To Ubud....

Komang comes to pick us up and head to Ubud, making some stops along the way. He knows about a very special celebration in the village of Bugbug just north of Candidasa not far from where we are. At this village they will be celebrating the symbolic union of a king from their village that married a queen from the village of Datah a very long time ago. Every 40 years they symbolically unite and with each village taking turns coming to the other village by foot 40 km away through mountains and rice fields. The village of Bugbug prepares for the other village's visit by sacrificing many pigs which they roast and bring to the village center as offerings. They decorate the roasted pigs and also make many dishes with them that are presented as sacrifices but then eaten in celebration. When we come into the village we see the men roasting pigs and people bringing them in on motorcycles from their homes. Men and women are wearing their sarongs and temple dress. There is one area where the men are hard at work preparing food/offerings. They are shucking coconuts and finely chopping many vegetables and spices for the dishes that will not only be used as offerings but will also feed the visiting villagers. They are cutting fresh pig here as well and making sausages and perhaps other pork based recipes.
Representatives from the village of Datah which was the queen's village carry representations of their family temples on large bamboo structures that are carried by a large group of men. Others are also in the procession some of which are possessed by spirits (of ancestors?). Hundreds of people have come from surrounding villages as well as from Datah. The procession comes through the temple and through teh main street of the village and then through the interior of the village, out to the main road leading to the village and back into the main street of the village heading back towards the temple. The whole time the men carrying the structures may chant, run up and down jumping and shaking the structure. We are told that the spirits come and possess them or the structure and they react in this way. We are there from about noon until 7:30pm. Most of the time waiting. We also went into Candidasa for lunch at a beautiful seaside restaurant. At the village we met people. A woman even let me carry her baby. And these little kids were being big hams for us, singing or posing for pictures and really excited to say "hello".
We head to Ubud. As we come into town it seems we had imagined something different. Less touristy. Mom says its like Coconut Grove and it is. We get to the hotel and aren't happy with the location so go to another place that is just perfect, Periwati hotel and book for a couple of days instead of the original 4-5 we were planning on staying there and decide we'll go back to Sanur after Ubud.

Diving the USS Liberty

Mom gets up early and goes out to the beach and comes back in wakes me up and tells me that I have to go outside and see all the fishing boats they are heading in with the catch of the day. So, I jump up and we head outside to see the ocean dotted with the wooden sailboats they use to fish. The men go out very early in the morning way before dawn to fish mackerel. They come back shortly after sunrise and the women await them on the beach for the day's catch. Our neighbor comes in and he has a grand total of 2 mackerel. The wife, Made, is talking to us and offers us her massage services. Mom will take her up on that offer. So we go have some breakfast of nasi goreng with telur mata sapi and Made comes by to give mom her morning massage while I go get ready for my diving date...bikini - check, mask - check, snorkel-check....yeah, my diving gear is really limited. Diving is one of the main things that I wanted to do out here since I specifically got my open water certification just to come here and I'm really happy that I can dive with someone I feel comfortable with (not a perfect stranger) and that everyone is coming with and will be able to enjoy the spot at least snorkeling. Mom has her gear in tow - shes a seasoned snorkeler.
Hanging out by the pool a young woman who is also staying at Life approaches us and asks us where we are from and it turns out that she is also a Cuban-American girl, Erika, who graduated my same year from highschool and went to UM. What are the chances? We are in an area that doesn't get many tourists. Our hotel is literally the only place in the village of Lean. There are a handful of places up the coast and we find ourselves in the same place with someone who is from Miami? Wow. As it turns out she and her husband also live(d) in New York City. We chat for a while until they arrive to get us and we head to Tulamben about 15 minutes from where we are staying. We pick up our gear at a local dive shop and arrive at the beach where we will go diving and snorkeling. The wreck is just off the beach so you just walk in which is really great for snorkeling. The first dive we went around the wreck. Kare was showing me the coolest stuff ever. I think he pulled out all the tricks for me. I saw marine life that I would have never noticed on my own. I saw the tiniest fish ever, camouflaged fish, all sorts of things that have reactions like anemones and sorry again for my lack of knowledge of the actual things I saw (sorry Lauren!), I wish I had a manual so I could just go checking them and then write a report later. I did bring my camera on the second dive (i'll post pics soon) and this time we went inside the wreck. When Kare told me we would go inside, I felt really comfortable with him so I knew it would be okay, but I told him not to say in front of mom because she would get worried. Anyway, the areas we went in weren't so closed off and I felt really good with Kare as he basically took care of me (holding my hand and adjusting my buoyancy as he felt fit). I got a bit of a crush on him now. It was the best dive I have ever been on.
Inge, Kare and Rahul hang out at our hotel for a while before heading back to south Bali. We goof off which is what we are good at. Tease Rahul like crazy and take videos of him singing songs in English and air drumming. Rahul calls mom, his mom and mami now calls him son. Its really cute, so he's my Balinese brother now. Mom gives him advice about life and we just act like idiots.
Tomorrow we will head through Bali to the city of Ubud for about 4 days before going back to Sanur (me for only 1 day) and then leaving Indonesia.

