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Mexico Dentist

Friday, September 5th, 2008

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Editor’s Note

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Now, if you’d like to be chronological, scroll to the bottom of this page, and click on “previous,” which will take you to the entry called “Bend and the ET’s.”

The next entry here will take you to August 2008, when I moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina, and then my experience in Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, where I went for yet another dental experience. Soon to be posted.

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MADE AND THE CHAKRAS - June 12, 2007

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

IT IS FINALLY TIME TO FINISH MY STORIES!

The next day when he came to get me on his motorbike, I was wearing pants, and I asked for a helmet. “Why?” he asked. I just shrugged my shoulders. He let me wear his helmet.

This time the ride felt much less traumatic, and definitely shorter.

On our second visit we settled in at the temple, and he asked me to write my name on a piece of paper (just as Wayan had done). Then he asked the names of my mother and father and wrote those above and below my name. Then he lit some incense and passed it over the paper.

I learned the importance of the placement of chakras on the hand. This time Made diagnosed my chakras by touching his index finger to the chakra points on my left and right hands. He explained that we would both feel a slight electric shock at each point if the energy was open.

As he touched the points on my right hand, they were all open except for the third eye. When he touched the points on my left hand, they were all open except for the second and the fifth. The heart chakra, the fourth, was very strong, and the aura overall was very strong. This all made sense to me, given what I know about myself. The partial closure at my third eye probably relates to my inability to see auras.

In fact, Made was quite surprised that the chakras did not light up for me. As I thought about it, I realized that while I inherited my mother’s psychic sensitivity, I also probably took on some her fear about her clairvoyance. She could see into the future, and this sometimes frightened her. If she saw, for example, that someone was going to have an accident, then she didn’t know whether to tell them or not. She was afraid that if she told them, they would think she was crazy; but if she didn’t tell them, and the accident happened, then she was feel responsible because perhaps she could have prevented it.

My mother’s way of coping with this dilemma was to pray for her “gift” to be taken away. And it was. Except on rare occasions, when it involved members of her immediate family.

For example, in between my two sons I gave birth to a little girl. She was born with the cord wrapped round her neck, and she died. My mother, who was not invited to the birth, came anyway, because she “knew” that I would lose the baby, and she wanted to be there to help. Of course, she didn’t tell me this until later.

I have a very powerful technique for working on Reprogramming Core Beliefs, and I saw that it would be valuable for me to do this. Meanwhile, however, I thought I would take this opportunity to see what Made would suggest. He told me that normally he would give a person a mudra and a mantra and a chant and some yoga postures to work on for a month, and sometimes that would make a difference. Now I knew why Lumena was doing so much chanting next door! She’d been working with Made for a month, and she was indeed beginning to see auras.

I felt a bit torn about all this. First, I still wanted to see Ketut Liyer, and my funds were very limited. Second, both Made and I were a bit skeptical about whether having just one more session was going to make any significant difference. Nonetheless, I was quite curious about learning the mudra and the mantra, so I did make one more appointment.

Also we were talking about doing a bit of collaborating if I would bring a group of students to Bali. So I felt that I also wanted to experience more of his energy. So the next time we got together, in my room at Jati3, I suggested that I could feel his chakras. He was so cute! He put his hands together like a little child and said, “You heal me? Oh good! Everybody needs healing! Should I take off my shirt? What do you want me to do?”

The total absence of macho energy in Balinese men never fails to amaze and delight me. They are so willing to be vulnerable and soft. What a difference from most American men. This is truly a culture where the men where skirts (sarongs), and I honestly think that does make a difference!

So I did feel his chakras, and there was really only one small problem that I addressed with the crystals. And then I offered to do some shamanic sounding for him. He said that would be fine. So as usual, I just put my mind aside and allowed the sounds to come through. And they were quite powerful.

When I was done he sat up and looked into my eyes. “You have everything you need. Don’t mess with it.”

That was what I thought all along. Maybe I just came to Bali to hear someone else say that to me. I was grateful for this acknowledgement.

Posted in Travels, Vibrational Healing, crystal, Bali, Eat Pray Love, Balinese Traditional Healer, Elizabeth Gilbert, I Made Sumantra, chakras, chakras on hands, healers Balinese | No Comments »

More Bali — A Bad Day in Bali!

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

Finally I have time to go back and complete my narrative about my trip in Bali. If you haven’t read the first part, you can go to the Home Page, to the Archives on the right column, and click on April 07 to begin the whole trip, from Hawaii to Japan. Or you can go to May 07 and scroll down to May 11, 2007 (disregard the dates in gray) —Arriving in Bali— for the first entry of the Bali trip. Then of course scroll UP from there, for subsequent entries.

Lest you think that only good things happened to me when I was traveling, I will pause to tell you about a bad day in Bali. But first, because our present is inextricably built upon our past, I’ll begin by telling you about a Bad Day in Buenos Aires. Both bad days had to do with credit cards.

I won’t tell you about why I went to Buenos Aires, because it would take too long to explain the hairy relationship between my mother and her sister (who lived in Buenos Aires) and all nine of the other siblings and my grandparents (who during the pogrom in Poland were either wiped out or scattered to Israel, America, and South America) and the fact that my mother rarely talked to any of them (ostensibly because they were all so awful, but I could never tell whether it was them or her, since I didn’t know them) and why I grew up hardly knowing any of those relatives, nor hardly any of my father’s relatives (same ostensibles) including his nine siblings and my other grandparents.

But that might be enough background to explain why my aunt, who was practically on her deathbed, suddenly found me on the internet and wanted to meet me so badly that she sent me the money to come and visit her. That was about five years ago.

Nor will I go into the hairy relationship between my aunt and her two children, and how the main reason I wanted to go to Buenos Aires was to meet her daughter, my cousin, who was my age, who been alienated from her mother as I had been from mine, and how my aunt tried to prevent this from happening, and, once she realized I was determined to meet her daughter, tried to prevent me from coming to Buenos Aires.

So you can see that that whole trip was not exactly a holiday, which helps to explain why I did not have my head on straight that day.

The whole time I was in Buenos Aires, people kept warning me about how I should carry my backpack and my fanny pack in front of my body, and be very careful to protect myself against people who would try to steal from me.

I had only one credit card (a good thing under different circumstances) and I was feeling extremely concerned about how my whole life was tied up in that one tiny piece of plastic. What if I lost it, or it was stolen?

I’m sure you’ve heard about how negative thoughts, especially repetitious thoughts, tend to create the reality that we fear. They act like a mantra that feeds the subconscious, instructing it to produce precisely that which we fear. Especially when we construct complex images of the fear scenarios, and infuse them with powerful negative emotions, we are doing exactly what movies like “The Secret” teach us to do, in reverse.

In more recent times, I have learned to reprogram my subconscious, and whenever I notice a negative thought creep through my mind, I just say “cancel” and it goes away. It really works!

But I didn’t know about that five years ago, and there I was, busily creating that nasty reality for myself, just by obsessing about it.

