pope had no warmth in his presence felt more like cold than warm. Today, I have experience the warmth of this priest and his deep love of life and people. I felt it through my hands and it is a feeling I will never forget.

The highlight of the day; Clear Cafe

2010-03-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

This morning someone pick me up at 9am to go rafting. I did not really want to do this excursion, but the Australian woman that I met, said for $30 it was really worth going. Once I arrived, we are a group of 5 and for the first time, I was able to have conversations with people! A mother and daughter from British- Columbia and a couple on their honeymoon, from California. We start to walk across rice fields, than the descent begins, amazingly they made concrete steps all the way down. It is very steep, and not for the faith heart! If you are not in shape, I would abstain from doing this excursion. As I was going up and down the stairs I was wondering if they ever had someone have a heart attack here! We are right in the middle of the jungle, at the bottom awaits our boat and the water is higher than normal. Once you arrived at the bottom, you’re ready to jump in the river, you’re so hot! For two hours we go down the river, the Ayung River (means beautiful women)it is not a rough ride, it is turbulent enough to have fun, but not enough for hard core rafters! Once in awhile you get a good splash from the river, if not from the other boats that purposely splash us while passing our boat. Only once we came close to flip over. It is so nice and calm over here, most of the time we are in the shade which is perfect, I didn’t bring any sunscreen. For at least a good twenty minutes we are drifting along steep rocks that are carved by the talented Balinese with folk arts, all along the bank of the river, many of these places are inaccessible. The carvings are stunning and I was so upset my small camera did not work. If I had know they provided us with floating bags to put our personal belongings, and those carvings existed, I would off brought my good camera. After the carvings, a series of waterfalls, on both sides, than I really tall and big one. The waterfall is also a stunning panorama photo I missed! Water comes rushing down from no less than 200 feet. You can barely stand on your two feet at the bottom of the fall, water tumbling down from far above, gives you a vigorous back massage. When we first reach the waterfall, our boat went directly under the waterfall; it gives you a rush going under all that water. You get to feel how powerful it is. The water was nice and fresh and not as cold as you would expected for a waterfall! We saw one of the most beautiful setting for a hotel here, it turns out it, the other place own by the same people where I am staying. By the river they even had a beautiful tranquil place to meditate. We didn’t really have to work too hard, it was perfect, I am not sure I would like to be in more turbulent water, this is perfect. The two hours went by so fast. The climb up was very scenic, overlooking at the stunning rice paddies but a hike that left me breathless at the top of the hill. I had heard there was many company selling this tour, it varies from $30 to $79. I always ask the people I trust here and they find me what I need, I was a bit worry because I took the cheapest tour, who turned out to be the best one of all, as we begin at the very top of the river and others begin at various point further down. We had a fabulous lunch after and got to mingle with the other tourist. It is nice to find out comments from other travelers. I was thinking of going to Dreamland, who looks so beautiful , on the ocean with a white sand beach (most of the beaches here are black sand) after hearings some of the comments, I will not bother going down to see it, but I am very tempted to visit the north of Bali, Lovina is apparently worth going, you can find a decent room for $10 a night (breakfast included) and the best snorkeling, ever. This girl has snorkeled all over the world and she told us Lovina was amazing, with it’s big turtles and wild dolphins. Dolphins! I would go a hundred mile to be with dolphins, especially if they are not in a prison! It is also close to the hot spring I wanted to visit and very close to the volcano that is still active. The rafting was worth every penny, and I am happy I decided to go.
But the highlight of my day was diner at CLEAR CAFÉ! As you know I am writing a cookbook about eating and living well. This place is the nirvana for a “foodist” like me! I didn’t even know this place existed, and I must of walk by 20 times. Tonight a young hostess was on the side walk with the menu and I took a minute to look at it, at first sight it is very interesting. I kept walking to the other restaurant I was heading to. Once there I didn’t like the atmosphere and walk back to Clear Café. Once you enter the grounds, the cachet of the entrance is very unique and welcoming. I saw many shops that you have to take your shoes off, but I have not seen a restaurant where you must leave your shoes by the door. The entrance is a clever mix of modern and traditional Balinese elements and the designer of this place must have done a few green projects. There is a definite influence of passion for a natural environment and even if the menu would not appeal to me, it’s the kind of place I would go for a drink just to admire the design. Fresh, airy and bright the multi use of raw material is well balance between modern, contemporary and a touch of Asian. The raw material used for the various applications are stunning. Even the stone on the wall, which name escapes me at the moment (Albatre in French), has the effect of a giant candle. Beautiful chairs custom made with Balinese wood (I am assuming), tables, walls, everything is green. It is very clean, walking on the floor gives you a nice feeling. The bathroom is stunning, almost too beautiful to be in a restaurant. The toilet has the most beautiful water chamber, it looks like a vase, a beautiful tropical flower stands in it, for a second, you hesitate and wonder, where is the flush . Further in the back, there is more seating along with a water garden and beautiful cascade along the wall. If I ever have enough money to own a loft in a place like Bali, this is the designer I would hire. Apparently he is very young, still in his twenties and from the USA. This young men has eloquence in his taste. But Clear Café does not stop at its design; my flattering remarks are also aim at the Chef. Also a young girl from USA, unfortunately all I know, her name is Sarah. From the influence that I seen in the menu and how lively the food presentation is, she is probably for California. I am not sure if she was instrumental to choices on the menu, if she was, I only have compliments. If she was not, it does not matter because she delivers. This the perfect place for people that are vegetarians, Raw eaters or simply looking to eat healthy. I have not come across anything this close to the quality and taste. I ordered the clear café spring roll with a nice well balanced Tamarind sauce, A Rainbow salad with a superb almond butter dressing and garnish with an edible nasturtium. The salad came with the most amazing cracker I ever tasted, flax seed and sundried tomatoes, bursting with flavor and perfectly moist, not too dry as most crackers are. I am definitely over indulging tonight, going with three dishes, as I cannot resist. Le plat de resistance, even though is a starter, was the Bali Tataki. Seared tuna with cocoa and cayenne, cooked to perfection, beautifully arranged over a bed of Daikon and beet chiffonnade, Dragon fruits, and a cucumber salad, the plate is drizzled with a Mangosteen sauce. It makes the seared tuna at Nomad look pale, compare to the flavour of this dish. I must return to try the RAWVIOLIS, made with delicate slices of Daikon, layered with fresh pesto and Marinara sauce, drizzle with Truffle oil and tarragon. The menu as a large variety and anyone would find something that would appeal to their taste even if they are not vegetarian. Only a few examples of unique dish you can find; Humus, Taboule and falafel, Tempeh Reuben sandwich, Cajun Blackened fish filet sandwiches’, and much more. The staff, is also very nice and tastefully dress in elegant Asian dress. Omic, was a good, cheerful waitress, with good English, it sure will be a pleasure to go back, to try more items on the menu. This is the kind of food I wish a could do in my book, like those crackers are probably the most healthy and tasty combination I’ve seen. If you come to Bali, you must experience this brand new place, on the road that leads to Monkey Forest, near the corner of Dewi Sita. They have just open their doors in February, I am sure soon or later they will be feature in a magazine, check it out before it gets to crowded. I am serious the food here is so good and vibrant I feel like closing my restaurant and come work here as her assistant, this way I wouldn’t have to leave Bali! All the best to this “ diamond in the rough” or as we would call it in French, un vrai bijoux! For the moment the only negative comment would be that they don’t have Wi-HI yet and that my poor Bamboo (cat) did not have left over tonight, and he wasn’t too happy about that!

