We made it out of Bali alive, with hugs for Made Surya at 0-dark-30 this morning from Candidasa under the night-windy coconut palms and brilliant stars, a fast drive through busy, KFC and McDonalds-infested Denpasar, and passage through the myriad gates and sentries and officials at the airport. Easy flight to Singapore and now have a couple of hours. Free internet here, and who knows how the wi-fi will be in our hotel in Chiang Mai (2 nights) and elephant camp (3 nights). I got all kinds of great pics from Anne and we'll see how good our tech skills are for getting them downloaded onto this public computer in Singapore.
Not good enough, I guess. We'll try from Chiang Mai. Wish us luck. What we have are many pictures from Tenganan, of the letter-writer and his wife, the pink rooster, the weaver, Surya dancing, and some from the water palaces. We will send them anon.
What a great group of women to travel with. Relaxed, friendly, all with fascinating lives that emerge in little flickers of light as we converse. We all love to sing.
More when we can.
Okay, updating here with a few pictures. Here is Surya dancing with an 'old man' mask he made.
Here he is showing us how he practiced getting to know the character of the mask:
The Totoros being brave once again, in an ogre's hand at one of the water palaces...
Blue flower at the Lotus Bungalow:
Finally-- a beautiful moment in the pool where one of us (it's me in this picture, but most of us got to do this) is held and and sung to in the water. Healing and heavenly. They sang to me the Hollow Bamboo song: We are hollow bamboo; Open up your heart and let the light shine through.
Wow, this continues to sound like an amazing trip! The pictures are wonderful. So what are y'all singing? Do you have a set list (that may not be the correct term)? Have you learned any new songs/music while there?
ReplyDeleteMichael J.
Hi Michael,
DeleteYes, Kate M. made a specific songbook for the trip with about 40 songs in it, some in Thai and Indonesian, almost all of them new to me (but mostly in the Threshold Choir repertoire). She taught us a few songs every day. Some, like Terima Kasi (Thank You) we sang often--to drivers, divemasters, hotel staff, and so on. A beautiful collection overall.