Taking A Stress Break In Bali

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July 23rd 2011

Published: August 5th 2013

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Siewch

Goodbye, Childhood Home

This is the house I grew up in in Singapore...

Prologue

My 2011 visit to my parents' home in Singapore was a bittersweet one. My parents had sold my childhood home and I went to pack up as much stuff from my first 24 years as I could fit into two suitcases. I supported their choice to downsize. The downside, however, was that my childhood home, which was an actual house built on freehold (fee simple) land - a rarity in land scarce Singapore - would be torn down by the new owners who would most likely build a soulless custom McMansion on the plot. Not only did I have to say goodbye to a structure that housed so many memories, I also had to figure out what to keep and what to toss. Even though I am relatively unsentimental about my past, in hindsight I now realize I made some poor choices. Chief among the poor choices was my decision to toss my handwritten travel diary from my backpacking days. I also did not have easy access to a scanner so many photos got tossed as well.

Apart from the sale of my childhood home, 2011 itself was a difficult year for me. I spent the first half

Goodbye, Childhood Home

... and it was demolished not long after the sale. Picture credit: M. Ying

of the year shuttling between Honolulu and Silver Spring, MD before concluding a consulting contract in Honolulu and joining the rest of my family who had moved to the DC Metro Area ten months earlier. The move to Maryland was already showing signs of stress even before I got there - my partner's job (the one that motivated us to move there) never really took off and was beginning to fall apart, and our relationship with our foster son was well on its downward spiral. I had yet to find a job in DC/MD and I was feeling very lost career-wise. We'd also bought a house in Maryland soon after Jeff moved there (I did the math and it made no sense to rent especially when we could come up with a downpayment easily) but our income stream was now lower and it had become unreliable just when we had two mortgages to pay. Layer on having to fly to Singapore to pack my stuff and I was quite a mess.

I needed a break.

Around that same time, my friend Rae (the same one I visited in Silver City, NM a year later during my road trip across the Continental US) was going

Close Up Of An Offering

I sought out Ubud to help me focus on my next steps.

through some life changes himself and was on an extended trip, with Bali figuring prominently in his plans as he is an artist and architect and hence Ubud was a natural fit for him. Rae invited me over, and there was also a fare sale with KLM going on at that time. With this happy confluence of events, this mess (me!) flew over to Bali for a two day stress break.

Day 1: The Arrival

Landing in Denpasar in the evening, I immediately ran into a problem... the driver Rae sent to pick me up was not there. This is why I avoid arriving in unfamiliar places at night if I can help it - it is so much easier to solve problems such as these during daylight hours. Fortunately, there was an internet cafe next to the meet-and-greet area. I paid about 8,000 rupiah for 20 minutes access, emailed Rae, got the address of his guesthouse and went to the car service counter.

I had previously been to Bali in 1993 on an extended island hopping trip. At that time, Bali was already touristy (at least in the beach areas) but still relatively sleepy. Upon leaving the

Penestanan

Early morning view from Santra Putra Guesthouse. This is what I woke up to after the first evening's drama. It made the hassle totally worth it.

airport en route to Ubud, I immediately saw numerous Korean and Chinese restaurants - many with tour buses parked in front, signboards advertising nightclubs and a large duty free emporium. Yup, mass package tourism had arrived in full force. Although I wasn't surprised, I was still disheartened.

The driver who took me to Ubud was a chatty guy and thank goodness I got him. Not surprisingly, the address provided by Rae was imprecise - just a street name and no house number - and so when we got to the general vicinity of the guesthouse, the driver stopped several times to ask for directions. This guy was persistent and he genuinely wanted to make sure I got to my destination safe and sound, despite my telling him that I was perfectly okay plonking myself at an internet cafe, emailing my location to Rae and waiting there for him to come get me. Anyway, he stuck with me for well over 20 minutes while we located the guesthouse, and he deposited me safe and sound at Santra Putra Guesthouse where a visibly relieved Rae welcomed me. I was touched by this driver's sincerity. We also arranged for him to come to Ubud

Penestanan

Early morning view looking out towards Mt Agung.

to bring me back to the airport two days later. For the record, he made the offer - I wasn't comfortable asking him to come all the way from Denpasar to Ubud just for a one-way fare.