Drive to Amed

Mom and I decide to have breakfast outside the hotel since we basically haven't had the chance to see the cute beach town, Sanur, where we are staying. The main street has many restaurants and cute shops. Its not too over commercialized or touristy which is nice and we walk around and enjoy the town. We come back to the hotel to get our stuff and meet Komang. I take a necessary relaxing dip in the pool.
Komang arrives and we are on our way. We stop first at this gorgeous silversmith/jewelry showroom, UC Silver. We walk around where the workers are creating beautiful silver jewelry and observe the process. We then continue to a batik showroom where they also make batik and ikat textiles. Mom got to try the batik process of painting the wax on the fabric. Batik is a type of textile design that is traditionally hand painted or hand stamped using wax and dyes.

Multiple layers of wax and dyes are used to create the colorful textiles. Ikat is a Balinese woven textile of geometric patterns that is created on a traditional loom using thing silk threads.



As we continue on our way to Amed on the northeast coast of Bali we will stop at Mt. Batur. We won't be hiking it or anything but we come up to the village of Batur and find ourselves in the middle of a public cremation ceremony. Here all the villagers have a procession carrying offerings and coins symbolizing their ancestors as well as symbolic representations of family temples which they carry through the village and to their family temples where they pray.



We didn't get to see what really goes on once they get to their individual family temples, but it was a lovely serendipitous moment watching the procession while overlooking Mt. Batur with its amazing lake below.
The drive was also really great since we got to see the beautiful Balinese landscape.
We arrive to our hotel, Life in Amed, in the evening and settle into our bungalow. This ideal boutique hotel is only 8 bungalows on the beach with a pool and a darling restaurant. The owner, Sarah, is there with her son and a cute puppy they are taking care of. The bungalows are adorable. The porch has lovely furniture and inside is a cozy big bed and a bathroom with an open air shower. Their is also a loft with two twin beds and a high pitched thatch roof. We love the place but when I tell mami that I am going to take a shower she says that at night there might be frogs or something that will jump out at you. I take my chances and when taking a shower look up to see the almost full moon and a sky full of stars above me. I think it was the best shower I have ever taken. I insist that mom must take a shower and that there are no frogs.
Tomorrow: Diving at Tulamben - USS Liberty. Inge and Rahul are also coming. So, the whole crew will be at Amed! Yay!

Cremation Ceremony

Mom and I have breakfast and get ready for our first Balinese ceremony. For mom this means getting some makeup and proper clothes. For me it means swimming in the pool. Rahul is bringing sarongs which are a must to ceremonies and when entering temples - men and women alike. Kare and Rahul come get us already with Inge in tow and we head to Serangan Island. When we arrive we stop at the turtle park and get to feed some massive sea turtles. I find out later is that the locals, the Balinese government and the wildlife federation are working to conserve the sea turtle population here and have centers where they breed and release hatch lings into the wild.


