Beautifully Bali

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Wow wow wow ... beautiful Bali... how am I going to sum up 141 pictures taken in just 1 day?! ??
Well, I had a 10 hour private whistle stop tour of beautiful Bali today. My driver Oka, only 22 years of age I might add ?☺️ was waiting for me in the lobby, earlier than agreed. So I had no time to waste on breakfast - I’ll get some fresh exotic fruits on the way!
His English was ok. His accent was... well let’s just say I was straining like an old granny at times to try to figure out what he was saying but once I figured out that for example “kritor” as he pronounced it was actually “creator” and “bon” was “born”, it was fine. This leads me nicely onto my first fascinating experience of the day ... a brief lesson into the Hindu religion. I cannot begin to tell you how I sat there listening in absolute awe...
The only way I can think right now to describe it is, a very kind and good natured religion where you are taught to respect 1) God 2) Humans 3) Animals, Flora & Fauna. Offerings are made daily to God who goes by many names. Each place or thing has a different name for God for example Baruna is God of the sea so when people go to a temple on or near the water, they pray and give offerings to Baruna.
Good and bad is represented by black & white, this is why you see so many black & white check sarongs, which interestingly also have brown on them to neutralize good & bad.
The most renowned names for God are Brahma - the creator / Vishnu - god of life / Siwa - the destroyer or death.
The final destination for Hindu’s is to join with God in heaven. But if you are bad, your are reincarnated - karma!
And I could go on ... but this isn’t a religion lesson (go back to school ?), but it was fascinating and quite frankly humbling and I’ll tell you why ...
In modern day society/ in the western world, we are rather self-absorbed, consumed by vanity and seeking acceptance or approval from others. But, life shouldn’t be about what you have or how you look, it should be about how you interact and show kindness to others. Acts of kindness are the norm here rather than the exception. Why do a random act of kindness when you can be kind all the time? It’s such a simple yet effective way of life that I’m certainly adopting more and more each day.
Question: Does the drama in your life really have significance? (Note I said “drama” and not problem or issue).
I’ve always been a firm believer of Karma (good & bad) and this holiday has only reinforced my belief. Ive had some real good karma come my way on this trip so far and it’s testament to being kind.

So, back to the tour ... first stop of the tour was a waterfall, not the biggest I’ve seen by any stretch of the imagination but stunning nevertheless and here was the first of many photos Oka would be taking of me today. He literally ripped the camera from my hands and started snapping away - aaarghhhhh WAIIIT, my hair, my pose, bloody hell, I was not ready for that! ??? But anyway, of the 30 photos he snapped at that point, I kept 5 of them but that’s the beauty of the digital age... when your caught in maybe not the most flattering of positions or with a facial expression that looks like the wind might have hurricaned passed your face, you can delete it! ??? Not that I’m vain or anything but please... I don’t want to look like I’m straining to go to the toilet in my pictures just because I got papped at precisely the wrong moment ???

Next stop - coffee plantation. So, Luwak coffee is the most expensive in the world. Alright, allllright, I can hear some of you laughing as I type ... at the ripe old age of 38, I’ve just started drinking coffee. I know, I know ... “what have you been doing all your life?” Shhhhhh, ok ok so I’m a slow learner... OK, a veeerrrrry sloooooow learner but anyway. The guide at the coffee plantation takes me round the flora and fauna showing me green coffee beans, red coffee beans, and then different fruits and spices like cinnamon, turmeric, rosella, cocoa, ananas etc AND THEN, we stumble upon what can only be described as a rabid cat of sorts (my driver described it as a squirrel?! What the hell was in his coffee this morning?!) The Luwak or in English the Paradoxurus (sounds prehistoric or even like the toothpaste Parodontax ?). This is the animal that eats and excretes the red coffee beans which have fermented in his stomach to give the coffee the very errrr “rich” flavor it has. When in Rome as they say... yes of course I tried it! Needless to say I think the guide was telling porky pies when he said it’s rich in flavor and has LESS caffeine ... I walked out of there with bug eyes ? as if I’d just taken drugs or something! Clearly I’m a complete novice when it comes to caffeine!!! ? Or perhaps it was a combination of the Luwak coffee plus the other 12 (yes 12) teas and coffees they gave me to try! After a few posey photos (with sunglasses on of course to hide my bug ?) since the scenery was so lovely it was off to the Tirta Empul.