It was a Sunday, and I was out walking alone. I was feeling rather clever because, just by looking at the map, I found this gorgeous park; very lush, with elegant fountains and sensual sculptures. Buenos Aires is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and this park was on an extremely wide street, across from the financial district, which may account for why the park was practically deserted on the weekend.

This was my second-to-last day in the city, and I was enjoying a nice leisurely walk through all the greenery when something went SPLAT on my head and back. I looked up into the tree just as two women came rushing up from behind me, and they pointed up into the tree, saying “Pajaro! Pajaro!” which means bird, and they were sympathetically pulling tissues out of their purses, kindly cleaning this awful smelly stuff off my hair and clothing.

This was awfully thoughtful of them, but after awhile I couldn’t help but notice (or was I just imagining?) that they were sort of backing me into a less visible part of the sidewalk, and as they were cleaning the bird poop off my clothing, my fannypack was getting twisted around to my back.

Well, maybe I was just being paranoid, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I put my hand firmly on my fanny pack, thanked them for their help, and walked away. Somehow they didn’t seem terribly surprised or insulted.

I had just gone down the street a short distance when I heard a man shouting at them in Spanish. I couldn’t understand most of what he was saying, but he seemed to be scolding them.

I slipped into a little bakery to try to find a restroom, and a woman in the bakery told me that was a common pickpocket trick; they concocted something resembling pigeon poop, and squirted it on people, and then pretended to help them clean it off.

I was a bit shaken from that experience, and I smelled bad! With wet hair and wet clothing I left the bakery and went looking for a bank. After walking several blocks I found the bank, pulled open the heavy door, and staggered over to the ATM, miserably clutching my one tiny precious piece of plastic. Feeling intensely aware of the thin line of survival between myself and it, in this extremely foreign country, I inserted the card into the machine, took my money with gratitude, and moved out of there as quickly as possible.

Leaving the credit card in the machine.

I didn’t miss the card until the next day, and by the time I reported it stolen it had already been charged up to the max. Thank goodness I had enough cash to get home and that was almost my last day.

Fortunately Visa covered the loss, but it took months before I got my money back.

The moral of this story is: always have three different credit cards or forms of support when you travel, and stash them in separate places. Be sure that someone other than yourself has the numbers of your cards, in case they are stolen.

Okay, so now I’m in Bali. This time I have brought three credit cards; one is in a little purse around my neck; another is in the pack on my back, and the third is hidden in my luggage, back in the room. I also have cash in three separate places. This time I am Prepared, and I am on top of it!

The only problem is that the bungalow where I am staying doesn’t take credit cards. So I need to go to the ATM. The main credit card I’m using is actually a debit card with the Bank of Hawaii, and that account has just the amount of money that I have budgeted for this part of the trip. But the last time I went to the ATM to get cash, it showed a lower balance than I anticipated. So I look for a pay phone to call my bank, to get a rundown of my recent expenses.

That’s when I discover that there are no pay phones in Ubud; there are only Internet stations that have phone booths, and the rate to call the U.S. is about $1.50 per minute. In a country where $1.50 is enough to buy a decent meal, this feels extremely expensive, especially when my bank account has suddenly taken a skydive.

Now I am aware that I can make free phone calls from my computer with Skype, but so far I’ve just signed on for calling other people who have Skype (and I’ve only done that with a couple people, so this is a new technology for me). I could go to the Internet café, which has free wireless (with strong encouragement to buy food), and set up an account that would allow me to make regular calls to almost anywhere, for about two dollars per month. BUT we’ve just had an unseasonable storm here in Ubud, and for some reason the wireless isn’t working.

It’s already 11 pm, but that seems to be a popular hour at the internet and telephone station. I make my Very Expensive phone call, and discover that I only have $80 left in my account!

This is when I congratulate myself for having the foresight to have two other bankcards (I rarely use credit cards, except to rent cars). I reassure myself that other money will come, as it always does, and I optimistically reach for the debit card for my savings account with the credit union,

But I haven’t used this card since I moved to Maui, almost two years ago, and for some reason the passcode for this card doesn’t work! I try every possible combination, and it still doesn’t work. Then I notice that it’s going to expire next month! (Mental note: Test all credit cards before leaving country of origin. Observe all expiry dates. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go.)

Now this is getting depressing. But have no fear! There is always credit card number three!

I go back to the bungalow to get my third card that is hidden in my luggage. This is the credit card that I use for car rentals, and in case of emergencies. This is, deliberately, a credit card with a small upper limit. And this IS an emergency.

I don’t do too well after 9 pm. Close to midnight I turn into a pumpkin. I probably should have waited until the next day, but I knew I needed cash the next morning to pay my rent. Truth is, I hadn’t used this card in a long time either. The good news—Very Good News—is that it worked. Big Relief.

I stagger back to the bungalow and hit the sack with gratitude.

Next day I go to look for the credit card for the credit union, which is actually a debit card into my savings account (not such a great idea, after all). And guess what?

I can’t find it!!!

I look everywhere; in all three of my stash places; in my pockets; everywhere I can think of. I go back to the stash places. I rack my brain, vaguely remembering (or am I imagining?) that I might have come up with some new place to hide things. Why didn’t I write it down? Next time I’ll write it down!

I can’t find it!!!

Visions of Buenos Aires dance in my head! Fear begins to swell in my brain. I begin to construct the Long Line of Possible Consequences . . .

Then I get smart. I resolutely say, “Cancel!” to all those nasty thoughts, and I affirm that it will all work out. It always does. I tell myself that I just need to go to sleep and come fresh to the problem in the morning. I remind myself of all the times I was able to solve terrible problems just by waiting until the next day. Maybe by tomorrow the astrological influences will have changed; this has been a rough day; I probably had some terrible aspects today. Finally I let go of it. It’s late. I go to bed.

I wake up at three in the morning. I’m used to getting up at three in the morning; no big deal.

I turn on the light, get dressed, and begin to methodically search for the card. I think of some pockets that I didn’t check.

And there, in the second pair of pants, I touch plastic.

“Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!” I murmur to the Universe.

I sit down in meditation, clasping my plastic to my bosom, and I send out waves of Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude.

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Arriving in Asheville

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

September-October 2007

After I left Alaska, I thought I would go back to Oregon. But after meeting all those people at the International New Age Trade Show in Denver (INATS West), and getting invited to all those places, I organized a book tour that would take me through New York, Boston, and Asheville, North Carolina. Meanwhile I met a bunch of people from Eugene, Oregon, at a retreat, and I took care of someone’s house in Eugene for a month. Then I went to visit a friend who lives near Yosemite.

When I went to get my plane ticket, I had a strong sense that I should not get a return ticket to the West Coast. In fact, I had clear Guidance that I shouldn’t make any plans after Asheville. I wondered why. Would I meet a special man? Would I be invited to teach my Vibrational Healing program on the East Coast?

It was hard for me not to make plans. My whole career is based on giving talks and workshops that have to be scheduled well in advance. But I decided to trust in Spirit.

