Temple Love #2

Water ritual going on behind us

Group prayer at the water palace

Holy water spring that flows through the temple

Alright, back to concluding our temple tour. The water palace was honestly one of the most stunning things I've ever seen.   Seeing how villages and families can come together for beautiful ritual really puts things into perspective for me.  Especially with all the prep the Balinese are doing for this Sunday's full moon festival... Everyone works together for the good of the community.   It's truly remarkable.

Grumpy little mongoose

Left: poo coffee beans.  Right: normal coffee beans

Tasting all the coffee delights

The view at Oka Agriculture

From the water palace we went to a place called Oka Agriculture.  This place was perhaps the highlight of my day BECAUSE we finally got to try poo coffee.  Poo coffee,  aka Kopi Luwak, is created from the droppings of the mongoose.  Of course the mongoose has to eat a coffee bean for this to happen but since that's the main item they eat, it works well.  The farm is perched on the side of a mountain and there we tried everything from Luwak coffee to ginseng and even some real tobacco.  Such an amazing experience.

Mount Batur and the lava fields

Eating lunch, enjoying the hazy view

From Oka we went to see the panoramic volcano view.  Yes, Bali has an active volcano.  It last erupted in the 70s but the lava fields are still visible.  Our guide, Wayan, drove us to the fabulous buffet lunch that literally sits perched above the jungle and lava fields.  Needless to say the view was incredible.

By the time we got home, Allan and I were bagged.  We had enough energy to swim, eat the afternoon dessert and have a quick dinner.  The next day was a free day so we were going to attempt to sleep in.... Ha.

Tired at dinner

THINGS TO NOTE:  I have been losing weight while being here, cigarettes only cost $1.20 and you can smoke inside... everywhere, we are finally used to the humidity, we get our laundry done by the people across the street as the only charge us $4 for a basket full, martinis here are stronger than anything I've had in Vancouver, after it rains the air smells like poo, the wasps are the size of Allan's thumb, i still can't seem to get a tan despite being in the sun all day, they don' t carry any makeup in Ubud and, last but not least, I've never been more relaxed in my life.