The heat and humidity, the chaos, colors and smells of Bali all around me fill my senses to a point where I start longing for vast, serene landscapes like in Australia and New Zealand. Still it is very relaxing to be in Bali. Probably because there is no rush, nothing seems urgent, things just take the time they take. The heat slows you down. There is no reason to get stressed.
After Gili Trawangan and Sharon’s party the weeks have passed by quickly. Sharon and Tony have generously opened their house to me and I have stayed here most of the time, using it as a comfortable base. During the Bali Spirit Festival I rented a bungalow in the center of Ubud to be closer to the happenings. For four days there were yoga and meditation during the day and concerts in the evenings.
During day I’d walk around Ubud taking pictures of ill looking Bali-dogs, women selling colorful spices on the market, mean looking masks and fat little Buddha’s. Where ever you look, there is something that catches your eye. Then I'd find the perfect café to get my daily cappuccino. The quality of the coffee is important but so is the place, the atmosphere or in other words commonly used here: the energy. There are lots of cafés and restaurants in Ubud, something for every taste. From small, cheap warungs in the street to very expensive restaurants overlooking the rice fields.
Bali is very spiritual, there are good and evil spirits all over. Offerings are laid out every morning and evening to keep the spirits happy and good natured. Evil ones are being chased away on ‘Nyepi’, the day of silence, and they can also be ‘extracted’ if they possess you. One day I went to see a traditional Balinese healer. First we talked for about an hour and he gave me good, sound advice on general issues in life, for instance that I am the only one to know what is good for me or where in the world I shall settle (if I am to settle, that is). He then proceeded with a full body massage, and not just any massage but a thorough, deep, painful massage. For some reason I had imagined healing to be kind of soft. When I asked other people what Traditional Balinese Healing is like, they’d answer that ‘it is always an interesting experience’.
Tony and Sharon had told me how different Jakarta is from Bali and it was hard to imagine until I got there. One day I saw women in Bali carry heavy loads of dirt and rock on the head or kids beg for money on the road. The next day I was in Pacific Place Mall in Jakarta where elegantly dressed women shopped for the most trendy bags to fit the color of their high heeled shoes.
I went to Jakarta to see Tony’s clinic and to evaluate a couple of his patients with my skills in functional neurology. I was especially happy to realize that I had not forgotten my knowledge by being off work for more than half a year, also happy to remember how much I love my profession. I am starting to miss it which is a good sign because up until now I just felt I needed a very long break.
I didn’t really see Jakarta, it’s such a huge city with over 20 million inhabitants and the traffic is terrible. But I enjoyed my trips to Starbucks Coffee on 4th floor in the mall while Tony worked. One day I went to another mall, the enormous Grand Indonesia Shopping Center that spans over several blocks. Best of all, however, were the Chocolate Martini’s at the prestigious old Hotel Dharma Wangsa.
Back in Ubud with only 10 days left I still hadn’t been to the central part of Bali so I hired a driver to take me up to Kintamani and Lake Batur, a beautiful blue lake in the crater of Gunung Batur, a volcano. However the clouds were hanging low and the fog was so thick that I saw nothing. It is often times like that in the mountains and my luck has not been with me lately when it comes to the weather.
Instead the driver took me over to Pura Besakih. Perched nearly 1000 meters up the side of Gunung Agung, it is Bali’s most important temple, dating back to prehistoric times. A big ceremony was taking place and hundreds or maybe thousands of gorgeously dressed Balinese turned up with beautifully arranged offerings – and umbrellas because it rained heavily. True torrential, tropical downpour that turned the stepped streets into rivers.
It was still interesting to see the temple, though, especially during a festival. The next day the sun was shining so I jumped on the bicycle and went into Ubud to get a massage or two. Refreshed and relaxed I headed out of town. You only have to get one or two kilometers out of town to be alone, surrounded by lush, green, green rice fields.
Another day I went up to Bedugul with Risa, a beautiful Japanese woman I met when I first arrived in Ubud. We hired a driver and gradually left the rice terraces behind while we ascended into the cool, misty mountain country around the lake, Danau Bratan. Of course it started raining so we had him take us around the Botanical Gardens in the car. Further up in Candikuning we bought strawberries, spices and vanilla at the colorful local market.
Pura Ulun Danu Bratan is a small but important Hindu-Buddhist temple build on small islands, which means it is completely surrounded by the lake. The classical Hindu thatch-roofed meru (multi roofed shrines) reflected in the water and silhouetted against the cloudy mountain backdrop provided a true Bali-photo-cliché, just as it is described in Lonely Planet.
During the past seven weeks I spent in Bali I got to know quite a few people, most of them through Tony and Sharon. Some of them we invited over for lunch on Sunday to a little make-shift birthday party, far away from home, but none-the-less a mile stone worth celebrating. I am not particularly attached to numbers, I must say. 40 or 50, who cares when you feel you are 30? J
On the day itself, I treated myself to a couple of massages and later I got a Tarot card reading by Szilvia from Hungary. My future looks very bright according to the cards and more adventures are to come. Taken that life is one big adventure in itself it is up to ourselves to make the best out of it. Most important it is to stay curious with an open mind. Then anything can happen!