Wayan the Healer

2010-03-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today is another ordinary day that turned into an adventure, and quite the adventure. After my crash course with Dr. Taylor to learn the facial massage I asked my driver to drop me off at the post office. He told me that he thinks the medicinal woman I have been looking for since I got here, might be maybe near the post office. She is actually, right next to the post office. I saw a” vegetarian meal” sign and walked in, than I saw all the little jars of dried herbs and sat at a table. She handed a paper to read explanations of the healing she does. I told her I didn’t need a healing cession but was hoping for some medicine for my ear, I might of got bitten by an insect, my ear is really sensitive and swollen. I also have another small problem that I know herbs would take care of. She said give me your hand, than both my legs, she starts telling me my blood is to acidic and my calcium is low along with a lymphatic blockage. I also needs some vitamin E. I know she is right, I have been feeling that my body is too acidic. She also said my knees hurt sometime along with my shoulders. She is right about everything so far. A young man comes out of the kitchen to make a fresh drink of turmeric, honey and lime juice. While I am sipping the drink, she writes down everything. She asked to see my left hand again and reads my palm with exactitude. She says I am very lucky, been married more than once, the first one was very short, very true, I was a widow at an early age, the second one was a bad one. She did not say much about the future except that I will get a job that will require travelling. I cannot see this happening. She made me another beverage this time a hot one with ginseng, turmeric, cinnamon ,honey and lime. I told her my tongue is kind of numb from the turmeric juice, she takes a sip of my glass and said no it’s good, drink it all. I guess if she was not discussed by my mouth I have to do the same and drink in the same glass she put her lips on. Then she said she saw in my mind I want to lose weight in my belly. That really shock me, she couldn’t be more accurate. I have started to put weight around the waste and not from eating too much, but probably from starving my body to much when I worked at the restaurant and my body is revenging by stocking fat. She said I don’t eat at regular hours. I will explain my theory about weight gain and weight loss in my book; she is right on, with everything. She gives me more herbal medicine that is just like Ayurveda little tiny balls that you swallow. She said she can give me a treatment at 3pm but first I must eat, no kidding that is why I stop here. Here, you don’t order, she orders for you! A beautiful plate came with little signs for everything as to why she is giving you this. The food was absolutely delicious. The menu consisted of; White sea weed for vitamin E, grilled coconut for Vitamin D, Mutabilis leaf for health of the liver, stomach gas, cholesterol and too much acid in the stomach, Tomato chutney for vitamin C, Ginseng leaves for strong power, Sate Tofu for healthy bones and teeth and protein, Water spinach for calcium and cleaning the blood, Bean sprouts with peanut sauce for Vit E and weak muscles. Along ,with another hot infusion of Guto Kola leaf. While, I am eating, some kind of big green leaves are put on my tummy, some bandages that smells like wintergreen, on my knees and some oil rubbed on my harms. It smells like bug repellant and he said no you can eat this, and he put a few drops on his tongue. After I ate my meal and drank all these potions, I’m indicated to go upstairs. The old tiny frail women, tells me to take everything off, and she stands there, waiting for me take my clothes off and wrap me in a sarung. Sitting in a chair they scrub my feet and legs with an infusion of leaves and water, they use the leaves to rub the skin. They are rubbing a long time and not with a mild hand. The tiny frail lady is crushing roots and spices on the mortar and pestle stone, the room is filled with medicinal aromas. They apply this white chunky paste all over my legs and feet, and they scrub hard. I am sure I have no dead skin left. I have no idea what my treatment is suppose to be consisted of, but I am going with it. This is the most bizarre treatment I have ever received, and I start to understand, why in her book, Elizabeth Gilbert does not talk very much about Wayan healing cession. Elizabeth is a very talented writer and she knew she had the duty to tell a good story and she shrouded the character of Ketut with mystery. As she play up the Medicine man for the benefit of a good story, readers are subconsciously believing the superlative abilities of this psychic, of a man that could be the one that will miraculously change their destiny by predicting events that would change your world. Or, he might say to you to, you will loose all your money but will regain it all back and some more! |Just like he predicted to Gilbert. This is why, Ketut is now famous and that most of the people lining up at his door are woman. Fairy tales are not for men but for women! On the other hand Wayan, would be something to exotic and bizarre for Westerners. Most Westerners, would never have this kind of treatment in this kind of sanitary conditions, and usually people are to prude. Myself, I am right in my element, as I believe this is exactly how we should seek treatment when something goes wrong, although I would agree to a more comfortable room with better sanitary conditions and defiantly more privacy. When one has to stand in a shower, which most of us would not brush their teeth in, with an old lady washing you, you need to detach yourself from reality! For two hours, I had all kinds of scrubs and oil and medicinal paste and more scrub. Two young men massages you, in sync. It makes you wonder, why Wayan chose to employ men’s, as anywhere in this island the girls do the massage. I have leaves between my toes, ginger paste on my knees and someone is blowing something hot in your ears. A really hot lime is rolled around my ear another person is rubbing my face with hot wet leaves than rubbing cucumber all over for at least half hour. I forgot to mention she said I was very lucky so she went to three different temple to get some holy water for my face. This is all happening in her tiny precarious living quarters and her daughter is watching from her bed, joined later by some friends! Than Wayan changes her clothes and works her magic on me. They really work my belly hard, she is scooping something with a thick plastic spoon, just like if she was scooping the fat out!. She orders me to lift my harms one by one, she puts a few drops of something, than scratches my underarms with a tool than looks like a pen. She does it till you are screaming! I try to pull my arm away, I am sure she is scaring me your life, she pulls back sayong,no problem, nothing, easy! I am sure it is when you’re the one hold the pen! Than she makes me smells a clear liquid from a bottle, she gives me a demonstration, that’s easy, no problem, I plug on side of my nostril than take a good snif! I am not sure if I let a swear or not out, it was like sniffing fire! I did it much carefully on the other side. I am serious, it was like inhaling fire. My face does look radiant and I feel I’ve received a surgical less, tommy tuck! My clothes are to my surprise loose! As I wait to pay, a young girl waits downstairs for her turn and I listen, to my satisfaction she did not tell the young lady the same thing as me. She hands me a whole medicinal chest to take home, with some instructions that will almost require a course! I have everything I need for a long time, including a jar of honey, a jar of some hot juice and banana leaf with some paste for my ongoing belly tuck! The supposedly magical paste is also good to make penis hard she tell me, I laugh and said I won’t be needing that! Viagra on a banana leaf, you can truly find anything in Bali! I am not sure the young girl, has no clue what she’s in for! I hope she is not a prude one! She is now eating the food prepared for her condition and had to drink a different liquid for her sore throat. As I walk around with my jar of green liquid I can see the looks on the sidewalk of every one wondering, what is in that jar! Just around the corner I go in to change some money, as this was the most expensive day I had here, the shop owner’s wife is wearing a jacket and I asked if she was cold, her husband said she was sick, I told them they should go see Wayan, she said yes maybe I should go and ask me what was in my jar, I said medicine for my blood! I was there for three hours, a bag full of powders, fresh leaves, herbal teas, Ayurvedic medicine. Total cost with my meal $90. I feel the treatment is working, I am passing all kinds of gas and the hot lime rolled around my ear combined with the hot smoke as already alleviate my pain in my ear. There is one instruction I will not do, she ask me to drink my urine tomorrow morning, I said, I am sorry but no, I don’t believe in this. Many people do and are fervent adept of this therapy, but I believe your urine is full of toxins that needs to be expelled from your body. Although, I believe that applying urine to a skin condition can resolve the skin condition. That is a paradox I cannot explain! As I left, she blessed my bag with incense and a offering basket. I have never seen a place with so many offering baskets, they are lines up all over the floors, ¼ of her tiny place is reserve to some king of shrine, she has a whole list of gods, each one for each of her talent, prosperity, health, and so forth. I am glad I didn’t get my hair done today, they took my braids out and poured some herbal water and oil all over them. I might add this was not in a sink, but over a bowl on the floor! The herbs smells like fresh cut grass, a smell I am not too fond of. People are lining up at Ketut’s house for $150.00 us for a palm reading of 10 minutes that is too often deceiving. They would get lot more for their money if they came to Wayan shop. Wayan does not use the fact she an actual character of the book, if one does not know anything about the story of eat. Pray, love, she is not one to brag about it. She has a discrete picture of Elizabeth in her shop along with Julia Roberts and does not promote herself as the medicinal lady in the book. There is no indication when you find the shop, that this place hide the famous Wayan. The next morning, I found out of my way to the rafting, Julia Roberts was here for three months shooting the movie. I had no idea a movie about the book, was coming out. That explains why she had a picture of Julia Roberts in her shop and why she had this brand new cute little Suzuki car, at the door, while she is living in precarious condition. She would off received some payoff, for them to use her name.
This experience in her shop, will always be in my memory as one of the most unique treatment I ever received, and in a way such a delight for me, that in this part of the world they treat and heal people the way I wish the rest of us would start to understand how powerful natural is and how beneficial it is. My only sadness, I didnt have the heart to ask them to take a photo of my body on the table, at some point I felt almost like they were preparing my body to become a mommie just like the egyptians did. I knew their hands full of oils might ruin my camera.Next time I go visit Wyhan for some vitamin juice, I have to ask if Julia Roberts went through an healing cession. That is a remote possibility, if ever she did, I am impress!
This experience was almost sureal and also, going to bed, I also realised I had met one of the character of the book, it is kind of a strange feeling to meet someone, that was part of such a powerful story, I certainly did not go there to exprience meeting someone famous, as I am the kind of person who has no idols!
I admire a lot of people, but would not go out of my way to meet them,

A pedicure in a fish bowl!

2010-03-07T04:06:00.000-08:00

This morning the restaurant was very crowded for breakfast, so I took some fruits and a juice to my room and came back later. When I return the hostess looked at me with a smile and said, you cat, I said yes, she said you good person. I have no clue how she knew I had a cat, since she's never been to my room. As I walked to the buffet,she grab my plate and hold it for me. I told her it was ok I could do it, she no its ok, she was all happy or honor to serve me as apparently I had the omen to be a good person! I couldn’t believe it! I decided to go up to the hill to the supermarket to buy cat food and to venture into the book store I saw yesterday. As I was walking up the hill, I was thinking, I won't have much to say on today's blog since all I had on the agenda was to buy cat food and write. After theb supermarket I walk into the book store, who had an array of books about Bali, displayed in the window. All books were covered in plastic, so I ask the clerk if there is any I could see the inside, he indicated to me to choose anyone and he would open it for me. The first one I chose was not what I was looking for. The second was better. Then I went into another section and found one that cut my eye and seem to be what I was looking for. As I approach the counter, he was busy with another customer and was waiting for a credit card authorization, I ask him if I could see the one, in my hands. He and the customer looked at each other and laugh, mumbling something in Balinese and the customer said to me, if you buy it, I will sign it for you. I said “yes, I am sure!” The clerk said, yes he will, its his book, I looked at them with question marks in my eyes, and the customer said, yes it’s my book. A made the book a few years ago. I said “ you are kidding me, right” he said no I am not, than the clerk open the book at the back and show me his picture, they made a joke that he looked better, back than. I look at the photo it was undeniably him, with less hair, as he is bald now, but looks much better, I said, well you still look pretty good, and we all laugh! He signed the book with a dedication and off he went! I couldn’t believe it, what are the odds, among all the books about Bali, I had chosen the right one, and at the right moment.As I walk back, I am thinking to myself, there is no possible way this is real. I hurry back to my computer to check on internet his name. Rio Helmi is a well known photograph, his work appeared in GEO magazine, The New Times magazine and Vogue! Wow, there is never a dull moment in Bali. In his dedication he wrote in his note, “what a world isn’t it”! He couldn’t said it better. The book is outstanding and I cant wait to show it to my husband maybe this will convince him to move here!
I worked all day and I could hear distant thunder and thought I’d better be going for diner early if I don’t want to be cut in the rain. Rain here is always for a short period of time, the longest I seen is an hour, but when it rains, it rains buckets! Hani had recommended a restaurant for me to try more typical food, the driver left me at Dewa Sita street, where the restaurant was, walking towards the restaurant, I saw a spa called fish and walk in with the intention of inquiring the cost of a pedicure. To my surprise this was a different kind of pedicure. I heard about this new age pedicure, making its place in the most trendy cities in the world. Fish pedicures are emerging as a novelty to pamper the feet. It consist of simply immersing your feet in a warm tub of swarming hungry little fish called doctors fish! I am not sold on the idea, since my feet are very ticklish, but for $3 for 15 minutes, its worth trying and definitely a good subject of conversation. Thankfully the fish are toothless. They suck away on crusty, scaly skin, and only a nibbling sensation prevails. I felt pretty ridiculous sitting there alone, laughing and jumping at all time. It takes a few minutes to get use to it, as they really go at it! Poor little thing they must be starving to suck on people’s feet! I asked the girl if ever sometime they refuse to suck on someone feet, and she said yes, if you recently had a pedicure and have very little dead skin they will not suck on your feet, she also mention for some reasons, the odd time, they will not suck on someone’s feet, even if they have lots of dead skin. I guess we don’t all taste good! This would explain my acidic theory. I am sure when a person is too acidic the body transmit signals in the form of odors and skin condition, so we change our diet. I wish I could download pictures on my blog, as a picture is worth a thousand words. The sucking feels better when they are synchronized, although when they get in between the toes, it is hard to stay still. They assured me the fish are fed every night, I wouldn’t want to participate in some animal cruelty sports! I am glad I tried it, but would not do it again, at least not at this location. The atmosphere lacks appeal, and the colors are not right for this place, maybe it was intended that way, so you don’t feel the need to stay longer. I never thought I would be some fish meal's today, well it's time to think about my meal and go find Bunute restaurant.
The restaurant Hani recommended was very good, I had an exquisite plate, as originality is at the front stage at all time, here. It’s a dish with pork, spinach, red beans, hot peppers and spices, cooked in a bamboo and served in it, rice and Sambal Oelek, accompagnied the dish. The bamboo is served on a perpendicular apparatus with a tea light underneath to keep it warm. I must admit, it is almost just as much a pleasure for the eyes as it is to the palate. You fish out the food with chop sticks. The flavor was outstanding and unique. I was expecting the pork to be grounded or in small pieces, I didn’t expect the pork to be pork belly. I tossed all the lard, and transferred the mixture in my rice bowl, served in a coconut shell, I would of taken a second serving without the pork! I am glad I tried this famous staple of Bali, and would strongly recommend it, if you like pork belly.

