11.30.10

After Sonja and Marco left, we did nothing but relax and try to catch up on some work. We ended up finishing our Christmas shopping and just enjoyed the sweet AC of our villa for the few days we had left in Bali.
I write my mom pretty normally and she had informed me that I was lucky to have not been around for Thanksgiving because everyone got really sick. Apparently, everyone was throwing up with the stomach flu that was quickly passed between one another on Thanksgiving. My poor younger sister, Amber, is 8 months pregnant, and I had read a post on facebook about how she was contracting because of the vomiting. That and the dehydration was making her very uncomfortable and experience early labor signs. It wasn’t long before my mom let me know that her water had broke and that she would be going to the hospital!! I was bouncing of the walls I was so excited! What a surprise! I hung next to the computer like a leach, waiting for new emails and texts to come in from whomever! We all had our fingers crossed and were praying for her pretty hard. She would be delivering 5 weeks early, but the baby was at a stage that he would be healthy enough to breathe on his own if she did deliver. I stayed up all through the night waiting to hear more info. The doctors decided to do a c-section because the baby was breach. Her fiancé, Adam, was out of town for work, but luckily they were able to plan the delivery in advance so that he could make it to the hospital in time ! (Which he did)
She ended up delivering a healthy baby boy named Elliot Christian on November 30th 2010! He was 4 lbs 6 oz, and was doing great. He was on oxygen at first, but they were able to eventually take him off. Amber will have to stay for three nights, but the baby has to stay for a week. Let us all keep him in our prayers!
Congratulations Amber and Adam!

11.27.10

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! What a great day it has been as well! The first thing we decided to do was go do some more Christmas shopping. Up to this point we had decided what we wanted to get everyone, but had only bought a few things. We took Sonja and Marco back to Kuta and we all enjoyed the day shopping. Sonja and Marco went their own way and we decided that we would meet up at 1:30. I had a model fitting at 2:00 which wasn’t far from where we were.
Mid-shopping, it started to storm pretty badly. The thunder and lightening were right above us. Each lightening bolt light up the gray sky like a camera flash in your eye, and the thunder was so loud that it rattled your insides. John and I quickly headed back to the motorbike, but we got stuck in the pouring rain. All of a sudden, a lightening bolt came down and crashed into the building next to us. It was so incredibly loud, I don’t know how to explain it. I imagine that when God created the earth, it was about that loud! It scared the heavens out of me. I did this jump-hop-run into the closest building which was a silver store. My heart was beating inside my eyeballs and my adrenaline was at max-capacity. I felt really dizzy and thought I might pass out. I think I lost a significant amount of blood to my brain the moment the adrenaline took its place. The nice ladies offered me some water and seat and John was laughing hysterically. I was in shock, lol, and couldn’t believe what we had just witnessed. We hung around for a bit, hoping the rain would let up, but it didn’t. Still shaking, we ran to a restaurant that was right by our motorbikes. I got some nibbles and just tried to shake our nerves before it was time to meet Sonja and Marco.
We headed back to our bike, and noticed that our helmets, which were attached to the bike upside down, became a small pond with all the rain water they had collected. Just my luck…a wet helmet just before my model fitting. The last thing I wanted was to look like a dead rat, so I just hung onto the helmet. We made our way to Sanur, which is not as touristy as the other parts of Denpasar. Just so happened, that at one intersection, John and I were at the very front, with Marco and Sonja just behind us. The cop noticed I didn’t have a helmet on and yelled at me to do so. Hoping to take greater advantage of us, he asked us to make a right turn and pull over. He wanted to card us, and pocket our money. John acted stupid though and just kept going forward. Sonja and Marco followed. We thought we got away, but a few minutes later, a cop was at our side, telling us to pull over, so we did. Marco and Sonja just kept on going, so the cop told us to ‘wait here’ while he went and got the others (are you kidding me!?). The road was one way, so there was no way we could keep driving without him seeing us. It just so happened that where we had pulled over, there was a tiny path that went through some rice terraces and behind some Bali home and onto a tiny side street. We noticed cars driving by, so we quickly drove away. We were so nervous and so full of adrenaline at the same time. When they pull you over and extort you, they tell you all kinds of things that are really scary, and being in a third world country, who knows if they will throw you in jail for something that mediocre or not! We pulled over so that I could get in the front. We figured that if we did get pulled over again, we could just pretend that I was driving the entire time, and not have to pay them anything. (For those that may not know, the police here interrogate white people (Buleh) and pull you over for whatever reason so that they can pocket your money. They show you some book that says what will happen to you if they give you a ticket, and blah blah. They try to scare you, and they do all of this illegally, hoping that you will offer them cash to handle the problem now, instead of dealing with the big guns at court/jail. Again, this is totally illegal! It’s still quite frightening, especially if you didn’t have any warning of this before hand. It’s extortion, plain and simple. John and I have already gotten pulled over 2 other times, and were fed up with it at this point.)
