Full moon prayer time in Bali

It's full moon in Bali...
It's 5.40pm and 6 of us from our group squeeze into the minivan for the 15 minute journey along the coast to the temple. Our hotel staff told us to go at sunset to see the ceremonies at Pulak Sari Temple on this October full moon, the most sacred on the Balinese calendar.

There is full pandemonium as we arrive.
Normally serene and quiet, this temple by the sea has been descended upon by a seething mass of people, all anxious to bear there offerings of fruit, cookies and rice and receive the blessings from
the temple priests.

We walk with many locals up the ancient stone steps and enter the temple grounds, taking sunset pictures over
the ocean through the beautiful stone carved walls. We are the only
foreigners, yet the locals don't seem to mind and gawk at us as much
as we admire them, their beauty, their elegant costumes of lace tops
and sarongs for the women and special temple day hats and sarongs and
smart shirts for the men. All look cool and comfortable while we
sweat in the humidity.

Inside the grounds there is an inner
area where 100s of Balinese are sitting, awaiting their turn for a
blessing. We look on from the outside, wondering if it's OK to take
pictures. As I am watching, a lovely lady walks up to me and in
perfect English asks if we would like to join her and her family for
prayers!

Would we ever!
With much gratitude, we follow her and
her drop-dead gorgeous 20 year-old daughter, Didi, into the inner
temple area. They graciously give us flowers to pray with and invite
us to sit with them. It turned out they had driven 60kms to be here,
as this special ceremony only happens once a year.
Everyone is chattering and excited.
Very different from our church atmosphere. Suddenly the gamelan
orchestra starts playing loudly and a priest chants over the loud
speaker.
“Om, shanti, shanti...”
We follow suit as the family bow their
heads and place their hands together. Time to pray.

I am just starting my gratitudes to God
for this wonderful journey and auspicious moment when it's all over!
Maybe I am long-winded, but it seemed awfully quick to me, maybe 2
minutes or so!
After that, the priest, all dressed in
white for purity, comes to each person in turn and sprinkles holy
water on them with some kind of stick that he dipped into a bowl of
holy water. First the water is sprinkled on the head, then 3 times
onto the open hands, to be licked, then once more on the head.
Finally some white rice is applied to the 3rd eye point
and the blessing is complete.
The whole process took about 25
minutes.

The gamelan orchestra starts up again
with much enthusiasm as people file out of the inner sanctuary,
depositing their offerings on the altar as they leave.
By now it has turned dark and lights
are on. We have hardly noticed, so transfixed are we by the devotion
of the people and by this ancient ritual of prayer and coming
together of community that meshes the very fabric of Balinese life.

Slowly, silently, we too file out,
passing hundreds more walking up the stone steps as we descend.
We return to the hotel inspired, opened
and hugely grateful for this magnificent experience.

In Elizabeth Gilbert's footsteps..

I LOVE BALI! Am enjoying my 12th visit here to this most sacred of isles where the heart energy of the planet is still strong. The south area has been very developed and continues to get more congested and busy with each passing year. Yet I am writing this sitting on my porch overlooking the rainforest, complete with monkeys galore, wafts of exquisite flower bouquets drifting into my nostrils, sounds of the cicadas and birds trilling...a feast for the senses.

Yesterday was my friend Deborah's 60th birthday and as part of her gift, I took her to see Wayan, the healer that Elizabeth Gilbert saw in "Eat, Pray, Love," We got lucky and got right in to see her. Deborah chose a body scan and future reading.

Wayan is a lovely smiling lady around 45 with a strong presence and limited English. She reminds me a lot of Atarangi, my Maori healer friend. Sure of herself, motherly and kind. Oh and a straight shooter - she did not mince her words - she told it like she saw it to Deborah!

The healing started with prayers - asking permission of the Gods to heal the body. Then she asked Deborah to stand up and started to scan her, touching hands, looking at nails, feeling her belly. As she saw an imbalance, she spoke it.

"Too much sugar. Too acid. Not enough calcium. Need more vitamin E. You lazy with taking care of body."

Then she looked at her palm and started to read what the lines revealed.

"You have 2 big heartbreak in your life. You live long time. You have one man love you but you don't return it."

I took notes while Deborah absorbed.

Then she was told to go and put on a sarong and head for the bathroom where a Balinese man rubbed her down vigorously with leaves; a skin scrub to detoxify the body and wake up the energy.

Fianlly Wayan massaged her, not gently like the spa therapists, but in a directed firm way that was more reminiscent of our maori healer friends. She poked a stick under her arm to stimulate the lymph and rubbed a bottle of hot oil down her belly so hard Deborah yelled!

After 40 minutes or so she emerged, a new woman! Wayan told her to take herbs to complete her treatment but the Aussie woman there said they had made her sick for 2 days as she de-toxed and tomorrow we have a 4 hour drive to the north coast. So she passed on that.

Instead we found the health food restaurant across the street and ate a tasty, organic lunch. The juices here are amazing too....

Ubud where we are today still has elements of paradise on earth. I would wish for you all to see Bali ....put it on your bucket list!

the joys of travel....

I am sloshed. I admit it... I know it's not becoming of a yogic type but it is the truth and at the very least with this blog I am vowed to self-revelation and honesty, even if it may show me in a less than favorable light.

But there is something you need to understand.
It is a strategy... in order to sleep.

I find myself in the BUSINESS CLASS lounge at San Francisco Airport about to fly to Bali for 7 weeks.. well, to 5 countries in Asia total, 17 flights all told; and facing a 15 hour flight across the Pacific for the umpteenth time, I decided to use some extra miles and splash out for a BUSINESS class flight going west. Coming home is always a breeze so I am flying economy, but west is a bitch. Takes 2 hours more and if I don't sleep, I feel TERRIBLE on arrival in Bali. So the plan is to drink pretty much a LOT of quite decent free booze both now and on the plane (IN BUSINESS CLASS) and then crash out in a drunken stupor.

There is a rumor that BUSINESS class seats actually recline to flat. OMG!! I may actually SLEEP! And I need it.
After all the excitement of the Grand Island party and my birthday etc and readying my house for the people who will sub-lease while I am gone, I am pretty much exhausted and in need of much shut-eye. ( I had to do a lot of cleaning!).

I can hardly believe it, but in this moment, all planning is done, flights are booked, and all I have to so is show up and do my trips. 3 back-to-back. This is the first time I have done 3 in a row and I figure I am doing it because I can and because I LOVE doing this... traveling with dear friends, showing them this beautiful planet of ours.

So before the fun begins I am letting my hair down and getting a little DRUNK and eating lots of naughty snacky things in the BUSINESS CLASS lounge.

See you in Hong kong....