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Published: December 29th 2019
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Today is Friday and we have been at the Swallow Guest House since Monday. I wasn’t sure how we would do with the slow pace, spotty wifi and rural setting, but it has been a nice change from our normally crazy life. The quiet countryside, where the only sounds are the roosters crowing, the odd sounding frogs croaking (there are several types and they all sound weird!) and the occasional motor scooter on the little path create a very serene setting. Our days of coffee on the patio, reading, writing, sleeping and swimming are a sure cure to any blood pressure issues and Ken has slept better than he has in years.
Our only activity for the day is to head back into Ubud, get some more cash (this time 2.5 million rupiah=$180) which should last us the remainder of our trip (5 days left). We also stopped past the Starbucks to add to our collection of mugs, as the Ubud one is pretty cool. Wandering amongst the back roads, we found a small shop called Threads for Life, which supports women who weave fabrics around Indonesia. They were very beautiful and while we didn’t buy anything, it was heartening
to see the support for the less fortunate in the country.
We also took the opportunity to visit Seniman Coffee (
https://www.senimancoffee.com/) a highly rated coffee place in Ubud. And wow! I gotta say, it was pretty much the best coffee we have had...maybe ever? Apologies to our hometown behemoth Starbucks, but it does put it to shame. And the little cookies along side were a bonus!! A note here regarding the poo coffee we had yesterday, after more research last night, we are encouraging those to not support that coffee process. The Civet cats are now raised in terrible conditions for the bean process. Luckily, the place we went yesterday, while it did explain the process they also focused on many other tea's and coffees from Bali.
We found a café for lunch, that had AC which is always a plus, just as it started to sprinkle. Then it started to rain and then pour. Luckily we were inside, but had to meet the driver within the hour, so were hopeful for a break to walk the 7 blocks to our meeting point. It did start to let up a bit, so took it and sloshed through the
Beautiful Women's Dance Group
Wayan's wonderful wife Putri is second from the right sidewalks to where the driver was ready for the 20 minute drive back to the house.
The skies were blue with no rain in sight at the house, so we did the normal swim, read, sleep until it was time for Wayan to pick us up for a visit to his village temple. There was a big ceremony that night to celebrate his temple’s birthday and he was happy to show us the “real Bali” versus the “Hollywood Bali” which is so prevalent at the tourist areas. The temple is over 1000 years old and its birthday is celebrated every 400 days (approx).
We had to wear the local dress, which he brought and helped us in wrapping the right way. Then it was off to the temple, where the locals were streaming in, all dressed in colorful sarongs and carrying baskets on their heads. Each family donates a very tall offering that the women carry in a processional during the day. We didn’t see that, but did see the offerings lined up, which had cakes, fruit and flowers which were all beautifully created.
The sights and sounds of the ceremony were incredible, between the colors, the
Incredible Offerings
These are the offerings that the women where on their head....and walk without holding on to it! chants, the older men’s orchestra and the young men’s orchestra all assaulting the senses. We were there about 630p and Wayan advised that the ceremony would go until about 4-5am, with the women’s dance group starting at 10p. We stayed and wandered for about an hour, before heading back to the house to let Wayan join in his celebration for the rest of the evening.
Back at the house, Uly was ready with our last dinner at the house before heading to Sanur Beach tomorrow. Once again the food was amazing and a perfect way to end our stay before heading back to a more urban setting.
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