Still having no idea of where Sonja and Marco were, we proceeded to follow this road to wherever it went, hoping not to run into any more cops. It eventually led us back to the main road, and the cops were everywhere! Did I mention that this was the first time I have ever driven a motorbike? John was holding the handle bars and still driving, I just pretended to be doing something since I was in the front. We did eventually make it to our destination, and we both were so full of adrenaline… we couldn’t believe we had just ran away from Bali cops, on Thanksgiving Day nonetheless! Two hours passed and still nothing from Sonja and Marco. We were thinking the worse! Did the cops take them and tell them they weren’t going to let them go until they called us? Did they try to run away from them and get in more trouble? Did the cops take all their money? Oh, we were so worried! We felt exceptionally guilty that we had run away and left them, but at that point, it was each man for himself!
After my fitting, I got back on the front of the motorbike, and we took the LONG route back to Seminyak, hoping to avoid the cops. In fact, we drove straight through the center of Denpasar, full of cops and all, but if they didn’t recognize my blazing red helmet and pale white skin than we were ok. We got back to the villa and luckily, found a note from Sonja saying that they were fine and were waiting for us at Scoobies hotdog stand near Bingtang market. It was such a relief to see them! We shared with them our story and they told us theirs. When they got pulled over, they only spoke German, and pretended to not be able to understand! They also told the cops they wanted their names because they wanted to go to their government, that they knew what they were doing was illegal. The cops got all scared and gave them back their papers and told them to leave. HAHA, we trained them good!
We were all starving, so we got all dressed up for dinner (while listening to Christmas music) and then headed over to Bali Deli, where I had noticed they had set up a Christmas tree, and had read that they normally have traditional meals. Unfortunately, they did not have turkey, but pork and mashed potatoes instead. We each enjoyed a three course meal, and the boys even managed to score Sonja and I a free glass of sparkling fruit wine. There was some party going on and they had a band there. The lady singing had an incredible voice and was singing classic songs from frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. It made for a wonderful ambiance. We taught Sonja and Marco all about our Thanksgiving traditions, and even went around the table and told each other all the things we were grateful for. We laughed over the days events, and just enjoyed the evening. I ordered lemon meringue pie for desert, which is a pie my mom makes every year for the holidays! Just as the night started to die down, the lady started to sing “At Last” by Etta James. A song that my grandpa loved and I couldn’t help but get all teary-eyed at his memory. John noticed, and gave a slight squeeze, which quickly had my smiling again. It was a crazy eventful day, but had ended in the most beautiful way. We both are so incredibly grateful that we were able to share this special holiday with Sonja and Marco! (We are also very grateful that the AC is fixed as well!)
The night wasn’t over though. John and I both had scheduled plans with our families back home to skype. I got up around 3am and started skyping my mom. She has dinner for the family every year, and she had set up the laptop in the living room so I could feel like I was apart of the festivities. Everyone came to the computer to say hi, (including my cousin Amanda, who told us the wonderful news that she and her husband are expecting their first baby!) and to ask us all sorts of questions about Bali and Australia. The little kids were so intrigued and were talking over one another to tell me about their exciting day! It was wonderful to finally be able to talk to my oldest sister, who is normally too busy with her kids to get online. My grandma was also tickled pink by this technology, and was really happy to talk to John and me.
Immediately after, John had skyped his mom and sisters. His mom, of course, was elated to see her son. His sisters have booked their tickets to Australia, so they talked about coming to Melbourne and John let them know we wouldn’t be going to Christmas Island. They too, talked of all sorts of things until the sun was starting to come up and the birds were singing. When we finally let them go, it was already early morning before we finally went to bed.
Sonja and Marco were leaving late night the next day. We did some more shopping before helping them pack up their stuff and get ready to go. It was a bittersweet good, but we were all so happy to have been able to spend such a wonderful time together!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11.24.10

What an incredible few days! So many stories, I don’t even know where to start! The first day they were here, I had a photo shoot, and Sonja was excited to be able to tag along. After words, we let them walk around and discover the busy ally ways of Kuta and the beach. That Monday, we decided we would head out for a two or three day adventure up North.
The night before we left, we had found a tiny orange kitten near our villa. I had noticed it laying down when we went to go get dinner, and it was in the same exact spot upon our return home. I had John stop so I could pick it up and local nearby had told me to take it home…so I did. He was dubbed the name ‘Baby’, because that was precisely what he was. In fact, such a small baby, that I had feared he was starving from being away from his nursing mother. He was nothing but skin and bones, and instead of being strong and mighty, he was very weak and limp when I held him. I knew in my heart there was little that we could do besides make him comfortable. I had hoped that we had gotten to him in time and could possibly get this guy strong enough to go back in the wild, but deep down, I knew he was in pretty bad shape. I gave him a quick bath which he seemed to enjoy. Flea ridden, we made him a bed outside with a towel and left him lots of food and water. At first, he was thrilled, and practically drowned himself in the water. He curled up in his towel and was all stretched out and comfy. In the morning though, he didn’t look very good. We were leaving for our adventures with Sonja and Marco, so we just made sure we left him lots of food and water and prayed for the best.
