A visit to the Temple Complex of Besakih!

 We spent a wonderful day at the mother temple complex of Besakih! This is a very special place - and we have always visited with Made and Nyoman. This time their son and two nieces came along. It was a foggy day so we didn't see much of Mount Agung behind the complex but it was stunning as always. Made packed offerings (flowers and incense) for us to pray with - a very special day. And on the way home - a stop at MIXUE - our new favorite bubble (boba) tea and ice cream place! If you want to learn more about Besakih: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besakih_Temple

Boba and ice cream at MIXUE!

 

We recreated a favorite Besakih photo from 1998....

Made and Rebekah at the temple gate 1998

Made and Rebekah at the temple gate 2023

 

Here's another favorite old photo of mine from 1998. We were just KIDS!

Happy to be able to share these photos with everyone - thanks for taking the time to check out this blog! xoxo

Night Market and our favorite sweet - Terang Bulan!

 When I was first in Bali, I fell in love with a sweet treat called a Terang Bulan ("Bright Moon") - it's a dessert that's whipped up and served from carts by the side of the road. They can always be found in the night markets so we went in search of one--and we found our Terang Bulan vendor!

What is it you ask? It's a light airy pancakey sort of thing drenched with syrupy sweetness (caramel, condensed milk, butter, nutella, jam, chocolate, liquid palm sugar, cheese....), sprinkled with fruits and nuts/cocount/cookies/candies...The menu was extensive! Back in my day it was just one thing -- a pancake with butter, condensed milk, chocolate and peanuts). Yummy then, yummy now!

 

Peanut Factory Visit!

 Hello all! Sorry for the delay (and now we're HOME!). BUT I'll still be adding photos here over the next couple of days to catch y'all up on the last couple weeks of our awesome trip! 

We made it home from the Gilis sun-soaked and happy (we really didn't want to leave)! We did some wonderful things once we got back - had lots of visits with our Balinese friends, Made and Nyoman and their wonderful family members. We went to their house in KlungKung Regency (a couple of hours NE from Ubud), saw the amazing peanut factory that they have at their house. The last time we were there Made had one person working for her, now she has 14! It's a huge success - she delivers peanuts all over the island and is able to support her whole family with the income! Elsa got to try her hand at frying and sorting (much to Made's delight!). Including a couple of videos below. After a delicious lunch of tofu, tempe, rice, eggs, greens (and chicken - not for us), we all dressed in our temple clothes and went to the Besakih - the mother temple! Those pics will be in the next post....