Tirta Empul is the water temple where Hindus go for ritual purification. You can opt for a ticket to just walk round or a ticket to actually bathe and pray in the sacred springs. Due to time constraints (I’ve kinda got a packed schedule - surprise surprise) Oka, my driver, walked me round explaining things to me and being my personal photographer once again “stand here miss Anita”, “what about here miss Anita”, “miss Anita one more photo” - God love him, he’s great- he took more photos than a snap happy Japanese tourist! ?

Oooohhhnext were the rice terraces at Tegalalang (try saying that 3 times fast - galagalagalaga?). I’ve been looking forward to seeing the rice terraces as the pictures look amazing and I was hoping to get that “money shot” as I like to call my breathtaking pictures (doesn’t happen very often). From the road side I got some great shots and then Oka says, “do you want to walk around the rice terraces”. But of course!!! It was great climbing down the terraces, walking along the narrow paths and every so often we’d come across a makeshift kind of hut with a lady collecting donations to keep the paths clear. So when we came across this one makeshift hut the lady stopped us and Okra turns to me and says “you MUST give a donation the lady said” ? the word MUST and donation, in the same sentence? ??? Bless her, it’s not a donation then is it because a donation is voluntary?! Of course I made a donation but didn't we laughed after we passed the lady ☺️ AND THEN, what goes down must come up .... wow, the trek back up the rice terraces ... I think Oka chose some steep jungle path, or maybe it wasn’t even a real way up ?. You can just imagine ... in flip flops... enough said ?!

By now it’s like 2:30pm and I AM FAMISHED! So, onto lunch. I’d already told Oka that not only did I want a local lunch but not spicy and that I wanted to eat where he would normally eat. So off to this shack we went. Oka said the local dish was suckling pig ... mmmm yes please ?. Errrrr, it was nothing like you are imagining now. Basically Oka opted for rice with a mix of meats so I had the same. The suckling pig was just one mouth full out of the whole plate and it was more like skin and grease but great in flavor! The rest of my “meats” were basically chicken dishes or let’s say mouthfuls but my god ...I forgot about the spices! ? Fire in the hole!!! CUE the steam coming out of my ears, mouth on fire, saliva in its abundance and then the nose started running and Oka says to me, it’s not too spicy is it? ???? LOL ?. Thank god for the plain white rice to try and diffuse the burning sensation in my mouth!

Back on the road and we hit the artisan village. More like a tourist spot where they show you how they make silver and then there’s the massive air conditioning shop at the end. Sucked in, yep I made a purchase but had fun haggling as well ?

Last stop of the day - Tanah Lot temple for sunset. Beautiful grounds but the temple is off limits to the general public. Plus it is only reachable when it’s low tide. At the base of the rocky island, it is believed that venomous snakes (sorry Glorianne) guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. I passed on the snake picture thank you very much especially when I saw its handler tapping the snakes head against his face - why oh why? One of these days his head will become the snakes meal! ?. From afar it was very picturesque and plenty of photo ops so I braced myself to get snap happy. You literally queue in certain spots to pose for photos ?☺️

It may not seem like a lot in one day ? but trust me, if you thought the traffic was bad in Malta or Cyprus, think again!!! You can’t even begin to imagine the traffic in Bali. You are permanently gridlocked! A 15min journey takes minimum 40 mins!!! Oka tell me that most Balinese don’t have a drivers license. Basically it costs around $30 to get a license and only $3 bribe if you get stopped by police - you do the maths! ?

Right, that’s me pooped after 10hrs in the car. I think I need a holiday after my trip ? #jokingnotjoking ?☺️

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