Visit to Mother Temple on the Volcano Gunung Agung

Lotsa strange and wonderful fruits on the road to Besakih

Yummy food from Padang, West Sumatra

Yes, that's a whole roasted pig (well, half actually). For my carnivore friends: word on the street is - it's yummy!

Elsa Mama on the long way down.

Made, Elsa, me. Happy to be together with Made again and with my kid - what more could this mama want!!!

Teddy and Elsa at one of the main doorways of Besakih

Elsa, made, Nyoman at the top of the steep steps. You can get a sense of the height of the place.

 Part of our group at the top, Teddy's got his recording gear in the bag on his chest - gathered some great sounds!

Lunch break on the way up. Truth? Me carsick b/c of crazy windy roads and car fumes so we had to stop and get some air)

Not sure about this - must be some very important sacred rock - perhaps a remnant of a temple from long ago?

This is all made of fried, colored rice dough!

Thursday we took a trip to the Mother Temple of Besakih (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Temple_of_Besakih). Ted and I went there 17 years ago with Made and Nyoman and this year D'Ayu accompanied us along with Made and Nyoman and their niece Ni Putu. We were lucky to make it there as there was an annual ceremony (Upacara) happening there (lasting a month) so the temple complex was decked out with flags and gamelan and all the inner temples were decorated with various kinds of offerings. We prayed in there in two different places. D'Ayu supplied us with all the necessary offerings - beautiful canang sari and flowers and kwangen. We went on the second to last day of the ceremony so apparently it wasn't as crowded as it had been, which was good because it was incredibly crowded, I thought! Lots of pics to come soon (connection very slow right now...)

Art and artsy pics

Elsa and I have been doing lots of drawing and watercolor while here. It's been a wonderful way to bond and also do something new! I bought myself a mini watercolor set and a beautiful moleskine watercolor sketch pad for the trip. I use one of Teddy's hard mechanical pencils to do the initial drawings then add color with a mixture of Elsa's colored pencils, vintage watercolor pencils and my mini watercolors. I am LOVING exploring color! I don't do that with my claywork so it's very liberating and freeing. I also like to do these paintings as it grows dark in the evening so the colors are slightly skewed by the growing dark and I have to wait until morning to see the true colors in the daylight.

Mama Elsa Legs.

Teddy's gorgeous temple sarong - batik from Java (borrowed from D'Ayu's husband Ida Bagus)

More strange fruits!

Monday was a great day because we connected with old friends Made and Nyoman! Made helped me a lot with my research the last two times I was here. She introduced me to D'Ayu who in turn introduced me to Ibu Jero a potter/priest in the village of Bedulu. D'Ayu took me everywhere with her during my past stays. We spent lots of time together in temples preparing for ceremonies making offerings out of palm leaves (banten) and colorful rice dough (jajen). I had old information for made and Nyoman so was worried we wouldn't be able to find them. Unbelievably, I never got the name of their village when I was last here - I suppose I never imagined we would lose touch with one another! However, I found an old email from an American man that she worked for ten years ago so wrote to him and remarkably he had her new cell number! I called her a bunch of times and finally it worked! Her phone had been broken for days so it was very lucky I found her.

Anyway, they came to our villa bearing lots of yummy gifts -- many many flavors of home-roasted peanuts! They have a thriving business now in their village of KlungKung (about one hour from Ubud) where they roast peanuts in coconut oil and sell them all over the island. Spicy sweet with Bali basil (my favorite, and ted's!), sweet sweet and salty (elsa's favorite of course), slivered plain, roasted salted soy nuts too! We devoured them! They also brought durian - a very strange fruit that is incredibly hard and spiky on the outside and slippery and slimy on the inside. It smells like old socks, blue cheese and rotten apples? It feels like rotten mushrooms or fibrous silken tofu? Tastes like garlic and.....god only knows what else. It is truly impossible to describe! The Balinese LOVE durian! It is sold everywhere and Balinese often gather and have giant bowls of durian to enjoy together as a treat. I eat it because I find it to be a fascinating and challenging experience to to eat something that smells and tastes so foul and manage to not throw it up. Also, watching us (try to) eat durian is endlessly amusing for our Balinese friends - how could I deny them that pleasure! Below are pics of Durian and also Dragon fruit - another strange fruit which looks much more interesting than it tastes (kinda rose perfumy sweet yet bland).

