Healings, Villas & Grilled Corn

This picture is awesome.

Ubud
Whenever the city of Ubud is mentioned in print, it is always accompanied by the term "Bali's cultural heartland". We're not sure what type of science is used when testing for cultural heartlands, but Bali is hardly a place to start getting left-brained.

After several days of wandering through the dense streets, shopping the now repetitive selection of authentic Cost Plus-World Market merchandise, Dan began to grumble and complain of a sore throat. "It's a real sore throat," he kept repeating. Whatever that means.

Across the street was a tiny storefront, overgrown with potted plants, fronted by a tented sign reading "Free Checking Sickness". We stepped inside. A cheerful young man greeted us by saying that "Wayan not do healing today, maybe you come tomorrow?" We turned to leave, and as we did, a powerful Balinese woman turned to Dan and said "What wrong with you?"

Dan said "Sore throat". The woman, Wayan, said, "sit down. In 30 minutes you no have sore throat." So we did.

The young man asked if we had come because of the book Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and we conceded that no, we hadn't read it. The book is an autobiographical account, and Wayan plays a pivotal role as a healer to the author. This book has recently become an international bestseller, and has sent Wayan's practice into overdrive. She sees a contstant string of patients, every day, and many of them fly in from America and Europe just to be treated by her! We've picked up a copy, and it is a worthy read.

In the following 4 hours, Wayan and her team of 6 young Balinese healers-in-training, prepared several sets of fresh tonic drinks for us, rubbed and massaged our entire bodies with oils, fruits, vegetables, foliage and heated water, and generally aligned our bodies back to perfect health. It was a true healing experience, as 3 or more sets of hands rubbed and pounded us at any one time, all conducted by Wayan, who paced among us, pressing on our stomachs, listening to our breath and calling out orders to her team.

It was nearly sunset as we floated back out to the streets of Ubud, with our freshly aligned bodies and souls — with Dan's sore throat a distant memory. We then somewhat enjoyed an evening show of the popular "Kecak Fire Dance" which is much better in the movie Baraka than it is in real life.

Sanur
We stayed in "Agung & Sue's Watering Hole 1", a quick 5 minute stroll to the sand. The room was clean and the staff was very friendly, and the total bill was under $10 per night. We soon discovered the secret to enjoying the smooth beaches of Bali . . . bikes! We rented bikes and began cruising the strip for organic foods and sweet sandy areas to kick back and relax.

Kim has now officially become obsessed with grilled corn. Whilst this is not a new discovery, the fervor for which she craves the corn has reached a new apex of intensity. She now eats grilled corn for breakfast, for snack, for pre-dinner "bite", and as a post-dessert nightcap. It is fully out-of-hand.

The Bukit
Again, our travels have unexpectedly led us into the finest of luxury; our final days in the farmost south of Bali. Nyoman and Beate have offered us use of another of their villas, in exchange for building a promotional web page to help sell the property. At only 95,000 Euros, Kim is now starting to whisper suggestions of relocating into this lap of luxury.

Dan has finally won the 3-week debate on renting or not-renting a dangerous motorbike, and now we are snapping our helmet-straps and scooting around the twisted Balinese streets at the speed of the native children. Actually, we drive very slowly, and watch with dismay as we are constantly overtaken by schoolgirls and entire families with babies on motorbikes.

In 2 days we will be flying off to Bangkok, Thailand. From what we have been reading, it will make these weeks in Bali seem like a gentle warm up. There are tuk-tuks and skytrains and longboats and language that uses neither Latin roots or English characters, but we are hoping that our cheerful smiles will carry us through. We made online reservations with a hotel that we can't pronounce Hotel Phranakorn Norlen.

We'll see you in Thailand!
Love,
Dan&Kim

David posted on 2007-10-11 at 7:15 am

Glad to hear there were no spills on the motos. I'm also pretty amazed at the wide variety of wardrobe you guys are carrying on your back. Those packs must be heavy. As always, great work with the photos. Sounds like you are loving the cost of living and purchasing power over there. I'm sure you'll see more of that in the non-touristy parts of Thailand and other places...

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Auntie Wendy posted on 2007-10-09 at 3:35 pm

Quickly, as you may already be in Thailand, here is my friends email address: robertmbaxter@excite.com He said to email him and he would be happy to give you information on inexpensive, great places to stay in Phuket. Hope you are able to do so. He responds quickly, so please do not hesitate to correspond with him. Will ewrite more comments later. Love to you both, enjoy. Auntie W.

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Mom posted on 2007-10-08 at 1:41 am

Great to see you both happy and making the most of what there is to enjoy. We just got back from a San Francisco and Sonoma and Napa valley wine country vacation.We had a great time with Terry and Frank, they send their love.The next time we 'll see you in Thailand.Have fun. with love, Mom. oxoxoxox

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katerina posted on 2007-10-07 at 11:28 pm

oh yeah, i almost forgot....i'd love to get rubbed and massaged with various oils and fruits and whatnot by 3 or more sets of hands....for four hours. please sign me up. i'll be there as soon as i can!........kisses and love.....(and kimi, whatever happened to a picture you were going to email me?)

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katerina posted on 2007-10-07 at 11:17 pm

ohmygod......kim, are you pregnant? ~ i don't know....the corn, the urgency of the addiction....

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Becky & Sharri posted on 2007-10-07 at 9:59 pm

Woah, it's been too long since we've met up here in Danberly. We'd missed a few videos & we just spent a happy hour catching up- reading & watching your adventures together. We think you've found your calling with these travel videos. They're a great escape from our daily life (except for the roosters!). We are excitedly awaiting for our (T.V.) Garden Makeover, Johnny & Becky will be the stars along with the 'nominators' Jon & Andrea. "Your" garden is the one being made over so we think of you often, it'll be much more beautiful by the time you return, you are returning, right???! We send you lots of love & Johnny sends Kim a 'special' big kiss!

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Nash! posted on 2007-10-05 at 2:05 pm

and deeper and deeper we go . . .

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grace posted on 2007-10-05 at 3:02 am

It has been a while since I left you a message. It all sound so wonderful i will have to go to Bali too. Robin and Terry just got back from America and asked about you, and send all their love. Take care and xxx

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