As I was hungry, Rae and I immediately went out to dinner. Not many places were open at that time, and so we headed to the upmarket Bridges restaurant next to the Campuhan bridge where I had my second incident of Bali sticker shock (the first was the 250,000 rupiah fixed price taxi service) when the bill came. Bali has gotten expensive! A large part of this was, of course, due to the fall in the Indonesian rupiah relative to the US dollar, but the price inflation was still a surprise.

Day 2: Lake Batur and Tirta Empul

Rae and I decided we would rent a vehicle the next day and explore the surrounding areas. Waking up early the next morning, we went on a little jaunt around the rice fields of Penestanan village before heading back to Santra Putra for a hearty breakfast. We then headed out to find a vehicle. We quickly found one and we were soon on

Day 2 - Penestanan

Penjor lining the streets as seen during our early morning walk. I must have arrived not long after Galungan.

our way upcountry. Driving in Bali requires a lot of concentration as the roads are potholed and full of motorcycles. Fortunately for us in our little Suzuki Jimmy, the rule of the road dictates that motobikes should move out of our way, and that vast majority of them did. Nevertheless I did not try to drive too aggressively. I was also fortunate to have a good navigator in Rae. Although we were only equipped with rudimentary maps, Rae has a really good sense of direction and he got us to our first destination - Penelokan - easily. En route, the landscape changed from rice paddies to fruit orchards and from thick tropical forest to pine trees as we wound our way into the central mountains of Bali.

Penelokan is on the edge of the caldera that holds within it Mount Batur and Lake Batur. We stopped there to enjoy the breathtaking views, but this was soon marred by people trying to get us to buy their wares. The Lonely Planet was not kidding when it described this area as having very persistent sellers. We made a hasty exit and found our way to the road leading down into the

Day 2 - Lake Batur

View from our lunch spot.

Batur caldera. This was when we found out that our rented vehicle's brakes were not good! Prior to this, our journey had been uphill so I did not need to use the brakes much, but now we were faced with an extended downhill drive and having to use engine brake to slow our descent. This was pretty unnerving but fortunately we made it down into the crater. Once in the crater, we drove on the narrow road that wends its way through the lava fields and made our way to a hot spring resort. There was only one obvious hot spring from the main road and it looked quite upmarket. Entry cost 160,000 rupiah! Anyway, we went in and hung out there for a few hours soaking in the waters. Due to the cost, only tourists came to this place.

After the hot springs, we set out looking for a place to eat. We found another hot spring off the main road on a dirt trail. Entry here was 100,000 rupiah and although it was less upmarket it looked almost as nice as the upmarket one. I did, in fact, visit this hot spring when I returned to Bali

Day 2 - Tirta Empul

Devotees praying.

in 2013 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a restaurant at this hot spring and we ate a leisurely lunch there.

After lunch, we headed out of the crater, and back up to Penelokan. We stopped and attempted to visit a temple at Penelokan, but we were put off by the touts. Getting back into the car, it was on to the village of Tampaksiring where we visited Tirta Empul, source of a holy spring and one of Bali's holiest sites. There, we saw worshipers bathing in the pool where the holy spring water collects. We also looked around the temple grounds. Tirta Empul has since become one of my favorite sites in Bali because it is a living cultural site that has not been repurposed solely into a tourist spot. There is also a great vibe to the place.

After Tirta Empul, we headed back to Ubud. Rae's expert navigation got us back safely to Santra Putra with no wrong turns. Pretty amazing! Arriving back in Penestanan, we ate an early dinner at Made's Warung next door. Made's warung is a friendly, atmospheric place and we had a pleasant dinner there. We also looked at houses

Day 2 - Tirta Empul

Bathing in the holy waters.

that Made had for rent as Rae was looking into staying in Ubud for a while.

