Pura Tanah Lot

It is raining Guest posts in my blogspace.  Though i am yet to successfully persuade Jay and Rosy to come up with a post of their choice, I got lucky with Sudha, yet again.  Proximity helps - she sits in the same floor as mine at office, and we tag along.  I had to just hint it  to her and ta-da, she was done with the post.

And hey hold on there.  Just realized this is the 200th post on my blog. Taking a bow to imaginary sounds of trumpets and trombones :-) :-) :-)   Whattay a nice way to celebrate it through Sudha's post.

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Pura Tanah Lot

Pura Tanah Lot - cliff scenary. This temple is in the sea.

Tanah Lot (Land in the sea), is one of the most photographed temples of Bali. I knew about this place even before we did any internet research. I have seen it on travel shows and magazines, and the name is etched in my mind. It was kind of a personal bucket list tick off. Was so excited that we would finally be able to go there. Was kind of missing my better half, (just 3^rd day of the trip!) as we both wanted to go there. Anyway, no more thoughts about him, it’s after all a girls trip. True to its expectation this place was splendid and even now, when I think of it, brings in images of the rock temple in the ocean. The sun kissed waves sparkle like diamonds and the sapphire blue, deep blue and varying colors of the ocean stretches till your eye can see. The sound of the crashing waves were soothing and the whole experience was mystic.  We went to this temple on our way from Ubud, the town of arts and culture, to Nusa Dua the beach area of high end luxury resorts.

Do you see the Ganesha Mural bang in the middle of a paddie?

The road to the temple was so scenic. Brought back memories of Kerala. Interestingly all babes are natives of ‘Gods own country’. Paddy fields, coconut trees and vistas of clean green rice terraces as they call it. Some of the houses even had wall murals.  Kevin explained that most traditional joint family dwellings, have their family deity as a part of small temple, inside their house compound.

There was a meandering walkway from the parking lot to the seashore, to enter the temple. On the way there were small shops and shacks selling knick-knacks and memorabilia. We were busy either posing or taking pictures, I took advantage of my DSLR lens to zoom in and see the temple that lie far ahead. While we walked we came across a group of visitors posing with a live snake. We have seen this in many touristy areas, and it brought back memories of our earlier trip where Rosy posed with a tiger cub, at Bangkok. Never in my wildest dreams I would have thought of touching and petting a snake. It was yellow in colour, ribbed and spattered with black and white patterns. As I clicked pictures of the snake the babes went out and reached for it. The snake vendor (for want of a better name), happily handed it over to us. I gave my phone to another visitor and Kevin took the camera and we had our videos and photos of carrying the snake. 

The babes with a live python.  Arent they all pretty pretty? ( we were actually terrified :-) )

Selfie with Snake

I was quite apprehensive. Vincy took the lead and was nearest the snake's head. I managed to dodge and carry it only for a brief moment.  We were cooing and hooting and I guess the poor snake must have become used to this from the various visitors who carry her. This was an unplanned, unexpected adventure if I can say. The video lays testimony to the fun we had for a brief moment with her. I even went ahead and clicked a selfie with her. Vincy by the end of it got over the fear and went ahead and laid down near her basket, and I caught it on camera :-).

Vincy posing with our new snakie babe friend

Moving on, we went inside a courtyard, part of the smaller temple, the main temple was even further away and its entry was forbidden to the non-Balinese visitors. It is believed that lots of sacred snakes in the ocean, guard this temple, which was built in the 15^th century.  Pura Segara, translates to "Sea temples", a pura that is located by the sea to appease the sea Gods and deities. The Balinese believe that the shore temples protect the country from the vagaries of the ocean. This temple was overlooking the Indian Ocean. The temples in Bali are built mainly by the volcanic frothy lava rocks that solidified over the years. Mostly black and shades of grey, the temples are not painted and retained the original rustic look.

 

Lava Rocks that we brought back as Souvenirs

Overall, we had no doubts on why this was the most visited and photographed place in Bali. Its best to go during sunset or sunrise, to capture the varying hues of the sky, sun rays and the shadow play, amidst the temple and ocean.  This place is so beautiful and magical, and that’s why comes up as the top attraction when you Google Bali. We posed for the cameras, we had the temple, sky and the ocean in the background and made wonderful memories  to cherish. We collected some lava rocks to bring back as souvenirs. Quenched our thirst with tender coconut and continued our journey towards the beach resort.

