As the monster truck rally commercials used to announce, today is “SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!” and I don’t have any exercise classes. I remembered to turn off my alarm last night, so I slept in a little today – not much, it’s hard to sleep late here, but I wasn’t awake at 5am. I got up and did my morning routine, then decided to take a stroll on the beach. I put on my sandals and headed down the street looking for one of the avenues that connect the main road to the beach. An occasional jogger ran past, but the streets were mostly empty. Unfortunately, when I reached the beach the tide was in and waves were crashing against the wall. So much for walking on the beach, but I stood mesmerized by the surf for a bit, then headed back to the main road. I tried going for a walk along the road, but my heart just wasn’t in it so I turned back after a few kilometers.
Back at the hotel, I messaged Natiya to see if she was still interested in seeing the temple that we’d talked about yesterday. The temple is about 45 minutes out of town, but from what she’d told me it was worth seeing. I’ve seen a lot of temples between Bali and here, but I’m always up for an adventure. She was excited to show the temple to me, but first we agreed to grab some breakfast and nourishment at Mitte Mitte, the restaurant that Joe, Chris and I checked out last weekend. With as good as breakfast was last weekend, it was even better the second time! Natiya got an egg and bacon over an english muffin with a cream sauce. I had a bite, and it was as good as it sounds. I got chicken and croiffles, and OMG were they delicious. I’d never heard of croiffles before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I like chicken and waffles back in the states, so I figured it was a good bet. Well let me set the scene for you here. First of all, croiffles are when you take multi-layered croissant dough and press it in a waffle maker to give it a crispy, fluffy texture. They paired that with a pair of fried chicken legs that looked more like globes of meat with a light crispy breading on a slender pole. On the side, we find a delicate little pitcher full of a buttery honey syrup blend for the croiffles. Delicious. Everything on the plate was just a delicious blend of textures and flavors that made my mouth sing.
After conversation aided by google translate and breakfast aided by the kitchen and our taste buds, we ordered a car to take us out to the temple. We chatted a little on the ride out, she traded some pleasant talk with the driver, and I peered out the window at all the new-to-me scenery passing us by. When we arrived at the temple, it was not what I expected. I was picturing a building with four walls, lots of ornamentation, an ornate roof – the typical temple.
Nope. Instead, we pulled up to a multi-story colorful dragon defending the hill behind it. We thanked the driver and sent him on his way, then she led me up to the pavilion in front of the dragon. There’s a whole ceremonial passage that visitors each repeat which she explained as we went. She put an offering into a box, then received a ribbon and collection of incense for each of us. We walked over to a table to write our name and a wish on the ribbon. I quickly finished mine, but her wish was apparently more complex as she kept writing and continued on the other side.
Next, we walked out to light our incense from a flame, then joined a row of people offering up prayers with the incense before placing it in a pile of ashes and sand on a long table. My description doesn’t properly portray how serious everyone was, although not somber, and how sacred it felt. These people were really pouring their hearts into their beliefs. Once she had offered up her prayers and we placed our incense on the table, we walked up the stairs and found a spot to tie our ribbons. There were thousands, probably tens or hundreds of thousands of ribbons tied to everything you could tie a ribbon to. We found a spot on a railing and tied our ribbons overlapping and secured them with an extra knot. Once that was done and our hands were free, we strolled under and around the dragon, reading each sign along the way instructing a blessing to ask for. Others around us placed coins in the scales of the dragon or held their own private little ceremonies tucked away from the stream of traffic. It was all very nice.
After the dragon, she showed me to a temple building with a row of statues and offering boxes, one for each day of the week. We each placed an offering in the day of our birthday, then she showed me a ceremony that involved more incense and some gold leaf pieces of paper that we adhered to a set of globes. She told me about the meaning of each step, which made me feel included.
After the ceremonies, we headed out to a pond where we bought a bag of fish food. I think every culture has the same tourist game of throwing bits of food in the water, watching the fish swim up and compete for it, decide on one of the fish as your favorite, then change where you throw the food in hopes that your new favorite will get more. Sitting on a bench out on a deck feeding fish, the sun shining and breeze blowing, doesn’t need me to tell you how great it was. I couldn’t dream of matching the adjectives and similes that far better writers have imagined before me. As the afternoon swept on, we called another driver to take us back to town. Back in town, we met up with Chris and some of her friends at Tamarind Market to wish her farewell before her flight out the next morning. After such a full day, I wished everyone a good night and headed back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.