Life in Bali is weird since the big kaboom! Agus, the son of the man I stay with has a restaurant in a prime tourist spot. Their cliental has droped from about twenty buses a day to about four or five cars and hotel occupancy for next month is forecast at 15%.
Ouch. Everyone you talk to, especially the westerners, was either in Kuta when it happened or knows someone who was.
I was in Ubud on the weekend and that was deserted. Last time I was there it was school holidays back in oz and the place was absolutely packed. We drove into town and it took ages to get from one side to the other on a motorbike. Now the place has a spooky feel.
Sitting overlooking the rice fields on Sunday morning thinking about how lucky I am and what an excellent mob of friends I have.
Last weekend I went up to Lovina on the north side of the island where the beaches are black from all the volcano activity. Actually thy're a murky brown until they get wet and then they look amazing. I got some cool photos of fisherman on the beach and a cool kid called Kadek and his friends I spent some time playing soccor with. Also have a cool shot of a chicken on the
beach. Yup I've seen some weird stuff over the past few years but that one definitely made my head turn until I saw a pig wandering along next to the water!
On Saturday night I went out with a guy called Wayan to one of the villages away from the tourist scene to drink cheaper arak (the local rice wine) and sing Balinese karaoke (well listen to everyone else) before we headed back into town to the Reggae bar where the beer is much more expensive.
The next day we went out to the Buddhist Temple, maybe the only one on the island, I'm not sure. I spent some time inside meditating and trying to ground. The day before a full moon, all my friends are about to bail the country and I was having a few issues appreciating the amazing beauty around me and feeling a tad on edge. Anyway, the temple sorted my head out and then
we went to the local hotsprings which I think had a lot of sulpher in them and made my skin feel amazing. All in the most lush tropical garden. On the way home to Baturiti we stoped at a tiny organic restaurant overlooking the rice terraces in the middle of nowhere and I ran into this guy called Ron that I went on a crazy three day motorbike ride with out to Kampot in
eastern Cambodia about 2 1/2 years ago. Small but crazy world!
On monday, the full moon, the family I'm staying with had the Odalan for their family temple. Its basically a big ceremony for the temple anniversary. This one was one of the important ones that happens every 3 Balinese years. I think! A Balinese year is composed of six months of thirty five days each. a very different calendar. So trina and I were dressed up in Kabayas and Sarongs and I had to wear a stretchy girdle like thing designed for a Balinese woman with
ribs two sizes at least smaller than mine. On the way over it was difficult to breath and in the scorching heat of the afternoon I went from very quicky being honoured to wear the traditional clothes and participate in the ceremony to being ready to kill someone for a baggy pair of shorts. No, despite the heat and the long wait for the priest it was an amazing expereince. There were so many offerings of so many different colours and I learnt how to pray, well
the ritual of praying and participated in a noisy procession down to the local spring to collect holy water. The next day, the family who are all up and about when I get up at six, were nowhere to be seen at seven when I was eating breakfast. It was reassuring to know Trina and I weren't the only ones exhausted by the day! This morning I was watching the dogs follow
Renny around the family compound as she layed out all the offerings. Usually they eat then as soon as they are put down, but the one outside my room both dogs sniffed at and left, as did the sparrows, so I'm not sure what the spirits will think of it that they're meant to appease!
I had the last of my classes at SD1 today and got mobbed by the kids as I was leaving. It was really touching and made me forgive them for being very trying sometimes! I think almost every one of my students gave me a pen and the teachers gave me this huge wooden carving of Garuda, brightly painted that I'm not sure how I'm meant to carry. I think I will leave it at the central house in Ubud as a warning to future teachers of what to watch out for!