I was well received at East West Living, “New York’s largest source for spiritual, holistic health and metaphysical books and supplies.” I was invited to come back and teach at a beautiful mansion in Briarcliff in Westchester County, just outside of New York City.

Boston went well. I had a great connection with the people at Circles of Wisdom in Andover, and they invited me to return and do the Whole Health Expo’s with them in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

I was feeling much more useful on the East Coast than in Hawaii or on the West Coast. It seemed that my skills and talents were needed more here, and appreciated more.

Next stop was North Carolina. I had only been to North Carolina once before, to Ocracoke on the Coast, to visit my friend and co-facilitator, Cynthia Mitchell. Cynthia was enthused about my coming to Asheville, and agreed to meet me at the airport and we would hang together for ten days, and maybe do some teaching together at a place called Crystal Visions.

Cynthia picked me up at the airport in Raleigh and we drove west for many hours to Asheville. The Blue Ridge Mountains were lovely, and it’s true, they definitely did look blue! But they were paltry compared to Alaska, and to the Canadian Rockies, and even the California Rockies.

When I woke up the next morning, I started writing a new book. The title would be Frequency and Intention—How to Use Your Psychic Powers to Heal the Planet. The book was writing itself. I felt good. I couldn’t quite understand why. People told me that these are the oldest mountains in the world, and they are full of crystals. They’re called the Grandmother Mountains. Maybe that was it!

A couple days later (it was the middle of October) I got a real clear message in my meditation: “Stay here until the end of the year and finish the book.”

Cynthia took me to Green Life, the local health food store, and I saw some notices about rentals. I jotted down two phone numbers. A couple days later I had some spare time and the use of Cynthia’s car, so I went to look at the rentals. The second place was perfect.

The neighborhood has lots of trees. The house is on a big lot with a huge yard and it’s set back from the road. It’s a yellow house with a big stone chimney. The woman was sitting on the white swinging seat on the front porch where the pink petunias grew in profusion. I sat down alongside her and we spoke for half an hour before I even stepped inside the house.

We had everything in common! She’s an RN who does natural healing work, specializing in BreathDance, to help people who have breathing problems to get off their inhalers. She just bought the house and moved in a month ago, but she has lived in Asheville for the last year, and has lots of connections. She belongs to the dance collective. She helped out at the herbal conference. She has a room in the house for doing workshops.

While I was in Anchorage I stayed at the home of a man who is an organizer for the Bioneers. This is an incredible organization that has groups all over the world (see www.bioneers.com and soon I will have more information on my website at www.highvibrations.net under Links). This organization has presentations by a wide variety of people on topics that ranging from civil rights and women’s rights to indigenous teachings to biology to green architecture to permaculture to philosophy to healing and community . . . everything about creating a positive, connected vision of the world, along with projects that are actually happening now, to change the world.

I decided then that when I settled down I wanted to join or create a local Bioneers group. Well, within our first half hour, I discovered that Dorisse Neale had actually taught at a Bioneers Conference, and that she, too, wanted to start a Bioneers group in Asheville. That clinched it. “I haven’t seen the house yet, but I certainly know I’ve found a new friend!”

Of course, the house turned out to be perfect. I would have a lovely, sunny room with my own bathroom. There’s a guest room. The house is laid out so that we can both have plenty of privacy. There’s a big living room with a wonderful fireplace. There’s a front porch and a side porch, where you can see the mountains in the distance. There’s a big garage for storage, and even a little shed where I could do my lapidary work. Best of all, I can watch the sun come up from my bedroom, and we can watch the sun go down from the back porch. And there’s a big yard, and plenty of space for an organic garden.

I hoped to find a place right away, and it was available. I wrote a check, and Dorisse looked at my full name and she said, “I know you! I have your book!” It turned out that she had a copy of my first book, Healing Yourself, the herbal.

A few days later I moved in. Immediately I started making connections, meeting people, and feeling extremely welcome. Something that blew my mind was that almost everyone I met had their own story to tell about being mysteriously guided to come to Asheville. And there were lots of sound healers. That was true in Hawaii, too, but it didn’t surprise me there. Why Asheville???

As I started to write to friends, to tell them about my move, they all seemed to know about Asheville. They had heard about it, or they had friends or family here. They all thought it was a very cool place. Some people called it the San Francisco of the East Coast. Some compared it to Portland. People say this is one of the safest places on the planet if there are earth changes. Once I went downtown, I was truly charmed; it seemed a bit like New Orleans.

There was something exciting to do every night of the week (if I chose to participate). There was all kind of dancing and music and healing and parties. What a wonderful place to live! And plenty of beautiful places nearby to be in nature. And tons of waterfalls. And a fairly mild winter.

Within a couple weeks I was told by Spirit, “You’re going to stay here.” That was fine with me.

I do miss my grandson in Maui, but I’ve already adopted a couple of Indigo kids to take care of occasionally, and they really need a Gramma, so we’re all happy.

Posted in Travels, mountains, Guidance, Asheville, North Carolina, Blue Ridge Mountains, sound healers, Healing Yourself, INATS West, East West Living, Westchester County, Briarcliff, Circles of Wisdom, Andover, Whole Health Expo, Crystal Visions, Bioneers, Dorisse Neale | No Comments »

Alaska!

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

July 13

I never thought of coming to Alaska until I was invited to teach at the herbal conference. I thought of going to Norway because I heard the mountains are so awesome there. But I had no idea that Alaska was so beautiful! This is probably the most gorgeous place I’ve ever been in my life.

In Portland we have Mt. Hood; in Northern California we have Mt. Shasta; on the Big Island we have Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa; in Maui we have Haleakala. But in Alaska . . . . there are endless ranges of them! Mt. McKinley, the highest of all mountains in North America, is here in all her majesty.

Glaciers, snowy mountains, colored mountains, and then a Three-Hour Sunset!!! Oh, it’s just incredible. It sort of makes our mountains in Hawaii and in Oregon pale by comparison. In fact, sometimes I think about The Little Prince, who lived on a planet with his one and only beloved rose. Then he traveled to other planets, and when he came to the earth, he was shocked to discover that there were MANY roses.

But no need to compare! They are all just beautiful!

By 8:30 at night the mountains start to turn colors–the glacial rivers and white snow-covered mountains behind those, layers upon layers of mountains—and this metamorphosis of colors continues, slowly and gracefully evolving until around ten o’clock, then it gradually fades slowly by around eleven there is just the slightest hint of darkness, as if it would soon be dark, but it is not.

By midnight we give in, knowing that it’s not wise to stay up all night, but reluctant to lie down, especially those who live here year round; the locals call themselves manic during this time of year because they know that these endless days will not last forever, and soon they will turn into endless nights. So they must rush to put in their gardens quickly and have all the parties they can before they must retreat indoors into the dark of a cold and endless night.

