Monkey Forest

I've decided that yoga is the best and typically go one to two times a week.  I love the relaxed feeling I get after each session and how limber my muscles feel.  I even love the ever awkward monk-sounding "Om" we all chant that everyone seems so hesitant to allow come out of their mouths.  I think I make up about 60% of the "Om" volume coming from our class.  Also, whoever thought of turning off the lights in yoga class was a genius!  There is something so therapeutic about working out in the dark, especially in the mornings when I don't want to be out of my bed yet anyways.  So, when McKay and I had the opportunity to visit the yoga capital of the world in Ubud, Bali, we couldn't resist...or maybe just I couldn't.  With lush green forests and tranquil rice paddies on either side of our bungalow how could one not relax...and naturally, want to fold their body into a pretzel?

McKay and I loved Ubud and never wanted to leave.  We just wanted to continue absorbing all the good vibes and rejuvenating energies that we could while chanting "Om."  However, once we were all Om-ed out and short of breath we made our way over to a mystical place called the Monkey Forest (this is the part where I wave my fingers in the air as though I were reading a crystal ball.)  The Monkey Forest is a sacred forest for the Balinese where monkeys roam free.  We loved the forest so much that one time was just not enough!  Despite my fears about the monkeys, we ended up going two days in a row and loving it just as much the second time!  Since we had so many pictures and videos I figured it would be easiest to just put it into video.  Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary

I can't think of any better word to describe our last year together, except pure and utter bliss!

Thank you for the best year of my life yet!  I love you McKay McLaren!

C. Bali: Part 3

Our tour guide explained to us that in their Hindu believes it is selfish to want more than what your parent's had.  I'm sure this belief is somehow connected to their still very active caste system that dictates how people are treated, dress and even what their names will be.  Just by learning someone's name in Bali, one already knows their sex, class and birth order.  In Bali, taxi drivers are the self-made millionaires of these small villages (Imagine that!).  However, this did not sit well with this particular village and made them so upset that they banished these millionaire drivers from their village (but remember children belong to the village, so they had to leave their children).  It took a few years, but eventually the village agreed to welcome them back only if they built temples and houses that would be pleasing to the Gods.  This was one of those houses.

Probably our favorite, and what we found to be the most interesting part of their culture, was their ceremony performed when a teenager becomes an adult.  We didn't get to see this actual ceremony, which I am bit relieved about, but our guide explained it all to us in detail.  As every culture knows, teenagers can be a bit much to handle at times.  In Balinese culture, a teenagers' unruly and moody behavior can only be explained by one thing - Demons! - The teenager must be possessed by demons!  I'm sure some American parents could relate to the Balinese on this one.  Anyway, every teenager at some point will be possessed by demons and thus require this ceremony to make the demons depart.  First, holy men must be summoned and they do their usual drinking, singing and gambling, just as they do at every ceremonial event, to set the mood.  As they become more and more inebriated, and as the chanting and singing grow louder and louder, it is time to drive the demons out.  Booze are wafted under the teenager's nose, loud laughter and singing continues and finally, a young virgin girl comes to entice the demon out of the teenager.  It does not matter if the teenager is a girl or a boy, because demons are all male.  The girl will dance and use the "come hither" finger until the demon has been released.  The young virgin girl will then escort the demon out of the courtyard and close the gate behind her (because apparently demons cannot penatrate little picket fences) then run around the house a few times for good measure.  The final part of the ritual is the most painful, and the one that every Balinese we talked to can vividly recall.  A large, metal, construction-like file is placed at the base of the teenager's six front six and then yanked back and forth.  Every Balinese person that we talked to, when asked about the "teeth filling ceremony" responded with hisses and ahhh's of pain.  It's believed that the cuspid teeth are pointy because of the demons and therefore require filling for full transformation from teenager to adult.  I'm glad in America we just get to drive and vote and stuff...

Along the tour we picked up a few stragglers that McKay and I had some fun playing pretend gun battles with.  They loved watching McKay keel over and die.

BANG!

Of course they won!

C. Bali: Part 2

After our canoeing trip we saddled up our bikes and took to the back roads of some small Balinese villages.  The smell of incense was thick as the sound of gamelans and singing lingered in the distance from the New Year's celebrations.  I couldn't help but breathe in deeply and smile!

We made many stops along the way to various villages, learning about their culture all the while.

Bali is 93% Hindu, with devout followers and religious police to boot.  Each family has their own temple, always more ornate and costly than their homes, where the ashes of their ancestors are housed.  

Below are typical houses in Bali.

It's common to see women crouched over their grass weavings, making their offering baskets.  Every girl learns to make these by the time they are six years old and will be responsible for making offerings their whole life.

These kinds of offerings are made three times a day to appease the spirits and bring prosperity and health to ones family.  The offering baskets are filled with a variety of items that stimulate the senses including rice, flowers, crackers, sometimes cigarettes, and always incense...always.  Offerings for ancestors are put up on high temple platforms like these,

...while others are placed on the floor to keep demons away, because demons live on the ground, of course.  An interesting part of this believe is that babies are not allowed to touch the ground for the first 90-120 days of their life (this number varies from village to village) - Not at all!  Can you imagine never putting your new baby down on the ground for 90 days!  We saw mothers with their new babies clinging on to them for dear life.  The reasoning behind this is that if they put their child down, then they will be possessed by demons, because demons live on the ground.  In their believes with reincarnation, individuals come into this world without a spirit and then receive one of their ancestor's spirits after the 90-120 days, so it is vitally important that they remain empty vessels until that ritual is performed.

