Trancebalified

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Okay - arrived at night in airport - at first seemed no one was there and it's a bit of a podunk airport - spotted a pay phone - all in Indonesia....started getting that ol' travel feeling of "okay, now I've got the challenge!"...but luckily there was Surya waiting...turns out there were a few of us on the plane - two older couples from Arcata and off we went up inland to Ubud.
I have to be honest here and not just talk about the moist green jungle, the gushing rivers, the REAL monkeys sitting in the trees, the endless supply of motor scooters - but I have to say I saw a 2-story MacDonald's and then a 2-story KFC. Gulp......but, luckily, not up here in Ubud. It's a few windy streets chock full of little chochke shops and sarong and wood carvings shops and restuaurants.
Our guide unloaded suitcases into this dark and not very promising alley - we stepped over puddles and mossy stones and walked after him - uh oh, was this going to be the verdant Bali experience we were hoping for? Or was it going to be a sleazy concrete hotel w/stiff towels??
Oh my, oh my - we were at the end of this narrow lane that had taken us past rice fields (still dark, mind you) and came to a high, ornate wall with a hand-painted sign: Oka Wati Bungalows. Oh my. It's a cross between an old raja's palace complete with swimming pool, and a lush, mossy garden with little paths leading here and there - spotting a Hindu carving here and a small Balinese flower altar there.
Jeannie and Jeff were there - they hadn't seen Surya since CA so as we sipped our Papaya lassi's we caught up.
Each day in the morning a lad brings me breakfast with coffee and
orchids and fruit - whatever I would want ....I sit and eat it on my marble terrace looking out over palm trees, rice fields and in the distance, roof tops of ornate Balinese compounds. I have too much to say in regards to what we study w/Judy or Surya each day: Balinese customs, language, more customs, dance. Then we eat on our own and/or go to a wood carver. In the eves we go to a musical / dance / puppet theater thing - held outdoors in the warm evening - in front of a temple or in an open-air pavillion run by the village.
Tomorrow am we go to a purification ceremony at a natural spring.....it's pretty darned amazing.

My only problem is not being able to charge a few of my batteries; leaving me with only one battery that can be re-charged.......and you KNOW I want to shoot more than that! Funny, I was able to re-charge in Thailand, but not here.
Haven't I been away about 7 years now???

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Comments

[Ricardo]

Paradise Lost?
Oh Jesus, with what you describe you are not ever coming home are you? Glad you finally made that last leap to Bali, was starting to wonder if you had decided to join a Monastery in Thailand. Better suck up all that ambiance, cause it ain't what's waiting for you back home I'll bet.