I love the Village in Tembok, and I can’t stop thinking about returning next year. I have been thinking about organizing my own yoga tour. It would not be a whirlwind tour of everything. I think I would rather spend ten days in Tembok. I would do it over Thanksgiving or over the Christmas holidays. I spoke with Miss Sharon about it. She said they are planning to build a yoga shala next year – a new building next to the ocean just for yoga. She is putting together a price package for me. My consideration is that I don’t know if I could find ten to fifteen people that would make a commitment. I teach only two classes a week, and don’t have a large following like Doron or Mark. But I’m putting out my intention.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Tembok to the Airport
Saturday, December 4
Our time in paradise passed all too quickly. In the morning we had a last dip in the ocean, a swim in the pool, breakfast, and checked out. Some of the staff came to the reception area to see us off.
Our driver picked us up at 10:00 and we headed off over the mountains to the airport. We took a more direct route to the Denpasar. The drive took 3 ½ hours, but I wasn’t bored one minute. We drove through rugged mountains
Past rice paddies
Remote villages. This is a typical Balinese village gas station.
Yes, the gasoline is in those bottles. I loved watching the motor bikes. It was common to see a family of three or even four on one motorbike.
I was just amazed at what these people carry on their motorbikes.
Many people seemed to make a living from the store on their motorbike.
Village Staff
We loved the staff. All of them knew us by name – I’m sorry to say I was not as good. 
They were genuinely friendly, and Barbara formed a special bond her favorite, Mini.
They always looked me in the eye, and I felt like they really saw me. With the exception of Wayan, the yoga instructor, every staff member we spoke to lives in the village. Our two massage therapists were friends and neighbors and had worked there for years. They love their work and their community.
Internet
When we first arrived, wireless was available in the lobby, but it was down the next morning and stayed down until we left. It was kind of a relief to be free of it.
Bugs and Critters
We did not see a single mosquito during our stay at Tembok. This was a welcome surprise. There were other bugs.
At dinner one evening Barbara thought she felt raindrops. It turned out to be grasshoppers, and we moved to another table. There were grasshoppers in our room that evening because the housekeeping staff had left the door open while cleaning. Barbara sheepishly explained to the staff that she broke two items while bludgeoning grasshoppers. Miss Sharon said that this had never happened before, and that it was due to the extra rain this year.
Geckos were ubiquitous. In the evening we could see them zipping across the exterior walls. They were shy, lightning fast, and difficult to photograph.
Every evening I could see one or two hiding behind our porch light waiting to ambush a bug.
I did not realize how many sounds they made or how loud they could be. Our first morning I was awakened at 5:00 AM by a loud noise. I thought it might be a smoke alarm or a weird telephone ring. I picked up the phone, but no one was there. Much later, in yoga class, I heard the familiar gecko call followed by this other sound and realized my wakeup call had been a gecko.
We could hear the frogs every night. One evening, I had to avoid stepping on one on the way to dinner.
On the way back from dinner we often stopped to say hello to the frog hiding in a hole next to our steps.
They were usually very shy, but Barbara captured this couple in back of our room.
They were in the same position for two hours!
Balinese Dance
Friday, December 3, 2010
From our balcony we could see the staff moving all the tables from the dining area to the lawn in front of the pool. What was happening? It turned out our last dinner was accompanied by a Balinese dance performance. Our performers were young students from the village. I was totally swept away by their dazzling performance. The movements of their eyes, head, neck and fingers are controlled, precise and amazingly coordinated. The dance is jumpy, shifting and jerky, and the music has abrupt changes in tempo with dramatic contrasts between crashing sounds and silence.
Herbal Rejuvination
Friday, December 3, 2010
We had our last spa treatment in the afternoon. The herbal rejuvenation begins with a fragrant combination of fresh basil, mint, neem and lime to exfoliate the skin.
Then we took a shower to remove the herbs. I had trouble getting the herbs out of my body hair, especially on my legs. I left with less hair on my legs, but much softer skin!
Boreh
Friday, December 3, 2010
Our two lovely hostesses taught us how to make a body scrub called boreh, used for the Penganten Mulukat Body Treatment. The ingredients are 50 gr ginger, 50 gr galangal (a root) 250 gr clove, and 100 gr soaked rice.
The whole mixture is ground up with mortar and pestle to make a paste.
Then the paste is placed in a banana-leaf bowel.
Then I took the mixture back to my room and rubbed it on my body (most of it – the face and tender parts must be avoided). Then I waited ten minutes while my body heated up like a hot chili pepper, and finally washed it off in the shower. My skin has never felt so soft and smooth!
Chocolate and Coffee Indulgence
Today we had our third massage. Cacao, the raw fruit of chocolate, protects and nourishes the skin. Coffee assists in circulation and provides astringency that evens the skin.
The treatment begins with a body scrub of crushed coffee and cacao beans. Then the body scrub is brushed off, and our body is slathered with a gel of fresh cacao fruit and aloe vera, and finally with cacao butter, vanilla bean and a coconut oil massage. This was an amazing sensual experience! Afterwards, we were presented with fresh cacao fruits to eat. This was a new experience for me. The fruits inside the shell are sucked down to the seed. They are sweet and delicious.
Another fabulous dinner. Every dish is always artfully presented.
In Balinese there is no word for art or artist. Art is a way of life, and everyone is an artist.
After dinner the sous-chef Bobby came out to meet us.
Thursday, December 2
Canang
Thursday, December 2
Canang (pronounced Chanang)
When we first arrived in Bali, I saw little baskets of flowers everywhere – at shrines, on sidewalks, on the beach.
They are very much a part of Balinese life and culture. The canang is a sacred offering, and today we were taught how to make our own by two lovely Balinese women.
The basket is made by weaving coconut fronds and stitching them together with bamboo needles. Then flowers petals are added.
This is Miss Sharon, the beautiful club manager, making an offering to Parvoti in front of the massage prep area.
Miss Sharon comes from London, and her mother is from a remote Indonesian island. Twelve thousand of the seventeen thousand Indonesian islands are inhabited.
Relaxation and Rain
Thursday, December 2
We had a hard day relaxing by the pool.
Rain
The advantage of the off-season is fewer tourists and cheaper rates. The disadvantage, for some, is the rain. It rained some every day except the last during our stay at Tembok. I heard grumblings from some of the guests about the rain. At first I was astonished that anyone would be unhappy about a little rain in paradise. When I thought about it later, I felt a wave of emotion come over me, and it actually brought tears to my eyes (as Barbara noted, my heart chakra was wide open). What a sad waste of personal energy and will to resist the flow of life! I thought about what Michael A. Singer wrote about happiness – we only have one real choice in life: Do you want to be happy or not. It’s really that simple. We really do have control over our happiness, it’s just that preferences get in the way. I would be happy if it just didn’t rain today.
I love the rain! I find it peaceful, calming, a blessing. When it rained hard I ran out on the grass in my swim suit to soak it up. I liked to swim in the pool and dive underwater and watch the raindrops hit the surface like crystal bullets. When the rain stops, the air is perfumed and delicious to the senses, and the sky is beautiful. For those who want to avoid the raindrops, umbrellas are strategically placed around the club, and can be picked up and left in any umbrella receptacle.
Balinese Philosophy
I love this about the Balinese – they know that life is not orderly, and one should always be prepared for the unexpected and go with the flow.
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