In the picture below you can see a rooster cage.  These are common throughout Bali, as cock fighting is popular.  Sometimes you will even see men outside lovingly messaging their prized rooster.  Recently, however, cock fighting was banned, but there are still underground fights.

Part 3 of C. Bali coming up next...

C. Bali: Part 1

With our fair skin and blue eyes, McKay and I don't make very good beach bums, as much as we love the beach, so we turned to the culture of Bali for our leisure.  One of the main reasons McKay and I wanted to go to Bali was to experience a different culture.  We didn't know quite how unique it was until we went on this tour with a company called C. Bali.  It's the best tour that I have ever been on and was not touristy at all. (There is nothing we hate more than touristy places and things!)  An Australian lady and her husband own C. Bali and use it as a way to educate foreigners about Balinese culture.  They have done wonderful things for these villages, including the building of schools and other community facilities.  What examples they were to us!  They have both been adopted into indigenous Balinese villages, and have even adopted orphaned children from these villages.  Since children belong to the village and not individuals, they support them financially, but the children still live in their villages, usually with grandparents.  The Balinese quite literally take the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child," to heart.  For example, if a father works far away from their village, they are not allowed to bring their children with them.  The children must stay in the village because they belong to the village.  On top of that, it is required that the father come back for every important ceremony and ritual that they perform.   Below is our tour group at Lake Batur, which consisted of two lovely Aussie couples, our tour guides and some Balinese friends we picked up along the way.

Let's back up a little bit though.  Our adventure started early in the morning in Tulamben with sad goodbyes to our new BFF and delicious fruit smoothies. 

Then we had our breakfast to go...
(Asian countries make the best banana pancakes. My pancakes would be pretty good too if I deep fried them!)

...and headed for the mountains!  

It was a breathtaking two hour drive over mountains and through passes with gorgeous scenes like this...

and some less fortunate scenes like this - 

Just every day life for the Balinese with their skinny, skinny roads.

Along the way we passed many markets like this one.

 Upon arrival to Lake Batur we had even more banana pancakes while being seranaded by local holy men celebrating the Balinese New Year.  We could not have come at a better time during the year, because we got spoiled with music and ceremonies where ever we went!  On the Balinese New Year, all the holy men gather together to sing, chant, make music, drink, gamble and establish the new laws for the New Year.  Imagine that for politics!  I wonder sometimes if our country's political leaders are any better...  Anyways, here is a short clip of them:

(Keep in mind, McKay and I might have slightly differing opinions about foreign music.  Let's just say McKay prefers Western music.)

We carried our inflatable canoes down to the waters edge and then launch ourselves out into the holy lake of Lake Batur.

Mount Batur and Lake Batur are one of the holiest places in Bali.  It is where the temple for the Goddess of Lakes, Water and Fertility resides.  At this temple, the drowning of a cow, goat, chicken, duck and pig is still performed as sacrifice to this Goddess, a practice that has been going on for hundreds of years.  So long in fact that the fish in Lake Batur have become carniverous and acquired more of a gamey taste.  

Holy fish is right!  We loved it!

By law, holy fish must be caught with a fishing pole and eaten within an hour of being caught.
It was so fresh and delicious!

Part 2 coming up next...

BFF's

Saying goodbye to gorgeous sunrises like these made leaving Tulamben almost unbearable, 

however our next adventure awaited us, so we did the only thing we could do, 

which was to soak it all in.

And then soak a little more...

I left McKay for a second, only to realize that I, his sunrise-watching companion, had been replaced! I was scarred momentarily before my heart melted all over the floor.  Then I wanted in on some of the love!

(Observe McKay's lap closer)

The first night that we arrived in Tulamben a tiny kitten, with the roundest, most watery and pathetic eyes came up to our table and softly whimpering for food.  So, of course we fed her...

...we're BFF's now!

She had a pretty wicked mustache!

I ate up the kitten's loves, especially after having to say goodbye to my own little kitty!  She could not get close enough to my face.  What a doll!

Up next!  The gorgeous mountain pass to Lake Batur!

Shipwrecked

I just finished our dive video from Bali and am so excited to share it with y'all.  It's amazing to me that we even have this since I never thought I would be able to scuba dive.  I'm extremely claustrophobic and have a crippling fear of sharks! (Let's just say I'm glad that I never ran into any Brunos under the sea.)  I think back to a few (even though there were many) of my freak out moments before starting our scuba certification when I really thought I wouldn't able to do it, but I'm so grateful I did!  It was only through the help of my supportive hubby and tons of "you can do it's," even when I thought "No, I can'ts!"

Our dive in Bali was to the USAT Liberty shipwreck, which is almost always misaddressed as the USS Liberty shipwreck.  It is just a few meters off the coast of Tulamben and is famous for being the most accessible shipwreck dive site in the world.  This allowed us to make our first shore entry and boy are those tanks heavy!  The USAT Liberty was an armed cargo ship, built in 1918, that served during WWII as a supply ship.  After being torpedoed by the I-166 Japanese submarine in 1942, it limped over to Tulamben where it sat beached for many years.  However, in 1963 the ship met it's final demise when volcano Gunung Agung erupted and shook the enormous ship to the bottom of the ocean.  I can't help but think that the villagers of Tulamben were pretty happy to see that behemoth disappeared below the water!  And I'm happy it did too, because what an awesome site to see!

ENJOY!

I love this crazy sea monkey! 

And just wait cause we have lots more monkeys to come...