If you thought these two pictures were from brochure advertising a luxury vacation (minus a couple of inches on the thighs) you were wrong. Not about the luxury vacation part, because, yes, it was definitely luxurious here in Seminyak in our private villa w/pool. It was AMAZING......and just what we needed to cure our jet lag. I have more pictures, if your interested, but will not bore you with them here. Thayer took a bunch of the place because it was just so beautiful. The staff (just like the stereotype of the Balinese) were SO nice!
Seminyak is the Hip place along the West coach beaches, with a lot of nice restaurants, shops and stuff. It is certainly not where you go for a traditional Balinese experience, but it is very nice there.
The spa that was attached to the villas had some really great yoga classes and since I wasn't sure how convenient it would be for me to take classes when we left Seminyak I overindulged and did 4 hours of yoga my first day there. In my mind I was thinking that if I really wore myself out that first day I might sleep well that night and trick my body into a quick adjustment to the time.
That did not exactly work, unfortunately. My body, not being accustomed to that much time spent on a yoga mat in one day, just rewarded me by still waking up at 3 am, but this time with many aches and pains to last for a few days. So much for my plan. But the yoga was awesome, and it was the good kind of ache, the kind that comes after a great workout and feels good because your mind feels good, you know. But it did not help me in my explorations of the city, which was a workout in itself because the sidewalks were perhaps, worse here than anywhere else in Bali, for some reason.
So, the next day when Thayer said something about the spa and I started to protest because I would miss the last yoga class of the week, I quickly conceded and agreed to a massage in the Prana spa. I opted for the Ayurvedic massage and Shiro Dara treatment, which is traditional indian (from india) medicine. I have always been interested in Ayurveda and figured now was my chance. The Shiro Dara treatment is supposed to stimulate the third eye (6th chakra) as oil is poured over your forehead. It was really nice, but I can't say that my third eye was any more stimulated than usual, but I am sure the anti-aging benefits were noticeable right away, haha.
Enough about me, right away we were able to see evidence of the way that Hinduism, or at least the Balinese flavor of Hinduism permeates, well.......everything. Everything, I mean everything had so much meaning and symbolism, everywhere we went. I had learned of some of this from the book, "Eat, Pray, Love", by Elizabeth Gilbert, as well as the guidebooks and online sources, and was very excited to experience this. Many of you have probably read the book, so may have an idea of what I am talking about, because in it she gives a good description of Balinese culture. I loved being able to see it first hand.
Here is a picture of a statue of Ganesha, one of the Hindu Gods, which was in the courtyard of the villas (and nearly everywhere else we looked). Interestingly, this was the same God that I had recently had a dream about before coming to Bali (I convinced Thayer he had visited me in a dream). He didn't look anything like this in my dream, for here he is dressed in full ceremonial Sarong and has the typical offerings placed around him. In Bali the sarong and sash are required wear for all religious ceremonies and to enter temples or any sacred space. Even the sacred statues and trees were dressed in the sarong.
As for the offerings, you would be hard-pressed to do anything or go anywhere without seeing multiple offerings. In fact, there was an offering placed on every gate in the villa more than once a day and in front of every shop on the sidewalk (you would have to watch the ground closely to avoid stepping on them), in every vehicle, on the front of scooters, and of course many at every shrine. The idea is that every time you prepare food for yourself, you make an offering to the god/s. You not only do this at your home, your business and your family temple, but you go to the shrines and temples in your neighborhood, village, and who knows where else?
And the temples.......there literally,were temples EVERYWHERE. Each family has a temple in their family compound, then each community group (banjar) has one, and it goes on and on. I loved this because I could just wander around and come upon temple after temple, without much planning, which is the way I like to travel.
Here are some pictures of a couple temple gates, also called Candi Bentar, if they are split in the middle, or Kori Agung if they meet in the middle at the top (notice the offerings). Above is a man making his offerings in his sarong. To be honest, I kind of lost track of which temple was which, after awhile, because there were so many, except the more significant ones, of course.
Pictured above are some of the offerings I told you about. One on the ground and one on the scooter. They were very meticulously created on a tray of woven banana leaves, with rice, flowers, and some things I'm not sure of, and sometimes they would include whatever was appropriate to the occasion, like some coffee, in the coffee shop. I loved them! I can't imagine in the busy world we live in, ever spending so much time each day in honor of something so intangible. It just doesn't fit into our Western mentality. Perhaps, it is much more tangible to the Balinese. If it is true that we create our own realities, I'm quite certain that the Balinese share a very different reality than the one that I currently reside in. I wonder........if there really is more peace in their world (it sure seems so), or if this is just my romanticized view of them, I guess I won't ever know the answer to that (at least not in this lifetime). Hmmm.....I'm not going to rule out the chance that I will be reincarnated as a Balinese Hindu, and then maybe I'll know.
Kallie it looks gorgeous there! I can't wait to hear more about it and see other pics...
Posted by: Heartsfilled | September 15, 2008 at 08:16 AM
I am sure one who visits Bali will have the best vacation experience; the diverse traditions amongst the people, scenic beauty of the place will never let a visitor to forget the place so soon. The stay in the villas is the best part; one cannot expect any better accommodation than the villas in Bali.
Posted by: Account Deleted | March 22, 2011 at 05:04 AM
Hello,
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Posted by: Account Deleted | October 22, 2011 at 07:08 AM