Lady Ho Tung Goes to Bali

I know, I know, it's been a while. Those of you who've been living through me vicariously have been bored senseless. But give Lady Ho Tung a break! I was away in Bali for 10 days and then spent the weekend celebrating my birthday...then I had a sinus infection, so it's been busy around here.

Bali was incredible. As these pictures show, it has a beauty of mythic proportions and the mood to match it--if you can get past the tacky-tourist strip that is Kuta. Ubud, an inland town set amidst rice terraces and lush mountains was a highlight, as was surfing at Kuta, visiting temples and exploring smaller towns up north.

Balinese culture is fascinating. They take their own spin on Hinduism, creating a Balinese Hinduism with its own rituals and traditions. Perhaps the most mind blowing aspect of the trip was when we realized that we were there for Nyepi (a day of silence) without even planning it. We were pretty excited about being able to celebrate this once-a-year festival until we realize that we would be locked in our hotel for 24 hours and if we tried to leave we would be picked up by special Nyepi guards. Essentially, this festival consists of a lot of restrictions: the airport is closed, no lighting fires, no working, no entertainment or pleasure, no traveling. Needless to say, our plan of gorging ourselves at the breakfast buffet, then playing in the pool and watching 150 dvds did not quite conform to these religious rules. It was actually very interesting to see the locals observe this day, and even more fun to watch them chase the demons away on Nyepi eve with HUGE papier-mache floats that they paraded through town along with as much noise as possible.

Here are a few pics of my trip: People praying at a sacred spring.
We rented a car and got out of Kuta for a few days. Saw lots of....

rice fields....
Surfers.
Beautiful little town near a volcano that we unsuccessfully tried to reach in what was decidedly not a 4 x 4.

Kids being kids.
Kids being religious.
More prayers in an absolutely stunning setting.
Here's a shot from Ubud, this is our hotel looking ravishing in dusk light. Hotel pool in the light of day.
Cool old man continues Canadian tradition of toque-wearing. Startling in this heat.
We visited an orchid garden, I mercifully saved you from forced viewing of 10,000 orchid shots, but couldn't resist showing you how a pineapple comes of age. So cute! This one is about 2 cms big.
Team Canada and Team France prepare for surfing competition on Kuta beach. Took some lessons and managed to stand up a few times, but the most important thing was that I looked better than Navine while I was doing it.

Surf teams: still looking great after a day of surfing.
Ok. I lied, here's a photo from the orchid garden--but technically this is not an orchid. It's called a Bird of Paradise (this one's here for you, mom).
Dans le jardin. The sunsets on Kuta beach....
...and Lady Ho Tung returns to HK.