Today is Monday. What a glorious day of the week! All over the world people wake up and get ready to start another week. So do

we. We talked about the fact that traveling like we do can not mean you have Saturdays and Sundays for a year. There has got to be some more structure that that. So here is a typical Monday. 🙂

I have in earlier posts referred to “get up with the roosters”. Today I thought I should make it clear for you that I really mean that. So just after getting out of bed at 06:00 we started the Voice Recorder on the iPhone and placed it on the small table out on the balcony. If you like you can listen to it and judge for yourself about the roosters. 

We got down to the Yoga Barn for the Morning Flow at 7 o’clock. It was a new instructor, Eka, who’s a native Balinese that gave the class. Very good and clear in his communication. It was one of the toughest classes so far, and we were both quite beat at the end.

Back home for a breakfast of WheatBix, Oatmeal and Granola with milk, and some fresh fruits and Papaya and Mango juice. Then we got ready for what we thought was a Rice field tour. Weeeeeell, not so. It was mostly along quite busy roads, and barely any green fields to see. But we trotted on and took a few photos today also.

But first, let me take a selfie:

Selfies are now so effective for documenting your vacation that we got turned down today. When asking a couple if we should take their picture – They had just done a selfie.

There is a lot to see along the roads, and there is not enough time to stop and take all possible photos. Among the ones we take, we prioritize hard before we put anything up here due to the crappy internet connections around. Uploading pictures to a post like this takes about 1,5 hours. Even though it can be done in the background while writing this post, it is still quite a wait before the post can be finished up and published. Anyway, enough bickering.

We had targeted a museum today. Neka Musem of Art was along the route we had planned and it was great. There were both contemporary and old paintings, photography by an American who lived here from 1937-1941 and for the Martial Arts interested an entire floor with “Keris” or “Kris” as we would normally call the wave shaped daggers. “Forged in fire, representing water”. I did not know to much about the Kris before entering this floor. The Kris is a unique and personal weapon that has to “edges”. Yes, it’s a blade but it is also infused with emotions and outright magic as well. There was an “article” about the last of the Kris makers with basis back to the Majapahit empire. Whenever he would make a Kris he started with several days of fasting. And so must the person who would receive the Kris also do. They had to be in sync for the Kris to hold the infused magic. The person who would own such a blade would not use it, but safeguard it as a treasure. The magic infused could be for good luck, agricultural fertility, protection against deceases or death, to name a few. Such history! I have included a photo from one of the corners of the room. I would guess the room held about 200 Kris’ and even letters from other museums (like one in Moscow) thanking for the Kris they got to show their visitors.

The photographer who’s pictures are displayed worked for MGM studios and left the island before the Japanese invasion in ’42. He is known for building the first hotel on Kuta beach, bringing surfing to the island, and for getting up close and personal with the natives at the time. The pictures, especially those of the training for Balinese dancers, were very cool to see. Black ‘n white, and crystal clear.

When you walk around with 190 cm in Asia, people seem kinda small. Sometimes you get a clear reminder that you’re the giant among the locals.

Giant man, or small door?

And lest I forget! We found a Toyota Corona in a garage along the way. It’s hard to tell what year it’s produced but this is the same make and model as my first car. My car was built in ’74 if I remember correctly. Old memories…. No power steering, hard springs, Cassette player and 1.6 liters engine. What more could a 18 year old boy dream of?

Whoops, let me take another selfie. This time in a tangle of threads hanging down from the palm trees. These are things we never see in Norway, and I have in earlier posts referred to “Pompel and Pilt” – a childrens show from the early ’70s (?).

After a long days walk we came back and went to the place we had the super spicy Rendang for dinner. Still spicy. When you blow your nose more times during dinner, than you wipe your mouth – you know it’s spicy. For a finishing touch we stopped bye Siam Sally for a drink on the way back. Katja has found a new personal favorite when it comes to drinks down here: Lime squash. Basically lime juice on ice, with some sugar water on the side for sweetening. Fresh and delicious. I try out all kinds of fruit juices. Sweet ‘n good.

Now it’s 21:30 and we are soon to say goodnight and get ready for sleep. I have no belief in that the roosters will sleep in tomorrow. And then, neither will we.

Be safe, be happy and stay frosty