My New roommate

2010-03-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

Another day of cooking lessons. I learned more traditional food, like Lawar, Bumbu Kuning which I previously learned at Waka di Ume but it is nice to see how recipe varies and she insist, the right combination is very important, the other recipe I previously did, had more turmeric , she insist many people know the composition but few know the appropriate proportions like garlic and shallot should always be 1-3 (one garlic bud for 3 shallots) Here, garlic is less pungent so you can use more than our garlic. Once you have the Bumbu Kuning preprared, you can used it to make a wide range of dishes. The basic sauce will keep up to 3-5 days and longer if you don’t had the shrimp paste. Once we have our basic sauce we prepapred the Lawar(cold salad of ground chicken, long beans, coconut), Bakwan Jagung (corn fritters and the tastiest I ever had)Pepes Ikan (Grilled fish in Banana leaves) Satay Lilit (chicken skewer on lemongrass stick). Also learned, the Tempe Manis (Tempeh with soya sauce). All the dishes were delicious and my favorite one was the grilled fish in Banana leaves, it was so good if you closed you eyes and didn’t know it was fish you would say, it’s chicken. She gave some important tips about cooking fish. Never use garlic when cooking fish, garlic will make the dish taste fishier, always cook fish with ginger, ginger removes the fishy taste and smell and it really does. She also mention that here, if someone is allergic to prawns (they always call shrimp, prawns here), before consumption of prawns if you drink the water of a yellow coconut you will be fine. She brought me the two books of the Dharma Caruban which is a reference on how and why to prepare the offering food. Off course, they eat also the food prepared for offerings, it is fascinating to see the logic behind each ingredients and dish. For example, food for offering must always have a dry(Satay Lilit), moist(Lawar), wet(Jukut Ares) dish. The five key ingredients of Balinese food represent the five sons of the Dharma Wangsa(God) which he had with 5 different wifes, in order to keep peace and harmony between the five sons from different mothers, Kafir Lime is always included as it is acts as an amalgam. Each son represents a symbol. Bigamy is not practice in Bali but in many parts of Indonesia, bigamy prevails. She explained, the religion in Bali is unique to Bali only, when Hindu came to Bali, Balinese had already some form of religion and incorporated both of them, which elucidate why their religion is so intricate.
1-Shallot and Garlic (Yudistira), 2- Greater Galanga Bima),3-Turmeric (Arjuna),4-Lesser galangal (Sahadewa), 5-Ginger (Nakula). Kafir lime is for the wife Drupadi who is wife number one and to keep harmony among the brothers. It is quite fascinating and I am starting to understand why each family has many different holly book, as one contains the medicinal recipes, one contains all the rules of their religion, and one seem to contain the history of the family. These books are always kept in their little temples (each compound has a Temple). For rituals of their Hindu calendar they attend ceremonies at the Big Temple. Everything here happens twice as the calendar is divided in six months, so they have two Christmas, which is not the commercial one we have, but one that you go see family and bring offering. No gifts are exchange, gifts are only given on birthdays. New Year is only once a year.
After the class, my driver took me to the Supermarket, to purchase some Traditional Balinese ingredients. I did not find all of them, here Balinese shop at the market, rarely at the supermarket. I was surprised of the size of the supermarket, bigger than I had imagined. I guess for them, it’s the equivalent of our Wal-Mart’s. From pots and pans, make-up and prepared food like chicken broth. The typical ingredients and fresh vegetables and fruits are purchase at the market. The refrigerate section is different; refrigeration is all in one big room. If you look for milk, vegetables, fruits, ice cream, it’s all in that big room.I was surprised to find a nice bottle of red wine from a Balinese vineyard. A nice and light red wine, perfect for this climate. `
Last night was another big ceremony, the biggest since I have been here. The big Temple is on the other side of the river bank from our hotel. After I had diner, I came back for a mandatory change of clothes and a cold shower as I had to walk back since the shuttle could not make it back due to the high volume of traffic. The amount of people expected is near a million, all coming at different time to the Temple until the little wee hours of the morning. The notice we received at the hotel the previous night, was a legitimate one! At 1:30am a procession of drums and bells following but a crowd having the time of their life, laughing and cheering came roaring down the path just beside my room. At first I taught I was having a dream, as the noise came louder and louder I realize it wasn’t a dream. I was deep asleep and couldn’t go out to watch, beside the point, I would off have to cover myself with clothes , being sleepy and in the darkness I chose to just listen. I was wondering if it had scared the living life of my new roommate! When I return from my cooking class, a tiny slender cat, and I might add, not the best looking cat, was sitting comfortably in my chair just like it was his place. When I approach he saw me and greeted me with a franctic starving meowing and behave has we known each other all our lives, rubbing his frail body around my legs.! I tried to feed him some almond milk, starving but fussy, he did not dare to taste it. I called room service to offer my visitor a good meal and ask for a can of tuna. You can imagine the surprise of the lady answering the phone, she repeated, tuna in a can only? Yes please. I thought it was taking an awful long time for a can of tuna, after awhile, a lady came with a beautiful plate of Tuna Steak with rice and vegetables. She saw my face and asked me if this was, what I ordered, I told her I wanted just Tuna nothing else than she pointed to the cat and I said yes, and the usual, I am sorry, she said no problem, came back almost instantaneously with tuna in a small dish. I asked her where was the bill to sign, she said no it’s ok. I insisted she kept saying no it’s ok. I remember Hani explained something to me about the cat and dogs here. I will need to find out some more in order to find out if this is seem as a good thing or a bad thing that I have a cat?! She said here if you hit a dog and kill it(by accident off course) it’s ok to leave it there (road kill) but if you kill a cat, no one would dare to leave it there. They would have to pick it up and buried the cat. It has something to do with reincarnation.
I left Bambu on the balcony and went to the Temple, it was special, the atmosphere loaded with energy, it was very powerful and joyful. I took lots of a nice photos. A group of young teenagers, all boys, saw me and clap as I approach, obviously proud to be the subject of my photo. They had a great time, laughing and cheering! I took a lot of pictures. I was told more and more Japanese girls are getting married to Balinese, and tonight I saw it was true, they came down with their husband or boyfriend, dressed in the Balinese traditional costume, which is so beautiful and went to the Temple. Apparently, they have the ability to learn the language very fast and I can see why. In a way it is similar, at least the way they pronounce word, is, more accurate I should say, words they don’t pronounced! Here’s an example why I had difficulties understand Hani, who has a very good English. The word in bracket is the word I would think she was saying;
Shallot(Salam), Off(up), Sauce(Sour),Pinch of salt(Pinosal), Shower(Sour). Hundreads off people kept flowing into the Temple, lots of vendors were selling Satay . One man had converted is scooter into a portable clever B.B.Q. I couldn’t believe it, from his makeshift B.B.Q he was selling corn on the cob, I was so tempted to have good organic corn, almost certainly not MGO here, as back home all corn are now control by giants that use only, modified seeds and highly sprayed crop. But they don’t eat it with butter and salt like we do, or mayonnaise , cheese and lime like the Mexicans do,but with some hot and spicy sauce. I saw a lot of foreigners going to the Temple, they are obviously residents of Bali now, who most likely have adhere to the religion as they had the full gear, even the cute little hat, Balinese always wear. The only difference is that theirs is an already formed hat, unlike the Balinese who use something like a scarf (thick material) and have a way to wrap it around their heads, which looks so much better than the pre-formed one. I did not enter the Temple, as a huge line up was forming, and felt rather uncomfortable being in that crowd all alone, if I had someone I would off entered. After a few photos, I went back. Bambu, as I named him, was still on his chair waiting for me. Doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere…
I went to bed, leaving Bambu outside, even if he clearly wanted to sleep inside, meowing at my door. The last thing I need is an infestation of fleas in my clothes and bed! When I woke, shortly after Bambu came in the room, this time not through the door, but through the window. We had walk along the ridges of the roof of the balcony and decided to wake me up! I keep my windows open at all time, there’s no such thing here as a screen window, so geckos and crawlers came come in, you just have to get use to it. Geckos are good, they stay on the perimeter of the room, so they will never go on your bed, but on the floor underneath your bed! They eat all the little insects that crawled around, and it seems like they like to warned you of their presence by making a noise similar to squirls. Here not only my windows are open but my door.If anyone would break in my room, it would be a foreigner not a Balinese. As I was completing this blog, the lady who brought me my coffee this morning, said “cat” and she said, good, cat. So I asked her and she said, cat is good. So, I guess Bambu can stay has as long as he wants, I don’t think any of the staff will chase him away. And he has made himself at home, as I am writing on my usual chair on the balcony he decided to find one too, the one in my bedroom! He liked the Bali milk used for my coffee. My sister would love him, as he is a calico cat but with the face of a Siamese, quite different from my cute pussy, with a fluffy round face that awaits for me, back home!
I guess the gods have a way to keep providing here, as I did feel a little lonely, I am not used to be by myself this long, and I miss the presence of the people that are dear to me. So they sent me Bambu, I must mention another funny thing happen, I received an e-mail from Western Union saying there is money being sent to me, to present myself with the control number at the nearest location. I thought this was strange, I didn’t ask anyone to send me money. I had e-mail my daughter, but I still didn’t receive a reply, so I went to one of their branch, gave the lady the control number and she said I needed it to fill a form, which requires the name of the sender, she said I need to know who is the sender. I told her my story and she said it was strange.I left the building with feeling her look, probably thinking I was just a crazy tiurist! I came back the day, with my computer to show her the e-mail, she was baffled to, she said it was the real thing, the e-mail is exactly one someone would received if money was being transfer, the number had the right amount of numbers but was invalid. Now, she believed me, that I did not know the sender. She laughs with me, and she said, sorry, this is very strange!Back in my taxi, Dewa and I laugh some more, thinking, the gods are trying to send me money! Dewa did not believed I had won the contest the next day after the ceremony, I had to show him the e-mail! I cannot help to think, what’s next?

Taman Rahasia cooking lesson

2010-03-05T17:54:00.000-08:00

Taman Rahasia
Today I had cooking lesson at Taman Rahasia which means “secret garden”. It is a cure little place just down the road from where I am. Small and intimate where the focus is mainly on its guest, who’s many are on a honeymoon and they have a few honeymoon suites .The owner is a lady in her 70’s from Florida, who’s husband pass away and decided to move to Ubud. Her daughter has since married a Balinese. I could see this happening to my daughter if destiny would let me move here. She would fall in love with their spirituality, their respect for womens and how they are so handsome!. My teacher is Hani, a bright and lively nice young woman. The cooking class is fascinating and so easy to make but very unique. As much as I do lots of inspirational cooking (which I teach you how in my book), I would off never thought of these combination of food which are very unique to Bali. Everything is so tasty and fresh. Surprisingly, easy to make, when you have the ingredients handy.
I learn a lot today and again we ate everything we cooked. Hani was allowed to join me and I most say I enjoyed our conversation just as much if not more as the cooking class. She is knowledgeable, bright, spiritual and she graduated from University with a very good English. I am still having difficulty understanding some words, as they have a way to pronounce some letters, for example J sounds like D to me. I could not pronounced the name of my hotel, now I know why, because I was trying to pronounce from reading. Tjumpuhan is pronounced in Balinese Tchampuan! Her father was a priest and she enlighted me with many of the intricate and complex culture of the Balinese people. We talk about black magic and white magic. Still practiced here only by a small minority. She is a Reiki master, this really surprised me and presently studying Linchi, which I have never heard of, that is unlikely for me, to be unfamiliar with a type of Holistic approach. Apparently, Linchi originates from Tibet. I will have to do more research in order to find out more about Linchi. She also help me understand the cast system. I knew they have 4 cast family here, but did not understand their cast system, each cast family as a name, here you will find thousands of Made. The cast here are not like India, which if you come from a low cast you are most likely better dead than alive, as their entire life is misery. Very, degrading to human being. Here it relates to the work trade of the first families in Bali. For example Made might mean Sailor, Ketut means servant. The servant family may marry into the sailor family or the priest family, it is acceptable. Accepted but not encouraged! And here there is just as many Ketut as Made or Wyhan. Many of you have heard the name Kutut Liyer from the book” eat pray and love”. I have received many comments as to rather I would go receive a palm reading from him. Here, is reputation is one that his too old, to be accurate at reading palms. He is known here for being a spiritual person that has the destiny to clear the bad energy before you go to the other side, he is also known for being a medicinal man and an artist. Ketut never attended University or anything remotely close to, Medicine man or woman is sacred knowledge pass from generations to generations. The holy book(medicinal book) is ancient and pass to the next generation. In the Western world we don’t believe in knowledge pass from generations to generations, we believe in a piece of paper, as diplomas are the only thing people trust, which is sad, there is people with far more knowledge and never attended University, and are never taken seriously, often having to practice illegally because no one(the system) will give them the chance to show their knowledge and give them a certificate, as one can only be obtain from coming out of a school! Here, you are revered! If you ask around Bali, everyone knows Ketut, but they don’t really know him as they just know of him. Hani on the other hand, really knows him, he attended her wedding ceremony and came for a blessing, probable one that clears bad energy as well! She has a picture to prove it. Hani agrees with me, going there for a palm reading might be very deceiving. I read articles about his superstar status since the book became a best-seller and the long line of tourist hoping to have some life changing prediction from him. Apparently he says the same to everyone, I met a couple of women that went to see him and were extremely upset, he said the same thing to all three of them, one was told she had a good husband, she is here trying to recover from her husband leaving her for another woman! So no, I will not go see Ketut, but I might check out his place to see if the hype about him is real. I am also curious to understand how people think, as many come here, just because of the book, which was not my case, and by the way, I am so sick of people telling me “ oh!just like the book, eat, pray and love” no, I am not here to find love, although it would be the ideal place for.I am here to write a cookbook and I am not trying to rein act the adventures and outcome of her book! Many come here in the hope of having the same outcome, you should come to Bali or anywhere in this world without any expectations, that is how you have the best time and when things really happen to you.
Back to my cooking class I learned so much today, and again I was the only one in class as I will be tomorrow as well. Hani answered a lot of my questions and I asked if there was a book about the culture of Bali, she said no, it’s never been done. I have wanted to come to Bali for probably a good 20 years long before Bali became famous through the book, and I own every book about Bali already at home, they are mostly Bali architecture books. The ceremonies they have here really makes sense, in April there is one to celebrate the energy of the trees, they will go around and bless each tree with some kind of preparations . I always believe trees are more than just trees, my mother would tell us to lean on the tree with our back against a birch tree and talk to the tree, she believed the tree would hear us. The more I know the more I am wondering if James Cameron did not take his inspiration for the fundamental of his film Avatar right here in Bali. Today, I jump a few time, they are starting to fire their fire crackers. It is to chase the bad energy go away and leave only good energy for the new Year coming up, which is Nyepi day.
Also, today I heard for the first time since I have been here, sirens going up the road than coming back. An accident must of happen up the road but it made me realize how seldom you hear ambulance and police cars here. We are in a very busy town with constant traffic, with just under a million soul living here. Don’t matter if its 9am or Noon, it is a sport here to successfully cross any streets, as they don’t stop and there is only a few crosswalk. Accident are rare incidence here, and people with medical emergency are even more rare. Just in the small town where my boutique is, we hear sirens every day!We had torrential rain again for about ½ hour, the air is fresher, it is nice for a change. Many Germans arrive today at the hotel, which by the way Hani told me, this place is owned by the Royal Family of Ubud, Ubud is now a democracy, the kings family and Palace is right here in town. People are highly respectful of the king and his family. That is why we have the beautiful carved caves in the lagoon, because only them could afford such expense.
I spoke with a couple from Australia, and made the mistake to ask if they were from England, he was all insulted that I taught he was from England. Why, does everybody think they are better than anybody!? He seems to think that his accent should off been a give away as to whom he’s from. I explained to him, as a French person, the subtle difference between English and Auzzie is not noticeable for me.
I did not go and try another restaurant tonight as I have to catch up with my book and tomorrow is another big day. Time sure goes fast.
This place is so cute! I received a notice in my room;
Please be advised that there is a religious ceremony at Gunung Lebah Temple to celebrate the anniversary of the Temple from March 3 till 7th. This will involve a series of rituals to cleanse and bless the Temple. Festivities are on 6th of March will continue into the evening with a performance of Calonarang, a sacred dance symbolizing the eternal battle between good and evil. As a result of this Temple Anniversary, which is considered a most auspicious event on our religious calendar, there will be increased noise which possible audible from the hotel. Members of the local Balinese community will come throughout the day to pray and watch the performance.
We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate you kind understanding. (exact replica of the letters with typos).

