On Feb 24th after a nine year hiatus Raye’s college roommate Sheri came to Singapore for a visit. But , there needs to be a little background before the tale of our adventure begins. The truth is that Raye was a little uncertain about moving to Singapore , crazy as that may sound, and a phone call to Sheri turned all that around. “I’d move there in a second” was the first thing out of her mouth, followed soon after by “Bali is the most beautiful place on Earth”! Fast forward almost 2 years, Raye has been loving life in Singapore and waiting patiently to see Bali with Sheri through her eyes. After 2 days of showing Sheri the sights of Singapore and introducing her to friends, the two boarded a plane in route to paradise! 
The whole trip was made even more intriguing by the fact that friend Hazel had given Raye a copy of the book Eat, Pray, Love before moving to SE Asia so Bali, for that reason, was a place of intrigue. Paul found a wonderful resort nestled in the quiet town of Ubud which just so happened to be the place where Liz Gilbert hung out in the book!
We arrived after a very pleasant flight and were greeted by a driver from the resort-Kamandalu. When we got there we learned that we had been upgraded to a villa so from the very beginning this trip was going well! We wasted no time in signing up for excursions from the hotel and were very surprised to learn that our first guide was the grandson of Ketut liyer, the healer from the book! Just like with Liz, we found ourselves being delivered almost literally into the lap of this amazing man. Our guide could not take us to see him that day because it was a festival honoring the God of Knowledge and he as swamped but promised to deliver us the next afternoon. Which he did and just like Liz we went to his house and sat with him on his porch while he read our palms and told us our fortunes. Sheri and Raye are apparently both going to live very long lives so there’s plenty of time for more adventures!
The festival for the God of Knowledge was a wonderful surprise and gave us an opportunity to witness Bali’s version of the Hindu religion. The festival lasted three days and was filled with colorful pageantry complete with women carrying the family’s offering of fruits and vegetables on their heads to the temple and then, once presented, carrying them back home for the family feast! The prayers were of gratitude and performed with such grace that we felt honored to be able to witness them. The temple celebration also included traditional dances with colorful and elaborate costumes-a show that we would have gladly purchased a ticket to watch!
At one point with the help of a different guide we visited an ancient temple location and were able to perform the ritual of pouring holy water from a natural spring over our heads! To make the day even more meaningful, on the way out we came upon an artist who made beautiful carvings out of cow thighbones and we each got one depicting the God of Knowledge. Now we have beautiful art that will remind us not only of our trip together but of this fascinating culture!
During our daily strolls through the market and side streets of Ubud Raye was still hoping to see the other person Liz befriended in Bali—Wayan. We were told that her café was next to the post office and one day we happened upon it! It was just as amazing as meeting Ketut Liyer because except for one woman who Wayan was treating we were the only ones there. When she finished we requested a session and each got one-complete with palm reading and herbal remedies, not to mention a delicious organic lunch for $6!
Our Eat, Pray, Love dream had come true. This was a vacation of a life time! The daily $8 massages, trip to the monkey sanctuary (monkeys are sacred in Bali), and drinking coffee at a local’s house from coffee beans that they grew in the back yard were only icing on a very scrumptious cake!!
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