Pita Maha Ubud

... no leg room, no engine power – and probably wouldn't pass a warrant of fitness in NZ! However – that’s what the budget allows for, so that’s what we were getting.

These are not your typical Avis rental car agencies. One guy, when asked about what happens if we break down in northern Bali, hours away from Kuta, he told us we would have to pay to get it fixed. I don’t think so!! Another guy told us 'no problem, not to ...

... which strangely house hundreds of monkey. We purchased a bundle of bananas and proceeded. Not twenty seconds after the bananas were in my hands did a massive monkey come barreling at me, hand stretched out in anticipation of a banana. I gave him one and tried to catch the attention of a cuter, more petite monkey nearby, but the fat monkey was relentless. After scarving down the first banana, he ran over to me and held his hand up again. Recognizing the look of unadulterated ...

... in a circle with fire in the middle of it. The men create sounds of the jungle which make you feel as if you were truly in one. They imitate monkeys (by screaming CHAK CHAK CHAK!! over and over again), rain, the sound of wind blowing through the trees, and evil spirits' laughter. You could feel the energy of the spirituality of these men. So much so that I wondered if I was feeling their energy, or if I was feeling the energy of the spirits they were calling upon...



The Kecak ...

... clearing so new beginnings can come again. It's all about cycles, baby. Someone else pointed out that instead of thinking something happened 'to you', it's happening 'for you'. For some reason, all these musings clicked little lightbulbs in my head and I like this way of thinking. Thank you, Bali. Maybe these thoughts can bring some good feelings to you too, especially during the hard times. The ...

... the sweat dripping from our faces and looking like we were in serious need of a lift. No transport needed, thanks! Oh, good times! Jimbaran Bay is just a 20 minute "transport" south of Kuta. It is a nice beach with seafood restaurants lined up on the shore. Of course we indulged in some of the traditional Balinese food. Both Indonesian and Balinesian food consisit of a lot of stir fries, noodles, fried rice, chicken, spices and vegetables. It is often served ...

... to Ibiza. Will probably get out of here pretty quickly. I'm sharing a room tonight with a French guy I Met in KK. The room is pretty expensive, but it's clean with A/C and hot water, I'm sharing the room costs so it's not so bad. Tomorrow I need to book a ticket to the Gili islands. The Gili's are three small islands off the west coast of volcanic Lombok, will probably stay on the islands for a while to relax and ...

... and a joke but the 20th time someone offers a taxi in an hour, I get annoyed. We look for another hotel, more in the center and with FREE Wi-Fi. Cannot find anything. Not at the price we want to pay. So we have to extend in our hotel. We stand still at the memorial of the bombing in 2002. We ask ourselves: why??? Why did all those innocent people have to die? The murderers are still in prison, sentenced to death but in appeal. We have a beer in a pub, where ...

... works in my office on a lovely project called Photovoices. I've also met a Silicon Valley engineer that was designing semiconductors with Gordon Moore, a film producer, a teacher, a german cook..and the list of eccentric folk go on and on. I've come to realise that Bali has many faces - The expat Bali, the local Balinese Bali and the tourist Bali. My interaction with the local Balinese Bali face has been really fun! Putu, the office administrator is Balinese, 25 and ...