The Gods have provided!

2010-03-04T06:15:00.000-08:00

I will not start on how my day began, but with a unique and powerful moment I had. I went to my appointment for a traditional Mandi Lulur massage. I had no idea what the massage was traditionally good for, it was decided by the staff this was the kind of massage I needed it to sooth my skin inflammation. I am more and more allergic to the sun, I have not lay under the sun, but walking everywhere, the upper part of my chest, my neck and shoulders have itchy bumps that are getting bigger and bigger every day. I only learn the healing properties of this massage as I was writing about it, having found a good description in my guest book. This massage is supposedly the epitome of Balinese Massage. I was in another section of the spa that I had not discovered yesterday, further down the river, just as perfect as the other section and more private. My masseuse was a frail looking lady, but very kind, she was experienced and older than the majority of masseuse in Bali. Here, you should never judge a masseuse by it looks, just like you don’t judge a book by its cover! She was very good and thorough. They have a way here, to really massage deep into the muscles without you feeling you are ironing your breast into the massage table. It is never uncomfortable, and believe me, they massage with all their strength, and if you could take more pressure, they still have more strength to give you. She even massages my hand so well it feels real good. I realized doing the same thing over and over really does have an effect, very quickly on your body. It’s only been a few days since I constantly write; my hands have already knots in them. After over an hour or so she applies the warm scrub all over my body. The warm liquid is comforting and the beguiling scents induce instant relaxation. I asked what the scrub was made of; Rice powder, sandalwood and Jasmine. Sandalwood is an ancient scent and a masculine one, Jasmine is a floral and feminine scent. Sandalwood has a way to take my mind travel into ancient time, every time I feel going back in the past and I feel a deep connection. Sandalwood is often use in meditation and exotic perfume recipe. Sandalwood is a raw material, from a tree.It is not considered an endangered species,yet, but it has been depleted greatly from the planet. Sandalwood is now protected in many countries. Now some regulations are in place. I hope Sandalwood, will recover in time, and that people will use it in moderation. Sandalwood is one of the most spiritual scent used in the world, especially in Asian countries. As I lay there with my eyes closed, listening to the background, the river flowing the birds and crickets, I have never experience the real thing, very few have, but we all experienced it on CD! I am thinking how fortunate I am to be here, how thankful I am to life. Life wasn’t always easy for me, I was not dealt a good set of cards like many have.But it is all behind me now.You do choose some part of your destiny. If you love life like I do and savor every moment you can, and appreciate beauty when you see it, it is a profound experience to here. I am happy I made the choice to come here and I am thankful for the present. It all sounds so easy, but I chose to make a lot of sacrifices to be here. I drive a car that most of you would be too embarrassed to drive and I never pamper myself with pedicure, hairdresser or anything like that, unless I have a special occasion. I have worked harder than anybody I know; many days I worked 14- 15 hours. When I will return, there will be more sacrifice, but it is worth every moment. I am in that moment, thinking of all this, thinking of what happen to me this morning and suddenly the tears just rolled out from the corner of my eyes and I cannot stop it. My masseuse is all worry she did something wrong, I told her not to worry, I am happy. I don’t think she can grasp that one can cry from happiness. But I cannot control the flow of tears, I suddenly realize that I came here with a certain emotional baggage. I have been under stress for over a year, financial stress, work related stress, and my husband accident was the peak of my stress before coming here. I did not know how to tell him, I was leaving him for a month, I just didn’t have the heart to tell him, things weren’t supposed to happen this way, I didn’t know at the time, my husband was not going to be ok alone. For many years now, I always say, nothing turns out the way you plan them, I have since learned not to plan anything, but this trip did required some planning. I really left it to its bare minimum. People did not believe I did not know where I was going to stay, because I knew it would all happen when I would get here. If I had planned any of this, none would off turn out this good! We all have a certain baggage, some carry it for years. I realized I was having what we call” a release”. Everything I had hold inside me, all the tensions and stress, all came out today. If your ead these lines, and drop a tear, you also need a release, call my daughter for an Indian Head massage, many of our customers have releases during the massage. I had only experience release with this kind of massage before, no other massage ever did it for me, till today.What made this release so powerful, as you all know, I participated in yesterday’s ceremony, for two days I did what they do, and ask the gods to bring me enough money to have a good life. For the last two days, the ceremonies were about money and gold. As I was having breakfast before going for my massage, I opened my emails. There it was, I couldn’t help letting out, a loud, Oh! My god! I received an official confirmation that I won a trip for two, a value of $14 000! I cannot reveal the details of this trip or my prize, before I actually go on the trip, as official pictures will be taken and publish in a well known magazine. I never participate in any contest, this one was a fluke, I was trying to find a recipe on a web site, a contest application was on the first page and I taught “why not”, I had forgotten all about it, till today. Now, I am hoping that the lottery ticket I purchased for the 50 million draw, also turned into a winner with the help of the gods over here. Thankfully, my masseuse left the room, so that the warm liquid has time to dry, as the liquid dries I try to dry my tears! Then she returns to scrub my body. Then it’s the other side’s turn, and it feels just as good. As I was waiting for the paste to dry, a really different noise came from the river, I asked her what it was, she said, bird, a bird? The sound was more like a mammal of some kind, similar to a monkey, she said no, no monkey here (thank god!) pointed to the river and said, yes, look. It was really a bird, a cross between a duck and a bird. Here, most people cannot have a conversation with you, their English is very basic. In school they have to learn two languages, Balinese and Indonesian. Very little English is taught in class. They learn most of it from their contact with tourist. They only learn what they need to know. The fortunate who attends University, get to learn good English. So, our conversation is, words. If I say, would you mind if I use the bathroom, I lose her, if I saw bathroom, she know what I want. After the scrub she applies a yogurt, it is cold and refreshing. The yogurt here smells good and sweet, but it is not sweeten, so I tried to find out if it was the milk from the cows or the goats. All I could get out of her was “milk”. I know it is made with milk but not sure which milk! After rinsing, she ran a bath filled with flower petals; frangipani, Calendula, roses and one more that I could not remember the name. She made me a wonderful cup of fresh ginger and honey tisane. While I was in the bath she brought another cup, this time, lemon and honey. She said I had to drink it. And again in the tub I contributed to fill out the tub with more tears. I cannot believe I won something, finally it’s my turn, and I can’t believe how fortunate I am to be here healthy and happy, most importantly, alive! I have not felt like this in a long time. To often we take things for granted, I don’t. Too often we forget to appreciate life and its small moment. For me beauty is not a Louis Vuitton bag, for me beauty is what Bali is all about.
Later on, I found this description of the massage; “Detoxifying & stimulating herbal skin preparation, flush away all tension, followed by a cooling yoghurt rub for PH balance, with the final touches of Bali flowers bath and fresh pressed herbal tonic”. If there is orthographic mistake, it is how I found the text!
Looking for the description I also found this warning, that you should be aware, if one day you wish to visit Bali. I thought the notice was cute.
The hotel is nestled on a piece of hillside landscape that descends down to a valley and there are plenty of steps and ledges. We are also located just 8 degrees south of the equator it is considered a tropical island with humid weather conditions that attract many species of reptiles and insects. Please be aware that although our housekeeping staff cleans on a daily basis, you may encounter geckos, ants and small bugs in your room. These creatures are part of the Islands eco-system and are completely harmless.
The massage, was well over an hour, the scrub and bath another hour. Cost $33.00 including tax! Not only did the massage heal my bumps but it flushed all the tensions, tensions I didn’t even know I had! We had rain today, a nice fresh breeze came down after ,so I decided to walk downtown for diner. My diner was $6 (meal, dessert and a drink). I very seldom eat dessert, but as I was in the restaurant another cloud of torrential rain came down, I was in a small remote street, there is no taxi in those areas. The roads are too small, they are more an ally than a street. Those little streets are where you find the best deal for food and shopping. Their business is part of the compound where they have lived for generations. I got to observe their daily routine as well. The Grand-Mother brings a new offering basket, in front of the steps where everyone comes in. She splashes some water over the basket , similar to our Christening, I could tell she was saying a prayer or a blessing. Than the Grand-Father comes around to light all the candles of the Temple, the candles are all in an alcove hand carved just for them. Then he burns incense. The son and wife run the restaurant, and the kids hang around without being fussy or loud. I knew the rain would eventually stop and it did, just in time for my return, but I had to have a dessert to justify my over extended stay. With all this, I spent just, a little less than a hundred dollars, including my room! Where else can you have this kind of day? And believe me, my $6 dollars meal was good, I have yet to have a bad meal here. The food is good everywhere. You don’t need to worry if the lettuce you are eating, or the ice in your drink will make you ill. I have not meant anyone yet, that has had cramps or diarrhea. This place would be the apogee for Corey Mintz from the Toronto star newspaper! The food here is vibrant in taste and colors, just like, I like my food to be, also you cannot find this kind redolence and freshness in Toronto.

Tjampuhan

2010-03-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

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?

Your majesty is coming for lunch!

