Elephant Cave... With No Elephants

The second day in Bali we hired a driver and ventured inland to Ubud.  Ubud is the artsy mountain community in Bali, known for woodcarving, painting, and dance.  Sadly we missed the dancers (which I heard later were amazing... sigh) but we did get to visit some other nearby sites.  The first we went to was the Elephant Cave, an 11th-century Hindu temple.  

This gaping door about to swallow me is the "cave" in the phrase "Elephant Cave." Inside is a narrow, somewhat claustrophobic passage with a few little shrines and rounded alcoves carved into the wall.  The alcoves are for people to sit in while they meditate.  Although perhaps people smaller than Chubby McManboobs up there.  Oh, the flattering blue cloth around my waist was checked out to me at the entrance to the temple. We were all wearing shorts, which I guess is not permitted.  Good thing I didn't bring Sideways, that dude doesn't even wear pants.

A top view of the temple's courtyard.

11th-century fish pool.  This pool had a mirror image on the other side of the walkway, but that one had no fish.  Not sure what the symbolism of that was. I can only assume it is the classic struggle of good and evil. On one side is slimy, scaly, bug-eyed, boney-mouthed evil, on the other side is the pleasant benevolence of a fish-free swimming pool. 

I don't like fish.

Temples got dibs on all the good landscapers in the 11th century.

My compatriots Eric and Kevin walking the narrow path alongside a rice paddy.  Note their dashing leg-wrappings. 

Sideways in Bali

Hey, so.... I'm alive.  

I've heard that the best way to do a blog is to allow at least three months between posts. It really helps build suspense. People who read blogs are notoriously patient, and really hate getting up-to-the-minute updates. Yessir, looooong periods of inactivity... that's what the netizens of the world crave!

Anyway, so some time back Sideways and I took a trip to Bali. It's just a hop, skip, and a terrifying plane flight from Singapore (although to be fair, no more terrifying than any other plane flight), so when friends asked me to come along I jumped at the chance.  I'm always happy to take a trip in a flying metal death tube!  

We stayed in a little town called Seminyak, near the southern side of Bali.  It's right up the coast from Kuta, one of the main tourist hubs.  "Kuta," I can only assume from our brief outing there, is the Balinese word for "gross trash-filled cesspool full of drunk Australian frat boys."  Seminyak, however, is very nice!  It is pleasantly laid-back, almost rural, and is peppered with indulgent villas that can be rented for relatively cheap rates.  We stayed in one called Kembali Villas, and it was great.  Private pool, breakfast cooked for you in the kitchen every morning, and a five minute walk to the beach. 

The villa was very private, with high walls and little paths leading between the different units.  

Our private pool and little pavilion thingy. For sitting. I called it a papasan, but that's wrong, that's a chair. It's not really a gazebo, those are bigger and contain brass bands. So I don't what it is. Sitting Platform? Cushion Pagoda? 

The little inner courtyard.

Our open-air kitchen and living room area.  

Overall, I can see why some other Bali visitors I talked to ended up spending the bulk of their trip just lounging around the villas. It would be easy to do. But not for us, the life of indolence! We got out and saw some fantastic things in other parts of Bali, details of which shall be posted within the next couple days. Or, you know.... three months from now. Whatever.