We were on the road by 8am. There is the Berut Belong tree, where the road literally drives through the trunk of this massive tree. It was in the direction of where we were headed, but not really on the way. We took a wrong turn and started to head up into the mountains. Again, it is very cold and chilly up there! We noticed some nasty clouds so we stopped at a nice little restaurant for lunch before heading back out. The problem was that it started to pour! Unfortunately, John and I only have two ponchos. We debated after some time of the best way for us to keep ourselves and our things dry, but the boys were gentleman and let the ladies were the ponchos. We had all crossed our fingers that the rain would stop once we turned around and headed out of the mountains, but we had no such luck! The rain was freezing, even when we were out of the mountains, and I could barely keep my eyes open with how hard it was coming down, and I had sunglasses on. (John and I had developed a really good driving system…he drives and I direct. I have a great sense of a direction and am really good at mentally visualizing a map on the road. Doesn’t make sense does it? John pays attention to the road; I pay attention to road signs and road markers that help me figure out where we are and how to get back. When I can’t see anything, we might as well be driving around in circles because John has not a clue. Besides, it would be way too hard to drive around all the crazy traffic and figure out where we are going at the same time. Not to mention that the road signs in Bali are often covered by trees, and are so tiny that you need a microscope to see it!) We stopped and asked for directions several times, but when you are this far out of a touristy area, you can forget anyone being able to speak English. We were lost for a good 20 minutes…freezing cold, still in the pouring rain, ready to give up, when we FINALLY found the road. Pour John and Marco were soaking wet and wrinkly from being in the rain. Especially Marco! His hands looked like they belonged to an 80 year old man! The rain started to let up as we got closer to the tree, and we were all so relieved when we finally found it! The tree is considered to be a sacred place because of all the lives that were lost when they made the road through it. To be honest, it wasn’t as massive as I had thought it to be, but it was still really neat to see. We took lots of pictures, rested our very sore butts, and drove through it towards our next destination.
We had driven up North through the beautiful rice fields. It is later in the season, so the rice is growing tall and bushy. When it is at this length, it’s hard to see the rice terraces clearly. It ends up looking like a busy hill instead, but we stopped for some pictures. We finally got to Lovina just as it got dark. Lovina is at the Northern coast, fairly close to Singaraja (the old capitol). It is famous for the dolphins that occupy its warm oceans, which is its drive force for tourism. We had found a cute sea-side homestay and then got dinner. We booked our dolphin sight-seeing tour for early the next morning, so we all headed to bed quite early.
The next morning we had to meet our boat guide at 6am. It was miserable, but the dolphins were worth it. He took all 4 of us on a quaint banana boat made of bamboo and slowly tugged us out to sea. Before you knew it, we were surrounded by hundreds of dolphins, swimming around in their pods, jumping and playing together! It was an awesome thing to see. We didn’t get to touch them, or swim with them, but I feel that this sight-seeing tour is a much more eco-friendly way of positively supporting the dolphin trade. We went up and down cashing the dolphins around, but eventually we were surrounded by more boats then we were dolphins so we decided to head back. Our only regret was that we wish we would have gotten up earlier to have beaten the other boats.
We didn’t hesitate to get back on our motorbikes and back on the road. We headed into Singaraja when all of a sudden John noticed that Sonja and Marco were no longer behind us. We pulled over to wait for them, but they weren’t coming. As I was taking my phone out of my purse, Sonja had called… they got a flat tire! I knew it was bound to happen, but I didn’t think it would happen to them! We turned around, and spotted them at a tire shop. Luckily, we weren’t in the middle of nowhere when it happened. They were able to turn into a mechanic shop only a few feet from where the tire had gone flat. Plus, it was much cheaper. I can’t imagine hassling with some guy who knows you are stranded and has a tire tube. I think they spent 4 bucks on it, but I can promise if it happened in the country, it would have been more like 15. It was maybe a 20 minute detour, and back on the road we went!
We decided not to stop to see the GitGit waterfall. We have seen enough of those in Australia. Once we were out of Singaraja we stopped at a warung for lunch and petrol. So far, my dining experiences have been very pleasant, even at the tiny warungs. However, that all ended here. We all ordered Nasi Goreng, and they were all brought out in wooden, basket-like bowls with a paper lining. The lady had set down a dish for everyone, and I noticed as she went to grab my dish, a cock-roach climbed from under the rice and onto her hand. She just flicked it off like it was no biggie and told us to enjoy. I wasn’t going to complain and insult her, so I took a big gulp and tried to prepare myself. As I picked up my fork, another cock-roach appeared, crawling all over my plate and onto the table. Another one had appeared near Sonja’s dish, and even though we clicked them onto the ground, they just kept coming back! I was really reluctant at this point, but everyone was munching away and I wasn’t going to be the brat who didn’t eat her food. We were in Bali after all… so I went for it, slowly, one bite at a time. Marco picked up his paper lining and took a quick look inside the bowl. He didn’t show much emotion, but he quietly told us there were 4 or 5 cock-roaches chilling in his bowl. At that point I handed my plate to John, who eagerly ate the rest. We paid the bill and politely said thank you.