Dragon Fruit!

Nyoman opening the 'ugly' fruit

mmmmm, yummmmm

Elsa is so BRAVE! You go GIRLO!

Sunday Morning at the Temple

Temple all gussied up.

Looking up!

Overwhelming beauty everywhere.

One of the priests tending to the Barong.

Priests blessing all.

Priests on the dais. The one furthest back is the high priest (Pedanda) - brass bell and flower in his hands.

Women processing with offerings - they will lead the Barong out of the temple.

Barongs up in their special place!

Barong Butt! Sorry no pics of the front (just a film which is way too long to upload on slow Bali internet flow).

Beautiful morning at the temple praying again in the oh-so-hot sun. On our own this time (no homestay family to guide us) but there's always some willing elder woman (always) who will help the clueless 'tamus'! We got to see the Barong process out of the temple with gentle Gamelan playing and then walked for about a mile in a vast procession of giant puppetry magic and crazy gongs!

During this happening I realized a very important thing: I play games with myself every time I am in a situation where we are on our own (as tourists) amongst the Balinese - I long to document the moments, capturing all for memory sake and to share with others but then I don't want to be a voyeur (one of the same old silly tamus with camera held high in the air clicking away). As if documenting it makes it more 'real' or something. So interesting to witness this struggle within myself. It is almost as if it is a point of pride for me to simply live the experience without a camera in the way of being truly in the moment.

Night Temple Prayers

Last night we had another opportunity to go to the local Pura here in Penestanan. This was the final night of the temple ceremony which meant that there was going to be a procession of the Barong into the temple. This includes large puppets that depict lion-like creatures (Barong). In Balinese mythology, the Barong is King of the spirits and leader of the hosts of good. I LOVE the Barong procession and was so excited that Elsa was going to get to see one performing in the temple. There are Barong performances all over the place for tourists but obviously it's much more fun to see it happening with all the pomp of an actual temple ceremony. The Barong comes from another village and processes into the temple and is put up high on a pedestal with all the offerings. It will then spend the night in the temple.

So, it's hard to know when things 'happen' at temple ceremonies since there's no schedule and it's hard to get a definitive answer when asking a Balinese person since it seems they don't really know either (plus my Indonesian isn't all that great so maybe they do know but I just don't understand what they're saying?). Anyhow, more often than not, it seems to be a fluid situation. Yeah, so we decided to eat some spaghetti before heading out to the temple and surprise surprise we missed the Barong procession! I had been talking about it all day to Elsa and so she was super psyched. Shucks. We were thinking that most likely the Barong would come later in the night and it's hard to be at the temple for hours (especially with a small human) so we hedged our bets and headed out a bit later than we originally planned. However, we stayed and met up with Made and Ketut (the folks that own the villa we are staying in) and they guided us through the prayers of the evening - which is a truly magical experience. There's incense everywhere, flowers and rice and fruit. Gongs and chanting, ringing bells, roosters crowing, dogs howling, folks chatting, gold cloth wrapped around every temple tower. Ted got some good sound recordings of all. We also found out that the Barong was going to process out of the temple Sunday morning so we would get to see it after all!! Phew.

What amazed me most about this culture is how the religion/ritual/ceremonies are so intimately interleaved with daily life. The sacred is right there with the mundane. Kids on their smartphones, eating french fries and chatting with one another right there in the temple with the prayers and chanting and bell ringing. It's all okay - all happening at the same time. When it comes time to pray however, there is solemnity (still roosters and dogs tho) and the priest guides the prayers. Prayers happen in fives: first time is to gather incense smoke into your hands, 'wash them' then waft it over your face and head, then prayers with steepled hands on forehead, then prayers again with one flower (then that flower goes in your hair or behind your ear), then again with perhaps 2 flowers, then again with a 'kwangen' (a folded banana leaf cone filled with flowers, a chinese coin symbolic of monetary offering, and maybe bits of food). This is held high above ones head between the fingers. Prayers last as long as the high priest (always a man) is ringing his bell (usu 30 sec - 1 minute). Then once all prayers are done, other priests (men and women) make their way through the crowd, sprinkling heads with holy water, pouring holy water into hands for drinking, then offering raw wet rice for eating and also placing on one's forehead and heart.

