9 & 10 Sept 2012 Bali

9 & 10 Sept 2012 Bali Sunday and Ketut brings breakfast to my room as he has everyday - chicken leg, veg and sticky rice. Good. He works long hours and is busy today so he organises friend Komang to drive me for the day. It is a holiday for everyone after yesterdays celebrations, a bit like our Boxing day. The roads are busy so it is a long slow journey to Atundown Temple. It is worth it. High up in the mountains, beside a great lake, the ancient temple is bordered on three sides by gardens filled with brightly coloured flower beds, mostly yellow and red, trees and bushes. The fourth side is right up against the lake, with some of its buildings actually in the water, strangely cast away from the main courtyard as if the gods require the peace and isolation of an island for these places of worship. On the other side of the lake, forested mountainsides rise up into misty clouds, creating an immense and mysterious backdrop to the temple and lake. An enchanting place, only slightly compromised by the swan shaped pedal boats on the lake, so ridiculous in this place they can only widen the smile inspired by this temple and its surroundings. After a traditional lunch followed by a welcome cup of tea (with milk thicker than double cream), we drive to the Botanical Gardens. This is a huge area of trees and grass populated by thousands of local families picnicing and playing games on their holiday. Good to see, we drive through and I take some photos, but now it is time to start our journey back. On the way, we stop at Tamas Ayru Palace, a very different temple with children playing football on the lawns, and families and teenagers walking and relaxing in the woods and riversides behind the Palace. This evening I want to post my second blog so walk to Deus, a bikers restaurant. But oh no, they only have wifi, no computers. So the very helpful waitress calls a taxi and asks the driver to take me to an internet place. He mumbles apologies about traffic jams and pulls onto the narrowest windiest causeway through paddy fields, unlit in the dark, mile after mile, amazingly not pushing passing bikes (for whom this path exists) into the watery rice fields. We arrive at a remote village I know not where and yes here is the internet shop, the most basic traditional village store. I sit at the computer in a very dimpsy lit room and ask for more light so the shopkeeper gives me a torch. When he looks in 5 minutes later and sees I am still waiting for googlemail to load, he invites me to use his personal notebook behind the counter. This loads immediately, I sort my emails and post blog number two, while Eddie the shopkeeper serves customers and leans across me to reach cigarettes and stuff on the shelf. This is the real world. I think. Now I am in a remote unknown village shop, getting late and very hungry. So Eddie fetches his car, abandons his shop, and drives me back to Jepun. The man is a hero. Now I enjoy a Quattro Staglionni, tomato, mozzerella, ham, mushrooms, olives and wastel sauce, in Jepun Pizzaria. Then sleep. Monday Ketut takes me on a two hour drive to his home village, Tenganan in the South. This community has preserved traditional ways, there are no cars allowed here. 250 families live in single storey dwellings, arranged either side of three main walking stone laid thoroughfares. As we walk up and down, Ketut stops and talks or waves hello to every villager we pass. Everyone knows everyone here. We visit his house and eat bananas and Bali cake, a gift from a 70 year old lady who helps look after the place. He shows me the temple and we walk through the forest that surrounds the village. A beautifully unspoilt place, quiet, unhurried and peaceful. My favourite place in Bali. After the drive back, I have another australian burger with everything and a cup of tea and a nutty chocolate covered magnum ice cream lolypop. Goodnight all, John