Bali - Day 2

We had a ton of fun on New Years Eve!

We ventured away from the hotel, while most of the guests stayed here and enjoyed dinner. We wanted to be different! We went to a restaurant in Jimbarin called Fortein. This restaurant, like many of its neighbors, sits directly on the beach. We had a candle lit dinner on the sand while we watched real, authentic Balinese dancing....it was SO COOL! This was a seafood restaurant, so you pick what you want and then go to the kitchen and actually pick your piece out. I had lobster, which I had never seen a lobster like this, and Jeff had trout. As Americans (Westerners as they call us) - we are so used to very nice looking, established restaurants. Well, you have to get over that when you venture to Asia. If they put candles out you are at a nice restaurant. So with that said, we are naturally preconditioned to think "is this place really going to be good, is it okay to eat here?" Well, once we walked back to the beach and witnessed the beauty of the sand and the candle lit tables we felt a little better. After we ate we felt great. The food was excellent! The grilled lobster and trout was accompanied with 4 different type of sauces - tomato, chili sauce, garlic, and soy. We also had "chippies" with it - french fries. This might have been the best lobster and fish I've ever had, probably because it was so fresh.

We really enjoyed the company of our waiter. He even gave us his personal email address so that we could keep in touch. Everyone was really nice there - shaking our hands saying Happy New Year when we left. They even gave us a complimentary ride back to the hotel.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for the DJ and fireworks. Unfortunately, but very common here, it started raining at around 11:30PM. When it rains here it is like a curtain, thick, hard, and windy! So the DJ and fireworks didn't happen. That is okay though, we enjoyed ringing in the New Year with a cold beer looking over the Indian Ocean.

We are off to Ubud today, which is known as the cultural center of Bali. This is where people go to experience real Bali, rather than just the beaches and a few Pina Colada's. We are hoping to add to our art collection with a painting or some type of sculpture from the Balinese.

We also contemplated visiting this Medicine Man that lives just on the outskirts of Ubud. I read about him in "EAT, PRAY, LOVE". He has asked that people come visit him, as the tourism has been down since the bombings in Bali 4 years ago. This man wanted to be a painter when he was young and was very skillful, but had an accident that burned his arm severely. Through a dream, he was able to mix herbs and natural medicines together that would eventually save his arm. This was the beginning of his spiritual path, as he had another dream that told him what his path was - a healer. He fasted for 6 days, eating only the dew off the rice patties until he felt one with God. He is supposed to be an amazing man, with good English and an amazing ability to heal both physical and mental anguish. He has seen people from all over the world. He is very poor, but will heal for no money if you don't have the means to pay him. I'm not sure if we will be able to see him, as there are many factors that make this difficult: he is very far from the city of Ubud and taxis are not readily available and it is extremely hot here today so we are not sure how long we will make it with no AC. However, it would be really wonderful if we could see this Medicine Man.

We are off....we will post pictures on this blog when we return tonight.
Cheers to the New Year!