Life is a beach in Bali

Alex and I get into a rhythm of swimming and sun bathing by the beach (I read in the shade!) and then doing laps in the jungle-themed pool. (At least I do, Alex does more sun bathing.) Then we saunter over to the beach for lunch and rest a little after-wards as it is all a bit tiring - this resort life. On Monday we are a bit more energetic and visit a nearby temple, which has an ancient stone pillar with Sanskrit inscriptions. That’s what the guide-book said any way – I could see no Sanskrit anything. After discussions with some of Hugh’s more adventurous students, Alex decides she wants to go and learn how to scuba dive so we find a really nice Danish dive instructor who now lives in Bali who signs us up and I’m even thinking about it myself until I see the DVD which puts me off for life.

But Alex is full of enthusiasm and after an introductory dive in the pool, we are picked up early on Wednesday morning and drive off for an hour past rice paddies overlooked by big mountains to Pandangbai where we set off on our adventure. Unfortunately although it is only a small boat trip to Blue lagoon, it is way too rough for me to snorkel so I just watch anxiously as my baby disappears into the water and I become increasingly seasick as the boat bobs around for hours in the waves. Talk about mother love! Alex is having a great time however and gets up close to a nemo fish which makes me jealous but I recover once back on dry land and we enjoy a wonderful lunch full of eggplant with spicy peanut sauce.

We have a hard week full of swimming up to the pool bar and drinking cocktails on the beach. We also go shopping and buy many t-shirts, scarves and a nice silk dress for Alex. Hugh is working hard at his conference but takes a morning off and we visit the beautiful cliff top temple of Uluwatu and dodge the cheeky monkeys to do a bit of bird watching. This temple is one of nine on Bali, which are known as directional temples and face the sea, the sunset and the mountains. There are also temples of the lake and the forest. There are empty shrine thrones everywhere, which get filled with small offerings of rice, incense and flowers. Religion here is an interesting mixture of Hinduism and the older animist religion.

After a final conference dinner of crazy karaoke, we leave Sanur and drive in bumper to bumper traffic to Ubud, stopping to visit the temple of Goa Gaja, which has a spectacular location near a river and has a spooky cave with a statue of Ganesh, my favourite God. We are staying nearby for 2 nights in a gorgeous villa, which overlooks the river Wos and is tranquil and atmospheric with a sweet outdoor bathroom. Alex and I bravely venture into the chaos of central Ubud and are rewarded with a lovely lunch overlooking the lotus filled pools of the temple of Saraswati. We do more shopping and return home exhausted to find that Hugh has watched a traditional cremation ceremony on the river from our balcony. On our last day we walk to the nearby sacred monkey forest, trying to avoid the scary monkeys and home again in the tropical rain past water-filled rice paddies. Very picture postcard – just how I imagined Bali.