Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma and Ariawan

May 26, Tuesday

Before Scott and I even signed up for this trip, we knew we wanted to spend one day exploring on our own.  Today was that day.  Choy arranged for a wonderful driver and guide, named Ariawan, to accompany us.  Ariawan picked us up at 10am, after we’d had breakfast overlooking lovely rice paddies.  Our first stop was the temple, Puseh Desa.  The temple was beautiful and I enjoyed the opportunity to get a bit of a primer on Hindu gods from Ari.  I wanted to understand more about Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma and Ariawan was patient and happy to give me the first-grader (which is all I am able to understand) lesson.  I also learned about Parvati and her alter ego Durgha.  Throughout the trip we had been admiring these Hindu temples and it was great to spend as much time as we wanted there asking questions and finding out the significance of various carvings and temple forms. 

We spent the next few hours driving on small local roads.  We saw many rice and flower fields.  We even saw orchids being grown on coconut shells in a field.  It was a rainy day so we stopped in a few of Ari’s favorite shops.  Lunch was at a spectacular garden view hotel and we ate stir-fried fish. 

The highlight of our day was visiting Ari’s family home.  He lives in a beautiful compound with his two brothers and their families and his parents.  Each family has an individual house in addition to a family temple and a communal kitchen building.  We met Ari’s wife and two children aged 6 ½ and 10 months. 

By this time it was very late afternoon and we returned to the hotel for a swim and met the group for dinner at 6:30.  Dinner was in town at a restaurant called Café Wayan and we sat outside in a lovely setting.  I returned to the hotel early in order to get to the spa for a massage.  This time I chose the “rejuvenating massage” which is described in the brochure as “a 90-minute gentle message treatment to rejuvenate and achieve better harmony of the mind, body and soul.  Using heated massage oil and specific strokes designed to balance the nervous system and restore vital energy flows.”  I am happy to report that this was a completely blissful experience.