It's not easy, kneeling on the hard temple ground in a sarong, with a tight lace kebaya. It's smokey, hot and sweaty and painful and wonderful and magical and real. It's hard to put this all into words. Elsa never complained and wanted to see it through all the way to the end. I cheated during one of the prayers and watched her next to me, eyes shut tight, kwangen high in the air, content and intent once again. She had asked me if she could pray for Augie!! Yes, my sweet love, you can.

Amazing to see the women walk into the temple balancing these on their heads!

Elsa with Made (pronounced "Mah-day')

I have some short videos of this evening so will post them once I can get them uploaded to YouTube (which could literally take all night...!)

For more info on the Barong: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barong_%28mythology%29

Spa day!

Teddy has been bogged down with work for the past week or so, so Elsa and I have been out and about on our own! The dance lesson, museum going, and Saturday (sauna day for you Lanesvillians) was spa day! We went to an old resort hotel (one of the original here in Ubud http://www.tjampuhan-bali.com/spa.php), owned by the royal family and right up against temple land. We didn't get a spa treatment (saving that for Mother's Day!) but we soaked in the hot and cool pools and lounged in the sauna and steam room. It's right by a rushing river - very lush and calming. Luckily we were the only ones there for the two hours we stayed. It was heavenly. And so special to have all this mama-elsa time doing these fabulous things! She's such a great 'come-along-friend'! Spas are still pretty cheap here compared to home. $30 for a full massage, scrub, flower bath, use of all the pools! Yum!!

Museum Puri Lukisan

Hello all! On Friday Elsa and I had a lovely morning at the Museum Puri Lukisan (http://museumpurilukisan.com/). The museum was here the last time I was but has since had a major face lift - beautifully sculpted grounds and gardens and new buildings that house a wide variety of Balinese art. The majority of the works are paintings but there were some amazing wood carvings (http://museumpurilukisan.com/museum-collection/wood-carving/) and also lots of historical information about Bali -- especially the surroundings of Ubud. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum but I got many of the beautiful exterior! There were some demonstrations happening while we were there: two women making wayang kulit (shadow puppets) and also a man playing a bamboo gamelan. Pics below!

Carved Stone Dragon Bannister

Elsa playing Bamboo Gamelan

Her plan? To swing on on a vine!

Beautiful Stone Sculpture surrounded by Lotus flowers and orchids.

I wonder how many years has this tree been wrapping itself around her?

Lesson in action - Dance with Nyoman

First balinese dance lesson

Elsa had her first dance lesson today! My friend D'Ayu introduced us to a lovely woman, Nyoman who used to be a dancer at the palace here in Ubud and who is willing to teach Elsa in her home. It was long trek there today but a cooler afternoon so not too oppressive (heatwise). Nyoman has a beautiful home with lots of gardens and caged songbirds (which of course broke our hearts, sigh.) and was a good teacher for Elsa. Since today was the first lesson, they mainly focused on eye, head and hand movements, as well at foot and hip position -- no music and no forward movement yet!

Upacara (ceremony) in Penestanan

Last night Elsa and I ventured out with our homestay family to the local temple for a ceremony (in this case it is the annual anniversary of this temple). It was late and dark and hard to get good pictures but what an experience! We had to wear our temple clothes (always fun but hot, sticky, itchy in the nylony lace). Teddy stayed home to get some work done and snuck out some to do some sound gathering around the temple. The events went on for hours but we got there pretty early so we saw the initial welcoming dance danced by about 8 young girls - all dressed beautifully in white lace kebayas and yards of yellow and gold fabric - woven palm leaf crowns with jasmine flowers on their heads. In the crowns were burning sticks of incense so when they danced, wafts of fragrant smoke curlicued up into the night sky. Elsa was mesmerized. Many Balinese carried offerings (large stacks of fruits, flowers and fancy Bali rice cakes and sweets to place in the temple). This was the first night of the anniversary ceremonies so there was lots going on and it was very crowded and boisterous. There was a Topeng Dance (2 men dancing in elaborate costumes) and a full gamelan orchestra and also wayang kulit (shadow puppets). Elsa got pretty tired pretty fast so we didn't stay long and it was very dark walking home (our Bali hosts stayed at the temple) - some crazy dogs and dark windey streets - but home safe and sound! We'll all go again tomorrow night and see what we can see!
Some pictures below:

Dancers Prepping

Topeng Dancers and Gamelan players

Wayang Kulit