Beautiful Bali…a great place to be in January

While most of you are freezing during January, we’ve chosen to fly across the world to spend our January in BALI.  A 3,500 square mile island, that is a province of Indonesia, Bali is home to most of Indonesia’s Hindu minority.  We are staying in Ubud, the cultural and artistic center of Bali. The weather is, indeed, warm (most days mid to high 80s) and quite humid (70-80%).

Our home is a co-living community called Roam, housed in a former boutique hotel with 24 rooms that surround the courtyard swimming pool,

a community kitchen,

and lots of very interesting, mostly young, people. The majority of our fellow Roamies have jobs that allow them to work remotely – one is writing a book, one is doing web development, one is researching world religions and leads tour groups to experience these, another is a graphic designer.
Our ‘house mother’ or facility manager, Fenny, plans outings

and community dinners at interesting restaurants.  And, using the community WhatsApp, we let each other know about other happenings around town and around the island.  This is a very different experience than we’ve had before, when we stayed in Airbnbs and had varying degrees of contact with people in the community (sometimes, the only people we conversed with were each other for weeks at a time!) .

Backing up a bit, we had a wonderful three weeks in the US, spent mostly with family, during the holidays.  We spent a week in Baltimore where we saw a lot of Beverly and Ginny & her family.

The Wine & Food Society held their Holiday Dinner during our short time in Baltimore, allowing us to catch up with many old friends.
Then it was on to Oregon, where we spent Christmas in Portland with Julie & her family. This is Owen’s first ‘aware’ Christmas (he’s almost 2) and it was a joy to share it.

We then flew to Bend and spent a week, including a great New Years Eve party with Andy and his wife, Nicole.

Our final US stop was LA, where we saw two of my sisters, Terry & Chris, who live in California and took time out of their busy lives to get together with us before we flew to Bali.

So……..back to Bali……We have enjoyed exploring the area around Ubud. These ventures have included an early morning walk along a ridge that was lush and very beautiful,

visits to many Hindu temples, which are covered with stone carvings instead of the gilt of Buddhist temples.

Along with some of our fellow Roamies, we took a day trip to Lempuyang Temple, a 2-hour drive from Ubud.  This is the second most important temple in Bali (the first is closed because it is very close to Mt Agung, the volcano that recently erupted). Here we witnessed a ‘family ceremony’ that was very interesting and quite moving.

On the way back from this trip, we saw Mt Agung spewing smoke, which it apparently does almost every day.

Another morning, we took a guided walk through the rice fields. It is remarkable how beautiful it is wherever you go on this island!

We rented a motor scooter the day after we arrived. For 800,000 IRP (about $60) we have the use of a 110cc Honda and 2 helmets for a month!  It truly is the best way to get around; we make our own breeze on a hot day when it truly is too warm to walk.  As always, Rick drives and I ride.  He is a very confident and competent scooter driver, which is important on the roads here where there are more scooters than cars and they drive on the left side.

A visit to the Monkey Forest is a must while in Ubud. There are about 600 long-tailed Balinese monkeys, or macaques, living in this 27 acre forest of more than 100 different species of trees. The forest itself is amazing, and at least 10 degrees cooler than in town.

The monkeys are cute but aggressive. You are warned as you enter not to feed them but, of course, people do…and that any loose items – cameras, purses, jewelry, etc. – might be snatched.  We went in carrying nothing and were able to visit the monkeys in peace.

Hinduism is an integral part of life here in Bali. They say there are more temples than homes, and I believe it.  We have our own small temple here at Roam.

Every day, offerings are placed at this small temple and at various places around, even at the edge of the swimming pool!

This temple in central Ubud has the most amazing lotus pond!

Balinese dancing is well-known, but we didn’t realize that there are many different kinds of performances.  Based on recommendations, we attended a Kechak Fire Dance.  There were no musical instruments used, only a chorus of human voices, to accompany the dancers.  The primary chorus was made up of men (ages ranging from 20-80!) who chanted, sang, and mimicked with their voices sounds like wind and water.

During the second act, there was also a small women’s chorus accompanying two young girls who dance as if in a trance (Sangryang Dedari) to drive out evil spirits.

The FOOD in Bali is truly amazing! There is an abundance of healthy choices, including vegan/vegetarian restaurants.  Ordinarily this would not be our go-to, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised how tasty and well-seasoned this food is.  You don’t need meat or salt (!) to enjoy the flavor of a meal!
But, don’t worry, we’re not going completely over to the other side…We found a place that specializes in suckling pig (Babi Guling) that was quite delicious.  Since Bali is the only non-Muslim part of Indonesia, this is a dish that is only found here.
Pacha Mama is a close-by restaurant where you fell like you’re in the jungle.  The food and cocktails are great and the staff always remembers our names! Can’t beat that…

Our favorite bar, Divine Bar at Bridges, is perched over a river, three stories down from the street.  Best afternoon cocktails in a beautiful setting…

It was here one afternoon that we tasted five Pinot Noirs from different countries (including Indonesia!) side by side.  The French was our fave (of course), we liked the California the least, and we were pleasantly surprised by the Indonesian entry.

We had a very special meal at Locavore, a restaurant in central Ubud that has received acclaim around the world.  The two set menus included seven courses (either vegetarian or non) and paired beverages (mini-cocktails, not wines). Even the drinks were artfully presented (and delicious).
       
The food was Indonesian and very creative. Each dish was a work of art AND tasty!

Here we come to the end of the Bali Blog.  I am heading back to the States tonight to be with Julie as she births her second baby.  Rick is staying in Bali for two more weeks, and then going on to Bangkok and Hoi An, Vietnam.  He won’t be blogging, but he promises to post pictures regularly to Instagram (a much simpler process…). Follow him (rick.funkhouser) and follow along.  We’ll be traveling together again in March.