Just across the street was a waterfall, so since we were so close, we decided to go see it. The road went up to the top of the hill that led us to a bunch of Balinese who wanted 2 dollars per person to see the waterfall! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, we just turned around and said ‘no thank you’. I know that isn’t a lot, but in Bali, it was. 2 dollars got you a meal for 2 with drinks!
It took us only another 10 minutes to reach Tulamben where we wanted to stop to go snorkel the WWII Ship Liberty which had sunken just off the beaches shore. We had no idea were to swim or how far to go out, so we just stuck our faces in the water and followed the other people. There were some fish, but the water was dark and creepy. I just kept on kicking until I saw what looking like the Titanic. The feeling that came over me was so chilling and scary. I just wanted to swim back to shore, but I just clasped onto John and started to explore. Sonja felt the same way. I guess it just feels like a ghost or some un-earthly creature will just rise from this dark eerie object and take you down to its lair! Eventually, I was comfy and swam all around it admiring the gorgeous and REALLY large fish. At one point, a massive school of tune came around. They swim in a circle and John and I swam right in the middle of it! These tuna had to be 2 feet long, and being in the center of their silvery whirlpool was totally awesome. It was like a scene from little mermaid, when they are singing and jumping around! It was just unreal!
After about an hour we got back on the road and went to Amed. John and I had already snorkeled here once, but wanted to show Sonja and Marco how incredible the coral was. We played in the water there for another hour or so, and then made our way towards Candidasa. We stopped along the way to show them the monkeys, but for some reason there were only 4 or 5. Maybe it was late, and they head for the woods during the evening, I don’t know, but it was a bummer that there weren’t more of them like usual.
When we got to Candidasa we spent 30 minutes shopping for the most affordable homestay. We ended up choosing the first place to stop at. We rested and took showers and then went for cocktails at Toke for happy hour. Right after we went to Legong to get dinner and watch the dancers. Unfortunately, there was a ceremony that day so the dancers weren’t around. Sonja and Marco were so over stimulated though that they were happy enough to go straight to bed anyways.
That was the end of our 2 day adventure. The next day we got straight on the rode. Just as we left the city, I reminded John to keep his eyes open for cops, and to run through them if we did spot them. Cops normally are not a problem until you get to the bigger cities like Denpasar, but for some reason, just as I had warned him, there was a block in the road of cops, and no way around it. Now I have my international driver’s license, and John doesn’t, but of course I am not driving in this crazy country! Sonja was driving at the time, but she didn’t have her international license… only Marco did! We didn’t even think to warn them of the cops, so poor Sonja ended up paying them $25 bucks. John got away with $10, though we were equally mad at that. We had all agreed to just drive past them next time, no matter what!
We did eventually make it back to Seminyak. Sonja and Marco played around and did their own thing, and we all were eager to rest our very sore tailbones. Riding that long on a motorbike certainly takes it toll!
Unfortunately, Baby, our sweet orange kitten had passed away the day after we left. The maid had found him so they took him to an empty field. Poor little dude. At least he was comfortable.
It’s been an incredible few days and we are just happy that we got a chance to show them around! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so we are really looking forward to showing them our incredible western celebrations!

11.20.10

WOW! I want to say thank you to all our readers! The response to
my last blog has been incredible, and it makes me really happy to know that
we have so many people who are following our travels! THANK YOU! I've gotten
a lot of emails from others who have traveled or been away from the holidays,
giving me some suggestions on how to handle being away from family. Ana,
from Germany wrote:

Dear Autumn and John
My sister was staying at Dougie's and she told me to check out their
facebook page. I had seen your link on their wall, and that's how I found
you! I really wish I had the guts to just pick up and leave and travel!
Since my sister left, I have been thinking about it, and since I've read
your blog, I am really considering on buying a plane ticket. The closest
thing to traveling I have done was when my job relocated me for a year to
Tokyo. I did enjoy my time overseas, and in Europe it's customary for people
to take a year or two to travel. I had a hard time during the holidays too,
and they even made us work Christmas day! What I found that helped me out,
was to not do anything traditional at all. Instead of snow, I went swimming.
Instead of Christmas turkey, I ate sushi. I saved all the cards and gifts I
got from family until Christmas day. I stayed up until five in the morning,
even though I had to work at 8 am so that I could skype back home. I kept
myself busy creating new traditions that I totally forgot about what I was
missing back home. To this day, my family still talks about when we skyped
when I was in Tokyo, and I always remember the very unique holiday I spent
away from home. Hope this helps and I am looking forward to hear how your
holidays turn out!

-Ana

Other emails suggested that I try to recreate my traditions, so that I can
feel comfy, and others simply said to try and enjoy what is in front of me,
because eventually, it too will end. Since the emails, I have started to
feel much better!
