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!