 

Babes posing in front of Tanah Lot

When Vincy coaxed me to write about this place, I got reminded of mentioning that there should be a blog about Tanah Lot, in the guest Nyepi blog. Little did I know that, I would get to write it and virtually relive the day. This again is a picture heavy post.

Pura Besakih

All temples in Bali are Unique and Pura Besakih is different because of its sheer size, area and number of temple structures within its complex.

Kevin, our guide, did mention there are around 23 temples within its complex and each of these temples are for different castes and they have their own festivals, culminating to more than 70 festivals a year.  This is an ancient temple, built a millennium ago, and is open to all castes in Bali, which is rare.

Pura Besakih is also the largest, most Holy Hindu Balinese temple and is referred as "Mother temple of Bali". It gets its name from the village it is located in and is in the slope of Mount Agung, which is an active volcano with its last eruption in November 2017.  It has also wrecked havoc in this area earlier, when it started spewing lava and only Pura Besakih was spared, with the lava coming close to a few meters of the temple.  The Balinese consider this a miracle and attribute it to the power of their deities.

The village road leading to Pura Besakih

We stopped at a tiny town shopping place and Kevin got us to walk into a street that led to Pura Besakih. At one the official looking buildings, ostenbily belonging to the temple, we were given bright silk Sarongs ( we picked blue) and long vibrant umbrellas.  By  then it was beginning to drizzle a bit and we had a cloudy sky threatening to open up anytime. The street itself was scenic with paddies, Mount Agung in the background and lots of greenery.  We loved those typical Balinese village houses on the street.

Babes ( with the bikes we traveled in the background)

That's when Kevin told us something interesting.  Since it is an uphill climb to the temple which is on the slope of a Agung, and large vehicles are not allowed on the street leading to the temple complex, each of will be ferried on a motorcycle to the temple, including Kevin.  As he finished saying this, a group of 5 musketeers on bikes came vrooming in front of us, excitement writ large on their broad smiles, and we rode pillion with those guys up to the temple.

It was fun to wave at one another on those bikes, while those men tried to overtaking  each other (probably to impress us) and we felt literally like school girls as we traveled a short distance to the temple.  And you know what, this whole thing was part of the package. In all that excitement of getting on a bike, we missed taking pictures.  * Sigh*

Babes wrapped in Sarongs with the Pura Besakih in the background

Child hawkers

This is also one place we met few hawkers and sadly all of them were children. As mothers we really felt sad for them. We also had to go with a new guide from the village as external guides like Kevin were not allowed. The new guide was quite reluctant and we couldn't decipher what he was speaking either.

The Candi Bentar of this temple had the largest flight of stairs among all the temples that we visited and we did a lot of stair climbing within the temple complex, although we weren't allowed into the sanctum to offer prayers.  Though Jay wasn't worried, Sudha still reminds me how she asked some people in the temple about she being a Hindu devotee and why she was not allowed in.  We were told that "foreigners are not allowed for worship".

The babes on the largest flight of stairs with the Candi Bentar in the background

Babes and Dwarapalakas draped in Sarongs.  The next day was Nyepi day and the temple gets a festive look

One of the many Meru's at Pura Besakih

The main highlight here for us were the stepped terraces and flights of stairs which ascend to a number of courtyards and brick gateways that in turn lead up to the main spire or Meru structure. There are so many of them made of special grass like material and some of these spires had moss grown extensively on it which made them look even more beautiful.  The multi tiered thatched roofs are the most recognizable feature of the Meru Towers.  The number of roofs is always odd and reflects the status of the deity to whom the shrine is dedicated.  The lowest Meru contains three tiers, while the most prestigious one contains upto 11 tiers.  Pura Besakih is the only temple where we noticed this many Meru towers signifying the importance of the temple.

Look at the number of Meru's at Pura Besakih

Pura Tirta Empul

Look at the astonishing ornate stone work - Babes in the front yard of Tirta Empul

Our next stop in  Bali on the second day of setting foot in the beautiful land of Gods was yet another Hindu Balinese temple which is known as Holy spring water Temple aka Pura Tirta Empul.

Rich in its heritage this temple also had opulent stone artwork reminding us of the culture, practices and the age-old Balinese kingdoms that ruled Bali.  

This temple was built around 960 AD and is a national cultural heritage site.  And there was so much water and water sources in this temple that, unequivocally did justice to the name of the temple.