I have been waking up every day, listening to Christmas music,
and John and I have been spending a lot of time preparing Christmas lists
and doing some Christmas shopping! To be honest, that has been one thing
that has helped A LOT! I enjoy so much picking out the perfect gift for
someone, and I get so excited to give it to them. I really thought long and
hard about each individual gift that we could get for each person. I wanted
to make sure it was something they could use and appreciate, but at the same
time, still represented Bali! You have no idea how hard it is to do this,
but we succeeded!
Other news is that we will no longer be going to Christmas Island. They contacted us to let us know that they overbooked volunteers but that we were free to reapply for a later time. I will not be lying when I say that I was neither disappointed nor excited by this news. I really wanted to volunteer and the experience would be out of this world, but on the same hand, I am really homesick and am equally looking forward to being able to spend the holidays with John’s Australian family and now his 2 sisters. Everything happens for a reason though, and we hope to volunteer with them in the future.
The news doesn’t stop there though! We just got word that our friend, Sonja and Marco (I worked with Sonja at Zinc in Port Douglas, but they are from Germany), will be coming to visit us in Bali! They arrive late tonight so we are going to meet up with them and help them find a place to stay for the night. For those of you that don’t recall, I had left for Ohio and while I was gone, Sonja had left Port Douglas. I never got to say goodbye, and since my departure was so quick, I never got to even tell her that I was leaving. It was really awesome of her to show us around Darwin when we had our layover, so we are looking forward to seeing them again, and showing them around Bali!
I must say that we are miserable in this heat! Our AC broke, and with all these glass walls; it just traps in the heat. We both get up super early in the morning because we are cooking, and at night, we lay sprawled out like star fish! They say they will come and have it fix Tuesday, so that will be much welcomed!
I’m starting to feel a lot better : )

11.14.10

We are onto our last three weeks in Bali. We have been spending a lot of time trying to get things organized for our nearing departure, and in making sure that Christmas Island is ready to receive us. However, I am still having a hard time dealing with this ‘Christmas away from home’ thing. To help me cope, I made some cut out decorations with magazine pages. I made a snowman, snowflakes, holly, a gift, a Christmas tree and even Christmas lights. I pinned them to our bed curtains with bobby pins, and I must say it certainly has brightened up the room (I posted pictures.) I plan to take my lovely decorations with me to Christmas Island too. I’ve also been making it a routine to listen to Christmas music every day. There are times when I really enjoy it, and other times, a song comes on that remind me of some specific holiday memory and it makes me even more homesick. I don’t think I would be homesick at all if it weren’t for this Holiday thing, and it’s really taken me by surprise! (Of course, I know that if I were home, I would be wishing I was in Bali. Where’s the happy-medium?)
John claims that he isn’t homesick, but today he woke up complaining he didn’t feel good. I asked him several times if he was really homesick, but he insisted it was just a headache. The symptoms that I could see were more homesick then headache, but this debate will remain up in the air. For the most part, John does really well, and I don’t ever hear him say he misses anyone, let alone Ohio. But I am just different. I love traveling and being away, but I miss the people, especially during the holidays. I made it very clear to John that we will NEVER spend Christmas away from home again. Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing John’s sisters in January. (Did I mention that they will be visiting the family in Melbourne?)
On the flip side, our last few weeks here will be busy. I have 8 shoots this week, and several meetings with photographers starting tomorrow. It’s going to be intense and a lot of work, but the week will fly by and I love that I have found so much amazing work here. I have a few shoots the following week, but we plan to spend our last few days touring the rest of Bali, and possibly going to Java Island. It really depends on how busy we are with the rest of my shoots and such.
I’m thinking of you friends and family. We are both thinking of you and miss you lots!

11.10.10

I wake up every day and the sun is shining. I walk outside to humidity and that familiar scent of Bali incense. I am surrounded by palms and bamboo and want nothing more than to jump in the pool to cool off. When I go online though, I see websites starting to fall festive with red and green, Christmas trees and ornaments. On facebook, I read posts about how it is snowing back home, the different ways people are getting into the Christmas spirit or are preparing for the holidays.
Time seems frozen over here. To us, it is still summer. We don’t have the changing seasons to mark the upcoming holidays, or to help us get into ‘spirit’. When I look at the calendar, I have to gasp at how close Thanksgiving is and I feel ashamed because I completely forgot about it!
This will be our first time away for Christmas, and I never realized that it would be such a challenge, at least not in this way. I figured I would miss my family, but I never thought I would miss the chilly air, or the smell of fall, or driving in the snow, or how every store looks like Christmas vomit the day after Halloween. Furthermore, I didn’t expect to ‘forget’ about the holidays, but it’s a strange thing. When you reminded about the changing seasons on a daily basis, they seem to just not exist.
