Leavin' on a Jet Plane.....

How do you say good-bye to a learning experience?  How do you walk away from a place that has made you a happier person, a more enlightened human being, lighter inside. An adventure that has taught you to appreciate, even more than you certainly already do,  all  that you have in this world?

I am going home today to my family whom I love and cherish more than words can ever express, my closest and dearest friends in the world. Not many people can say that, but I can. Returning to my home, my little corner of the world, in my eyes, perfect and beautiful.  Going back to my job and my coworkers who I really enjoy and learn from almost every day. And I am returning to my Long Island, a most beautiful place, but a place that so many of us forget to value and appreciate and cherish.  Our beautiful nation, rich and powerful beyond  the imagination of so many who inhabit this planet, and how do we take care of our environment, our oceans, the air that we breathe, the animals who walk the same land that we do?  I think we have removed ourselves from the simple things in life, and have forgotten to take care of the very things that sustain us and the world we live in. If we don't wake up, there will be nothing to wake up to someday, for us, or our children's children.

I have seen people with almost nothing spend their days working, sometimes hard, sometimes not so hard, but they did have something  in common, they were thankful, and they were happy.  And they were beautiful from the inside out.

I am going to go home and put my pictures in order and get my thoughts together and continue my blog, because it isn't just for me, it is for anyone who wants to know about the beauty of the magical place and the beautiful people I have had the honor of living amongst for three magical weeks.  I hope in some small way it will open your eyes as it did mine, that you will be moved, as I was, to look around and realize some important facts.  Happiness is never somewhere else, happiness comes from inside of yourself, you carry it around right inside your heart and you can spread it with a smile just like a pebble spreads a ripple in a pond.  We are all responsible for the Earth will live on, the water and the air, the animals and the fish who also share our planet.  We have no right to destroy  their habitats and their lives with our greed or ignorance.  We have a resonsibility to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves.  All ships rise with the incoming tide, why can we not understand this????  Helping others brings joy and that fills your heart which in turn makes you smile which then makes others smile, and so it comes full circle. Maybe a tad simple minded, but one small step in the right direction is a good start, don't you think?

Sampai jumpa sampai kami lagi bertemu - Goodbye until we meet again

Terima kasih banyak- Thank you very much!

Fish Therapy & Nose Holes

Well, it is 1:30AM, I am so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open, but I feel the need to share the day's events even though they are out of sequence.  This fact really bothers me....I hate things being out of order and not organized, but after four Bintags (Indonesian beer) WTF!

Of course we ran out of money again since yesterday's trip to the mountains HAD to include a trip to a market for fruit which just happened to have more STUFF for almost nothing....we have become rather good at bargaining, not sure it will go over too well in 7-11 when we get home....but we hit the ATM, then stopped in to the supermarket which if no one has ever visited a foreign country, just let me say, you can spend HOURS in one!!!

So we discover this Fish Therapy Spa, you stick your feet in  tank with these little fish. Garra Rufa fish or Nibble Fish come from a small town in Turkey (it feels like tiny bubbles in a foot soak) Due to the supernatural ability of this fish for curing, it is known as the Doctor Fish which works naturally as a doctor for the human skin. The fish feed off the dead skin, which in turn regenerates the skin smoothly, accelerates blood circulation, stimulates accupuncture points stimulating the nervous system creating more relaxing feelings and releasing stress. So for 20 minutes and $10 we sat and let fish eat the dead skin off our feet, including the huge scab from the bike accident where I fell and broke my toe on the Gili Islands.(story to follow) Sorry to be so graphic, but come on, it is pretty freaking amazing!  I just wish they ate the damn fat off my ass! 

We left the supermarket after feeding the fish and TRIED to get to the beach without stopping at the stalls which had lots more stuff we didn't need....IMPOSSIBLE!!!  Two pairs of pants, one dress, two wind chimes later, we finally hit the beach!  Even the vendors recognize us now and say hello as we pass...embarassing....

