We’ve made Ubud our home base because it’s an easy spot from which to make trips and because it’s a fun town in which to live, being an artsy community with a good mix of tourists and locals.
We’ve hit a few areas of Bali so far:
– Nusa Lembongan (the island off of the southwest coast of Bali)
– some spots on the southern peninsula called the Bukit Peninsula (Uluwatu, Jimbaran, Kuta).
– Ubud (somewhat central Bali)
My parents arrived in town on July 19 and we’ve been having so much fun. We gave them a day to relax, get a massage, and have lunch with some new friends. Then we decided to hit the west coast. Road trip!
My painting teacher, Mr. Nyoman, and his son, Putu, who was Amani’s teacher, had offered to take us to watch the sunset at Tanah Lot temple. This is a temple on the southwest coast of Bali – one that’s pictured on most travel brochures of Bali. It is built into rocks in the ocean and is pretty spectacular. We were gone from 1:30pm-8:30 pm and stopped at three sites total: Taman Ayun Temple, a butterfly farm, and finally Tanah Lot.
Taman Ayun:
Butterfly farm (they had stick bugs, beetles and other amazing things – note the bug that looks exactly like a leaf):
And the exquisite Tanah Lot temple:
It’s amazing when you start to make friends in a new country. I find myself somewhat surprised when it happens because it seems like it takes so long in one’s own hometown to make new friends. Not only did we have the pleasure of traveling with Mr. Nyoman and his son – which was very enjoyable (I especially loved watching Amani walk hand-in-hand with Putu), but we also made some international friends.
On the day that mom and dad arrived, I mentioned we had lunch with some friends. We had met Caroline, Daan and Mitch (age 3 1/2) from the Netherlands at a warung one day and clicked right away. Shortly after, we met Jordi, Airi and Lola (almost exactly Amani’s age) from Spain. We organized a lunch get together with them all at a place Airi found called Cafe Topi. This was a Japanese run cafe, with a gorgeous, natural venue (we sat on tatami mats and ate Japanese, Indonesian and Indian food), while the kids attended a workshop (for $2 each!) making origami animals and other homemade toys. Many of the toys were the same as what my parents had played with when they were young. A sweet Japanese grandparently couple helped the kids complete their projects.
In other news, Amani has been attending an international school here. It’s called “Pelangi School” which means “rainbow school”. Her teachers are called by their name preceeded by the prefix “ibu” which means “mother” or “Miss”. They are wonderful with the kids, most of whom are from other countries, but some of whom are from Indonesia. I think Amani was so starved for kid companionship, that she didn’t barely look back when we dropped her off at her first day of school. On that day, they all took a “bimo” to go swimming, and she landed the role of Cinderella in the classroom play 🙂
I got my hair straightened (something like a weak Japanese treatment) by a girl named Made who owns a salon. She wants to come back to the US with me, find work, and escape her unhappy marriage ;(
Me beforehand with wavy hair (I’m at a cafe with Yog enjoying time together with just him and me – Amani is at school, mom and dad haven’t arrived…call it a date!):
Lastly, we’ve visited a few orphanages/schools. No Indonesian kiddos in our future – Indonesia doesn’t have an adoption process because they believe they can take care of their own according to the director of one orphanage. I was happy to hear that the job of the two orphanages we visited was not to house the kids, but to link them with relatives that could house them and love them while the orphanage center would provide supports in the form of monetary contributions from donors and classes taught by staff and tourists/volunteers.
One special center we visited included a program for kids with disabilities. Though many kids with disabilities are sadly kept locked away from society, there were kids here who were benefitting from an education and meaningful activities. Yogesh and i were fortunate enough to spend time with the kids. Yogesh surprisingly was able to teach them a lesson in Qi Gong (he had picked up some moves from Yoga Barn!). I was so moved to see him lead the kids in the exercises. On another day, Yogesh held a child, named Wayan, who had lost the ability to speak and move after a fall. This enabled Wayan to see the activities that were going on while having time with male figure. I normally am not brought to tears when working with kids with disabilities, but I had a really hard time hiding mine here even though the kids seemed so happy.
Bali at Four 