I was looking at some maps with Maggie and Court today, thinking about a future trip, and they showed me how to take a ferry all the way from Bellingham to Homer. I would dearly love to do that. It wouldn’t cost much more than flying, and then I’d have a vehicle once I got here. (It costs about $250 a week to rent a car here.) Then I’d love to drive back down through Canada. I’d like to take at least a month or two for a trip like that. Mid August would be a great time to come up here, because then I could be in Fairbanks by mid September, which is a good time to see the Northern Lights. That is right up there on the top my list of things I want to do!

July 12, 2007
Alaska Airlines en route to Anchorage via The Inside Passage

I’m excited about this trip. I rarely get excited about traveling, but it’s exciting to go to a new country or a new culture.

Even just being on the plane feels different. It reminds me of going to Hawaii, especially when there are a fair number of Hawaiians on the plane. The Hawaiians and Alaskans and Native Americans all have that down-home, no-bullshit kind of feeling. You can walk down the aisles in this plane, and you get the feeling that people actually talk to one another. The air is alive with interaction, even when everyone seems to be just doing their own thing.

Posted in Travels, mountains, Alaska | No Comments »

Joy’s Recommendations for Bali

Monday, June 11th, 2007

I’m going to jump ahead of my story. In real time, I’m getting ready to leave Bali tomorrow night. I’ll be heading back to the monastery in Japan for 8 days. Then I’ll be going to Denver for the International New Age Trade Show, and then to Portland for a few days and on to Bend, Oregon, where I’ll chill out for a couple of weeks before I head up to Alaska, to camp out and then teach at an Herbal Conference.

As I’m packing to go, this is the perfect time to share my personal recommendations to anyone coming to Bali. Many of these places and people are described in detail, often with photos, in the text of this blog. If I place an asterisk* after a place, you can find out more about it by clicking on the corresponding key word in the right column. (Though I may not have written about it yet.)

Blissings,

JOYSAN / EBUJOY

[Note: If you go to the Archives on the Home Page, and click on Jan 08, you can read the rest of my story about Bali.]

I’ve organized the following section according to regions and towns.

SOUTHERN BALI

Denpasar

This is where the airport is located. Lonely Planet recommends avoiding it, but my dentist is here, and I’ve enjoyed my time here. These are some of the places I’ve liked or have checked out.

ACCOMODATIONS
Nakula Familiar Inn*
Jln. Nakula No. 4 (near Kartini)
(0361) 226446
nakula_familiar_inn@yahoo.com
$8 with fan / $12 A/C – no hot water – breakfast served but not included
Sunu is the manager, and he speaks fairly good English. For me, this
place was a haven in the midst of a pretty crazy city. Nice courtyard.
Nice people. They will provide a free motorcycle service (modest tips
appreciated) to places that are nearby. The climate is hot and the water
is not very cold, and cold showers can be well appreciated. The rooms have small balconies. I would call ahead and reserve the last upstairs room, which has the most privacy and the least noise.

Adi Yasa
Jln. Nakula 23B
$4-6 for simple accommodations, fans, cold water, communal style living
no privacy but it’s friendly, like a hostel. It’s across the street from Nakula Familiar Inn and up the block. It’s been the a longer time, so cab drivers who don’t recognize Nakula Familiar Inn will know where Adi Yasa is.

DENTIST
Dr. Sucipto*
Jl. Diponegoro 150 / A-32
Komp. Ruko IDT (Genteng Biru)
From States: 011-62-361-222541
sucipto_angga@yahoo.com
www. drsucipto.com
Dr. Sucipto is not cheap, by Balinese standards, but he is highly professional (trained partly in the US), conscientious, thorough, and he speaks very good English, he’s relaxed and extremely friendly, and people come to him from all over the world. You want to call ahead by at least six weeks (eight is safer) to be sure to get an appointment. Tip: his office is not easy to find; you might want to scout it out before your first appointment. Take Diponegoro North to J. Dewi Sartika and turn West (left) at the Apotik Kimia Farma (pharmacy), go 1 block to Pulau Seram and turn South (left) and it’s the second building on the right as I recall.
There is a form to fill out on his website, but it didn’t work for me. It’s probably best to call direct. They do speak English.

OPTOMETRIST
Dr. Nym. Seri Sukmawati
J. Drupadi 1/3
(0361) 263833
seri124@yahoo.com
If you happen to need an optometrist while you’re in
Bali, this woman is very good and she only charged $15 for an appointment.

WIRELESS INTERNET
Denpassar is surprisingly bereft of good internet connections. I was fortunate that Dr. Sucipto let me set up my laptop at his hotspot. Otherwise it was a long haul to one of the two Bali Bakery places, and their wireless wasn’t always working, their food was not cheap, and you have to pay at least $2.50 to get hooked up. There are regular internet stations, but they’re few and far between and they are hot and painfully slow.

FOOD
Wr. Sari
Jl. Hayam Wuruk
Sorry I can’t tell you more than this. It’s a little local Warung (where there is no menu and food is displayed in pots and you can point to what you want), very popular with the local folks, great food; you can get an excellent meal for $1.00 (not including drinks)

Wr. Satrya
Jln. Nakula
Good seafood satay – you can get a good meal for less than $2.

Cheap Steak
Srikandi No. 52
Inna Bali Food Court
This is a real restaurant in front of a big business hotel where you can get all kinds of steaks, including a grilled mahimahi and nice veggies and fries, all for $2.

MISC
NIGHT MARKETS
There are many night markets and they are fun. You can get fish satays for 10 cents, and red rice for 40 cents and endless exotic fruits like mangosteen and snakefruit for good prices. It’s a feast for the senses. I liked the Pasar Badung Market, which is a reasonable walk from Nakula St.

HEALTH FOOD, ORGANIC FOOD
I was told to go to Dijon, Simpany Siur. But it’s out toward Kuta, and I never made it there.

Taxi
If you need a ride, look for the little blue cabs called Bali Taxis. They’re all over the place. The basic price is about 60 cents (5,000 rp.), and it goes up slowly from there. A/C, and they usually speak a little English.

Guide
If you want a personal guide and translator, go to Pasar Badung Market and ask for Wayan (a man) and Made (a woman) and show them these pictures. Wayan can take you around on his motorcycle, or accompany you if you get a taxi. Or write ahead of time to him and ask him to meet you at your hotel on a specific day and time. Don’t expect an answer to your letter, but he is reliable, once you find him. Probably the best plan is to look for them at the market. He probably won’t
charge you a specific sum, but he will expect you to pay for gas and other expenses. When you eat, it’s polite to offer to treat him also. When you are getting ready to leave, his wife will make a suggestion of
an appropriate gift. For a week of driving me around town, she suggested a bedspread that cost about $25. He will save you at least that much money by bargaining for you and finding the best prices.
Wayan & Made Rencani
Jalan Kebolwo
Bajanr paqutan
Padang Sam Bean Kaja
Gang No. 2 / 8B
Denpasar, Bali

SANUR

TOWN
This is a fairly pleasant tourist beach town. If you like to shop, this is probably a good place to do it.