I’m starting to face the greatest challenge of being away from home, and it certainly requires a certain level of creativity to overcome. For example, I am currently listening to Christmas music, in hopes that it will start to ignite that Christmas spirit that everyone seems to be so full of back home. I am also seriously considering putting the AC to 18 degrees, but I think that’s a little drastic! I am going to research some restaurants and try to find a place that may be appropriate for John and me to go to on Thanksgiving. Come December, we will be on Christmas Island and I have no idea what to expect there. They say that they celebrate Christmas there for the refugees, but who knows if they put up a tree and decorations. If not, perhaps I can decorate a mini tree for our room. Regardless, my brain is full of ideas and ways that I can turn sunny paradise into a winter wonderland. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
John is much better at this kind of stuff then me. I love traveling and wouldn’t trade it in for anything, but I can’t help but miss everyone and the seasons. It fact, it wasn’t until now that I realized just how wonderful the changing seasons are. I appreciate them now more than ever. Just like the old adage goes, ‘too much of a good thing, is never a good thing’. That applies to paradise too! You have to have blistering winter to really appreciate the humid summers, and apparently, it works the other way around too.
Every time I step outside the villa, I feel so lucky and grateful that I am in such a beautiful place, and just like that, I forget all about the holidays again. I don’t know how people in LA do it, because it’s true… it’s just not the same without the chilly air and sparkling snow.
So here I am, trying to merge one world into the next the best I can. I guess I will just have to go out and do some Christmas Shopping in the mean-time.

11.06.10
After our first night in the gorgeous villa, we woke up early to head out back up to Ubud, but this time for more of a visit. On our way we stopped in the village of Sukawati, which is known for its gold and silver smiths. The houses here are much more grandiose, and you can easily tell that the entire village is very well off their lucrative trade. As a matter of fact, it’s very easy to identify the trade for each village. Grandma and grandpa grew up carving wood, so they teach that trade to their kids, and when the daughter marries into a different family, she passes that trade down the line (though she most likely married into a wood carving family as well), so these giant, relative villages have mastered that trade, and that is what they sell and that is what they trade with other villages to help sustain their community. When you’re driving by a specific village, you can tell what trade it is they are masters of because that is all you will see being displayed for blocks in their shop houses. To be honest, it’s hard to believe that they have conquered these elaborate trades by hand. The silversmiths, the bone and wood carvers, the rock and ceramic workers, the ikat weavers, the palm leaf scripters, etc etc do such an incredible job at what they do, it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t done by some mass manufacturing machine. But it does make sense…when all you do, every single day, since the day you were born, was practiced this trade to perfection. It’s no wonder that so many people on this island are extremely talented.
We shopped around for a bit, though we were overwhelmed by everything there was to look at and eventually made our way up to Ubud. We stayed in the first homestay that we had found when we had last come up to Ubud, which is a very cute quaint little family pod, where they had turned un-used homes into guest rooms. Apparently, when your daughter decides to move to Denpasar instead of getting married, or when you didn’t have as many kids as you intended, the extra homes built on your property are a great way of making extra cash. What is neat about this particular arrangement is that John and I got a firsthand look at what it is like to live with a real Bali family inside their comfy compound. We watched them pray in the temple and prepare their offerings, and even caught their laxity when the woman elder was running around in her bra. There is grass in-between all the homes and pebble pathways and stepping stones connect each homes doorway. They had this elaborate outdoor birdcage with a song bird inside (and I am not sure the significance, but I have seen this a lot in the Bali homes. Birds and other small animals, such as squirrels, are kept in cages on the home ground. Ketuts house was full of caged animals, even dogs. Maybe this is a sign of status and money, or perhaps it’s a more permanent offering to the gods). There are lots of manicured trees and flowers, all in which make for this secret-garden-like feel of the family village.
We spent the day shopping around, and admiring all that the city had to offer. We once again stopped at Ketut Liyer’s home, but quickly turned around when we found out he wanted $25 dollars (per person) to become our guru. Just too commercialized for me! (Though we did get a picture)
The next morning we found the hidden path that is behind all the hustle and bustle of the streets to see the rice terraces, of which Ubud is so famous for. We made the trek on our motorbike, but the ground was too soft and muddy to get too far. The rice terraces are beautiful though, it’s just a shame that it too is being overpopulated by western villas and resorts. I don’t think the Balinese have any idea the beauty that is before them.
Right after, we started to head for Danau Bratur and Gunung Batur Volcano. On the way we stopped in Tampaksiring to see the ancient monument, Gunug Kawi and the holy springs of Tirta Empul.
To get to Gunung Kawi, you had to walk through a village of hawkers and down a steep path through rice terraces. The view was magical, and I absolutely loved the energy of this place. Of course, the path was also lined with little booths of stuff to buy, but it ended up being a nice resting place as we made the heated, steep walk back up. At the bottom was a river and a mountain side. Inside niches of the cliff were giant statues. There was an ancient looking temple carved out of rock, and is Bali’s oldest temple. It most certainly looked quite ancient.