2010-03-02T04:13:00.000-08:00

The title of this blog represents how I felt today. I must say the Balinese people excel at making you feel welcome! The private driver for Waka di Ume picked me up at 8:00am. I was introduce to Puspa, and she announced that she’s the one teaching me, today. Atmasari works in administration, my mistake. The driver drops us off at the Ubud Market. Across from the market there is a Temple, and there is a gathering of men preparing food, she explains they are preparing food for tomorrow's celebration, which also happens once every six month according to the Balinese calendar. I asked what was the different between the Roman calendar and the Balinese. Theirs is 35 days, New Year is coming up and as you would expect here, a very special event. Which I invite you to follow, March 15th. It is called Nyepi. On March 15th it is a big party all over Bali, something like New Year eve, people dance and drink. Nyepi day is the next day, which is a silent day. The International airport will be close, no one is allowed to drive, fly, etc, or to come out of their house. Also, no one is allowed to speak a word! This will be an interesting day for a foreigner. But tomorrow the ceremony is to honour Sabuh Pis, and Sabuh Mas, Pis for money and Mas for gold. The men are preparing Sate sticks made with pork. I took a picture of this unique gathering of men all sitting on the floor of a temple preparing food for a huge crowd. It is kind of hard to keep up with all these ceremonies, there is for shure no dull moment in Bali! Then, she hands me a shopping list of fresh items we must buy for the cooking class. I am the only one to attend the class. The market is wet and a bit muddy today, as it rained last night. Right away, I liked her, we are like best friend right away. We start with buying some offering baskets and a special one for the Mas and Pis offering. I bought three and offered her one. This offering is to bring more money and more gold into our lives, and my life sure could use more of both! She showed me the vegetable section, which was very helpful, as I go to Asian market all the time, and still find vegetables here I have never seen, like water spinach, and a different kind of fern, red spinach and so much more. Next, is the meat and fish, which she admits the sanitary condition or not for a first class hotel and we will not buy any meat or fish here, the hotel as better and safer supplier for their kitchen. Ouff! When I saw the list, I taught I would have to buy the fish sitting in some kind of juice, right on the plastic tablecloth, that is probably never sterilized! I saw the breakfast meal they have every morning, I am not sure I would trade my cereal for that, but it is definitely healthy. It consist of some rice cooked with vegetables, hard boiled eggs cooked in spices, fried tofu and some liquid spice mixture. They also have an energy drink, that looks like green slime, she says for them it is like jell-o, accompanied by a pink rice gelatin.They mix both together in a glass and drink it. She kindly offer me to try, but I thought it might be too early for me! I did agree to try the rice with vegetables, and it is cool how they use nature here. She scoop the rice mixture into a banana leave made into a cone, than staple the leaves together and here’s my bowl. I never did get to tasted it, as we forgot. Next, is the fruit section, just as fascinating. Now, I will get answer to all my question. Remember, I was telling you about a fruit that looks like a snake skin, well it is actually called snake skin fruit! Later on, in the traditional Balinese kitchen she showed me, the tree of the snake skin fruit is use to make a grater, pretty amazing, it looks like someone nailed a bunch of nails into this piece of wood, but it is actually natural in the wood. They use this to grate nutmeg coconut and more. Than we go to the spice lady, we buy lesser galangal, galangal , fresh turmeric, coriander , pepper, shrimp paste, Chilly pepper, candle nut which is in fact Macadamia nut , salam leaf, ginger, garlic, shallots. Then she said she wants to show me Balinese traditional costume. There is only one way to shop in Bali, in the morning, for them the first customer is good luck, and that is when they are ready to give you a real good deal. On the way to the second floor of the market, which by the way is huge (3 floors) we saw a lady selling gold. First time I see gold here, it is silver everywhere. Apparently tourists like silver better. I did read before coming here, that the craftsmanship here is unique and pass from generation to generation, nothing comes out of the mold here, it is all hand made. A beautiful ring cut my eye, mounted with a beautiful star ruby, my preferred semi-precious stone. The gold on its own, is a piece of art! The gold is a different color than the ones we see at home and is litter, like India’s gold. That is because it is 21karat. She really wanted to sell it to me, the price was a fraction of what it would cost in Canada with a 10karat ring. Puspa explained to me that is was important for her to sell the ring today not tomorrow as the ceremony for gold is today. Than she pointed at the offering basket, wow, this woman had big hopes, a huge basket filled with offering even the smooked wing of duck! But I didn’t have enough rupies, and she would not take American money, Puspa tried to assure her I was giving her the correct amount of money and the money was actually better than rupies. She was too afraid, so we didn’t make a deal. So, in her desperation to sell me the ring we went from a price to a Balinese price, almost half less! Even if I didn’t buy anything, we had fun Puspa was all over the gold and she said she was a diamond girl, she commented that she needed a sugar daddy that her husband would not buy her diamonds. I was stunt by such a statement and ask if Bali actually had sugar daddies, she laugh some more, no, I heard about it from foreigners! I also had to negotiate for a sarong, the one I wanted was too expensive and explain I could get this for lot less in Canada, first time something here is more than back home, she said it was ceremonial qualityl and for her to buy it at Balinese price, it was $100.00. I declined and bought a beautiful piece of silk for $40 instead. I also, find that the most beautiful sarong are the men’s. I was starting to hope I didn’t buy a shopping class but a cooking class. Ouff, we are walking out, not without buying the most amazing fruits. Dragon fruit back home, is $7 a piece, here I paid $1, she made the lady give me back change! So I paid .80 and bought some Rambutan, they are so delicious. It looks like a lychee but with long red hair. Inside is a bigger lychee, juicy, sweet and so fresh!
Once at Waka di Ume, she takes me to the restaurant, on a beautiful terrase overlooking the paddy fiels and overlooking at Ubud. She offers me a coffee. This must be the best coffee I ever had, here the coffee is strong, not bitter at all and so smooth, it feel s like liquid chocolate with a coffee taste. I asked her if the coffee is from Java she said no Bali, special coffee for us! Then, she goes on to serve other customers while I sip my coffee. I was surprised to find out she was not allowed to sit with the guest.
We walk toward to paddy fields and I am thinking, where is she taking me now? She is giving a tour of their organic garden. The kitchen is outside, beside the garden and an exact replica of the traditional Balinese kitchen.We are right at the edge of the paddy field. It was so beautiful and, I got all emotional, it brought tears to my eyes, I felt so privilege to experience this. I feel the urge to become a Japanese tourist and snap ahundreads of photos, this is just too exclusive, too unique. The tools, the kitchen, the clay containers. I feel like a kid in a candy shop. And, we are having such a good time. The chef comes over, is name is Made Cakra, pronounced just like Chakra. There is so much to learn here, I am not sure a lifetime is enough, imagine a month. They always write their name with the family names first, than the first name last. When it is a men, there’s an I in front of the man, when it’s a woman it’s a NI, when you correspond with someone, if you don’t know if the name is for a men or a women those initial make things clear. This would be helpful in the Western countries, with such names as; Carol, Rene, Claude (The French are the worst for this). So , I apologize to my driver, which I thought his name was Dewa, his names is actually Ngurah, which now I cannot remember or pronounced! So far, I have too much going on to elaborate on the last names, which is almost another lesson on its own and will keep this for a further posting, as I am sure my days will not be all as exciting as this past week. Cakra hands me this beautiful leather menu, with a dozen pages, that is the directive and recipes for all 4 dish I will learn today. On the menu; Wong Soup (spicy clear mushroom and vegetables soup),Bumbu Kuning (the basic sauce for everything), Sate Lilit (Grilled minced shrimp and tuna served with vegetables and peanut), Kolak Pisang (Boiled banana in coco nut milk with palm sugar, fruits and coconut). As he was feeding the fire with wood, I asked what kind of wood this was and he said, Tamarind. I express that I love Tamarind and would love to learn a dressing made with Tamarind. He made a phone call, next I know someone is bringing over some Tamarind paste and he will show me a dressing. Unfortunately, I forget the name and it is not on my menu, but I will e-mail Puspa to find out. With my little menu book, I also have half dozen more recipes. We had so much fun, and their cuisine is what a call food with a soul. The Bumbu Kuning is so good and so easy to make. But you need the Balinese Mortar and pestle to do it. Probably weights around 100 lbs and it is pass from generation to generation. It is a very impressive tool. For everything I made, I was than invited to sit at a cute table above the rice fields, and them at my service. Again, they were not allowed to sit with me, so for the other dish I just sat with them in the kitchen and we eat together. And chat some more, they had a few famous people doing this class. The most amazing dish is the Sate Lilit, you can experience this staple of Bali in almost just any restaurant. It looks like lollipop and they thought this was funny, it really looks like a lollipop! Again this dish is made in the big mortar, we puree the tuna and the shrimp with the ingredients and the sauté Bumbu Kuning. At home a blender would do the job , or better a food processor. Than we make like meat balls and form them into a lemon grass stick or bamboo stick. We grilled them on a real Balinese B. B.Q which is pretty basic and we make the coals from the Tamarind wood. So good, I end up coming home with a dozen lollipops. Than the desert was just as heavenly.ade with boiled bananas and palm sugar, which is the healthiest form of sugar humans can have. It is similar to “sucre a la crème “from Quebec! After dessert, we made the tamarind dressing and ate it with fresh vegetables. Very good, although, slightly on the hot side. At the end, I am ended a certificate, that is worth framing it is so beautiful and with my picture on it! Then, they drive me back home. Puspa has offered me to teach how they make coconut oil, right in her kitchen. I cannot refuse this kind of offer. Here, they make the coconut oil every time they need it, always fresh. Coconut oil is also the only oil that is healthy for cooking. I actually talk about this subject in my book. Before I leave, she made me put my rings and my neckless with hers in the offering basket, we took pictures and exchange prayers.
Once at my hotel, I just have time to settle my bill, Ngurah is right on time at the time we had agreed. Now, settle in my new place, I feel like I am in a palace. My room is so nice and private, with a beautiful balcony overlooking at the ravine, which nice chair and a table. Best of all, I have light here, I can write outside, there is a nice breeze, this is so refreshing. I learn today that West Bali is hotter than here, I don’t think I ever want to go West Bali, I can barely manage this kind of heat, and we are in rainy season, imagine summer! I have a real closet, a fridge in my room, beautiful comfortable bed and a real table to write so good light. The other place was so wired weird, at night I had to walk around with my flash light. Dangerous task, going down the steep stairs, in the middle of the night. Here, you drink lots of water , so, you go pee more often. as, I was leaving, a woman came to the front desk, she was white not Balinese, I asked the young men at the desk, if she work here, he said yes, she does sacro facial therapy, he said why, she has very bad ebergy, he cracked up laughing, you psychic! Yes, very bad energy, you are good! Maybe that's what it is, people that come here, are here to try to be happy in life, but they think that receiving a bunch of spa treatgment will heal them from their heavy lugguage! It seem everyone is, I dealing with issues. But I am happy I came here, if I had not come here, I would off never met Mr. Taylor! I will have to get use to the array of birds and je ne sais quoi, making all these sounds, we are after all, in the jungle here. Thank god, I don’t see Monkeys here, after a few encounters with monkeys in Sri Lanka, I am glad there is not one in sight! You constantly have to chase them away, they come to your room and just help themselves, when you scare them, they want to attack. I also found out, I wasn’t crazy, there is a nocturnal bird here and a few, I saw one last night, I wasn’t sure if it was a giant moth, a bat or a bird. Puspa, told me it was a bird. |This place also has a shuttle that take us in the middle of Ubud of at Monkey Forest Road, where the monkeys are. The place I had originally booked with the lady I met, is on that road near by the monkeys. But after walking and going back to the place to see the room again, I knew this was not for me, not matter how cheap it was. It is very noisy and crowded, it is even warmer there. A few people told me, the monkeys do hang around. That’s it from previous experience it seemed like Monkeys follow me. So, I am happy to be in my palace, I truly feel like a queen today. This place is alive! Good vibrant energy, weird tourist here all say hello!People are smiling, and I hear them from my balcony, signing as they walk by. I am happy in my new PalacePuspa told me, here the men do the dishes, one more reason for me to move here. I still hope, that this place I saw yesterday is met for me. I wish my husband could fly here, now, to come and see it. But this is no place for wheel chairs, as he still hasn’t fully recovered from his injuries, Bali, as much it is beautiful and welcoming, is not a place for wheel chairs, as everything is scattered around, going up and down stairs everywhere you go. Most places are buildt around hills and ravine.
To complete this day, I want to mention how respectful and grateful Balinese people are, yesterday I received an e-mail from Ngurah (Dewa) thanking me for my kindness, and poor me, I don’t know what kindness he is referring to? The lunch, my trust in him, or something more subtle? In return, I thank him for his kindness, as here they are honest about the taxi fares and everything you ask them. I wish I could do something for him. Today he explained to me his wife is 11 days pregnant, I am not sure how one could know to the exact day, but they went for special treatment today, so they have a boy. I guess here, success is more achieved by a complete family than money. Apparently here, they have special treatment to ensure, it will be a boy. I thought the sex was predeterminated at the moment of conception, but you never know ,a bit of magic here can go a long way! I truly hope they have a boy. All the best to them.

