.transient in a constant flux

the sunset

ku de ta in seminyak is famous for its sunsets; best is to reserve a table on their beach front terrace, and i intended to take the group here for a sunset but shame we did not make it. we went to tanah lot instead for sunset, and you can't go wrong with tanah lot really. the temple was cloaked in black with the horizon colored in all the imaginable shades on earth. we sat on the edge of the cliff, drinking cocktails and enjoying the spectacular view.

the first time i saw a balinese sunset, i was eight and i cried because the beautiful moment was over and i felt there would never be another moment like it. i wonder if seeing amazing sunsets at a young age made you a sunset snob? i mean, if you grew up watching sunsets in bali or greece or hawaii, you'd probably not think much of sunsets in noordwijk. remco was talking about sunsets in noordwijk and i really thought it was laughable to compare sunsets in the netherlands and sunsets in indonesia.

the culture
they say you go to lombok for its beaches, and go to bali for its culture. we saw a performance of a barong dance one morning. it was more of a play rather than a dance, and it told a little story from the mahabarata epic, the eternal fight between good and evil.

gerard sat next to me and he was literally watching the entire thing through his camera viewfinder; he was snapping photo after photo. he's an amazing photographer though and i am glad he had all these opportunities to shoot.

we also saw a kecak dance one evening. the story it told was of rama and sita, from the ramayana epic. the kecak dance has no accompanying music, the music is made by 50-60 male dancers chanting and dancing, and it can get pretty trancey.

i was thinking of laszlo and lesh and suddenly i missed them, thousands of miles away, i thought of how much they would enjoy the dances, and i wondered if the ramayana and mahabarata epics were interpreted the same way through dance in india.

this week was the week between hari raya nyepi and kuningan, which is the biggest hindu holy days in bali, so there were always things going on the temples, even more so than usual. i loved the sesajen, offerings, that were put on the temples. the women walked on the streets carrying on their heads plates piled high with stacks of fruit. they were dressed in something similar to the javanese kebaya but with a wide sash around their waist, very pretty and colorful. some of them minded having their pictures taken though and i didn't want to intrude on them whilst worshiping.

i much prefer to stay in places like ubud or candidasa, rather than the busy touristy westernized areas like kuta or seminyak. the ubud area is considered the cultural capital of bali, lots of dances, artists with their painting galleries, wood and stone carvers, jewellery makers in their workshops. it was good to have a look around and certainly some of the work displayed is really exceptional.

the balinese spa
hokay, i'm being such a girl here but you can't go to bali and not experience a balinese spa. i went for a half-day treatment and came out feeling so relaxed and pampered. i had a body massage, with frangipani oil that smelled heavenly. then i was scrubbed down with a milk scrub and body mask. i really felt like a chicken that was being marinated before getting roasted. a warm bath was prepared for me, and it was just like in all the books about the tropical spa; it was covered in flowers and i soaked in it until my skin was soft and glowing.

i also had manicure, pedicure, a facial treatment *i fell asleep during this* and a hair creambath where they massage aloe vera into your scalp and massage your head, shoulders and arms. it was so so good, even better than the usual spa places i go to when in jakarta or bogor. will definitely go for another session next time i'm here.

the husband

the excellent news is that robert has completely fallen in love with indonesia. yay!

it's really weird referring to robert as my "husband". all week i kept saying "boyfriend". i keep putting the wedding band on my left hand, as if we're still engaged, and not on my right hand. we had some private moments together though, a day trip to uluwatu, a magnificent cliff-side temple in the southern tip of the island, followed by a delicious seafood lunch on the seaside at jimbaran bay. staying in the villa and swimming in the pool when everyone else was out. taking midnight swims *but then remco and gerard jumped in the water too, aarrgghhh*

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this week we need to figure what we're going to do. whether we're going to kalimantan again (my idea, plus the da silva's gift to us was a honeymoon to kalimantan, all expenses on them), or to visit flores (again, a honeymoon gift from the regent of flores, my dad's friends are so so generous, i am so thankful) or to visit some volcanoes in java (robert's idea), or to my uncle's mountain estate (robert's idea).

i wish we had time to do all of that. i wish march 29 wasn't so close, that we didn't have to go back to NL so soon. :-(

updated the blog but not so much images as my internet connection sucks big time.