We made the short drive to Tirta Empul but realized it was nothing more than the same exact river we had just been too that was considered to be holy spring and bathing water. We neglected to pay the 50 or 20 cents to get in, and went on our way. (Did I mention that this clever Balinese charge you for everything? They charge you to enter any of these tourist attractions of course, will charge you to park, will charge you to rent a sarong and will even charge you to use the toilet. Most of the time it isn’t even government regulated. It’s just a few village people who decided to take advantage of the fact that they COULD charge.)
Our final stop was Danau Bratur and the Batur Volcano. What a sight to see. Danau Bratur is just a big lake. It’s peaceful and smooth as glass and full of fresh water fish. Around the lake are scatters of villages who focus 100% on the tourism. Though here, the tourism seemed desolate. Right next to the lake is Gunung Bratur Volcano (active) which is the first volcano John and I have ever seen in person. It was covered in green, which was far from what I had imagined, but the giant gaping hole at the top was certainly breath taking. It last erupted in 2002 and you could still see the black path that the lava had created. On the opposing faces of the mountain though, it was lush forest and seemed to be thriving.
We drove down to the lake and found a place to stay in Toyabungkah. We paid and left our stuff in the hotel, only to get back on the bike and do some exploring. One thing I hadn’t expected was the temperature change. It was quite chilly up in these high altitudes and we weren’t the least bit prepared. The landscape was rocky and overgrown with tall dried out weeds and just emanated death. It felt far removed from typical Bali, but it was what it was. At the top of the mountain all the large restaurants and hotels were closed up and barren. It gave you this feeling like it was a ghost town. I am lead to assume that after the 2002 eruption, it just hasn’t been the same for tourism.
We stopped at a little restaurant to try the fish that was so popular for this area. What we didn’t realize was that the fish was cooked whole. John had asked me how exactly to eat it, assuming I had a better idea then he since I grew up fishing (thank you grandpa!), but I was never the one who prepared any of the fish, and often ignored the entire process in fear that I may try to release all the fish we just caught. So out our meals came out and fortunately they were already gutted. We carefully ate our fish, pulling out tiny bones along the way. Though scary looking, it was really good. John loved it so much; he even ate the brain and gills (yuck!). We went somewhere else for dessert and made our way back to the hotel before dark.
We had been approached by several hawkers, trying to sell us a morning hike up the volcano where you get to cook eggs on the steaming holes. Enticing, but we weren’t prepared to spend 60 dollars to take a walk. Instead, I sat on the hotel bed, mapping out our way back to Seminyak in the morning. All of a sudden, I felt something hit my arm. A bug had dropped from the ceiling, which reminded me bed bugs. I decided to pull back the covers and take a closer look at the mattress, just to be safe. Sure enough, there were fat juicy bed bugs, waiting to pounce. We showed the staff, whom apologized and started to change the sheets and clean room while we gathered our things. We told them we didn’t feel comfortable staying there, and asked for our money back. Sheesh what a process that was! John ended up arguing with the manager for about 15 minutes. They said they couldn’t give us our money back because we already paid… even though the room was filthy. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the only guest. John proceeded to tell them that we needed to eat too, and that they were wrong in not giving us a refund. He somehow managed to get at least half back, but they weren’t happy about it. It was now dark, and our options for hotels were thin. The first placed we stopped at we made sure to check for bed bugs first. We saw traces of them, though none could be found. We were paranoid at this point and didn’t want to take any chances. We went back up the hill to Penelokan and stopped at the first place (the only place) that wasn’t boarded up. It was 50 bucks a night (versus our typical 10) and figured our best bet was to make the drive back to Ubud. John refused and walked back to the reception desk. He came back 10 minutes later and told me to grab my things. Like a pro, he managed to bargain them down to 20 dollars. The room was large and clean, there was a nice patio that overlooked the volcano and lake, though it was too dark for us to see anything. There was a TV with cable (including Cinemax) and a warm shower (most places are only cold water). It too, included breakfast. So sure, it was more then we wanted to spend, but it came with a few luxuries that we were excited to have at that moment (we even got towels and toilet paper! Yes, even in the hotels, you don’t get toilet paper. And the bathrooms in the shower are a toilet, a large basin for water and a shower head. I have a small problem with showering next to a toilet but unless you’re in a fancy resort, it’s unavoidable).
The next morning we went back to Seminyak and for the next couple of days, did nothing but shop, watch movies, and relax our tail bones. We enjoyed wondering around Seminyak and Kuta, and got lost a number of times. One of the more exciting things that happened on our days of relaxation are the Bali tattoos we got. Mine is around my wrist and says ‘Nasib Sudah Mene Mukanku’. It means ‘Destiny has found me’ in Hindu-Balinese and is written in Balinese script. At the center is the Bali ‘Ohm’ symbol. Hindu belief says that when the world was created ‘Ohm’ was the sound it made. It is one of the most significant symbols and you can see it everywhere in Bali. They believe it to be good luck, but I also found out that there are several ways of creating the ‘Ohm’ symbol and it varies from each Hindu country. Johns is on his chest and is a picture of Barong, the good spirit (Barong and Kris, the good and bad spirits are very important and popular gods here). The man who did our tattoo was smaller than Aunt Zia! We were both so excited after words, and posted lots of pictures in the gallery.