Like every other temple in Bali, Pura Tirta Empul, also had a Split Gateway also called as the Candi Bentar.  This is a classical Balinese Gateway, split perfectly into two, symmetrically,  creating a passage for people to walk through.  We must have seen hundreds of these split Gateways all through our travel in Bali and we have taken so many pictures in front of them.  The Candi Bentar is usually in an elevated place with a flight of stairs taking the people to it and acts as an boundary between the outer world and the inner realm of an Hindu temple.

The four of us with Tirta Empul's Candi Bentar in the background

This temple had stricter dress codes for both men and women, and we were instructed to tie our hair, ( we were strictly not allowed to open out our hair, however short it was and they provided us with bands that helped us tie our hair)  and we had to wear a traditional wrap, as you see in the pictures,  around our lower body,  which all of us liked so much, and it was called “Karmen”.  Just like a Sarong, this one is more ornate. Women during their periods are not allowed into the temple and they can only be in the outer perimeter of the temples.

The four of us again - Zig Zag posing ( notice all of us adhering to the dress codes of the temple?)

The sculpted water spouts used for purification

After adorning ourselves with the Karmen and tying up our hair, We walked through lush gardens with tropical plants, to the entrance and passed through the Candi Bentar. 

As is common with Balinese temples, Pura Tirta Empul had three complexes, the front courtyard, the central and the inner courtyard.  The front courtyard is a vast walled one, welcoming us to the bathing pools.  The central courtyard has a rectangular purification bath, with 13 elaborately sculpted spouts, that line the edge of the wall.  We saw numerous  foreigners who had their hands pressed together solemnly offering prayers and bowing under the gushing water spouts starting from 1 to 11.  The last two are meant for purification purposes in funerary rites. ( Thanks to our Guide Kevin, we would get these inputs intermittently).

The water was crystal clear and the ground of the tank was layered with pebbles and it was such a pleasant sight. It was a hot day and though we were tempted to get down into the water, in the purifying tank, we held our horses, as we didn’t have much time to change and we had a long day ahead and a lot more places to cover.

Sudha during  her purification process

This is where Sudha started chanting mantras and she purified herself by sprinkling some water on her head, while we all watched the foreigners (mostly westerners) in awe at their sincerity in prayers. There were groups of them who had a Hindu priest (obviously!) with them and were chanting prayers religiously. Oh not just that – we also clicked some pictures of some westerners who had elaborate colourful tattoos on their entire upper bodies.

Look at that elaborate and artistic Tattooed body!

Curative  holy water spring!

The water here is supposedly curative and  purifying and we also went to the inner courtyard that also has a ground water spring which kept spewing water gently and deliberately that it created nice water ripples that we could watch. This bubbling spring was totally walled and we had to see from a distance, but the view was worth it. Never seen an active underwater spring before.

Falling in love with the Gargoyles of Bali.

Pura Tirta Empul also has a Presidential palace to its right and somehow the modern concrete structure, albeit its beauty, didn’t sync with the traditional ambiance and  architecture of the temple.  Thankfully the presidential palace was on the right side, on a higher plane and was unobtrusive to the temple view from wherever we were.

I realised, every temple visit in Bali, expanded my perspective of religion, and helped me broaden my horizons about the oneness of the concept of God.

My first 10km Marathon

 Woohooo….  Yes I completed my first 10 K Marathon.   I cannot believe I have done it.  Yet, it is true. From a person panting for breath if I ran 10 feet together, running all the 10 kms for a marathon, I have come a long way!

It all started with the early morning regular walks that I have been consistent at  ( at least one claim to fame ).   Now that I have been at it for the last 3 years, and I do not miss out an opportunity to talk about it, the moment someone starts about exercise or fitness routine.  Talking about my walking routine, may sound like self-praise, but in essence the more I make it public, the difficult it is for me to back out – great technique.  Try it with your inconsistencies and see what miracles it can bring about. 

I should thank my friend Sudha who tells me often, that I am doing the most difficult of stuff like walking every day.  I started believing her when she followed my footsteps and started the walking habit. I felt that I had to continue this habit, to ensure she stays inspired.

It was during this time, I got to know that Kumar who works in my organisation, in the same premise and  in the same floor as mine, is a marathon runner.  He had done 4 full marathons and more than 10 half Marathons.  During our corridor / water cooler conversations I got to know more about his marathons and when this Wipro Chennai Marathon was announced sometime in September, Sudha and I decided to enrol.  Kumar was encouraging and was generous with his tips on how to practice for a marathon and how different it is from walking. 