The water was beautiful, we decided, for once, not to eat lunch since we were having dinner on the beach with Joel and Simona later, so we starved, sad, and a few hours later hit the supermarket AGAIN!!!  It is almost as good as an amusement park really. Seaweed Pringles and Hello Kitty Cheetos!  HOLD ME BACK! Load up another case of Bintang Beer and oh, let's get our noses pierced!

I have never walked to the beat of any one's drum, more like skipped to the beat of the crickets, and I love my friend Bushra's nose diamond. I asked her once if she blew her nose if anything came out. A bit graphic, but, I was just interested. She said no, so with that knowledge under my belt, I decided to get myself a damn nose ball! Don't want a ring, reminds me of a cow....it costs a whole $2....highway robbery...hardly hurt at all, until we went to dinner.

Dinner was on the ocean and I ordered Chicken Curry extra spicy...blasting hot, nose running, flames shooting from my mouth. Time to blow my nose. GOD! I forgot I now have a plug in it!! Flames of fire and shooting pain! How stupid am I? Nevermind....

Tommorow I promise not to buy a thing...The ATM laughed at me the last time I used it.......

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Gili Air, a Trip to Paradise

I just returned from the most wonderful island, a place I only dreamed existed. Gili Air is the nearest of the three Gili's to Lombok, which is the large island to the East of Bali.  Gili Air, means “little island of water” in Indonesian. The people who live here make their living as boatmen, fishing and farming coconuts. A lot of the crafts people who peddle their wares or work at the cafes, restaurants and bars travel in from Lombok each day.

It will be impossible for me to put into words what the past week has been like, at least in one sitting, so I will do a bit now and when time permits, try to give a peek into how moved I have been by the beauty and peace of this tiny bit of Heaven on Earth...

To reach Gili Air we traveled by fast boat to Gili Trawangan, then took a smaller boat over to Gili Air.  When you step off the boat, any boat, anywhere, you are greeted by locals selling all sorts of things from jewelry to sarongs, all wearing big happy smiles.  We made our way to the only form of travel on the island, besides bikes and our feet, cidomo's or the horse carts.  The carts move easily along the stone paths that run through the interior of the island, but the outer trail becomes soft in places,  making it difficult for the carts to move easily, so much of the way has to be done on foot. 

Our first few days were spent in Sandy Cottage, a small place with salt water showers, surrounded by flowers.  There was a beautiful red hibiscus bush right outside the front door, and a big colorful gecko on the ceiling of the front porch to greet us. Every once in a while a very deep MOOOOO would bellow out from the cow who lived a few feet away.  It was really cool.

We dropped off our bags and made our way to Gili Air Suntay for the most delicious iced cappucinos & iced lemongrass tea to die for!! (We do a lot of eating on the adventure of a lifetime in case anyone has noticed)  No sense in describing all the meals we ate for the blog would be longer than War and Peace.  Let's just say the vegetables taste like sunshine, the spices explode in your mouth and fill your nose with  smells that conjure up images of far away places.  Fish tales to follow, so stay tuned....

Snooky and I decided to take a walk around the outside path that went completely around the island. It was pretty easy going at first, not too hot, the things to see were neat.  Beautiful water, some cows, chickens, some more chickens, and then it got hotter.....how long did they say this path was? The island is round right?  We have to find our way back eventually.  We stopped and went in the turqouise blue water for a quick swim and got back on the trail again. More chickens....ah, civilization!  Legends Bar!  We ask where our hut might be, and they point us in the direction we are headed...so we weren't lost afterall!  We pass a lovely pool where friends of Joel are staying and decide we will be really smart and ask to jump in there and get unsalted from the beach since all the showers are salt water.  Of course we won't tell anyone how hot and sweaty the walk had been!! Snicker snicker :)  SURPRISE!!!  Salt water pool!

