Skip to main content

Day 6: More Temples

We visited a temple where people go to wash their bodies and cleanse themselves, and pray for prosperity, good fortune and success in their exams (students)
Hello there: guard at the entrance to the temple

SPP crowd before going into the fountain





The spring had many fountains for different things: for success, to heal disease, prevent nightmares etc. there were 2 fountains which are used for cleansing corpses, and are not to be used for normal washing.
We had a good lunch, and I ordered pork ribs and French fries - best pork ribs I have had.

We then visited another temple which had a huge gong that was used in the olden days for celebrations. Origins of it are a part of a moon fell and then someone peed on it or something…
After walking around on the streets in the evening trying to find swimwear for people, we decided to get dinner. Dinner was with the usual crowd (Renuka, Wardah, Jackson, Annisah, Taryn, Andrea and I), at a new place down our street. I had sweet potato, with tempe and brown rice. It was good. I also had a large Carlsberg beer (which reminded me of Malawi days).

I really like Ubud streets at night. They are lively, not too crowded, well lit with stuff happening all around; the restaurants usually have someone outside holding a menu and encouraging people to come in. They also have happy hour offers to attract patrons.
Colorful fishes
I learnt yesterday also about fish feet spa i.e. you dip your feet in water with tiny fishes that then eat the dead skin off your feet! Reminded me of the piranha movies!
Durian! what a fruit!
I also had a taste for the first time, of the durian fruit. Weirdest fruit I have had. It tastes and smells like garlic mixed with onions, but is sweet. I ate two of the fleshy stuff, and after an hour or so, I felt constipated.
Other fruits I had for the first time:

  • Rambutan in the temple: soft white flesh inside with a spiny outer covering, and a pit inside. Great fruit
  • Dragon fruit: spiny on the outside; grows on a plant that looks like cactus. It is pink/purple inside. Delicious fruit
  • Snake fruit/salak: brown outside, and soft white inside. Has a zesty/sweet taste. It helps stop diarrhea i.e. makes poop hard!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Opportunities and challenges presented by the AfCFTA

President Kenyatta joined other African heads of state on March 21 in signing the #AfCFTA. What does this mean for Kenya? It means that Kenya's goods and services could have a broader market to sell to. It also means that locally made goods and services will face increased competition from similar products in the African market, especially if other countries have a comparative advantage. What is the projected net effect of these two sides of trade? Well, it's difficult to predict. It depends on which goods are on the schedule of reduction of tariffs both for other countries and Kenya. Pres. Kenyatta signs the AfCFTA Image courtesy of PSCU   Looking at other similar regional pacts such as North America's #NAFTA or the EU, we can see that trade between countries increases many fold. But as in the case of Mexico which saw the bankrupting of peasant farmers due to cheap corn and other agricultural produce from subsidized American farms, the aggregate effect might be po...

How well-meaning parents ruined us

Growing up, it was common for our parents to encourage us and tell us how we could be anything we wanted in life. "You can do anything you set your mind to do!" They would cheer us on. "Even the president?" We'd ask unconvinced. "Yes, you could even become the richest man in the world!" All this fascinated us. We vowed to ourselves that we'd in fact become people of substance who would be recognized in the entire world for our achievements. We'd ride in super-yachts like Abramovich and the rest of the mega-rich. We would produce life changing inventions, innovating our way to stardom. We'd become the next prodigy in music and sports. All this is well and good, meant to lift our spirits. Assessing our lives however, no matter how much effort we have put in to realize our dreams and visions, they have eluded us. We have become adept at doing other things though: commenting on FB posts, retweets, identifying the hottest political issue...

Look, I am become a diplomat

"You speak very good English, where did you learn?" a person I just met asks. "In Kenya, in school…" I calmly reply. "Wow! You speak English in Kenya?" He continues. "Oh yes, we do …" The conversation goes into how we do (not) live with lions as pets and how I don’t run like "all" other Kenyans they've seen on TV. If you are wondering, this is an actual conversation I have had with persons I have met here in the US. This is not to say every conversation I have had goes this way. On the contrary, in the greater Washington metropolitan area where I live, this is the exception. Any time I have to field questions about Kenya, however, I feel as if the responsibility to represent Kenya and communicate its brand is upon my shoulders. This is despite not getting any training on this aspect of my travel experience. Some other well-meaning people have said, once hearing I am from Kenya, that they visited Uganda, Rwanda, Bots...