The chance of a lifetime

2010-02-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

Today, I had the most amazing day of my life, no, this is too big of a statement, let me rephrase, in a long time. I am speechless about humanity and how faith works. I don’t quite know where to start so I will start from the beginning. Couple days ago, I received the most amazing facial paired with a facial massage. Because of what I do, I wanted to compliment my 100% natural custom made skin care, with something that I seen and experience in India, which is a rejuvenating facial massage. I believe this massage is far more effective than any $300.00 cream or botox! In India, the woman that works in spa do it to each other once a week. Their skin is almost wrinkle free and they are twice my age. They live in harsh condition combined with very toxic pollution and daily sun exposure. All the right ingredients to have a skin that aged and wrinkles faster than nature intended. Despite all odds, these woman, had the most beautiful facial feature, even if they were twice my age. I was lucky to witness that massage in person, and I have search since to find someone that can teach me. This massage also works with the Marma points. Marma-points originates from Ayurveda, which I am a lifetime learner of, since it is a very ancient science from India. One day the Western world will discover the Marma-point and it will be the next “big” thing to do. For me it is not about trends, but about its efficacy and common sense. The skin of a face cannot look radiant if it has congestion, blockage and overload of toxins. Massaging the Marma points, helps those liquid system behind our skin to transport nutrients and to eliminate toxins. It also works with energy. When you constantly trigger those points, action happens and the flow starts to happen. The massage itself, helps smooth the skin, almost like ironing the wrinkles with a magic cream! I have a very deep, what I call,a worry mark on my forehead, it disappeared for two days! I couldn’t believe it. I knew how powerful the massage was, but never experience right before my eyes such quick results. Imagine this massage combine with a moisturizer that is pure and potent! So, I couldn’t help asking the girl, where on earth did she learn to do this massage? She told me his name and she said he was a chiropractor from California. She also mentioned, that he actually trained the entire staff, in all the different types of massages. I asked her, if I could get a hold of him, she said to ask at the front desk, because he lived in Bali. I did ask, they gave me his phone number, I was petrify to call him. I have is phone number since Friday and I had to gather my courage to call him this morning at 9:45am. To my surprise, he accepted to see me at his place. So I call, my nice Balinese driver I met yesterday, and he came right over to pick me up. I couldn’t believe how well they pay attention, the front desk call him for me, when they handed me the phone he said, oh! Hi Lena, not only did he remember my name but my voice, well, I guess with my accent it's a good give away! We drove through another part of Ubud that I did not know, from the street the place didn't look like much, and I was surprised a westerner would live in this part of town. You quickly change your mind after entering the gates. What a beautiful compound! A very nice and kind man, he greeted me at the gate, even if he as trouble walking. He is not a spring chicken anymore, but neither am I! But his eyes are still full of life and vitality, a man with passion, and a man with good vibes. My first impression and contact was reassuring for me, as I was venturing to the unknown, one my own! As we walk through the estate, I am speechless, how fortunate one would be to live here, overlooking the peaceful rice paddies in this splendid property. After a nice discussion, which he told me a few things about himself and I told him, about myself, he agreed to teach me the massage, next Monday. I was shock to find out, he was the actual founder of the place where I am staying. Then, he tells me he has a proposition to tell me. I didn’t not expect, such a statement, but I am all ears. He explains to me that he wants to sell, as matter of fact there is people visiting the property right after me. He expressed that he would like to sell to someone that would turn this place, into a nice retreat place, a place of healing. A much better health retreat than what is already in Bali. He says that he was able to build this place with the money he made since arriving in Bali, which I am assuming he arrived here with very little money. He said he would help me with the business model and every details and training, required to open such a place. He said I could easily, have an income of $3000.00 to $4000.00 a week with only a few guest, as this is the kind of place, that has a good ratio per guest 1-3 (3 staff for one person) instead of the opposite. I explained to him, that this would be a dream come true, as I have fond my Dharma, and my Dharma is to help people heal, and these intentions are pure, and money, is not what drives my intentions! But I don’t have a dime to my name, at this moment, I took every penny I had left, to take one last chance and do something that is important to me. I hope writing my book, will be rewarding financially but if it isn’t, I least I did it, and I am sure the experience will have enriched me, in many ways, other than financially. I live for the moment, not for the money. So, I made him an offer, since I cannot afford to buy his place, but I could run the place for him, he would not have to move out of here, and he would be financially secure. He explained to me, it is not what he wants and the reasons why he wants to part with this place. His reasons are very legitimate, the place as many stairs and like any compound in Bali, nothing is just the next room, it is more the next building. He does have a hard time to walk around and I don’t blame him for wanting a peaceful retirement, without worries are duties. I explained to him, I was much honored and deeply touch by his offer and confidence in me, but I cannot afford to buy his place. Then he asked me, if I would pass the world around, and I said yes, even if deeply I want to keep this secret to myself. I am already thinking, how I could buy this place. The sad part is, what he is asking for,is less than any property I could buy in Caledon where my business is at the present moment. I thought for sure, he was going to say $2 or $3 million dollars, nope! As,I promised him to spread the word around, you can take a look for yourself, how beautiful his property his. He gave me a tour of the entire property, and yes, with very little changes this place could be turn into a health retreat. For more details, and feel free to pass this around, visit; www.griyashanti.com. You can tell this men knows what he is doing and when he does something he does it well, take a look at his web site and you will understand what I mean. Now, is there anyone back home, than can go and buy me a lottery ticket?! He actually told me his bottom price, it would be nothing to gather with partners, but people are not risk taker like me. I always go for my passion, not my security, because I always believe, life will take care of me, and so far, it always have! I hop back into my chauffer’s car, light as a feather and so thrill, this stranger that does not know me, had such a good exchange with me and better, I didn’t come there with any expectations, I was only inquiring, how I could learn this massage.Our next stop, is Waka di Ume, which I am schedule to meet with Atmasari, for my cooking lesson. To my surprise Atmasari, was a women. It is funny how you picture people you’ve been in contact with and it is never what you imagine! A tiny, vibrant women, I can’t wait to learn with her. You can see a picture of Atmasari and the kitchen I will be learning Balinese cuisine at; www.wakadiumeubud.com, click on the Balinese cooking lesson. The kitchen is outdoor and so inspiring. This resort, is up the hill from where I am now, in the rice paddies, overlooking at Ubud. It is far from my budget and I was embarrassed, when, while waiting for Atmasari, a Balinese brought me a fresh cold towel, fragrant with pure essential oils, gently inserted a frangipani flower, into my hair (this variety of Frangipani is unique to Bali and very fragrant, the flower is so beautiful, it looks like a fake flower) than he offered me the most refreshing drink, I ever had. Nice and cold Coconut water, with fresh coconut and lime. We have this drink at Ubud Sari, but they always serve it at room temperature, which is not always pleasant, and definitely impart a different flavor. I was so hot, that I could not refuse the gesture, but first I asked Atmasari if he knew I was not a guest here, she replyed, it didn’t matter as it was the custom here. My last stop, at least, that’s what I thought, was a place I wanted to visit since I got here, little bit more expensive but from what I saw on internet so beautiful. I wanted to see, if they were willing to give me a better deal if I stay longer than a week, I also wanted to visit the rooms, to make sure it was good for me. Their web site is lacking a photo gallery, if they did have one, the place would be fully booked at all time. Where I am now, is very nice, and very cute, but not convenient for me. I am sitting at a Japanese table all day long, this means my but is literally on the hard wood floor all day. Not to mention, the tiny aunts that are crawling all over me, my table and my papers! The thin cushion does not do much anymore and my back is killing me. It could be a good excuse to have more massages, but I am here to write not to be pampered, even if the temptation is at every corner you walk, I must restrain myself from spoiling myself! After all, I can always come back! Also, there is something about the energy of this place, that is not sitting right with me. Now, after meeting with Mr. Taylor, I know why. These are details I cannot reveal, as I respect his privacy and the ones of others.But,this place has a story, and that is the energy I feel,and I guess felt so heavy than it made me decide to look somewhere else. When we arrived to Tjampuhan, which I can’t even pronounce, I was speechless, how beautiful the property was. And there, I taught where I was, beautiful! The entire property is built on the cliff with a stunning view over a jungle ravine. I could not believe it, there is a breeze here, I though Bali was breezeless! The room as a nice balcony overlooking the ravine, I have a table and a chair on marble floor; I wouldn’t have to write inside all day. Where I am now, the only place I can sit, is the floor inside, outside is for the fish and the vegetation! When I first arrived, I knew right away, this was the kind of place I could not afford and I was right, when he pointed me the rate chart, I swallowed my saliva with deception. I could not afford to stay here. I quite don’t know how it happen, I managed to have the room, for the same cost as where I am now, with the promise not to tell a soul, of how much I am paying! I will keep my promise. But you can check out this paradise on earth at; www.hoteltjampuhan.com you will have a small idea, one of the reason I did not booked ahead, was because they have very few pictures on the web site. What you see, is better than ,what is on their web site. Funny enough , I thought to myself, my god ,I will feel like a Maharaja, staying here. Incidentally, one of the room is called the Raja room! As the clerk was writing my receipt, he pulls up a pair of reading glasses! I begged him to tell me, where I can find such a rare item, he scribble something on a paper which I handed to my driver and he said no problem. I have no clue how he could understand that scribble! The paper did not have an actual address, just a name, but we did find it. And for $7.00 I have my very first pair of reading glasses and I am not proud of this announcement. I can no longer brag that I still don’t need glasses, and have a pretty good vision. I am still hoping this is just a temporary discomfort related to a high humidity environment…It is now well over 3:00pm and I have not had lunch, and my breakfast was at 7:00am, so I am pretty hungry, I feel so good, I invited my driver to lunch with me, which he first declined, but when I said it was my treat he gladly accepted. What better way to find out things about Bali, than to hang around with those that live here? We had a great time and very good conversation, I am lucky he speaks pretty good English, considering he is self-thought, from talking with tourists. Coincidently, he chose the restaurant I was supposed to have cooking lesson tonight at 5. But I didn’t like the menu we were suppose to learn, and something was telling me, not to participate in this one. On the other hand, I would of never chosen this restaurant, simply from looking at it. But when you venture into the garden, it is stunning how big the place is. Each table has its own little space, like an oasis among a beautiful garden, and the further deep into the garden the more you find tables. He asked me if I wanted a Japanese style table or one with chairs. Dewa, ( my chauffer’s name) if you only knew how sick I am of Japanese tables! The meal was delicious and I was stunt on how fast, our meal was served to us. I didn’t even have time to take a sip of my drink! Dewa, gave me a good analogy of most places in Bali, it is like a bottle, first you see this very small opening, once you pass that narrow passage, there is more and more the further you go, and it is much bigger than what the front shows. I was in shock when Dewa told me he was 35, I thought he was 25, so we laugh, I said, it must not be just the food, it must be the water too! I hope Dewa lets me take a picture of him, so I can show what I mean. And then, he said, I drive you back home now? I said; oh! No, to my hotel, not home! We laugh more, Dewa has a good sense of humour and very genuine. I wish all the taxi driver in Canada, in North America I should say, were like him. My entire day, chauffeured around, $20. I will no longer walk distance, only to arrive wet like a sponge! So Dewa is picking me up after my cooking lesson tomorrow, to move me to my new home! I don’t need him to drine me to the class, Atmasari will pick me up. I am truly sorry, if today’s blog is so long, I just hope it is not too monotonous, for you the reader, this all really happen in one day and I spared you the details of my search for a bank that would cash my travelers checks!

