Balinese Dreams

No, I did not run off to Bali and decide to never come back, I was just too blissed out on the frangipani scented air to deal with technology for the past week. But I have to admit, we did have moments where we were tempted to shuck all our material burdens and find a nice patch of Balinese heaven to call our own, a little hut in the hills where we could walk around dreamily in sarongs and eat of the many fruits and vegetation that grows so abundantly in the trees and earth. Many places proclaim to be paradise. Bali IS paradise, and its sweet siren call is hard to abandon.

The Balinese are maybe the sweetest, most hospitable and spiritual people on earth. Everyone has a kind look for you. They're Hindu, but appear to worship most frequently at the altar of beauty, and everything they touch is transformed into something lovely, like these little girls.

...And these hills, terraced rice paddies, which follow the slope of the earth. We stayed up in the hills of Ubud, about an hour away from the beaches. It's considered the cultural and artistic heart of the island, and less touristy. It was serene and gorgeous!

Canang, offerings to the gods made of palm leaves, flowers, betel and areca nuts. They're everywhere and I think provide snacks for all the geckos!

They say there are three temples for every household in Bali. Here is one amidst a lotus pond.

A child performing the traditional Lelong dance, it's mesmerizing.

Girls practicing their Lelong dance.

Gunung Batur, an active volcano, one of the most spiritually important sites in Bali.

Temple Pura Ulun Danu.

Shrines (candi) carved into the rock face at Gunung Kawi. Legend says each candi memorializes a member of the 11th-century Balinese royalty.

Mama and baby monkey in the Sacred Monkey Forest. They're moody, these monkeys, and sophisticated! They were snatching at people's belongings and begging for bananas.

Oh yeah, we stayed at a deluxe villa in the hills. HEAVEN! One of the finest resorts on the island, its perched above the mystical Ayung River gorge. Mick Jagger got married in one of these.

And check out the pool! It appears to float above the gorge.

Bruce at the resort's hillside bungalow. You can play chess or have a private dinner served.

And lest we forget...the beaches! We didn't spend much time here. But they are beautiful!

Frangipani flowers. When I say the air smells like frangipani, I mean it. They're everywhere, in people's hair, adorning the food, hanging from the trees and sitting at your bedside at night.