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Published: March 10th 2013
Good Morning, Bali! I woke up to the sounds of crowing roosters, the faint scent of incense, a feeling of confusion and a full dose of humidity.....I had this funny feeling I had been "here" before. Ah....the roosters crowing at 4 a.m. What an orchestra after sleeping off my jetlag from the night before. Yes, "here" is where I found myself after 16 years of being away. Bali, my first love.... so glad to be back!
Going back to one's first love can be a beautiful thing if you're lucky, right? It can also be a depressing thing. To be honest, I felt a huge scense of foreboding. Maybe age has made me such a cynic? Jaded? Blah! After all, 16 years away from Bali was a very very long time. Would my love still be "perfect"? Pristine? ... etc.
Hours earlier, I found myself landing in Denpasar and just as the plane touched ground I recognized that the little airport that was is no longer visible. I saw planes parked at multiple gates from all over the world. Dammit! They've found paradise too! What is wrong with this world? Couldn't the beaches in Hawaii or Fiji or Australia
fit the bill? Obviously not.
Nyoman, our driver and wonderful host, picked us up at the airport and navigated us through the busy streets. Motorcycles galore here! I'm not lying! Everywhere you looked, there were bikes sharing the road with us....dangerously gliding next to our car and all the other cars on the road. After a few miles of this craziness, I began to see the sculptures on the roadsides as well as the beautiful wooden artwork. Storefont after storefront of beautiful Balinese artworks. My mouth began to drool and I quickly checked my wallet to see where my credit card lay in waiting.... oh the shopping to be done! Maybe my cynicism will be deterred after some retail therapy?
I decided to keep our base in Ubud. Situated about an hour away from the airport is Ubud - a wonderful town where you can find galleries, shops, artwork, and of course that famous Monkey Forrest. Though, I have no real desire to see a bunch of naughty monkeys but this time I will! We are renting a house off the main street in Ubud. The rental is within a family compound and the family is so gracious
and welcoming. I could not have picked a better place to stay. The garden in back has a pond and so much foliage... its magical to sit on the lanai and listen. To close your eyes and take it all in. Amazingly, no mosquitos... another plus for moi! Yup, I'm so disconnected from the world. Off the grid with the exception of my blog.. haha! No cell phone, no t.v. - just paradise and roosters crowing all day.
Tomorrow begins the Balinese New Years Eve celebration and I couldn't have picked a better time to visit Bali! We've been invited to watch the Ogoh Ogoh's (giant puppets) which adorn the streets in preparation for tomorrow night's celebration. The puppets are paraded throughout the village to scare away the evil. Afterwards, there will be fireworks and a full-on festival with the finale being the burning of the puppets. As we drove in yesterday, we saw many of these beautiful giant puppets being worked on in the streets and parks. It's a huge celebration followed by "Quiet Day" which is on the 12th. No one leaves their home and it's a day to reflect and medidate - a holy day.
So today, which is officially my first day back, I spent it within the garden walls. I needed a day to recoup from that long flight. I am almost too scared to walk outside and see how much growth has happened since long ago. I noticed there were fewer rice fields on the way into Ubud yesterday. More stores and more traffic. However, there's still a tiny voice whispering in my head that tells me all is not really lost yet! I just need time to find what it is that made this beautiful place so special.
I'll find it - I'm that optimistic. Bliss is out there....
Till tomorrow...Selamat Malam!
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Celena
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HI Inday. I'm so happy that you are in Bali once again. I will, too, someday. Have a wonderful and magical time. Magical is how I described Bali. Please keep writing and posting pictures of your adventures. Celena