The Festival

We arrived on Mt. Batur on Friday afternoon after a two hour motorbike ride across Bali. In the rain, we pitched our tarp. I was mistaken because I thought that the festival was actually in the volcano...it was on the side of the mountain. Probably not so hot, what with the lava and all, so I'm glad I was wrong! The side was covered in volcanic rock and very dry vegetation.

The festival began at sundown with a sacred fire ceremony where about 100 of us gathered in a circle, held hands and chanted. I really wasn't feeling it, so I basically looked around while everyone else had their eyes closed and observed that I was way out of place. I felt a little uncomfortable in my jeans and black t-shirt without dreads, piercings all over my faces or tattoos all over my body. I was talking to an American-Israeli guy and told him that I, pardon the expression, felt like the whitest white person at the party. He replied, "yes, you are." Oh well!

The festival had a 'healing section' where people were doing yoga, tarot readings, etc. I didn't spend any time there. There was a chill out section where they played more mellow music. Michael dj'ed there from 5 AM to 8 AM Sunday morning. The main dance floor, where they played trance music from sundown - 2 PM, took a break for a couple of hours, then started up again, was where I spent most of my time. There were more people dancing at 4 AM than 11 PM. It was crazy...awesome music and lighting. I have never danced so much in my life.

In total, I slept 5 hours from Thursday night to Sunday night. The volcanic rock isn't really that soft and it gets cold on the mountain! I had no cardboard, newspaper, sleeping bag, blanket or pillow, so I tried sleeping straight on the tarp, but it was not so comfortable, hence my lack of sleep. No sleep does offer the advantage of being awake for beautiful sunrises over the surrounding mountains. After two nights of partying Gundula and I were ready to leave. We got back to Ubud last night, took a power nap, showered and put on a little sundress. I was so exhausted that on the way to dinner I realized that I had forgotten to wear underwear. Oops.

I posted new pictures, too many of them probably. Click on the picture below to view them!

Bali - The Middle & End

Flying to Kuala Lumpur on a red-eye tonight! Next update from Malaysia!

The Accident

So I'll be brief on this one because two blogs ago I promised it to be my last written in Bali. Gundula returned from her visa run to Singapore, and we celebrated her return this afternoon by going to our favorite restaurant located in a rice field, Sari Organik.

The path to the restaurant is very narrow, very uneven and on either side a little bit of grass, a canal (at times less than 1' wide) and then rice fields. Gundula was leading and she stopped because ladies were carrying massive bags of rice on their heads on the path ahead of us. I slowed my motorbike to a stop and put my left foot down. The next thing I knew, the entire left side of my body was lying in a rice field and the motorbike was on top of me! Turns out there was no grass, only canal, where I decided to stop! I think Gundula was in shock thinking I was hurt until she heard me laughing. The scene looked way more dramatic than it actually was. I was filthy...wet and muddy. It took 3 of us to get it up. The bike wouldn't start for about 30 minutes. I had to call the guy I rented it from to come rescue me. The horn is still a little sporadic and the blinkers are on hyperflash. Other than that, bike and I are okay. Good times.

Hands & Wind

Okay, I lied. Yesterday was worthy of its own blog entry, and I don’t want it to get muddled up with the trance festival this weekend! The last real thing on my list to see and do in Bali, outside of going to a 3 day party in the crater of a volcano of course, was to see Tanah Lot. Tanah Lot is a collection of temples built in and on the black cliff shore of the ocean. It was absolutely breathtaking and if you ever come to Bali, I highly recommend seeing it over any other temple.

I left on my two hour journey to the sea without really any idea where I was going. I have given up on my map which was given to me…they have built a lot of new roads since it was published and none of the roads have street signs anyway! So, I made my way by pulling over at every intersection along the way (about 10 turns in all) and asking some kind-hearted soul for which way to go. It was quite amusing to them, I’m sure, to see someone cruising along on motorbike knowing where they wanted to go without a clue how to get there. Luck and the help of strangers was on my side, because I made it!