After the turtles we get our sarongs on and look rather funny I might add since we don't match and in no way look as put together as our Balinese counterparts. The men also wear the sarongs, most of the young men wear just a T-shirt with the sarong but also wear a typical headdress/hat which I personally find very handsome.
We head over to the viewing in the village. The body is in a simple coffin propped up inside a small pendopo type structure. Surrounding the deceased are offerings, photographs and different objects. They begin to prepare the body for the procession and ceremony. Ice is removed from the coffin and it is nailed shut, covered and a crown type object is placed at the head. The women lead the procession with tall offerings carried on their heads followed by the gamelan musicians, then the coffin and last all other attendees.































Please forgive my lack of terminology regarding this Balinese death rite.

The coffin is placed in a wadah, a colorful temple like structure that is carried to the funeral site by many men. Leading the wadah are a few men, one carrying a spear to fight away evil spirits, one that carries a branch with leaves and one that holds onto this long piece of white fabric that seems like it leads (like a leash) the structure. The men carry the wadah and run down the street to the cemetery and spin the structure when reaching crossroads in order to disorient the spirit from coming back home. Upon reaching the cemetery the coffin is removed from its carrying structure and placed on another structure next to a large table that has offerings. The women now begin to place more offerings on this table and they continue to do this for a while, they pay their final respects and bury the body. My understanding is that an actual cremation, burning of the body, is not always performed when a person dies. It depends on social status and wealth. It is very expensive to cremate the body and so many are buried until their is enough money to cremate the body in which case the bones are exhumed and burned. In this case the cremation was symbolic. My friend, Wayan "Rahul", whose great uncle it is that has passed away explained that this is symbolic and later they will release his spirit into the ocean. Shortly after the body is buried the priest arrives and begins performing rites to allow the spirits passing into the afterlife. The family sits together to pray and receive blessings. As they pray I feel this intense spiritual energy and I too clasp my hands and pray for the deceased and the family. Later, Inge tells me that she too felt an intense surge of energy at experience. I am so grateful and honored to have been able to experience it and to be invited and welcomed into Rahul's family and village.that moment. Its hard to explain - hopefully you have felt something like this and know what I am talking about- it was like a connection with the whole. It was a powerful and beautiful.

Then our awesome boys Mr. Mike and Curry suggested we go have dinner at a seafood restaurant on Jimbaran bay with a beautiful view of the sunset and it turned out to be the perfect end to a perfect day. The tables are right on the sand and you are greeted with a frangipani behind your ear. The food was wonderful. Everything is grilled and you pick your fish or seafood market style and they cook it for you with the amazing Balinese spices. We had a bottle of arak, watched dance performances and sang along with the musicians that come around to the tables. They even sang "Guantanamera" and mom played the drums! It was really lovely.
We then decided that we wanted to go sing karaoke and dropped off mom since she was tired from a long day and Inge, Raul, Kare and I went to a local place to sing karaoke. It was an interesting experience to be at this karaoke bar since it was almost pitch black except for the light coming off this big screen and the cocktail waitresses wait at the doorway outside for the customers and when we got there I thought it looked a little sketchy them standing outside, but it was cool...the girls will sing with the customers and all. Aside for them taking really long to play our songs and the other people singing really corny Indonesian songs it was fun.
So the next day mom and I would be heading out to Amed with Komang our guide that a friend hooked me up with and he would be coming to pick us up and drive us out there while making a couple of scenic stops. As we head back to drop off Inge I don't want to say goodbye to my friends so, it dawns on me that since we are heading to Amed because I want to dive the USS Liberty wreck and Kare is a divemaster that maybe he can take me diving. So, I ask him if he can do it and he says "yes". YAY! We make plans to meet the day after tomorrow to go on an underwater date...

Surfer Girls and thensome...

Our warm up run (we all know this was to see if we had been practicing our Baywatch run)



Inge style!

Thats me! I love surfing! Can't wait for my intermediate lessons...Will I get past the break?

Go Yuki!

Our surfer crew!!

