check out this light we had during one sunset. it looks like the photos were tinted in photoshop or lightroom or something, but these are straight out of the camera!

late last week we decided to have a bit of a pool day and ended up meeting some friends at the royal pita maha, a ridiculous 5 star resort just outside of ubud. our friend natasha knew someone who works there, which is how we ended up at this place. the entrance to the hotel is located down a nice paved path about 500m from the main road. you know you have arrived because you are greeted by the most gargantuan statue ever known to man.

that’s nayou and i on the scooter at the bottom of the photo, btw. yep, its big.

the lobby is big and opulent as you would expect. apparently at this place, you can’t just have a button to call an elevator. you have to have a statue.

the main pool was really nice, overlooking the jungle in a steep valley. noone else was there, probably because each villa has its own private pool. you gotta wonder why they bothered with this main pool… probably for people like us i guess.

we spent $45 (a small fortune in bali) on some terrible food, but the experience of walking around their grounds made is (almost) worth it. the resort is situated on one side of a steep valley that leads down to the ayung river. they did an amazing job with the landscaping – there are ponds, temples and little nooks to hang out in all over the place.

there is a lagoon that runs around the lower half of the grounds. it was fun drifting alongside the river and watching the whitewater rafters float by.

its crazy to think that this resort is one of several that are built along this valley (including a four seasons and an aman hotel). i’m glad we had the experience, although i have to say that i much prefer our little villa out in the rice paddies!

last sunday our balinese friends took us up north to visit a temple. i’m hazy on the details, but there is some sort of custom where they build temples of varying sizes at places where two streams of water join. and/or where it wells up from the ground. something like that. the temple we went to is built over an underground well and is considered holy.

the temple was about half an hour by scooter from ubud. on the way we stopped to check out these amazing terraced paddies. one thing i love about bali – there is at least one moment every day when you are awed by nature.

of course the temple itself is gorgeous.

before going into the actual temple, we were required to bathe ourselves in the holy water that springs from the underground well. the water is potable and tastes really sweet. my skin felt smooth and soft after a quick dip! here is nayou making inappropriate faces before jumping into the holy water.

here is the heart of the temple. water wells up from below the altar pictured below. the energy of this place is very tranquil, very meditative.

i love all of the wood and stone work on this island. a lot of talented artists are getting busy around here!

we also saw vampire deer there. seriously. check out the fangs on this deer. they are a little hard to see, but that white thing sticking out of its mouth is a tooth. also, its eyes are unmistakably hungry for blood. human blood.

a very, very large chunk of life in bali is devoted to all kinds of ceremonies. there are ceremonies to honour the bazillion gods, the harvest, the family etc etc. you name it, they make offerings to it. on one hand its amazing how strong spirituality runs through the entire culture. on the other hand its a bit sad to see the time and money they pour into these ceremonies, especially if times are tough. having a baby can break the bank because you need to pay large sums of money for various ceremonies when they are young. ditto for marriage. perhaps this is my western-minded cynic coming out, but it does seem a little excessive when so many people are hustling every day to make ends meet.

anyhoo, our friend ibu kadek (literally “mama kadek”) invited us to the ceremony celebrating their family temple last week. its held twice a year. ibu kadek spent days cooking mountains of food for the occasion, as did the rest of the women in their family, so there was a sizeable cornucopia when we rocked up to their family compound. this is what the main temple looked like:

their other family temple was also laden:

the weather looked promising all morning, but just as the ceremony was about to begin it started raining. we waited it out but the rain didn’t let up so they went ahead with it while it was still coming down. it would have been nice to have the full experience, but it was still cool to be able to participate!

after the ceremony we had dinner at ibu kadek’s house. i was tired and a bit shivery from being out in the rain so this is how i spent most of the afternoon before eating. shameless!

we all really like ibu kadek and her family. her two sons, wayan and kadek, are nayou’s bffs. here is their papa, made (pronounced ma-day), being a horsey despite feeling ill from an upset stomach. giddy up!

we have made a bunch of new friends recently. we met olly, adina and their son jonah outside a warung near our house a couple of days ago, and through them our circle of friends have expanded rapidly. olly and adina live just up the road and are here for a year. they are into raw food and are interested in building an off-the-grid house. sound familiar?

today we went with them to the east coast of bali to a place known only as “white sand beach”. it reminded me of the beaches around sayulita with its white sands and turquoise waters. we spent way too much time in the sun, but we couldn’t help ourselves! nayou’s time in the pool has paid off handsomely – he was swimming really far out with all of us adults, and loved riding up and down on the bigger waves. that blue spot on the left hand side is nayou!

we all had a really awesome time. it was good to get out of ubud, good to hang out with cool new peeps, and good to get some beach time. nayou fell asleep in the car on the way home, which speaks volumes about how much fun he had! and us parents were having too much fun to take any nice photos 🙂

all in all, an awesome day. and to cap it off we got another amazing sunset at our house.