Saraswati day in Bali

2010-02-28T14:48:00.000-08:00

We are Sunday here, Ceremony day!
Here it is the day after Saraswati day. Called Banyupinanuh day. Saraswati day is always celebrated on the very last day of the Balinese Pawukon calendar, being the last Saturday of its last week of the month. Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge and wife of Brahma. The following dau is just as important, as they go to the sping water bath, for purification and to do more offering. For the students, it is the only saturday they don't have to go to school.Each Balinese house, as some kind of temple, each temple as a secret book, pass from generation to generation, and often guarded by the medicine manMen and women wear traditional clothing that is so beautiful. Men and women wear the Kamben, similar to a sarong but different. The Kamben is a beautiful piece of textile, with rich and colorful patterns. The men tie the Kamben in the center while the ladies tight it on the left-hand side. The women also wear the traditional lacy blouse called Kebaya. The blouse are hand-made in Bali and so beautiful. The men wear a headdress called an Udeng. The Udeng imparts something majestic, very stylish. The Udeng as a front wing-like vertical appendage called jambul, which symbolizes Siwa. The part wrapped around the head is like a half-moon or sun, the symbol of Brahma. Brahma is the creator of life in Hindu believes. Bali is the only province in all Indonesia that is Hindu, the rest are usually all Muslim states. Strangely, it makes the man more masculine when they wear the Kamben and the Udeng, and truly makes them more handsome. This is where the maxim “ a picture is worth a thousand words” would apply! I had the intention to work all day at my computer, but when Mustika ( a young men with a very strong feminine personality and so innocent ) brought my breakfast to my Zen cottage, he did not seem to agree that I should work today. After much consideration, he is right, this is the perfect occasion for me to venture out of my compound! We Westerners, to often forget to live our lives! So, I decided to go to the market and purchase a beautiful offering basket, why not, I myself have a few things I am grateful for and there’s a few things I wouldn’t mind asking Brahma! Once I got to the market, I was soaked, water dripping down my body, my clothes were also wet. I normally don’t sweat like this, unless I am in a sauna. I guess I was right, when I said to my daughter that I felt like I was in a sauna all day long! And that was not moving, just sitting at my table, writing. Now walking, is more in comparison with a steam room! Once, I bought my little offering basket, which I purchase solely on my instinct, because I could not get out of anyone, why the different basket and which one I should purchase. The amount of work and intention that goes into these little offerings are really touching. Their intent is sincere and full of attentions and details to the crafting of each one of them. And they make them by the hundreds. I choose the one with flowers and a cashew on top. I figured, the one with the tiny little fish would not smell good at the door of my cottage! Also, there seem different kind, the ones you leave at the temple and ones that you leave in front of your house. Some, put one basket, some piled them high! The temple in town was full of women giving their offering baskets. It was a nice scene, that I captured on film, after asking, permission. Also, it seems to be, the responsibility of the women, to make the baskets and to offer them. There’s no sight of any men at the temple. As I was walking back, people would salute and smile at me, they seemed really impress, I had bought an offering basket or it simply made them happy, that I honored their culture. I showered and changed again, it is not even 9 am! Then I decided to walk to famous road of Bali, Monkey Forest Road. I never made it to where the monkeys are, but I went into a lot of shops, this is a shopping paradise. Very good quality , unique and not expensive. I wanted to buy something very light, I need it clothes that were very thin on your body and that breath. One of my dear customer, had just returned from Bali before I left, and warned be; Pack light. I thought she meant, don’t put too much in your suitcase, now, I know was she meant! Terry cloth and cotton t-shirt are still too hot, forget about weary anything that is synthetic. I quickly realize, I did not want to try on anything, I was so wet already! I had a more important mission. Since, I got here, my vision is blurry, first, I had blamed the long oversea journey, but It’s been a week now and my vision should of recovered already. I guess, I am where must people my ages, have already been! Come to think of it, I should buy another basket! Talking about those baskets again, the entire time you are walking the sidewalks you have to be careful not to step on one of those baskets, placed in front of their business. A couple of time, I mistakenly did step over one or two, I felt Iike, I’d committed a sin, and apologized each time! Back to my mission, because it feels like a mission now, since no shop have those reading glasses, worst, they don’t seem to know what I am talking about! I found a hair salon. The inside was not very inspiring, so I asked if she could wash my hair and make me French braids. She didn’t look like she knew how, so she showed me, on the other girl’s hair, and she didn’t really know how. She told me about another place, that I would off never found, because here, every ally is a street, full of small businesses and grubby looking accommodation. Once I found the place, and entered, I knew I was entering the right place. Surprisingly very nice. With, state of the art chairs at each sink. Sink that were not deep, your neck didn’t hurt because the sink was supporting the weight of your head. I asked a young Balinese with a beautiful hair cut, if she had it done here, she pointed to the girl that cut her hair. I told her I was very tempted to cut my hair, she said, why not, go for it! Than, all the foreigners in the place, turned around and gave me the frantic look “ are you crazy”, so I had second thought, but I am still here for awhile and I might just do that! This turned out to be quite an experience. I don’t think anyone has never washed my hair this, good. Those who know me, know that I have lots of hair, very thick and long. The head wash felt so good, than she massaged my head with a rich avocado conditioner. Once on my chair and my hair comb, I have a lady sitting at the bottom of my feet, giving the most amazing foot massage, and definitely containing some reflexology elements. Than, she gives me another head massage that extends to the shoulder. They have iron hands, I am not sure where they get their strength or techniques, but it is fabulous. Then, she let someone else take over for the braids. She did a great job and I feel like a million box! Total of my bill, $10! Please, Brahma, I don’t ever want to leave this island!
I feel so good, I decided to take a rest at a really nice lounge, looking at the street, sitting in a really nice contemporary sofa. I chose a really nice light drink, with lychees. When the waiter arrived with my Martini glass, I though to myself, oh! No, I don’t want to be drunk, I have to walk a long way back. After all, the drink was gentle, a perfect pick me upper! It was nice and cold, and here, you never have to worry about the ice of the water you drink. You can brush your teeth even in a restaurant and you won’t get ill! It seems like a very innocent thing to do, but in 2010, there is, very few places in the world, especially in poor countries and hot weather places, where water is safe to drink. India, was probably the worst, in 7 stars hotel, you had to make sure you showered with your mouth closed, and something you didn’t think about that, because the room was so luxurious. Sipping my Martini, entertaining myself watching people walk by. I knew we were very few Canadians at the airport and we are still probably the ones here too! It is mostly Australians, a few Dutch and Germans and lots of Japanese and Taiwanese! Apparently, the Asians just fly over for the week end for shopping and going for spa treatment! I must say, I don’t find the Australian friendly at all. It kind of surprises me, I always heard from people coming from Australia, that people there were very nice. Maybe they are nice to you because you are a tourist, where here, they are the one playing tourist, they are not overly friendly. The very few that will engage a conversation with you, will not pursue their conversation, once they realized you don’t speak the same English! Maybe they think they are too superior, who knows! And I watch them, among themselves, and they never say hi to each other. On the side walk, they take all the space and never notice that they are not alone of the narrow side walk, you always have to say excuse me, to keep going. Here you never get a nod from foreigners, and when you smile at them, they think you are an alien! But, you do from the Balinese people and with an honest smile. Often, you see them in restaurant, sitting alone, next to another table, where someone is alone, and they don’t try to engage a conversation. At least here, eating alone is not embarrassing, as there is just as much women than men eating alone. Back home, you always feel like you have some kind of plague when you eat alone in a restaurant! I always envy my girlfriend Jocelyn, who can walk anywhere alone, and not be intimidated by anything, she always finds someone to talk to, and never feels uncomfortable to be alone! Nevertheless, it was entertaining watching and very educating. I even saw a hard core Harley Davison guy, with a really nice Harley, probably the only one in the island, with his full Harley gear on, the leather gloves and all! I bet he has to cut the gloves off every time, it is so hot! On my way back I met a really nice Balinese taxi driver with a good English. He will take me tomorrow to a few places I had to be and one of them is to find reading glasses. He explain to me, that he understood what I was looking for, but here in Bali, I might not find that, as people don’t usually need them! As I sat for diner, which by the way, was beyond fabulous, I have to go back just to take a picture of my Tuna steak. It was delicious, vibrant, beautiful and so tasty! I was also served a tiny piece of bread and butter, the bread almost looked like a lady finger, but it was bread. The first time ever I see bread here. Balinese people, don’t eat bread. I don’t really miss it, except at breakfast with my hard boiled eggs, which I eat with my Ryvita Pumpkin seeds & Oat crispbread, not quite the same the same as toast! As I was eating my diner, I watch some more, this time, the street is full of Balinese people, not just tourist, and none of them are wearing eye glass! It must be the food and the sun! On my way back, I found another book store, hoping again, to find someone that would tell me where I could find such rare item. Again, she nod to me, nowhere will I find that! Went to be with the thunder, but a nice thunder, not the one that makes you want to crawl under your bed!

Nirvana

2010-02-27T05:40:00.000-08:00

I think there is no better word to describe today! Coincidently, a Buddhism word. After writing for hours, because here the day starts before the rise of the sun! At noon, I felt like it was 4 o’clock! At 1:00pm I went for my 4 hours of spa treatment. I have received a lot of massages in my life and from various part of the world. Today was the best massage ever, and she was so tiny, I cannot believe she had that kind of strength. I recently was in the most beautiful spa, I ever seen while staying at the Moon Palace. This was very basic, certainly no luxury here, simplicity is the rule. Any snob would walk away. But the room I am in, does not need luxury, it has the beauty of nature. A big arch with no enclosure, is over looking at the river, flowing by. The birds and the gecko are the background music, better than any CD I could buy. At her very first touch, I knew I was in for my money. I thought she would tell me, like all the others, my shoulders are so tight, indeed, my shoulders are always tight, this is where we carry the weight of our daily lives, Should do this, should do that;shoulder! Nope, she said nothing, but I could hear the muscles crunching, and the flow of energy finally getting through. Often, I came close, to scream, but strangely the pain would go away really fast. She does every little nook and cranny of my body, well, except for the private parts. But every indent of my toes, my fingers, my ears, nothing is left untouched! Followed, by an herbal body scrub, with rice powder and essential oils. Than, we walked to another hut, with a therapeutic bath. The jets were very powerful. My skin feels so soft, that it is surreal! Than it is the mud wrap, followed by heated blanket. I am sure reach the point near fever temperature! I almost made it to the 25 minutes, but at 22 minutes, I could feel that my blood pressure was building up, and my very sensitive body, was not hot anymore but burning! I smelt like fish and thought, it is sad to do the seaweed wrap after the massage, because I smelt so good after the massage! That cold shower felt better than any other cold shower I have had since I arrive. Not that we don’t have hot shower, it is simply too hot to have a hot shower, and a cold shower is much better for your skin! Then, she took me to another building, and I had the best facial ever. She gave me the massage, that I couldn”t find anyone back home, to do. This massage, is the answer to anti-aging, she presses on the marma points and massages the skin and neck. I asked her where she learned this technique, and her answer was quite the surprise for me. I might have a story just about that, you will have to see and wait, if I manage to meet that person, I will explain in details, why it is amazing. After, all this time being pamper, my stomach is really starting to get noisy . Included was a spa lunch, that was so delicious! I had a salad made with coconut noodles, lime and lettuce. An onion soup, which, was to my surprise, hot! Followed by a nice fresh juice of watermelon and passion fruit. All this for $70.00. The 4 million dollars spa I was recently, did not even came close, in comparison with the quality of the services. We paid $120.00 us each for a treatment that as soon as they had apply the mud, 5 minutes later they sent us in the shower to wash it off, not to mention, we didn’t even get a massage after or before the wrap.
And as I am writing this blog, I have company. My house is really like a little Japanese house, with the typical doors that slide and the building is surrounded by water with fishes. To my right, there is also a sliding door and I can see the water and on its edge, sits a big toad serenading like no tomorrow. I can see the muscle of his mouth filling up with air, as he signs, and the kois for some reason are all excited tonight, they are jumping so high, I can see them jump in my window. At the spa today, I found out what was that noise that wakes me up every night, it’s a gecko! I have seen lots of gecko but these one make a different noise, it is almost like a squirrel. I am happy to find out it is a gecko, this means he is looking after catching all the creepy things that might come in my open air bedroom! I guess the treatment were very powerful, for the first time since I arrived, I had to have a nap. Boy, does it ever feels good to live at this kind of pace!