BEACH
I’ve heard that the beach in Sanur is obnoxiously full of tourists on Sundays and during the high season. But when I was there it was almost deserted. It is a white sands beach and fairly pleasant to swim in.
I was told that I could rent snorkel equipment for about $2 and take a boat, for about $20, a few miles out to where the snorkeling is good. I didn’t want to pay that much.

LODGING
Puri Gopa Hotel
Jalan Desuma Sari No. 4 Semawang
(0361) 289-948
reservation@purigopabali.com
www.urigopabali.com
Is owned by Balinese. It has clean rooms with A/C and hot water, and some rooms have a view of the ocean. A single standard room with fan is $35 and a single deluxe with A/C is $45. It seems pricy to me.

CENTRAL BALI

UBUD

ACCOMODATIONS
Jati 3 Bungalows & Spa*
Monkey Forest Street (Jalan Wenara Wana)
Ebudewa, owner
62-361-973-249, 977-101
http://www.jati3bungalows.com
jati3_ubud@yahoo.com
$15 per night including breakfast, with the back rooms bordering on the jungle,
hot water, fans. Note: you can request a small refrigerator (no fee) and a
big bottle of drinking water (small fee) for your room.

Ubud Bungalow*
Monkey Forest St.
62-361-971298
Wayan, mgr. “boss”
w_widnyana@hotmail.om
www.ubudbungalow.com
$20 per night for pure luxury, including breakfast, hot water, A/C, and a great pool

Ari House
Quiet river setting, 5 minutes from Bali Spirit Kafe (head south and look
for sign on the right, then turn down the lane)
Surrounded by tropical forest
Breakfast included (other meals too)
Extremely affordable ($7 off-season; $11 on)
“Riverfront Questhouses (I only saw one)
Modern Bathroom With Has Showers, Hot & Cold Water”
Hanoman St. Gang Anila No. 10
081 338 666 384
Ari does not speak much English. An opportunity to live in
a Balinese compound. Nice room, but a bit musty. Great view.

FOOD

Bali Buddha Restaurant and Health Food Store*
Across the street from the post office
Great organic salads
Non-wheat, non-dairy choices

Bali Spirit Kafe*
448 J. Hanoman (Anuman)
This is the famous coffeehouse where the expatriats come and hang out. It is connected with Bali Spirit Yoga (a little north of the café, same road), which is connected with the Bali Barn (head south down Anuman and turn left at Ubud Aura and down a lane), where various yoga classes and related workshops are presented. Wireless internet access is available, but not cheap. There is a cheap (and slow) Internet place across the street. Definitely a great place to make connections of all kinds. They serve good food. Once a week they have a movie night at the Bali Barn (same owners) and they charge $5 for the movie and a great all-you-can-eat dinner.

Bali Pesto Café
West side of Monkey Forest Rd.
Sign in front says: “Barberkyu”
I liked their Burbur Injin black rice pudding with bananas and coconut milk
And their pumpkin soup

Café BiangLalah
East side of Monkey Forest, at the end of a lane (south of Jati3)
I had a tuna kabob that was fantastic for under $3

BALINESE TRADITIONALIST HEALERS

Wayan Nuriyashi*
Traditional Balinese Healing Center & Multivitamin Lunch
Across the street from Bali Buddha and next to the Post Office
Awesome herbal massage and herbal healing

Ketut Liyer*
Traditional Balinese Healer, Painter & Woodcarver
(0361) 974-092
Take Anoman south, before Pengosekan, pass Arma on left, pass Guci on
right and big petrol station on left – I think it’s the next little left
turn with a sign that says OKA Home Stay – to left of sign is white sign: Ketut Liyer. Turn left and follow road til it curves right. Just past the corner on the left is a sign: Ketut Liyer

I Made Sumantra*
Mantra Aura Clinic
Bali Yoga Master & Healer
Often works out of the spa at Jati3 Bungalow
Phone (62-361) 7941089 / 085935029306
madesumantra@hotmail.com
www.balineseyoga.com

INTERNET ACCESS
Ubud has great internet access—except once or twice a week, when everything goes down.

Baby Face Café*
On East side of Monkey Forest Rd.
Has free wireless and you can even go upstairs, where it’s quiet, if you want to Skype. Their mixed fruit, and lime drinks are very good.

Waroeng Café
On East side of Monkey Forest Rd., a few doors down from Baby Face Café
Charges $5 hr. for a good wireless hook-up.
They have a great spicy Chinese noodle soup for about $3.

MISC

MAP OF BALI
The Bali Pathfinder was invaluable.
I found a copy at Bali Bungalows for about $3.50
Contains maps of Bali, Ubud, Denpasar, Kuta, Lovina, Sanur, and more

TRAVEL INSURANCE
Expacare $578 YR – quarterly payment option Division of JLT in UK
Apipacific.com

SEAMSTRESS / TAILOR
You can buy beautiful hand-woven cloth in Bali (or bring your own) and bring something you love as a pattern, and these women can reproduce just about anything, at great prices.

Rai Pasti, Tailor
Monkey Forest Rd.
0361 973-259
raipasti@yahoo.com
Rai Pasti is right near Jati 3, along the same lane. She was just getting ready to open a shop as I was leaving,, so her prices will probably go up. She has lovely cloth and I was pleased with everything she made for me. She was always fair, her prices were very good, and she speaks English.

TRANSPORT
One of the most annoying things about Ubud is that tourists are constantly being hawked by men trying to sell “Transport, Madam,” and women passing out brochures about their Spa and Massage services.
They will ask for 20,000 rp. for a motorcycle ride, but 5-10,000 during off season should be plenty. (2,000 if you’re cute.) They will ask for 200,000 rp. for a taxi ride to the airport or to Candidasa or Amed, but 150,000 may be enough. Or you can get a shuttle.

AROMATHERAPY OILS
BAS Buana Amertha Sari Agrowisata
Wayan Kesuma Yasa, owner at 6281805417090
Has nice rose oil for 70,000 rp ($7.50)
Also nice lemon and orange oils, same price
(will visit their shop during the Bike Tour)

Bike-Baik Bali Countryside Tours*
I Wayan Sujana, Tour Guide & Owner
0361-978-052 / 081-33867-3852
wayansujanaa@yahoo.com
www.balibike.com

Arma Rai Museum of Art & Park & Restaurants
Admission: 25,000 rp ($3) used for cultural preservation
Beautiful grounds and museum
Also has upscale luxurious lodging

EAST SIDE

CANDIDASA

Ashram Gandhi*
Just before the lagoon on the right (going north)
Right on the ocean – very peaceful, idyllic
Ideal if you like yoga and prayers sung in Sanskrit
No alcohol, cigarettes, or “sexual cohabitation”
Cold water—but they bring huge thermos of hot water
No A/C – just fan and ocean breezes
Has 2 bungalows that sleep 2-4 people each
$20 for one person includes 3 delicious vegetarian meals
(with fish and eggs if desired)

Agung Bungalows
Several buildings before the lagoon on right going north
Pleasant cool grounds, nice rooms
$8 per room, includes breakfast
cold water, fan
(0363) 41535
Call ahead to reserve the prime room, right at the
ocean, same price

Dewi Bungalows
Several buildings after the lagoon on right going north
Grounds are okay; rooms are average. No views. Fan.
A room with double bed and hot water is $15 at high season
And $10 at low season
A room with double bed and cold water is $8
Includes breakfast
081 747 19487
www.eastbalionline.com

AMED
Just south of Amed I Jemeluk, reputed to have great snorkeling – equipment rents for
20,000 rp. My experience: I went to the place where the shipwreck is and the
water was full of jellyfish. But if other people are swimming, it’s probably fine.
Megan told me to call Alek at 628 523 716 3115 if you need something done in Amed. I forgot to do that when I was looking for transport to Tejakula.

