Bali Hi!

Hello from lovely Lovina, Bali, Indonesia!

It’s been an incredible (and incredibly eventful) last week-plus in Bali.  We arrived late at night and went directly to Ubud, Bali’s cultural (and geographic) heart.  In our first day, we went to Ubud Palace, visited markets, walked through town, went to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary (which I loved and Holly hated - more on this in a future blog post), went to two temples outside town, went to the performing arts center to watch aspiring dancers practice and check out Balinese art, went to a spa (Balinese massage, coconut body scrub, yogurt rub, flower bath), went to a Gamelan music and legong dance performance at the last second in a gorgeous temple...  Quite a day.

We also did a cooking class (Balinese cuisine is usually fried but is amazing overall – influences from Thai and Chinese food), where we were taught that all a chef needs is one giant batch of delicious sauce (we made “Bumbu Bali”) to slather on everything. 

Day three started at sunrise with a long walk through the surrounding villages and rice fields that cover 20% of the island of Bali.

I spent day 4 in Bali experiencing the local tradition of “Bali Belly” [in fact, this week hasn’t been my sexiest – I’ve also been covered in mysterious bumps, mosquito bites, and jelly fish stings from snorkeling here in Lovina].

After Ubud, we went to the sleepy beach village of Amed in NE Bali.  Although the weather was a bit wet and we had an inauspicious first meal (a chicken jumped onto Holly’s lunch plate…chicken fried rice), we were able to relax at our low-key bungalow overlooking a black sand beach and do a whole lot of nothing.  A great way to spend Holly’s birthday.

We had a great drive to Lovina on the north coast of Bali, with a significant detour to the Mother Temple of Bali (Pura Besakih, where the temple guardian asked if Holly was my mom - Happy birthday!), a chance encounter with some rice farmers who invited us to join them in their work, and a stop at a gorgeous lake in a volcano's caldera.

We’re fascinated and humbled by the Balinese people.  This is not a place for the cynical or existential: everything has meaning and religious significance.  Everyone is extraordinarily kind and considerate (which makes sense if you believe to your core in karma’s balancing powers).  Even the endless kitsch-sellers back off after a gentle wai and ‘no thank you.’  It’s silly to generalize about Balinese (of course there are overly aggressive wannabe tour guides, oblivious rastas, and a few Balinese who don’t believe in the many rules and rituals of the local Hindu variation), but we have been generally astounded at the hospitality and genuine friendliness of those we’ve met.  How they put up with so many middle-aged white women trying to re-live ‘Eat Pray Love’ is beyond us, and is certainly bringing them much good karma.

Lastly, we’ve stumbled upon several ceremonies, which is not surprising since there seems to be a ceremony for everything….

We’re going to explore the north coast and central Bali before scooting over to Nusa Lembongan off the SE coast of Bali!


Our internet connection is too slow to upload photos, but check out our Bali Facebook Album: 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2761560&id=10705440&l=3bda6ea777