During one such tips session,  we rechristened Kumar as Coach Kumar.  I have to tell you all this about Kumar – when I first met Kumar, he had a nice little pigtail and I loved it.  None of my friends till then had sported a pigtail and I thought he looked quite modern and savvy.  Not many men can carry it well enough and Kumar kind of managed it well.  And these days, Coach Kumar sports a man bun and he continues to be the only man in my organisation who I can ogle at :-) :-) didn’t I digress there and divulge a big secret?  I hope Kumar does not read this he he he…

We also kind of forced him to come to the walking trail that I go to, to train us for the marathon.  Coach kumar didn’t have much choice – we kind of bulldozed him to be our coach and also garnered more women power  by adding 3 more women to our marathon group.  Coach Kumar was a sweetheart and he came with us every Saturday for the practice run.  4 women and coaching us could have been a nightmare for him.  He started with the 1 minute run and 1 minute walk routine.  This was moved to higher sprints of running and lesser walking.  The first few weeks were only 6k running and walking and the last few weeks we started doing the 10 k walking  and running. 

Coach kept us motivated, shared his own running experiences and his friends’ experiences.  He continued being part of his own group of runners “Pillar Pacers”, practising on Sundays for his full marathon, but yet found time to coach us on Saturdays for the last 3 months. 

The Marathon originally was scheduled on December 11^th 2016, but cyclone Vardah made sure that it was postponed to 8^th of January 2017.  Coach could not join us as his Full Marathon was flagged off at 4.30 am and ours started at 7.30 am.

The running itself, the frenzied running crowds, the people who were cheering the runners, the pacers, the sun, the roads of my city – it was nothing less than a fantastic experience.  Months of training, pain, perseverance, rising against your own will all culminated into one thought for me on 8^th of January.   RUN VINCY RUN.   I told myself, unless you faint, you will not stop running.  I enjoyed the sights, thanked the volunteers, people cheering the runners, musicians playing loud music along the way, the adrelanine rush when the tagline of Wipro Chennai Marathon “Gummthalakadi Gummava, Chennainna Summava!!” was played (sorry to those who do not understand Tamil, this is not a phrase but an emotion & cannot be translated ) – I took it all in savoured every moment of it and ran the entire 10 km.  Most importantly with a broad smile.

I completed my first 10 K in 1 hour 45 mins and 2 secs.   Not a great timing, but to me it is incredible that i even attempted it.

Like I mentioned in FB after posting the Marathon pictures, “Strength does not come from doing what you can, but from overcoming stuff that you thought you cannot do”

The warm-up stretches before the run

The four of us who trained together at the starting point Napier's Bridge as soon as we arrived

picture clicked while running on Adyar bridge - notice the sea of Runners in front of me.

With Karthik TM, my friend, of EVAM theater fame.  He was the pacer for us.  Can you believe he ran in a Panchagajam?

The Medal

every muscle aching - but the smile says it all

With age comes wisdom. Or does it?

1st March - This day has become a special day in my life after marriage – J graced mother earth on this day some 4 and a half decades back.  I  am being very tactful in not revealing his age here – see I am a good wife,  but you guys can be sure he is older than me ** wicked grin**.  Isn’t it the Indian norm in arranged marriages?  Have no doubt and read on.

Anyways, he is not the one to go gaga on his birthdays, like me.  Its just another day for him. In fact, he says he started celebrating his birthdays at home only after our marriage.  I have this great inability to keep my cool on such special days and would have prepared for surprises and would be totally overexcited.

This being a Sunday, the mass was at 9.00 so we do not have to miss our morning walk.  Oh, have I told you that he never allows me to go alone for the morning walk after that accident, if he is in town? I was being extra nice to him since it was his birthday, and truly wanted him to feel special.

So we were walking and we crossed the lily pond, which is my favorite spot in the walking track.  I have many times mentioned to J, that this pond looks lovely and the lilies are so cute and explicitly told him a couple of times that I wanted a lily from the pond.  The first time he gave me that look which said “Are you crazy?”, the second time my pragmatic hubby told me very openly, I should be insane to jump and do all the stuff that you ask me to L.  With the dreams of holding a lily shattering right there, I had moved on long ago. I know my man means business and a No is a No.

