Unfortunately, this computer is stripped of its USB port soooo -- no pictures for now. But I promise they'll be up, on flickr/snapfish/something and facebook. No worries.
By yesterday morning, most of the gang had touched down in Denpasar, Bali with only four more left to come in. There was a little problem -- though everyone landed on the 13th, it was at like 12 AM. Agustini had booked their rooms for the 13th but check-in, of course, was at 9 AM. So we managed to get two more rooms and two girls went to Badanu's gorgeous guest house a few minutes away for the night. I literally slept like a rock. See, the weather isn't that bad because things cool down a bit at night and with the fan, things are comfortable. Anyway, we got up, checked out the other's rooms and meandered the streets. A small group of us walked all the way to the nearby Monkey Forest, but we had to return because we had to again pick people up from the airport. We now have Badanu's van that holds 6-7 people and what reminds me of a party bus, which holds 11, driver included.
Meaghan and Avery (and their 3-4 pieces of baggage, teehee) came in around noon, I'd say. We all trooped to a diner somewhere in Denpasar that specialized in East Javanese food. We ordered Ayam Pechak , which is fried chicken with this spicy sauce, and some fish and vegetables. I'm a little averse to fish, so I had the chicken. Chickens here aren't as plump as American chickens (Say in a Dubya accent, "I'm American, I like my chickens big!"). Regardless, it was yum -- tasted like fried smelt almost? My favorite part however was Soda Gembira, or Happy Soda!!!
Happy Soda, recommended by Agustini, is a combination of flavored syrup, milk, and soda water. You have to mix it when you get it and it looks like this pink fizzy mix when done so. Jill and I shared it and it was fabulous.... (we were initially skeptical of the combination)
Back to the airport... again. (for Jill and I, the fourth time!) This time for Betsy and Hannah. Betsy landed fine, but Hannah came out 1.5 hours after she landed. In that time, we were all freaking out, thinking she was lost, her luggage stolen, kidnapped... haha. But it was just long lines that held her back. We immediately shipped off to the very nice sarong store.
At Guste's suggestion (our thirty-year-old, gammelan-playing, absolutely sweet guide), Agustini negotiated a 50% discount on the sarongs (which can be worn like skirts or dresses). See, Badanu and Guste were taking us to their temple's anniversary ceremony (celebrated every six months) and to enter, we needed to wear proper attire. I purchased a purple sarong with white and teal flowers (which thankfully match a shirt I own) and a matching teal scarf to tie it. My was sewn at the ends so I can't do anything creative with it.. That's okay, I love the design. The boys also had to get a special scarf to tie around their heads.
We stopped briefly at the guest house -- all sweaty and tired from standing in the airport for hours -- and changed, then driving off to the temple.* It was separated in two compounds. In the first compound, everyone was sitting and praying, while waiting for the priest to arrive. When the priest arrived, they would move to the other compound. One of the ridiculous antiquated Hindu rules here is that women on their periods can't enter the temple. Kellie, so sweet and awesome, was just honest enough to admit it and had to stay back. I felt terrible for her. I think it sucks that such rules still exist... It's not impure, but a natural part of a woman's life for goodness sake!
*funny/weird side story: Jill had fried chicken in a box on the table near the open window in the room... When Karen and I went there, the fried chicken was outside of the box. So strange!
(Oh, note: J and I are coming up with euphemisms for swear words since that's frowned upon... Mother of Pearl! and Oh Snap! are ones we have thought of thus far. haha.)
Anyway, the rest of us trouped into the temple compound. Everyone, dressed in their sarongs, sat on their knees in rows to receive the holy water and rice, administered by two young girls. It reminds me our own pujas at home, but it was interesting to see how Hindu rituals differ here. I went to end of the line to get some holy water and the ladies there were really understanding and helped me out. You get the water three-four times, sip it and put the rest on your head. Then you take rice from the pan, put it in the water and put the few pieces of rice on the middle of your forehead. Sitting there was a little awkward because there was no on there to explain what was going on to us.. Agustini isn't Hindu and familiar with all the Balinese traditions.
From there we went to the other compound to watch the musicians from the Cudamani Group play gammelan music (all religious ceremonies require that, Guste said. He started learning from age 10). Guste was on this sit-down xylophone looking instruments hit with hammers and Badanu played a flute. It's literally this massive band of JUST MEN. (the only woman on stage was Susan, an exchange student to Cudamani who is studying gammelan. She just chilled and smoked with the rest of the musicians.) Anyway, live gammelan sound SO MUCH BETTER than CD recordings. All the instruments are shiny and gold and it was gorg. Anyway, I'll show the pictures when I can upload them!
We just kind of waited around for a while. The priest was taking his lovely time in coming and people were just getting exhausted (mind you, they were just getting used to the time change). We decided to eat some dinner and then split off. This time, we hit up this hole in the wall roadside place with small tables and plastic stools. It smelled divine though, and it was. Simple but delicious. I had Nasi Goreng which means fried rice. Interestingly, it also had a little meat in it... well, the interesting part is that pretty much everything here has meat in it. Even the vegetables people had. In the supermarket today we noticed chicken-flavored chips. Vegetarians, beware of Bali!
I, and a few others, stayed at the temple since the ceremony had started while we ate. It was in the compound where the gammelan had played. A Balinese act was going on and the actor had this really elaborate outfit. (Couldn't understand, though. Balinese is its own language and Agustini doesn't understand that well...) With Badanu's gracious help we saw the meditating high priest who was totaly decked out. After meditation, the main portion of the ceremony would begin. Again, we tired quickly (long day!) and soon left. As we were leaving, we stopped to watch Cudamani Group's Balinese dancing going on in the outside pavilion, accompanied by gammelan. It was great. They wear such amazing silks, elaborate hairdos, and dance with such emphatic shoulder movements and wide wide eyes. Again, my pictures will be uploaded eventually..
Came back to the guesthouse (The Ganesha Guesthouse!) and promptly fell asleep. I felt really sticky though... maybe I should start off the Balinese way and shower 2-3 times a day!
Peace, love, and check out the next post!
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