Tuesday, Nov 2nd, we went to Wonderland (beach) to do the photo shoot with David. We played in the water and laid in the sun all day. The waves here are incredible, and we all really enjoyed watching all the other tourists getting pommeled by the massive breaks.
On Wednesday, we decided to make another trip up north, but this time to a Gunung Batukaru and the lake Danau Bratan. Our first stop was at Tanah Lot, which is another very important temple. It’s a temple that they built on an island rock thing. It’s quite beautiful but it’s too sacred to actually go inside. We took a detour through Tabanan which I really enjoyed. The rice terraces’s to Tanah Lot were really gorgeous, and at one point, we even went down a little side road so that we could spend some more time with the scenery. I’m not sure what it is about the rice terraces, but we absolutely love them. It’s like fine architecture made with nature. The way the water is pooled in the little divisions and the green rice sprouts just make for such a magical feeling (do I sound like a hippie or what!?).
We made it up to Wangayagede to see the Pura Luhur Batu Karu temple. Behind it was the large cascade of Gunung Batukaru, but it was completely hidden by clouds. Now, there wasn’t anything spectacular different about this temple. But there was not ONE hawker. We were one of three other tourists and we were surrounded by complete peace and quiet. We loved it! We took our time to explore all the nook and crannies, explored hidden paths, and stopped to appreciate the silent prayers of the few Balinese at the temple. There was a gorgeous water pool with a temple in the center. Again, nothing compared to the floating palaces and temples we had seen before, but the screen atmosphere made it seem far more spiritual then all the other places. There were stepping stones laid under the water which we both admired a lot.
We made a second detour through Jatiluwih and Senganan to see the never-ending landscape of rice terraces. We stopped a number of times to take pictures, and it was probably my favorite part of the entire trip.
We practically passed up the lake, Danau Bratan, because it was just a pool of water. Not nearly as developed or as large as Danau Batur, we decided to turn around and found a place to stay in Candikuning. Dusk was coming and it started to rain. Again, it was freezing now that we were in higher altitudes. The place we stayed at was shiny and new and was one of the cleanest places that you can get for 100,000 rupiah. Wet and cold, we wrapped ourselves in a blanket and watched what few Indonesian channels our TV picked up. We fell asleep and didn’t wake up till 8am the next day. Well kind of…I was woken up around 5am by the humming and howling of singing prayers over loud speakers. As we made our long drives from one place to another, there were a number of times we would run into a village that was in ceremony. They decorate their village very intricately with bamboo and palm leaves. They twist and turn the palm leaves to make hanging ornaments (Cili) and tall, flag-like structures with bamboo (called Penjor). They will carry baskets of offerings on their heads and walk down the street in a parade to the temple. Normally the head of the parade is led by some large puppet of Barong (the good spirit) or we have seen greatly ornamented chariots, in which they carry the priest. On certain occasions we will drive by a village or a ceremony when they are singing and humming through the loud speakers. As much as I would like to say that it is beautiful, it has a strange, eeriness to it. It’s always a male and is a strange combination of notes. Think monk-like, except more of a constant chanting. It doesn’t even sound like they are saying words, but if they are; it is most likely in Hindu (the language that they use to pray in, though not all the time. It’s also a dying language that the younger generations are losing). Creepy as it may be, it has this strange luster to it, so I laid there awake to listen. I am pretty sure the man sung for about an hour, but I easily fell back asleep.
Breakfast was less then enjoyable the next morning; expecting eggs and fruit, like normal, we were instead brought a dish of bright pink and muddy purple gelatin goo, covered in toasted coconut. We tried it, but kindly pushed it aside when we realized there was no way our stomachs would allow us to digest it. I think it’s safe to say here that it is an acquired taste and something your stomach has to learn to digest. We scarfed down a bag of potato chips instead and went back towards Denpasar. Our last stop was at Mengwi to see Taman Ayun Temple. It is supposed to be quite popular due to the moat that surrounds it, but it was one of these attractive temples we had been too. It was quite small and not nearly as impressive as the others. It was on the way home, so why not? Before heading back to the villa, we quickly took care of our visa extension and spent another hour trying to find our way back to the villa. Dave would be leaving Bali at 11pm, so we decided to have a good-bye dinner at a nearby sushi joint. It was really sad to say goodbye, but John and I are so grateful for all the incredible people and friends we have been making as we travel. It has been the single most amazing part of our entire adventure and it really fills your heart to know you have so many kind and incredible people in your life. We feel so blessed.
The last few days we have, once again, done nothing but enjoy our cheap movies and catching up on the blogs. We got a chance to Skype with some friends and family, and we can’t help but chuckle a little when we hear that it has started to snow back home. Another reason why we are so happy that we are in Bali!