3 Brothers
In Lonely Planet as $8-12. In fact, during off-season she asked for $15, but would
settle for $10.
Nice place, with the last room right on the beach. Cold water. Not much privacy,
especially in the last room, because the kids hang around the beach. She
says you can swim and snorkel right there.

Deddy’s*
In Lonely Planet as $4-5, but they asked $8. Cold water. Nice view. A fair walk to the beach. Clean rooms. But it’s above the highway and kind of noisy. Food is good. (Fried rice with vegetables; fruit juice.) Free b’fast.

Meditasi*
$15 per room in low season, $20 in high
this is the only place that was consistent in their price with Lonely Planet right on the ocean, lovely rooms, fantastic views, free b’fast
fans, cold water except the villa at $50 night with hot water and a big
outdoor room with two luxurious beds in separate rooms
It takes a long time to get there, at the end of the road, but it’s worth it.
The beach is right outside the door, and it is reputed to have excellent
snorkeling and no jellyfish.

NORTH SIDE

TEJAKULA

Gaia Oasis
1-1/2 hours up the coast from Amed. (Drivers will try to get 350,000 rp., but it shouldn’t cost more than 150-200,000 in off season.)
Can be reached directly from Ubud – 2 hours (about 200-250,000 rp.)
62 81 23853350 or 44696 or 62952.
info@gaia-oasis.com
www.gaia-oasis.com
The website has lots of great pictures.
This place is owned by a group of 40 Europeans. The prices are in the mid range. Prices are in Euros, so you need to check the exchange rate if you have U.S. dollars or rp. The place is gorgeous. They are booked over a year in advance for groups, so be sure to call ahead and make reservations. Individual reservations are more readily available.
This is the place you’ve always dreamed of when you’ve thought of an idyllic vacation in Bali. This is where I’d like to go with a lover. It’s romantic and delicious (and, unlike Ashram Gandhi, any kind of sexual cohabitation is fine—in fact, they are quite comfortable with gay guests).
For 1 room in a bungalow with open-air bathroom and kitchen: Single is 33 Euros; double $46; extra bed $15. Breakfast costs 4 Euros. Three meals a day, buffet style, for 14.50 Euros. The food is excellent. There is a 21% tax and service charge (as compared to 10% elsewhere).
The beach is right there at the edge of the property and it is reputed to have good snorkeling and no jellyfish. For a fee you can go out in an outrigger canoe to fish, and you may see dolphins. In fact, the dolphins can be seen passing by almost every day.
They have a second location, about 15 minutes away, up in the mountains. It is also lovely, in a Swiss chalet sort of way, and it would be cooler in hot weather.
Each location has a large group room. The one at the beach is a huge octagonal temple-like room. The one above is smaller and more intimate.
At the beach, will need to park outside and walk for 10 minutes through a lovely peaceful lane. There is a parking area just a short way inside the lane, but it’s awfully tight for a van! Once you arrive, they will send out a motorbike to pick up your suitcases and give a lift to anyone who needs it. (Or you can call in and ask for free portage.)
From the main road, look for two long banners on either side of a lane; one is bright orange and the other is white, and they say Gaia Oasis. There are other signs, but you haven’t arrived until you find those banners.

MISC INFO

WHEN TO GO?
July to September, early April, and between Christmas and early
January are the high seasons. Very busy and more expensive.
April to June is very pleasant weather.
October to March is rainy season, and it can be humid but it only rains
part of the day, and that cools things off, so it’s not bad, especially
in Ubud, which is cool, and especially in February and March when it usually rains less and when you can avoid the tourists and be extremely welcome because your business is badly needed.
The average temperature is about 85 degrees all year round.

TRAVEL GUIDE
Lonely Planet, Bali & Lombek
Ryan Ver Berkmoes & Ian Stewart

Posted in Travels, lodging, accomodations, Bali, spiritual vacation, Indonesian herbs, Wayan Nuriyashi, Balinese Traditional Healer, Katuk Liyer, Bali Buddha, Ubud, health food store Ubud, I Made Sumantra | 1 Comment »

Meeting I Made Sumantra

Monday, June 11th, 2007

I’d been here for a couple days when I heard a lot of noise next door in the middle of the night. I figured that some locals had moved in and were having a party. The next morning Dewa (who turned out to be Ebudewa’s brother) brings me breakfast and he mentions casually that Lumena, the woman in the room next to mine, had gone “up to the mountain to meditate” and they left at 3 in the morning. What mountain? I wondered, and why was it so noisy to go meditating? I should meet this woman.

Next day a black-haired woman dressed in white glided by and stopped in to apologize for all the noise the night before. “I’m studying with a Balinese Traditional Healer, and we do a lot of chanting, so it can get noisy. I’m sorry if we woke you up!”

I invited her to come in and visit, and as our mutual stories unfolded, it turned out that she had a copy of the first herbal book that I wrote, back in the seventies, Healing Yourself. (This often happens!) Since she was so interested in chanting, I played a track from my CD, Altered States of Planet Earth, and she totally loved it. [You can listen to it on my home page at http://highvibrations.net ]

She has done a lot of work in promotions, so we talked about ways to promote the CD, and she asked what my target audience is? I told her that people who are interested in metaphysics, new age, wicca, and then I admitted that my initial inspiration for making the CD was to provide something really juicy for kids going to raves. I’ve never been to one, but I’ve heard that they are huge gatherings where everyone gets high on Ecstasy. I had some exposure to LSD in my younger years, and I know the difference between a “good trip” and a “bad trip,” and I do believe that mind altering substances can have a beneficial effect under the right circumstances. Though I no longer use these substances, I believe that marijuana is far less harmful that alcohol or tobacco and that it is criminal that people are being put in jail for using marijuana, and it is criminal that young people (many of whom seem to need to get high on something) are being prevented from using marijuana, and so they turn instead to “ice,” which is such a vicious drug. I do know that taking Ecstasy can be a beautiful experience, and that the music you listen to while in an altered state can have a profound influence on the kind of trip you have.

