These are beautiful warm days in Bali, Indonesia, where we are safe and enjoying life under lockdown. Bali has been quite free of coronavirus difficulty, thankfully. Here I’m sharing a few moments of our life. We hope to return to Bhutan when their quarantine requirements are relaxed a bit to allow easier re-entry. At the moment we would be forced to stay for 21 days in a hotel chosen by lottery, and not be able to leave the room, with 3-meals delivered and an in-room doctor visit daily, all provided gratis by the King of Bhutan. I guess we’ll wait a bit longer.
Today is the full moon, which means special prayers are made to the house and the spirits of Bali. Our house owner and his wife come over frequently to pray in the yard temple, offer flowers, and check to see if we are ok. Their names are Yoga Wastra, and Wayan Sulastini.
Wayan always wears traditional clothes to do the prayers to the spirits of the house.
Wayan is doing full moon prayers at the two temples in the front of the house. The right one is for the spirits of the land, meaning the elementals. The left one is for Shiva and Parvati, the Hindu Gods who protect and control everything that happens in the household.
Lama D helped a Lebanese man heal his headache at a friend’s farm near Denpasar.
Lama D’s English homework means lots of writing three times a week. This is his review of the past simple and past continuous tenses.
Hanging out in the living room, his homework is finished!
Today Lama D surprised me. He brought home a large bag of live snails that he bought from a local friend. At first I was concerned that he was going to ask me to eat them. But then he told me he bought them only to let them go in the wild. He put them in water and distributed them back out into the jungle near our house.
In Bhutan, living animals, even snails and insects are considered sacred. People do not kill animals. Sometimes Bhutanese people eat meat, and there are butcher stores, however all the meat is imported from India. Yep.
This is the front door of our house near Nusa Dua beach in Kuta.
Last week we went out to eat at the Bumbu Bali, a local restaurant. They served delicious authentic dishes and sauces, along with rice. This is prawn sate’, sweet pork in soya sauce, vegetables, pickles, and various peanut sauces, decorated with lemon grass and red peppers. Everything has extra sugar, since Balinese people love sweet flavors. Even though this was traditional cuisine, I did not feel well after the meal.
The following time we went to this restaurant, I asked them to make me something without sugar or GMO soy oil. They scratched their heads for a bit, and finally offered mixed sautéed vegetables with hot ginger lemongrass tea. I felt much better.
The Bumbu Bali restaurant is adorned with sculptures of traditional Gods and Goddesses.
I miss Alexa, my favorite hairdresser at Alchemy in Santa Fe. I brought hair color from the USA, and Lama D offered to do it for me. He did a great job!
Our simple Balinese kitchen has a 2-burner stove, rice cooker, and bottled water. Lama D is a wonderful cook! We even have a blender and he loves to make smoothies!
No bed covers are needed in the bedroom. A single sheet is enough, as nights are quite hot.
Little geckos run all over the house. They are cute and harmless.
My package of supplements from the US was ready to ship, however we hit a snag. Turns out home delivery is not possible even with DHL. In fact, there is no home mail or packages delivered in Bali, because street addresses are not coherent. Even Google maps often directs you to a wrong part of town. We are looking for a solution to ship the box. Perhaps we will ship to the DHL office at the airport. However there’s a question as someone may open the box to check for drugs and items often disappear. I’m still not sure what to do.
Our living room is very comfortable. The refrigerator lives here too.
Take it very slow going to the bathroom at night! You have to step up high over a big threshold in the bathroom doorway. Every day I watch my steps carefully to avoid falling on concrete. Westerners are very spoiled in this regard.
We are really lucky to have an open air back yard with washing machine, clothes dryer, and an outdoor shower! I love to take a shower under the night sky. There’s no need for hot water in the shower, as it’s always warm here.
We found a local source for Balinese organic red rice. Today it’s served with green beans, garlic, and homemade cheese. Yum!
Lama D loves to write poetry in Dzongkha, and then make it into a song. He has a beautiful voice, and was a very famous singer in Bhutan for many years.
Today we recorded Lama D’s voice in the Chant of Impermanence, Milarepa’s final words before he passed. Our friend Gertrude, a wonderful musician, is improvising an accompaniment to this simple Tibetan chant.
Thanks for stopping by! We hope explore other parts of Bali soon! Take care and be well!