Bali is hot like no place I ever been!

2010-02-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

At first I thought it was my body adjusting to the heat too slowly. It is not like my body needed it to acclimatized, two weeks ago, it was very hot in Republic Dominican as well, but at least we had the breeze. Literally, it feels like you are in a sauna all day! I should shed some pounds with all this sweating! And I should return fully detoxifyed! The humidity is so high, my pile of books, stack on top of each other on my table, are curling like leaves even with the weight of the books! Never seen anything like this. I had the intention to walk downtown Ubud, but I only got as far as the market, so I can buy some nice fruits. I am pretty knowledgable of exotic fruits and some of the fruits here, I have never seen. I will have to research them. They even have Durian fruit, soursop and so much more of the fruits we rarely see in North America. This is a real treat for me. One of the fruit I bought looked like a grenade! But tasted delicious. It had the taste of a smoothie made of strawberry, banana and kiwi. The other fruit I bought looks like a big fig, but with the skin of an Armadillo! I haven't tryed that one yet! Bali is a paradise for photographs! There is so much details and decorations on their properties. And I must say, you dont read this anywhere, but Bali is one of the cleanest place I ever been! Even in the open air sewage you don't see trash. There is a lot of place I visited that were nice but ruined by the fact trash was everywhere, here, not even empty land. The market, was pretty clean compare to any other open air market in the world. After 3 days of raw food, I decided to go to a restaurant near by, for diner, it is simply too hot even at night to venture further. I always dread going to a restautant alone, but here it is a common thing. There is a lot of woman alone, not just guys. So nobody stares at you! I notice everyone had their own hand fan, I have to return to the market to get one of these! I had a delicious meal, very well balance. Roasted potatoes here means french fries! But my plate was perfect, only 5 fries, my chicken with veggies cook a way that is unique to here and a nice salad. The tomatoes looks so good, they had a color that we no longer see back home. I almost wanted to eat them they look so fresh and full of nutrients. But tomatoes and I don't get along at all, I was sad to toss them in my plate. I decided to try the local drink or should I say the National drink, Arak. I thought I was ordering a mild drink, because it had honey and lime and fresh mint, first sip almost knock me off my chair! But it went well with my meal. I had to double check with my calculator twice, my diner with a bottle of water and a drink was a total of $6! I couldn't believe it. Where I am staying you just sign the bill, you never really look at prices. I went to bed early, I cant write anymore, my vision is getting blury, I dont know if its the heat, my age, or the jetlag, but I will have to find some reading lens! It is hard to fall asleep it is so hot, the fan above my bed seems useless, and there is no tv to put me asleep. That is acutally nice not to have tv! Around one o'clock I woke up with some loud music, a bar must be not too far from where we are. I guess any night in Bali is a party night! I just dont know how any body can dance in that kind of heat!

First night in Bali

2010-02-25T18:22:00.000-08:00

Wow, I had to wake up early, before the sun came up, the whole barn yard woke the entire village up! Here there is more than just roosters waking you up, but it is good, I want to wake up early and I dont feel tired at all, even after being up for 2 days and a night of sleep disturb by some weird animal noise, that sounded like he wanted to come in my room. The tricky part was to go to the bathroom in the pitch dark, the electricity dont seem to work upstairs, and going down those narrow wood stairs, thankfully I had a flashlight, and there was no big Iguana in my bathroom. I really feel like I slept in the jungle, the bedroom upstairs and the trees and greenery is all around, with birds and I guess they have some nocturnal birds. I will have to explore in the morning to see what is the waterfall that I hear. I really felt like a princess in that nice bed with the white screen around me, the bed was surprisely comfortable, and most important, a have a good pillow. Waking up was special, I look out the window,it is so cute where my little house is, it's like a private compound with two houses, a garden, private entrance with a nice statue and a little creek with fishes.The hibicus flowers are close to my reach, from my windows. I officially met my neighbor, who is even more handson than I thought! He is from Europe and I did not ask from where. But what I relief, he is not the kind of man that will be bothering me or coming on to me, he is shy and private and that suits me perfect! I had the most delicious breakfast I have had in a long time, even if I am just coming back from the Caribean islands.The fresh juice and fruits, with a good coffee, well at least it taste good, the slurp at the bottom of my coffee pot, resembles more mud than coffee! But I had fresh boiled eggs, my cravings for eggs are now over,for some reason I was craving eggs! I don't eat eggs often, specially in the morning, I find them too rich. The humidity here, is so high, your stomach can not eat a lot, I am hungry, which is uncommon for me! I had a small breakfast and it is perfect. This morning I will have to venture out of my compound into the busy streets of Ubud, to go find batteries and change some money. I will visit the market which is just around the corner.I will also book some spa treatment, here for 6 hours of spa treatment it cost $120.00. Back home you only get one massage for that price! For those of you, that don't know me, and are reading my blog for the first time, yes you will encounter some spelling mistakes on my part, I am self taugh in English, so orthograph is not my cup of tea! It was strange loggin on to my blog, everything was in Balinese, so my first word I learn is Masuk which means connect!

Magical Bali

2010-02-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

I left the 23rd and arrive on the 25th, what I long trip. We made a refuel stop in Alaska, unfortunately I saw nothing,other than they really have snow there! it was two am, so we saw nothing on the way in or out. Arrived in Taipei in time. I had enough time to browse through the shops for teaware and tea. Taiwan is the king of Oolongs. I had to restrain myself for not buying all the cute teaware they have for my gung fu set. After being gone so long, I was hoping to find an egg sandwich or something normal for breakfast. You should off seen there face when I ask for eggs, it is like something they know but for them you dont eat it! When I arrive in Bali, I met a lady from Quebec, this is her 5th trip to Bali. We split the taxi fare and I went to see the hotel she is staying at, and for $30.00 a night it is a pretty good room, so I reserve for my room for next week. When I arrived at Ubud Sari, I was please to see that it is away from the busy street of Ubud, we are in a quiet area, on a cul de sac. This place is magical, it is so cool and unique. I have this tiny cute zen cottage, on two floor. Influence by Japanese design. Downstairs I have a table with a cushion just like the Japanese do and a Tatami mat.The room where the bathroom is actually outside in the open air, it is pretty cool. I have to walk on pebbles in order to take my shower. It is pretty cool except in the middle of the night, I worry with encounters with creepers! In the middle of the night, I woke to some strange noise, and whatever it was, sounded like it wanted to come in. I slept with the windows all open, maybe because we are not near the ocean, there is no breeze, but I rather chase away a few lezards than sleeping in sufficating air. There is a little deck that I walk over, to get to my cottage, underneath is water, and those big Koi fish. The restaurant is not only vegetarian but only serves raw food. I had the most delicious diner and so perfect, after this kind of long voyage!
Next to my cottage, there is another one with a cute man, who strangly seems to be here for the same reasons I am, he as books all over his tables and works all day at the table. I just dont know how I will be able to sit for hours here, it is so hot and damp, the heat here, is very different. It is kind of weird, he is in his little house and I can see eveything he does and he can see everything I do and since I am not here to find a man, I have not try to say hi, but I feel I am on a different planet here. This is it, the magic is truly here and I already feel like I will not want to return. Everywhere you walk, the plants they grow for food and the flowers are just so fragrant and so unique, your nose is constantly pleasantly sniffing! I have a tree near my door, which the flowers resemble the stephanotis flowers, but it smells like cherry bubble gum!Very delightful aromas and sounds all around me. I sometime jump, when a koi jumps out of the water it is so quiet.

Winter Blues

2010-02-16T11:38:00.000-08:00

This is the time of the year when Winter blues, hit's us. Do you feel like you need a little picker upper? A great way to beat the seasonal blues is to drink Green Rooibos mix with some Tulsi aka Holy Basil, Sacred Basil. Those herbal teas have no caffeine or tannins and will improve your overall health. Don't forget to smell your infusion, this also works on the brain receptors to improve your mood. You have probably never heard of green Rooibos, and if you have the Red Rooibos on hand, use it.Here's why I suggest the green kind. Green Rooibos has not been oxidized,it hasn't lost any of its properties during oxidation. Therefore it has even more anti-oxidants than the red one, which has 50% more than green tea! Also, a lot of people dont like the taste or the smell of Red Rooibos which is similar to tobacco. Green Rooibos taste like a really nice herbal tea, not too grassy, not too vegetative. Everyone, that I have suggested, loves it. Tulsi is another great herb, widely used in Ayurveda. Very aromatic and I can tell you that I predict some interesting findings with this plant, there has been a few studies that have concluded Tulsi prevents cancer and much more. But I feel they will find that its power is grater than what we already know. It works on the brain pretty much like Lavender, its flowers are very aromatics, even when old and dry. But the smell is aphrodisiac and an instant picker upper! With a very unique and pleasant taste and smell. Drink minimum 3 cups a day or more, use half & half of each one, steep 10 minutes and cover while steeping. You will notice a difference within 5 days. Tulsi is not readily available yet, but any good herb or health food store store carry it. I strongly suggest you grown it in your garden next season and dry the leaves for a winter supply.
This is my last blog until my departure for Bali. If you want to follow my journey in Bali, log on everyday from Feb25th till March 25th.

Are you drinking green tea for health reasons?

2010-02-11T08:55:00.000-08:00

Are you drinking green tea for health reasons?

If you are one of those that drinks green tea because you heard it was good for you, but can't stand the taste, you need to read this! 1)If you are using a teabag, the health benefit you are looking for are simply not there anymore, they have evaporated and the quality of teas in teabag is almost always mediocre. 2)If you do not cover your cup while steeping, you are getting 0 anti-oxidants! Anti-oxidants are volatile since they are found in the essential oils of the plant, and simply jump out of the cup, while steeping. So, place a saucer on top of your cup if your cup does not have a lid. If you wonder why some cups have a lid, that's why, this goes for herbal tea or any plants you will infuse. 3)If it's bitter its because you are using boiling water and steeping too long. Here is my rule; 3-3-3. Boil water than let sit 3 minutes before your poor the water over your tea. Steep 3 minutes or less, not more. Steep three time (this applies only to loose leaf, you can yield 3 cups of tea with one teaspoon).4)If you add milk in your cup of green tea, you just void all the health benefits. 5)If you just can't stand the taste of green tea even after all these tips, simply green tea is not for you. Listen to what your body tells you. Instead try an Org. Green Rooibos or Olive leaf, both have 50% more anti-oxidants than green tea and they contain no caffeine. They also taste good. When our body does not agree with something, it most likely have very little effect on you. It just like food, all food is good for humans but not all food is good for you!

The Tea Lady

2010-02-10T16:12:00.001-08:00