galungnan. adventure.

Soooooo over the last 2+ weeks Bali has been shut down, turned up and abandoned because of two holidays - galungan and kuningan. I had to do a wikipedia search to figure out exactly what all the hoopla was about since the locals are accustomed to celebrating but not always sure why or how to describe to a western folk: 

“Galungan is a Balinese holiday celebrating the victory of dharma over adharma. It marks the time when the ancestral spirits visit the Earth. The last day of the celebration is Kuningan, when they return. The date is calculated according to the 210-day Balinese calendar.”

more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galungan

besides their religious beliefs about the day, it was a super hassle to staff the retreat (in spite of closing for a week) because all my team members were spending hours and hours and hours preparing the little banana leaf, homemade offerings all night and no one felt like working the next day. go figures. but i admire their cultural commitment. 

nonetheless, I took advantage of the time to go on a little adventure to Ubud on my motorbike and came across these gems of peace and culture. 

My first cock fight. lots of gambling. checked it off my “life list” i guess, but i probably won’t ever go back. sketchy. plus, i’m not privy to gambling. 

beautiful temple pond well off the beaten path. amazingly beautiful. 

leading up to a temple found off a side road. 

#balinspired 

ashe