Bali: Days 10-12

Day 10: Wednesday, July 7, 2010

After rehearsals on Wednesday I went on a walk through the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary.  It sounds promising, right?  It was within walking distance from my hotel and I had wanted to go ever since I got to Bali.  It was a very exciting and peaceful walk through the forest and I took over 250 pictures.  (I apologize for the photo overload that this post will become).  I just can't get enough of moss-covered sculptures,

Balinese foliage,

or monkeys.

The monkeys were literally everywhere and actually quite tame.

There were several babies, which were adorable, and many of the monkeys didn't even flinch when you stood right next to them.

There was a staircase leading down to an old temple and then there was a winding path along the river that was just unbelievably gorgeous.

My friend, Minh

Vines and ferns and palms were everywhere and the river (which was more like a stream) tumbled over boulders and down worn paths.

There were Balinese sculptures everywhere!

There was an absolutely gigantic tree by the long staircase whose roots descended from the trunk and branches down to the ground and they twisted and wrapped all around each other.

Minh again

These trees (banyon trees) are considered sacred in Bali and they all have some sort of temple or offering site near them.  This one was incredible!  You really do have to stop and soak it all in because it's so amazing.  It's difficult to process it all unless you consciously take the time to think about everything.

Day 11: Thursday, July 8, 2010

There is honestly nothing to report about this day.  Rehearsal, dinner, hanging out.  I did eat the most expensive dinner of my entire stay in Bali, but that's not worth talking about.

Day 12: Friday, July 9, 2010

Today we spent some time learning how to play the suling, which is the bamboo flute played in a gamelan.  As we rehearsed the piece we were going to perform at the end of the program (to accompany several little girls singing) it was decided that I should have a solo at the beginning of the piece.  What?!  After lunch we switched with the dancers again and learned some more of the male form.  I didn't get nearly as tired or sore this time and I felt a lot better about it, too.  It was fun to learn something and not feel like it was slowly killing me.

Once rehearsal was over for the day (and the week) we had a pool party at the hotel with everyone from the program and all of the Cudamani musicians.  It was a lot of fun!

We ordered pizza (which is a bigger deal in Bali than it is in the States) and had an assortments of soda and really just had an all around good time.  It was nice to be able to relax with the Cudamani guys.  They tended to be a little shy and kept to themselves in rehearsals (due to our mutual lack of language ability), but we all had fun at the party and everyone loosened up a bit.  These were really some cool guys!