We must have eaten again somewhere, right now it escapes me, the eating adventures tend to blur from one day to the next, terrible. Everyone decided to go back to the huts to hit the sack, but Anne and I wanted to hang with the locals for a bit, so we ended up gabbing with Sometimes, Banana and Georges. Now Sometimes might also be known as Always depending on the day, and Banana's real name is Rio.  Georges has a banana tree farm and works at the Gili Gita Bar with the other guys as a side job. Another one of their buddies, Mango, I kept calling Guava....well, I was close.....the time flew by, we talked about their island, a project that concerns coral restoration, and we finally left for the hut.

We seemed to walk forever, passing small groups of locals sitting enjoying the night air, everyone smiling and wishing us a good night. We ended up passed Legend's Bar when I said to Anne, oopsie, I think we might be lost.  So I asked the guy at the bar if he knew where Sandy Cottage was....he looked at me and said, "hey, are you still lost?"  Smartass....well yes, but I was coming from another direction!  We walked back the other way, and stopped to ask a group of locals sitting out on a BALE chatting, we had just passed them a few minutes ago actually,  if they could help us locate Sandy Cottage. They laughed and said, "yes, here!"  End of day one!

The Three Stooges Visit Tanah Lot Temple

Today the Long Island Girls decided to venture out alone with our driver Eddie to visit the beautiful Tanah Lot Temple which stands on a rocky island just off the southwest coast of Bali. One of Bali's most sacred sea temples, Tanah Lot is dedicated to the guardian spirits of the sea. The word Tanah is interpreted as a reef looking like gili or isle. Lot or Lod  means the sea. So Tanah Lot translates as the small island floating on the sea. The temple itself is said to be guarded from evil by the sea snakes that inhabit the caves below.

Once again the drive through traffic was as exciting as an amusement park ride, especially from the front seat.  We arrived at the temple and were in awe of the sheer beauty of the structure which rises from the sea, waves crashing around the rocks, thankful for the sea breeze and the smell of the salt air. There was a ceremony of some kind about to begin as Eddie tried to explain to us. Poor Eddie, he doesn't speak very much English, and we speak no Indonesian, and the little I have attempted I have really butchered something fierce. He tried to explain to us that we should come back later as the ceremony was about to begin. (just let me take a moment here to say that the Balinese people have a ceremony for everything, and they are happening all the time. God should be very very good to them) It took a few minutes of duh, and what, and ok, and just let me go see, before we finally took his word for it, and decided we would go and do some shopping in the stalls that line the walkway to the temple.

Being kind and not wanting to drag poor Eddie along on a torturous shopping expedition, we pulled out some Balinese money and stared at it for a while, gave him about $.13 and told him to go and have lunch, we would see him in about two hours.  He was very sweet, and went and sat on a rock over by the sea looking out at the temple. Not sure if we offended him, maybe he wanted to shop with us, maybe he liked to sit on a rock, whatever, but then we decided, maybe we gave him the wrong money. Snooky dug around and got some other kind of money and gave that to him and we apologized and waved goodbye.

We shopped until we found a really cool bat hanging from a perch, he was super cool! I will never look at Dracula and be ascared again! He was just primping himself, like a cat, lickin his cute little legs, looked me right in the eyes! Two beings, both blind as "bats." It was a moment...   It was time to eat again!

Lunch was at a little place that had food, we didn't care what it was, it was food, we were hot and thirsty.  The waiter came over and asked us what we wanted to drink, and pointed to these huge green melon things. WOW! What could they be? "You whan yanconnana?" Huh? "You whan yanconnana?" What? We all looked at each other and decided we better get a pencil since we were never going to remember what this thing was, had to write it down because it was freakin' impossible to spell...."You whan yanconnana?" DUH! The lightbulb went off for all of us at the same moment, it was a COCONUT, a YOUNG COCONUT!  We laughed so hard we started crying....lunch was fairly entertaining for the patrons who were there as we did a bit more laughin until we finally decided the temple awaited us.

Off to the temple...you have to make your way across the sea, well not the entire sea, but a good bit of water which can be tricky if you aren't careful or you slip some booze into your yanconnana, which we didn't.  With some assistance from some very nice Holy Guys, we made it to the other side and waited patiently for the Blessing where you put your hands in the small waterfall, get sprinkled with the water, annointed on your forhead with rice, a fllower is placed behind your ear, and then you are given a blessing by the priest. Time to make your way back across the water to the other side. Quite lovely.

