What goes up...

Greetings to new blog follower Ken Ferrigni, a blast from my Florida past.  No mom he is not one of my mistakes nor is he likely ever to be as he is happily married to a fellow thespian.  Now that we have that out of the way, shall we?

As you may or may not have gathered from my previous posts, Bedugul is in the mountains.  Actually it is in the crater of an ancient volcano but you get the picture.  Driving to Bedugul was long and exhausting due to my pre-drive insomnia, faulty sense of direction, and hitting all the curvy twisty bits during the last hour of the drive.  Today, it was my turn to go down the mountain.  In a bit of a hurry.  Was I running from the law? A jilted lover? My hotel bill? Nope.  I was outrunning mother nature herself.  One day she may one up me and flip the switch on my biological clock but I will be damned if she will rain on my parade, or scooter ride down a mountain.  Clouds were low, thick and dark at 7am and the time to hesitate was through.  After getting Grohl out of the adjacent room he had been parked in for two days and loading him down with my market goodies it was time to roll. 

When you head down a mountain fresh from a quick breakfast and telling yourself the little flecks of moisture you keep feeling are just dew you tend to be a bit looser with your driving.  Not reckless, just not quite as tense.  Here is the thing about Balinese driving – it is like the bastard love child of ballet and jazz. [Modern Dance? (You may ask) NO! I hate modern dance, and Spencer as much as I adore you no amount of explanation will change that.  I will continue to smile and nod and REFUSE to understand.] So, bastard love child – there are definite tenants that underlie the movements but a more free form execution than you might see in a “civilized” society.  That being said, when viewed with a relaxed eye it can be quite beautiful. 

Now that we’ve taken  a whack at driving in Bali let’s talk religion.  I hit a couple of temples today and here are a few things I’ve noticed.  1) There are 3 kinds of Hindu temples here – a)Touristy ones, b)Decorative ones, and c)Actual places of worship.  2)The key to a good Hindu temple? You gotta get a gimmick.  It’s just like the strippers tell Rose Louise in Gypsy. There are about 2000 temples here (that is not a made up estimate) and they are all just trying to get a piece of the pie.   One of the temples today had a moat surrounding the grounds, the other had no grounds to speak of, just large lotus pools.  Yesterday, the only temple on actual water (it also happens to be on the back of the  50,000 rupiah note, meaning it totally has a better publicist). 

I’m in Ubud now (ew-boo-d).  All checked in to the most luxurious place I’ve been in Bali (hot water AND a flush toilet, someone pinch me).   I got a facial and one of those dead-skin-eating-fish pedicures. All in all, not a bad day.  And I didn’t even get rained on.

P.S. I think it is fair to say Facebook may be the place for photos from now on.  I will of course continue to try to upload here.