It was high tide when I arrived at high noon (read: hot) so I could not reach the main temple to partake in the Holy Spring Ceremony which is a supposed highlight of a visit to Tanah Lot. I did, however, spend a long time watching waves crash all around the beautiful main temple. En route to the other temples, I came across an old, bearded Chinese man who was leading a yoga/meditation type thing next to the sea over looking the temple. All of the other participants were Chinese also and I was mesmerized. I stood and watched and snuck pictures for a solid 15 minutes…so peaceful. When it was finished, the old, bearded man came up to me, smiled and grabbed my right hand with both hands and shut his eyes. I followed suit and shut mine too. He held onto me with a firm grip and I could literally feel his presence coming into me. It was awkward at first for me and then amazing. He held onto me, eyes shut the whole time, for a good 45 seconds. Then he opened his eyes, lightened his grip and smiled again. I said ‘thank you sir’ in Chinese. The entire time, he never uttered a word. Maybe he was Japanese?! Heritage aside, it was an incredible experience and something I won’t soon forget. I couldn’t stop smiling the entire ride back to Ubud…

…until tropical storm force winds started blowing strong enough to make Jim Cantore jealous he wasn’t in Bali today. In addition to dodging oncoming traffic, pot holes and dogs, I also had the added luxury of trying to keep the bike vertical due to the wind gusts. I threw on my garbage bag material poncho (compliments of Mendy from the Blue Mountains in AUS!) and braved the wind and rain. I got home safely, slightly unnerved, wet and wearing a poncho that had been ripped apart from all the blowing. Jim, if you’re reading this, I’d say the gusts were easily pushing 34 mph.

It's Hot in Ubud.

I haven't felt 100% over the last week, partially due to the heat rash. Thankfully, that has subsided. I spent a couple of days laying low...which makes me wonder how low I can actually lay and for how long? I can't believe I've been in Ubud for 3 weeks already, much less away from home for over 10 months! I have become an expert in sleeping in, reading on the porch, lounging by the pool and relaxing at cafes. I must figure out the best way to list it on my resume! In all honesty, I'm ready to get moving again. I had intentions of leaving Ubud and seeing more of Indonesia last week, but decided to remain due to not feeling well.

To quickly summarize my activities of the last week: Wednesday - bed. Thursday - bed, rice field walk (pictures!) and Tibetan bowl meditation. Friday - pool. Saturday - pool. Sunday - bike ride. Monday - reading and cafe (rained all day!).

The Tibetan bowl meditation was an experience. We lied in a semi-circle facing the instructor on a yoga mat. He came around, after tying up his dreads, to rub incense on my 6th chakra (also known as my third eye). Then, he played the Tibetan bowls and walked around with them and played them around my head. I found it quite hard to actually get into a meditative state primarily because the music was pretty cool..you could feel the vibrations from the bowl literally going through your body...and so I kept thinking about how cool that was. Also, I was quite itchy from some previous mosquito bites.

As the bike ride was really the highlight of my week and certainly the most energy I expended, I'll give you an idea of what biking is like in Bali. Imagine the hottest day ever. Picture sleeping in, as you do, and not leaving until the absolute hottest part of the day. Now, bike through traffic to a nice little place you've found on your map which, being two-dimensional and all, looks like it will be flat land and easy sailing. How wrong you would be! You climb and pedal and sweat and climb and pedal and sweat, seemingly never reaching the top. You almost pass out from the heat at least 5 times and are forced to pull over and dump water on your head as the locals laugh at you for even trying. The moral of this story: never ride a bike in Bali. I learned the hard way why everyone here has motorbikes!

This weekend, I will be going with Gundula and Michael, a German guy who worked with us at the Earth Day Festival, to the Kintanami Awaredance 2 Trance Festival held in the volcano of Mt. Batur. Yes, that's right...from Friday until Monday morning, I will be living like a hippie under a tarp, on top of cardboard and snuggled under newspaper (I don't feel like buying another tent and sleeping bag just for the weekend and shipped mine home long ago!). Bucket showers, likely no sleep and lots of fun things will certainly transpire all in the crater of a volcano! I'm very excited! My next update will be from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I fly there on Monday night, assuming I'm still able to function long enough to get to the airport!

On a personal note, I'd like to publicly congratulate my brother and best friend, Gerad, who graduated from Florida International University with a Masters Degree in Construction Management last week. I'm extremely proud of him and look forward to sleeping on his couch and having him buy me dinners once I'm back home and broke! I love you Gerad!