Now we were only about 30 minutes late for our scheduled meetup with Eddie.  When we reached the beach, we passed the sign where the Holy Snake lived. I wanted to go and check him out, but it was late, and there was Eddie waiting for us!  The ride home was filled with trying to take pictures of trucks packed with water buffalos, motor bikes carrying loads of goods, "groups" of people on a bike, chickens by the hundreds in cages on trucks and watching Eddie play chicken with oncoming traffic, watching rice drop off our foreheads.....just another day in Paradise...

Rice doesn't come from a box?

One of the more interesting things we did that also ended in another wonderful eating experience, :) was taking a beautiful walk to a restaurant located in the middle of the rice fields of Ubud. Sari Organik is reached by walking along a very narrow and sometimes slightly treacherous path that wanders through many rice paddies.

I never thought much about it before, but rice is pretty cool looking when it grows. The fertile volcanic soil of Bali has made rice a central dietary staple. The island's steep terrain resulted in an intricate irrigation system locally called subak which manages water storage and drainage for the terraces. The sounds of the water running along the ditches breaks the stillness of the evening. We pass a number of small shrines where offerings are placed to ensure a good outcome of rice yields.

Earlier in the day we had seen a rice paddy filled with ducks. They are very prominent in the rice fields and are of importance for a successful rice yield. Every day farmers lead their ducks into their rice fields so they can eat the pests. The ducks also provide a natural fertilizer with their droppings.

Along the way we have to step to the side to let a passing motor bike, or ten,  share the path, tricky...interesting coconut heads adorn a fence like scarecrows or jungle Gods guarding the rice fields against something I don't want to know about.

We reached the restaurant in time to watch the sunset.  Dinner was great, and we shared a delicious rice wine that was light and not overly sweet. The walk home was by moonlight, and the stars were amazing!  My camera could only get the simplest shot of the moon through the palm trees, but you could still make out the stars, sort of.....

As we reached the end of the path, the sounds of a Gamelan performance was somewhere close by.  I laughed because it reminded me of the Blue Man Group, the sound was so familiar, and so strange to hear Blue Man music in such an exotic place.  I will never think of them in quite the same way ever again...

Swimming in Sanur

When you wake up at 6AM at home, dragging your butt out of bed to face the day is one of the toughest things to do.  When you are visiting a tropical paradise and you wake up looking at the jungle foliage a few feet from your face, it is quite a different experience. It doesn't seem so horrible having to face the day knowing that today you get to see the ocean, the Indian Ocean.  Almost forgot about that one...

We traveled through the traffic, which actually is reminding me more and more of a video game,  to Sanur, a town on the Southeast coast of Bali. It was a tough day today, a one hour massage for $5,  followed by lunch by the ocean, then a swim in the Indian ocean, then back for an hour facial for another $5.....exhausting.

Checked out a few shops, and got to see one of the little temples that seem to be everywhere. If you aren't careful, you may step on one of the small baskets called ‘canang sari ' that Balinese offer to their Gods three times a day.  They are filled with rice and fresh tiny flowers. It is basically a ritual of giving back what has been given to you by the Gods. It is a sharing that is not based upon fear, but on gratitude for the richness of life. Offering appeases the spirits and brings prosperity and good health to the family. It is considered a duty and an honor at the same time, and in Balinese perspective a very natural and almost logical thing to maintain a good relationship between people and spirits.  Very touching and to see the size of the flowers and the work involved in some of the displays is quite impressive.

We had a great dinner at an Indian restaurant where we all sat around discussing what to do for the following week while watching lizards run up and down the wall. Neato! Dragging my butt back to bed early tonight....Lord knows what is in store for tomorrow!

The Continuously Crowing Cock

Somene, PLEASE, answer the poor rooster that starts crowing sometime around 3-4AM and continues, WITHOUT STOPPING all day long. Seriously, he needs a date!