Well up fairly early and went for a walk along the beach, beautiful day. Had breaky at the restaurant overlooking the pool, very peaceful.
So, the Plan for the day is, Richard and Tini plus family in tow will head up to Kintimani by van and we would follow behind them. They were all dressed up in Temple attire and will take all the clothes we needed to wear to enter the temples and pray and pay respect to the Traditional Ceremonies.
Left Lovina a bit after 10am, 2 hours to Kintimani, get changed into sarongs, sashes and kabayas etc............Go to several temples, say prayers and be blessed at each temple, all under the watchful eye of the locals and Richard in case we stuffed up. All went very well. Back to house for lunch, hot food which made us sweat even more, yummy though.....Could have had a nanna nap but there was a Parade of all the local villages and districts along the Crater rim road.
Each village were dressed differently to the next and all the same as members of there own village. They paraded along the road and up to the Western end and did a ‘u' turn and back to the main temple. There would have been at least 40 different groups and the colour and music from each village was fanfastic.
It took about an hour and a bit for everyone to pass, there would have been a few thousand people at least. We felt so honoured to have been apart of the day, it was great.
Anyway, when the last of the parade had passed, we went back to the house and got changed into our clothes again and headed down the hill to Lovina, wanting to get there before dark. We left about 4:40. The others had further ceremonies to participate in.
What took 2 hours to get to Kintimani and only 1 and ¼ to get back. There were no cars/trucks until we got to the coastal road, because it was election day there was hardly anyone out and about.
So, we decided to go straight to Agung Spa in Lovina. This is on the road opposite Jln Rambutan (well almost)
It is run by a Japanese manager I think, we had a stretching massage (a bit like Shiatsu) for 45mins and then 1hr Balinese massage. Cost about 150,000rph. Felt fabulous afterwards, all soreness from sitting on the ground at Temples and riding the bike were gone for good.
Popped into the digs and off out to Jasmine Kitchen (Thai) upstairs part for dinner and drinks. Food is great here. Back at Rambutan at about 9:30 ready for bed. The others were still not back. They had a long day.
The next day was all relaxing around the pool, reading in the Bale and swimming, eating and drinking. No massages today, though we couldn't be bothered moving too far.
We were told by Richard and Tini that Rambutan was building a Spa on the property, the foundations were under way whilst we were there.
They anticipate that the ground floor will be complete in July, which will house the Spa and upstairs will be meeting room and TV/theatre space maybe finished in November.
If it is finished off anything like what Tini has overseen so far I think it will be beautiful. Can't wait until next trip to give it a road test.
Last night in Lovina, off to Candi Dasa tomorrow around the coast road, maybe Amed.
Cheers,
Ray