This CD, Altered States of Planet Earth, has the sounds of myself doing Shamanic Sounding (the shamans literally sing through me) in combination with Alejo (James Lowe) playing didgeridoo. People have told me that they love to use it for giving and receiving massages, for making love, for dancing and trance dancing, and contact improv. Lumena said that she has friends who are organizers for Burning Man, and she could make sure that they hear it.

She asked to look at my new book, Vibrational Healing through the Chakras, and she couldn’t put it down, so I offered to loan it to her for a day or two, and she was delighted.

Then she said she wanted me to meet her teacher, I Made Sumatra. He had been teaching her how to run energy, and he had a thing he did that allowed you to see your own chakras light up from the inside! Through working with him, she was beginning to see auras.

That all sounded quite exciting. I’d love to see my chakras light up, and I’d love to see auras. As I’ve said before, I can feel the spin of energy at the chakras, but I have not been able to see that energy.

A few hours later Lumena brought Made to my room. He is a good-looking young Balinese man with a huge smile and very loving energy. He was smoking a cigarette, which didn’t add to the ambience, but I was used to shamans who don’t fit the stereotype. We talked for awhile, and sometimes it was difficult to understand him, though his English was fairly good. He said that today he was going to be doing a ceremonial cleansing at his temple, and Lumena was coming. Would I like to join them?

“Of course!” I exclaimed, and he said that I would just need to wear a sarong and a sash, and could I be ready in an hour?

“No problem!”` I responded, with excitement.

“Good!” he said, “I’ll pick you up in an hour!”

This time I wasn’t going to mess with the purple pareo, which had bled all over my nice salmon-colored blouse. I had a simple blue-and-white pareo that I would wear, with a blue under-blouse and a see-through top, very much like the Indonesian style. I felt rather proud of myself as I prepared for my first official Balinese ritual.

Made arrived promptly in an hour, and said that he could now drive me over to his place. “First you, then I come back, get Lumena. Very close,” he reassured me, as he pointed to his motorbike. “Not far. You okay?” he asked as he observed my reaction.

Yes, I did ride on a motorbike once before. And even once on a motorcycle. But that was about forty years ago! This was intimidating. And furthermore, I was wearing a long skirt.

Now let me tell you something about myself. On the one hand, I am a raging nonconformist, and some part of me takes a certain pleasure in shocking people. On the other hand, I am extremely careful not to trespass or offend people of other cultures, if at all possible. But when it gets too tedious, I fall back upon the attitude that I am, after all, an American, and everyone expects Americans to do crazy things anyway.

For example, in Hawaii, especially on the Big Island, the locals have a certain little wave they call a shaka. It’s when you hold up your thumb and little finger and shake your hand in greeting. It sounds simple, and I know plenty of people who started using the shaka within a few days of arriving on the island, and it looked fine. The truth is, it’s kind of a guy thing. Not too many girls give the shaka.

So I wanted to be sure that I did it right. The truth is that I studied it for nine years, and practiced it on the sly, until I finally felt I could give a good-looking shaka. I’m still very shy about it. But when I moved to Maui, I noticed that people gave really limp-looking shakas. I got downright judgmental about those wimpy Maui shakas.

So ever since I arrived in Bali, I’ve been observing motor scooter behavior. I noticed right away that girls ride sidesaddle when they wear skirts. No exceptions. So I wasn’t going to start out my first Balinese ritual by doing something that would be grossly offensive. Even though I was feeling intimidated, I was definitely going to ride sidesaddle.

The other thing I noticed was that hardly anybody held on to the person in front of them. There seemed to be a taboo about touching—except for very intimate couples, in which case the girl would lean into the boy from behind, and wrap her arms around his middle.

Well, I’d be damned if I was gonna NOT hold onto this guy! Even if he was a Shaman! So I climbed onto his motorbike, and held onto his hips, and soon we were rumbling down the crazy crowded roads of Ubud. So there I am, hanging on for dear life, wishing I had a helmet, and wishing I had gotten that Lloyd’s of London Travel Insurance, telling myself “Cancel!” again and again, and wasn’t this an exciting adventure?

The fumes of the cars in front of us, and the other motorbikes, were pretty overwhelming as we drove out of town and into the surrounding countryside. It was very beautiful, but the farmers were burning the rice stalks in their fields, and the smoke sometimes surrounded us. And his place was NOT close! It must have taken us at least 15 minutes before we finally slowed down.

Made pointed proudly at a big poster on the wall of a building as we were turned down a kind of alleyway. Here’s the poster:

And here’s the alleyway, with the kids:

Within a block we came to the entrance to his temple:

As we walked through the courtyard, he called out to the women sitting under the roof.

Then we walked up the stairs.

At the top, we could look out over the countryside. It was really quite beautiful. He indicated a kind of bench where I could sit, and said he’d be back soon with Lumena. Then he left.

An elderly Balinese woman brought me some Balinese tea (which is not too strong; I don’t think it’s black) and very delicate delicious pastries cut or woven into lacy patterns, probably made from rice flour sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Then I lay down and took a nap, which is something that most Balinese do in the middle of the day.

Finally Made and Lumena arrived, and Made announced that his wife already did the ritual cleaning in the morning! He unlocked the door and invited us inside the temple, which was a simple room, where he turned on some music and we sat on mats on the floor and spoke about our mutual involvement with the chakras.

I realized that, for the first time in my life, I was speaking to a person who grew up knowing about and working with the chakras. It wasn’t a foreign language or a foreign concept for him. I Made Sumantra is a fifth generation Balinese healer. The Balinese imported the whole Hindu philosophy, along with the Hindu religion. And the chakras are a part of that philosophy, along with all the Hindu gods and goddesses. Of course, they have their own version of all this. There is, for example, a Balinese form of yoga that gives specific exercises and postures and mudras (hand positions) and mantras (simple chants, usually in Sanskrit) for consciously running the kundalini energy to enhance meditation, for health, and for various kinds of healing (and hexing, which is a serious problem in Bali).

Whereas I, who had been teaching about chakras most of my adult life, learned about them from a disembodied spirit guide! So it was gratifying and validating that I was fully able to hold my own in that conversation, and the only new insight that I came away with was that the chakras also show up in the hands. I, in turn, shared my own insight (by way of my guide, Dr. Laing) that the chakras show up in the face (as explained in my books, Vibrational Healing through the Chakras and Color and Crystals and I have never come across this concept anywhere else).

Here’s how they work on the hands. The first chakra point is at the center of the inner wrist; second is at the tip of the thumb; third at the middle fingertip; fourth at the little fingertip; fifth at the index fingerip; sixth at the ring fingertip; crown at the center of the palm.

We talked about sacred energy vortices, and how Mt. Agung, the highest mountain in Bali and an active volcano, is considered one of the great vortices, as is Haleakala in Hawaii.

I agreed to return another day, for a private session. I wanted to see if Made could make my chakras light up!

