Breakfast at 8am, then a 90 minute car ride to Ubud.
Karen’s adorable Doggy Violet
Tirta Empul Temple Water Purification
This is a Hindu Balinese water temple set in three divisions and is overwhelmingly beautiful with lush gardens, hundreds of prayer temples, and elaborately carved statues and doors.
It was built on a spring that brings fresh holy water from the Pakerisan River. Tourists and locals come to pray and perform a water purification ritual. Here is the spring where the water flows in from. You can see it bubbling up from beneath the surface by the way the sand is moving.
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Wearing a sarong wrapped around your body, you step into cool fresh water, and purify yourself under 13 spouts one at a time. Before each spout you can say a prayer, mantra, set and intention, etc. Then you pour water over your head and face and dip your head under the spout. Karen purchased some incense and offerings for us to place before entering the temple and before we began the ritual.
I watched Karen first, then went in myself. The water is filled with koi fish and possibly other animals, we saw an eel in the pond that was feeding the spouts.
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I knew it would be a special cultural experience that I would respect and enjoy, but I was surprised at how much of an emotional experience it was as well. I first began by thanking my immediate family members and sending out positing energy for them. By the third spring when I got to my extended family, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude and tears began to fall. I collected myself and moved on, setting intentions around a positive mindset, appreciation, and giving. It was quite a beautiful thing to take part in.
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Next we took a walk through the temple and came upon a large koi pond. A guy was feeding them and then handed me his bag of food and told me to finish it off ☺️ Karen knew I was blogging and offered to take a video of me feeding them for it, I said why not! 🐟💦🐟💦
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Upon exiting the temple, we passed through about a quarter mile of street shopping before reaching the parking lot. I picked up a few items of decor and clothing, but man some of the women are alarmingly physically aggressive. They yell “Hello hello!” At you until you look at them, and not in a greeting but the way your mom would say it if you were in trouble. If you glance at anything in their tent they’ll start yelling prices and tell you they have different colors. Almost all of them said the same lines to try and sell
- I’ll give a special price for you (bonus points if they tell you it’s because you’re beautiful)
- You are my first customer today/no one has bought from me today, if you buy it will be good luck for me
- I made this myself (lol stop everyone is selling literally the same things)
I was grabbed multiple times by different women on the arm, not gently, and pulled into shops. One blocked me from getting out and wouldn’t move until I said no multiple times. Another held my money and wouldn’t give me change and kept insisting I buy something else. Some held my arm and wouldn’t let go until I asked 10-15 times to let go of me (I’m not exaggerating). After a nice experience I was in an enjoyable mood and didn’t didn’t want to break it and get angry, but it was very inappropriate.
Once we were done shopping and got through everyone we drove to Tegallalang and had a vegan lunch at By Cafe overlooking some beautiful rice fields.
Pyramids of Chi Sound Healing
Next we attended a sound healing session with Suntara Daniel Coates. We entered a modern pyramid. It was very dark inside, with individual floor beds surrounding a center of instruments. After an introduction from Suntara about himself and the benefits of sound healing through vibration and how are bodies are mostly water, we all laid down and covered our eyes with masks filled with volcanic ash.
The session was 90 minutes long. Suntara and his assistant played instruments ranging from ones that created a light tinkling noise to a very deep drum. He also sang very beautifully (shamanic), and they burned a series of different things for scent, I couldn’t identify them. The effect was hard to describe. It strangely reminded me of another form of bedtime story, like an eclectic or interpretive take. It put me in a state that’s kind of like sleeping but not really, like I was awake dreaming or something. Karen said she felt like she was transported to another dimension. I don’t know what to tell you but it was pretty awesome and I think everyone would like it 😁
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We then drove back to the villa for dinner and conversation, and I went to bed!
Expenses: 710,000 Rupiah ($49.98 USD)
- Laundry at Villa 50,000 Rupiah ($3.52 USD)
- Bottled water at Temple 5,000 Rupiah ($0.35 USD)
- Decorative Masks (I way overpaid oops) 325,000 Rupiah ($22.88)
- Two Dresses 200,000 Rupiah ($14.08)
- A shirt 50,000 Rupiah ($3.52 USD)
- Another dress I forget how much but I think 90,000 Rupiah ($6.34 USD)