Day 15: Bali

Day 15: Bali

How bad was the rain?

Even the statues we're putting up their umbrellas

Quote of the Day: 

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

Weather: Torrential rain storm starting at 5am (per DB, it started much earlier and 5am was just THB waking up), complete with loud booms of thunder.

Foot bath and tea, left last night and unused

Off to breakfast and our day's outing

THB is not sure why the palm trees wear skirts...protection from the rain?

The cistern is one large rain puddle now

DB makes espressos and we have a few of the very good  peanut butter cookies as our breakie go-along. Then we decide to use the outdoor rainbird showers in the rain: quite nice!

It’s a long haul from our room to the dining area so we plan to only make the trek once and then await our pick up by Budi and the driver, Wayan, at 8:30. That works well as breakfast is slow in coming. It’s also very good:

Juice, fruit and bread basket with every breakfast

THB has shakshuka

DB's breakfast also very good and twice what she can eat

We’re doubling down on excursions: first and last we are seeing the prep of a roast suckling pig and then finishing up with the same animal at lunch. In between we have a very local guide, K’day, take over and show us around three different temple sites in the highlands above Ubud. Plus we are dressed in sarongs, a must for being in at least two of the temples.

Note: K'day starts off very slowly, shy and diffident. He warms up as the day goes along, an excellent soft-spoken guide, mindful of our questions and his answers, and by the end of the day after the three of sit together over lunch, we are ready to take him home with us. A gem!!!!

K'day

Tea and more of stiff glutinous rice mochi-like think we didn't eat much of, while K'day debriefed the day, his clan, his compound, his village, and the temples related to three religions and his family interconnections.

Lunch awaiting cooking on a spit over an open fire

K'day explaining how the seasoning paste is creating using the compass and size ratios

Mortar and pestle prep

Stuffing the cavity (we'll eat the greens that are in cavity later)

It's not raining at this moment, this is uncovered area next to covered area with tables and benches 

THB taking a turn doing the turning

we're dressed for the day, this might be the last time THB is not holding on to his sarong

Department of Comparisons: which has the greater degree of difficulty?

a

)       Riding a unicycle backwards while juggling a bowling ball, a scythe, and burning torch

      Holding your sarong up so you don’t step on it (thus negating your access to the temple grounds) while holding an umbrella in place during a torrential downpour, going up and down steep stone steps, and trying to take pics of items of interest

Clearly b) as THB gains huge amounts of empathy for women who struggle with their skirts in a rain storm while trying to manage children.

Pics of temple #1, a blend of animism, hinduism, and buddhism

Many "gates" are split in half, not this one

Very ancient statue...1,000 years old?

Three figures representing the three religions

It's pouring now, K'day rides with us and his cycle budding is left to get soaked (and stopped taking pics)

Our first stop is an overview of the migration of Hinduism and Buddhism from various places in the East and their connectivity to the architecture of the temples in Bali, plus the merger with the native practice of animism. The presentation is made by an old friend of our local guide’s father. He uses pictures from his computer to show the similarities. It’s a very useful aid for us as we move around from temple to temple.

No matter what your religion, you are free to go to each temple and make your reflections on the meanings of your experiences.

The first temple is maintained by K’day’s family, and is a combo of Animism, Buddhism and Hinduism maybe with a bit more emphasis on Animism.

It's really raining now as we park at top of temple #2, appropriately a site for water purification ceremonies...it's a lot of water flowing now even though this is already a natural site for fresh water

There is a similar famous site nearby, this one is definitely not crowded today

Purification ritual, note offerings placed above the "bathers"

The second temple is dedicated to a water purification ceremony/blessing, with huge pools and fountains cascading down a steep set of stairs. It feels more more Hindu to THB. With all the rain and water gushing from level to level, it gives you the sense of never getting dry.

Temple #3:

Similar to many other large sites, you get off at a small lane and walk between rice paddies and then make a turn and there is large site, this time a temple with a stupa (as you would find all over Bhutan)

Note the stupa in back

An example of very common "split gates"

Statue of Buddha under Bodhi tree

The priest has concluded the blessings, done in sanskrit. 

Stones from a prior temple destroyed during an earthquake (or its equivalent). Don't think anyone is around anymore that remembers where they go

The third temple is distinctly Buddhist in feel, and our blessing is led by a local priest, chanting ins Sanskrit. Much incense and throwing offerings off our platform (fortunately covered), finishing up with the priest pouring water on our heads and into our cupped hands (for rubbing on our face) and us taking a bit of wet rice and sticking it onto our foreheads.

We ask K’day if we can make a donation (there are boxes in a number of locations near the platform) and he discusses with the priest and we are told yes, just put our name with the rupiah (THB guesses that is so the priest can pray for us) and THB says it would be better karma if we didn’t put our names with the rupiah. K’day translates and the priest gets a chuckle out of that…rupiah without anything in return? We leave 200,000 rupiah…$15.

These extra green patches are for growing rice stalk seedlings; they are always protected from birds and other wildlife

Back where we started (well, not everyone is quite the same as a few hours ago)

Finished under the overhang

Awesome! Especially the pieces with skin and pork just under the cracklin'

The carvers at work

Our bracelets blessed by the priest 

Back to our now-done roasted pig, served with a number of side dishes (including chicken and tempeh). THB focuses on the pig, rice and greens cooked inside the pig; quite good!!

Back to Capella Ubud: DB has a massage scheduled at 4 so we trek down to the room and then back to the massage site for DB and into the “Club” where THB starts to catch up on his blogging.

free drink

THB loves his oysters tonight

Then daily complementary drink (bourbon, honey and something with turmeric) and canapes carry us to dinner at 6:30, upstairs from the omakase dinner site of last night. There is something wrong with DB’s barramundi fish, served whole. It is “mushy” and not flaky. THB’s oysters are very good, spicy tuna poke bowl just so-so, and DB’s fries decent. A local brewski and glass of wine, and much consternation from the staff about the returned barramundi, very apologetic and was there anything they could do? We decide to do dessert in the room: imported Trader Joe’s chocolate and marshmallow treat from the omakase left over from last night.

More pics from Capella

public restroom

Many mounted heads spread throughout Capella

We know we haven't found the right narrow alley/lane when we pass this pottery outlet 3 times