Posted in Travels, mountains, Bali, Balinese Traditional Healer, Ubud, temple, I Made Sumantra, Altered States of Planet Earth, Ecstasy, raves, marijuana, ice, shamanic sounding, didgeridoo, Vibrational Healing through the Chakras, chakras, shaka, Balinese ritual, Color and Crystals, hex, chakras on hands, healers Balinese | No Comments »

The Water Temple

Friday, June 8th, 2007

I end up looking a bit gharish in this poorly-matching, improvised costume. I feel kind of like an elephant in a circus show as I walk among these three graceful Balinese women, my new friend balancing a very full basket perfectly upon her head without even holding on. We have been joined by her daughter, who is about 14, and her neice, who is about 18. Ebudewa told me that I could go swimming up at the temple, but then I’d have to change my clothes. I asked if she would be swimming, and she said no, so I nixed that idea; it sounded too complicated.

I am game for almost anything, and I feel excited to be going on this field trip, as we all pile into the van, which her niece is now driving down the long driveway and onto the main road along very narrow streets that are teaming with bikes and motorbikes and pedestrians.

The trip up Gunung Batur, the second highest mountain around here (about half as high as the sacred Gunung Agung nearby) takes about half an hour. We are going to Tirta Empul (Temple with Water), in Tampak Siring (Water Big). When we arrive at the temple the two girls go in through the gate, and I can see that people are wading in the water that is shooting out through fountains into a big pool.

No one is wearing a bathing suit; they’re just wading into the water in their sarongs and shirts and going up to the fountains and putting their heads in the water. It feels like a miniature version of what I imagine the Ganges River must feel like during a festival. I realize now that we are at the mouth of the river, and this is a sacred place.

It is just beginning to rain, and as other people open up their umbrellas, my friend (who did not bring an umbrella) walks proudly with her offerings on her head, to the shrine, where she proceeds to unpack quite a number of offerings that she goes around and distributes, along with incense, at a number of shrines. I am now sitting out of the rain under a shelter where most people are huddling.

Ebudewa and her daughter and her niece are now kneeling on the pavement in front of the man in white, as others have done before her. She gestures that I can join them, and I think, “Oh, what the Hell. Might as well,” and I kneel down on the pavement as I try to imitate Ebudewa’s neice, who kindly corrects my hand positions.

The first position is with upraised hands on either side of the body. Then the priest (or whoever he is; the man in white) sprinkles your head and hands with holy water. Then you remove a single flower from your little tray of flower offerings, and you put your hands in prayer position at your forehead as you hold the little flower with your fingertips, and the priest comes and sprinkles holy water on you again.

Then you hold your hands cupped in front of you, right on top of left, and when the priest sprinkles holy water in your hands, you quickly bring your right hand to your mouth and gulp it down. This is repeated three times. Then he does it one last time, and you bring that water to the top of your head. Then he holds out a bowl with some kernels of uncooked white rice in water, and you take a few kernels and plaster them onto your forehead.

When that was done, I stood up and realized that my purple pareo was now dripping wet, and the dye was running. I attempted to squeeze it out, but Ebudewa indicated that that would not be appropriate to do while standing in the temple. So I followed her out, and she went around the edge of the pools and through a gate and down the path into another pool.

There she hitched up her skirt and waded in, apparently in order to get a container full of holy water. She indicated that this water was not for swimming.

Once I realized what she was doing, I wanted to join her. So I hitched up my wet purple pareo and made my way down the steps, at which point I lost my footing and fell down into the pool of holy water! Now my purple pareo was really running, and I was trying hard not to wring it out, and the rain was pouring down, and my hair was sopping wet, and all I could do was laugh! My friend laughed too, as she helped me climb out of the pool.

We made our way back to the man in white, and waited around for awhile as I sat there dripping wet, NOT wringing out my pareo, definitely a source of wonderment to the proper Balinese ladies who came with umbrellas. Finally the two girls joined us, and we made our way back to the car after picking up some rice pastries from the ladies on the road.

Posted in Travels, mountains, ritual, Bali, Ubud, Gunung Batur, Tirta Empul, Tampak Siring, temple | No Comments »

Meeting Ebudewa

Friday, June 8th, 2007

Whenever I leave Jati3 I hear the sweet voice of a woman saying “Good Morning!” or “Good Bye!” Her voice comes from within the compound, and she is often sitting on the step, preparing offerings from a variety of leaves and flowers and rice. Sometimes it is she who comes and makes the offerings at the shrine next to my lanai. She always walks tall and proud, often balancing a basket on her head.

This morning, as I’m eating breakfast, she comes and sits down at the edge of my lanai. She tells me she does massage, and facials at the spa here. “Have you seen the spa?” she asks. In fact, when I was wandering around this place before I decided to stay here, I did notice a very nicely equipped spa. “Yes,” I reply.

“You come back?” she asks. And I tell her that yes, I am thinking of coming back.

“You come stay with me, then?” she asks, and I think, how sweet of her to offer!

“How much do you charge?” I ask her.

“Here!” she says, but I don’t understand. “This my place!” she says.

“Oh!” I exclaim, happily. How different from Hawaii, where most of the Hawaiians own nothing, and foreigners own everything, especially all the tourist places. “My husband architect,” she says. “He build this place!”

“Really!” I said. Then I told her that I have been thinking about possibly bringing a group of people to Bali, for a workshop and a holiday. In fact, that was one reason why I was planning on going to the Coast, to look for a suitable place.

“Oh!” she says, “You can bring them here! I have many rooms. And soon I am building yoga studio, out there,” she points to the open area near my room where scattered coconut trees grow, bordering the open jungle and the stream below, just as my room does. What a perfect place for workshops. Perhaps we could do one week in Ubud, and one week at the Coast?

How interesting that, without even trying, everything I need is being brought to me! That certainly feels like a good sign.

“Have you been to the temple?” she asks. That seems to be the main form of entertainment around here. But I don’t want to go as a tourist. “You come with me!” she says.

“Yes, I’d love to,” I agree. “When can we go?”

She thinks for a minute. “In two days, yes? Just had dark moon ceremony. Wait a little bit. Then go. I have car, but no drive. Will look for driver.”

“That’s wonderfiil! Thank you.”

“You need sarong and sash. You have?”

Well, maybe. I thought about the purple pareo with the little round mirrors from India, and the rainbow-colored scarf that Angela gave me. I showed her those, and she thought they would be all right.

“On top? You have long sleeves?”

Well, I had a peach-and-black kimono with a peach-colored top. Kind of a funny outfit, but it might work in a pinch. I tried it on and she tied the pareo, and got me all fixed up. It was fun to do girl stuff with my new friend. Then I asked her to take my picture.

“You want come to my temple on roof?” she asks.

“I’d love to!”

She takes me for a walk, showing me several other rooms, then we go up the tall steps to the roof, where there is an very elaborate collection of altars to the various gods. Here is my friend, proudly standing in her own personal temple; something that every Balinese house and business must have.

Posted in Travels, lodging, accomodations, Bali, spiritual vacation, Vibrational Healing Adventures, Ubud, healing holiday, temple | No Comments »

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