I get up early in order to move from my cute hotel, Laghawa, to the fancy Bali Hyatt where mom reserved for a couple of nights. Mami arrives later tonight so I will check into the Hyatt and head out for a day of fun in the sun with my new friend, Inge.
I get to the Hyatt where you are greeted with a lei of frangy pangies that smells so amazing and the sound of a gong. The place is stunning. Smells of incense fill the open air lobby, you look out onto the superb gardens, with waterfalls, ponds, koi fish, two pools and anything else you might imagine. When I went to get a volleyball I was told that if I couldn't find someone to play with me they would get someone who worked there to.
The guys from last night, Kare and Rahul, are supposed to come get me at 11am. At 11:15 and after calling Kare a few times with no answer (he later told me he thought it was a friend he didn't want to talk to, so didn't answer) I decide maybe they aren't coming and I should just head to Kuta myself when alas they appear. Maybe I wasn't being very patient, but I didn't want to waste my whole day waiting around when Inge and I were going to surf Bali. With them is Yuki, a girl from Japan and we set off for Inge (btw Kare speaks Japanese and guides Japanese tourists and divers). We get to Kuta to pick up Inge and I am taken to Bali's South Beach/Cancun...its super dense with shops, vendors, bars, clubs, everything is really crammed together and people are everywhere. Surfboards hanging off scooters and motorbikes. We successfully find Inge's hotel through the maze of streets (more like alleyways) and continue on to Seminyak beach for our surfing lessons.
When we get there and look out at the waves, I had climbed the lifeguard tower with great Baywatch style, I start laughing nervously and we freak out a little about going surfing in those waves that were crashing down with such force. "eF it! We are surfing Bali!" If I don't I won't be able to rub it in Tony's face and John won't let me live it down...so its all or nothing! They give us some rash guards, a warm up run (that I think was just for a Baywatch show-I'm on to these guys), some stretching and some lessons on how to get up and we get in the water. As it turns out its not so scary because we are riding the waves after they break and the water is pretty shallow. Inge has her coach and I have mine and they stand behind the board and push it as the wave comes and scream at you to stand up. What a great job starting at my ass all day!
Guess what? I'm a natural! Riding the waves in Bali on the first try, okay the second, but I got up almost every time and could stay on and ride the wave even turn a little. I love surfing! Can't wait to go with Lore and Tony. Inge didn't have such as easy time although eventually she got the hang of it. Her porcelain skin was also suffering from chafing on the board. Yuki also gave it a try and was surfing Bali in no time! Surfer Girls!!!
After surfing Inge decides she might want to try bungee jumping at the AJ Hackett tower set up right by the beach. It looks pretty scary, but she's hyped up and decides to go for it. I got the whole 5 second ordeal on video...her hesitation to jump and then - "Supergirl", "Go HOLLAND!". She gets her certifiably insane certificate and we are off to Uluwatu temple for sunset.
Uluwatu is set on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean and has a spectacular view of the sunset. There are the famous monkeys running around all over the place, two of which happen to be with us all day...Did he just spank the monkey?....How does the monkey dance go again?
Then we took Yuki to the airport since she would be heading back to Japan that night. Yuki, we love you! I went back to the Hyatt to wait for mom. Tomorrow if mom is up for it we can go to Rahul's village for his great uncle's cremation ceremony who passed away a few days beforehand.


Inge bungee jumps in Bali! Go Girl! Blondie from Blande!

Diving Bali

This is where we set off on a bat to Nusa Penida island for 3 dives. You can see some traditional boats there - not our mde of transportation though.

These are pictures from the first dive. It was a drift dive so its hard to take ictures when moving with a strong current and I was a little overwhelmed by everything so didn't take too many pictures. I didn't bring the camera on the next two dives because I needed to focus on what I was doing being a newbie at scuba.

Spiral coral

Sea Turtle!

