Bintang

Back from a little road trip to the coast that began with a visit to Starbucks. What an eye sore in the middle of Ubud. I didn't get a coffee but loved the fact that their menu said "Daily Offerings" instead of "Specials." After a 4 hour drive on a winding road, our group of eight had made it to our destination in Pemuteran: a four room villa that included a private pool, outdoor kitchen and two outdoor beds. The place was deserted. Within 5 minutes, I found myself at the swim up bar. Wha? I'm in Bali!

We woke up every morning to watch the sunrise and then practiced yoga on a grassy field facing the ocean. I was the nominated yoga instructor for the group. I'm not much of a yoga teacher, but perhaps it was better than nothing. I went snorkeling twice – the first time was a bit of a disaster due to my leaking mask, the second time we took a boat out and I ended up getting seasick. But it was well worth it – the coral and the fish were stunning.

Aside from the resorts, Pemuteran was fairly empty save for a few temples, Mosks and little markets. From our resort, we were able to hear the Muslim prayer service 5 times a day. The last time I heard praying like that I was in Jerusalem. This time, I was lying by the pool, drinking a Bintang, my new favorite beer. It seems as though the Muslims and Hindus are living side-by-side peacefully. One night we went to visit a certain temple known for its power of prosperity. It was the evening of the "dark moon" so there were supposed to be a few special ceremonies. Unfortunately, we missed those. But what we did see was people making the trek from all over because this happened to be a temple everyone must visit once a year. Large families traveled together and received blessings. It's a beautiful thing to watch. My favorite part was the little boy who refused to sit on the ground until he realized he could just sit on his shoes. On the way back, our driver Winnie, was talking to us about living with Muslims and how his people have so many ceremonies and they pray so often, it tends to even out. It sounded fairly harmonious. And then he mentioned the Tsunami. He said that we are all supposed to pray and give offerings to the sea. And because the Muslim people were not aware of this and never did, they brought on this horrible incident. He said it in the sweetest, calmest way. And I can understand where he's coming from based on the culture that he knows. But wow.

private pool

Large Bintang by the pool ($4)

Sunrise day 1

Me and Marcia (President of the Bali Institute)

Sunrise day 2

You're welcome

This dog kept showing up and just posing for the camera

Sunrise day 3