We had heard that there was a temple performance at Kedewatan that evening, and we planned to head there after eating. Getting back in the car after dinner, we headed out to Kedewatan temple, arriving there around 8pm. There were a few people at the temple when we arrived but it was obvious that something had happened there and it was over. Darn it! We walked around dejectedly for a few minutes before a young man named Gyan approached us and struck up a conversation. Gyan told us about upcoming events at the temple and he invited us to these events, but they were scheduled for after my departure. Rae jumped at the opportunity and I was green with envy over the photos he posted on Facebook - including a full, unabridged, non-touristy barong and kris dance - in the weeks following our chance meeting with Gyan.

Day 3: Campuhan Ridge and Back to Singapore

The next day, Rae and I decided to do the Campuhan Ridge hike before I set off for the airport. We walked to the Campuhan bridge, crossed

Day 3 - Campuhan Ridge Hike

Rice terraces at the top of the ridge.

the river and then went up the ridge where we admired the rice terraces at the top. Along the way, we looked at several houses for rent for Rae as he was considering making an extended stay. The return portion back to Penestanan was mostly along roads, and in normal circumstances it isn't too interesting. But, this time around the altars seemed to be freshly dressed and there were penjor up everywhere - I guess that the Galungan festival had taken place recently. We were both thrilled by the display of color. Along the way, we looked at a temple, a craft shop, and had lunch at a pleasant Indonesian restaurant where I bumped into the former CEO of Singapore Airlines, my employer from 1993 to 1998 (yikes!). We also stopped at several art galleries.

Getting back to Ubud in the mid-afternoon, we went to the Royal Palace where Rae had seen a marketing museum. It turned out to be a rather pointless exhibit of books written by marketing gurus presented in glass cases. Apparently, a member of the royal family had attended a marketing seminar and he was inspired to set up this exhibit. The attendant at the

Day 2 - Campuhan Ridge Hike

This altar inspired my color palette for my basement in my Maryland home.

museum insisted on taking my photograph for the museum's album. As I was melting from the heat, the photo was not pretty, but the attendant assured me that he would photoshop it before posting.

While at the Royal Palace, I spied the area where preparations for a royal cremation were taking place. I was going to miss this cremation too! Augh. Again, I was purple with envy when I saw the pictures Rae posted on Facebook later.

While we were walking in Central Ubud, my driver spotted me and yelled out to me that he would meet me at Santra Putra at the appointed time which was in about two hours. With that, Rae and I headed back to Santra Putra where I showered and rested before my ride arrived. My initial fears that he was going out of his way for a one-way fare were unfounded; he had, in fact, brought his family out for a jaunt in the area, and so I piled in with his wife and kids and we merrily made our way back to the airport with lots of pleasant conversation en route.

Epilogue

Did this stress break do the trick? Yes

Calm serene landscapes

Just what the doctor ordered.

and no. I went back to Singapore focused and ready to complete the rest of my packing. But, this trip also awakened the old wanderlust in me. You see, apart from Rae, two other friends had taken extended time off to travel in 2011, and this was actually what I wanted to do before we made the decision to move to the East Coast. If anything, an extended break would probably have helped me return to my job search with a clearer end goal in mind. But, we had little spare cash after buying the house in Maryland, I needed to find a job to shore up our flagging income, and we also thought that becoming a two-parent family again would arrest the decline in our relationship with our foster son.

Fast forward to 2013. 2011 and 2012 were difficult years for us. Our worst fears came true - Jeff's job did turn out to be a dud, and our relationship with our foster son deteriorated until we had no choice but to tell him to leave (he was already 18 and no longer a minor, but he was far from ready to be independent). Jeff and I ended

Offerings

There's something about Balinese and Javanese spirituality that I just can't crack.

up working four jobs between us to pay the bills. We've since moved back to Honolulu, and things are stabilizing again. Who knows, maybe I will take that extended trip a few years from now when we're again financially stable and after we sell the Maryland house. I've already spent enough time daydreaming about the places I will travel to on this trip!

I did return to Ubud in 2013, this time with Jeff in tow as I wanted to show him the Ubud I knew and loved before it changed even more. Check our blog entry here .

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