I wake up early and head to BIDP for my first diving experience in Bali. We will be doing three dives around Nusa Penida island. A small island that is part of Bali off of its southeast coast. It takes about an hour on the boat to get there. There are only 5 divers which is good for me, since only have the 4 open water certification dives under my belt I'm a little nervous. I get to buddy with one of the divemasters who is also an instructor. We actually have 2 diving with us. Our first dive is Tugu and is a drift dive. It was a really amazing sloping reef that went down many meters. Its hard to get a good look at anything though because of the current and I was really nervous since I had never been diving with such a strong current and felt like I was being pulled down and away from reef, but when I was closer to the reef with my buddy it was better. The next dive was also a drift dive at SD which I enjoyed more now being more acclimated to the conditions. We saw trumpet fish and sea turtles and someone even saw a pigme seahorse, but my eyes aren't trained enough to see something so tiny. Anyway, I stayed really close to Farrish. The current was so strong that our group got split up. I stayed with my buddy and all was good. There were amazing coral formations larger than I ever imagined. And schools of fish swimming all around us. I really need to learn about marine life so I can be more specific about what I saw. I saw lots of pretty colorful ones, big, small, skinny, fat, some with funny looking mouths...(sorry, Lauren!). Our last dive was at Crystal Bay which during this time of year one can see the famous Mola-Mola (or sunfish) that is about 3 meters long, flat and has a dorsal fin and a ...This spot also had a severe thermocline (good thinking BIDP on the double wetsuits for that dive) it was about 23 Celsius in the thermocline. This spot was also beautiful with really deep blue water and many schools of fish. More marine life than coral formation but really spectacular as well. It was an easy dive with no mola-mola. I guess I'll have to come back to Bali for mola mola season. The whole crew was really nice and invited me back to the office to have some Arak, Balinese "wine" (liquor), with them after the dive. I needed to have my dive book logged anyway so I went back did that and had some Arak with the guys. We decide to get something to eat when a couple of the other guys that were drinking at the shop come by on the motorcycles. We decide to go with them. I ride with Wayan, one of the divers from the shop and his tire breaks on the highway. Here I am sitting on the side of a highway in Bali waiting for his friend to come (I'm expecting Indonesian time) happier than could be. He was so apologetic, I felt bad for him, but I really wasn't upset. Anyway, this will all lead into serendipitous moments and collisions. Everything happens for a reason. His friend arrives to bring me to meet the other guys at the restaurant. His name is also Wayan, nickname "Kare" or "Curry" since kare is curry in Indonesian. He speaks little English and apologizes. I am now in a car with a complete stranger, but at that moment I didn't give it much thought. Maybe its a little naive of me, but looking back it was all supposed to be.
At the restaurant they ask me what my plans are. I tell them that I plan on going to Kuta to meet my friend (Inge) and take surfing lessons. They immediately offer Kare to take me. I notice he is hesitant and says no to them, but at the end decides he will come pick me up and Inge and take us surfing....serendipity? They bombard me with questions about what time, where and how long it would take me to put on my makeup in the morning...funny guys..haha

The never ending bus ride and my arrival in Bali

View of Bali from the ferry.

Laghawa Beach Inn, Sanur, Bali

Offering near the cafe of the Laghawa

My bungalow at Laghawa Beach Inn

So we get on this bus that we are told has air conditioning and is full. We are the first to get in and Inge and I secure three seats for the two of us...one in the middle for our purses and so we have more room! Air-con again is practically non-existent. Inge and I chat it up between naps and decide we will go surfing the in a couple of days together. She is going to Kuta beach and I will be going to Sanur which doesn't look far on the map. My periplus guide helps her, Max and Russel find accomodations in Kuta since it is a highly touristed area and all the lonely planet places are booked up. We stop at another roadside spot to eat and find two monkeys tied up and hanging out by the bathrooms. They were so sad looking. People here keep monkeys as pets and you see them for sale on the side of the highway frequently. They also eat the brains as a delicacy. We get some grubs and back on the bus. We are on the bus forever it seems before we get to the ferry. On the ferry there are two boys who ask us for money to see them jump off the ferry (very large ferry that fits entire charter buses on it). I go into teacher mode "have you done your homework" and inge tells them they should pay her to jump off. Gila girls! Finally we get to Bali. Back on the bus! Another 4 more hours before we get to Denpassar. We go our seperate ways, but not for long. We will prove to be good partners in the coming days.
I get to my little hotel in Sanur, Laghawa Beach Inn, which is super comfortable and cute with lovely gardens, ponds, dieties, a pool and a manicured trail to the beach. Tomorrow....diving Bali!