That Sunday, we took a U turn at our regular spot and walked back  along the pathway, crossing the lily pond again,  me still talking, I do not remember about what.

Out of the blue, J stopped and said “ I think I should try it today”and did something that totally took me by surprise.

Certain emotions needs no words, and will get the pictures do the talking from here on...

The diamonds that he has bought me fades in front of this water lily. I feel like a new bride on honeymoon :-) :-) My eyes refuse to stop shining and I am over the moon.  


I guess these random acts of love are what makes successful marriages :-)

In tribute of the love you guys show me dear Ramesh and Rekha

I am such a lousy blogger and yet the love I get from my blog friends, especially Ramesh and Rekha has been tremendous.  I read your comments for the earlier post and I thought I should put this down for you :-)

This one is for the encouragement you give me to blog more :-) 

There is a recent, new found Joy in my life, which has been pending to be a post for a while :-) as usual.

Infact, from the day one, of finding this out, I have been planning on writing a post about this, but by now, you must be quite aware of my skills in procrastination and my wayward ways of coming up with a post.

Every morning for the last three or four months, I wake up at 5.30 am – yes I know it is an ungodly hour, but if there is a will there is a way :)

In around 10 – 12 minutes I am all ready to go for my Morning Walk , a time I spend with my own thoughts, converse with myself, thank god for all the mercies I have received in life and generally do some introspection.

It all started when J and I thought whatever we little we ate was just accumulating in the wrong places on our bodies and our lack of exercise was showing up much more than ever. We decided to go for brisk morning walks everyday.

And then we went around for almost a month trying out different routes around our place for a peaceful walk and from where our house was located to anywhere close to 6 – 7 kms was chaotic traffic, narrow roads and walking was a herculean task. And this was at around 5.45 am in the morning. 300 meters from our home is a national highway where vehicles in their maddening rush to reach destinations, and also taking advantage of the lean traffic in the morning, speed past creating a racing scene. Coming back home alive and in one piece was becoming an every day achievement. And moreover we felt more hassled than relaxed. We continued our pursuit for a quieter place for a walk and then we found this blissful route completely out of the blue.

Somehow, with all his reviews / intermittent official trips that he takes, J lost interest and dropped off from this routine, but will join me once in a while. now and then.

This place where I go for a walk now is approximately little over a kilometer from my place and once I enter the route it is pure Joy. Peace takes over, allowing me to linger on some natural sounds of some unknown birds and insects, warm sunshine, and fragrance of a variety of wild flowers along the path, setting in serenity and giving the much needed replenishment to continue through the day.

I guess this walk way comes under the jurisdiction of the Officers Training Academy, Chennai as I hear the soliders shouting in cadence while marching, as I walk along, and I also see some of the uniformed officers in bikes, sometimes in horses and sometimes they ride together in bicycles / motorcycles as part of their daily routine in a road perpendicular to the road that I take.

It is so amazing, for a while I forget that i live in a Metropolitan city. I will stop here and put up some pictures  to do further talking.



River on my right side, thick grwoth of tress and bushes on the left side, thats how this path starts and this is how the skyline is on some days.



My feet - enjoying the walk



The rustic walking track

Isnt this place asking you walk more?



The picture says it all!!



Wild flowers on a particular strech in the walkway

Most part of the walk way is lined with this wild flowers - miles and miles of it.

a close up shot of these wild flowers - arent they pretty?

Random shots around our apartment

Been a long time since I blogged.  dont ask me reasons.  Just proving that I am regularly irregular at multiple stuff in life.

This is a Plog - a picture  blog that shows glimpses around the new place we moved into - beginning to like this place, and definitely not as much as our own house that we moved out of, a couple of months back:-( 



 View from our balcony adjoining the dining space



The "Poonkurishu" ( flowery cross of st.thomas) on our Nilavilakku ( traditional lamp) of Syro Malabar christians

Chest of draws

one of our first set of pictures taken a couple of days after our marriage, at Kerala, now in a cosy corner at the Kitchen



fridge decoration - Courtesy our son



A Kimono clad Momo ( Japanese Girl) part of my collection



Miniature oil lamp ( still in working condition) from Pune



Source of light - chandelier



The traditional corner - a bell metal nilavilakku (Nilam in the Malayalam language means ground and Vilakku means lamp ), a flower vase and an ancesteral Kindi ( a traditional keralite water dispenser for holy rituals)

Did you like these shots? If you do, please write your comments and I will add more.. thats a promise.