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Aloha, Nan
I’m done with the dentist for this trip and now I have my Bangkok smile! đ We extended our stay by three days to finish all the work. The dentist had three crowns made overnight because he wasn’t happy with how the three of them fit yesterday and then he took the sutures out. I’m celebrating with a cocktail and canapĂ©s at the hotel.
We decided to move up to the 34th floor for our extended days. The view was spectacular. Neil took lots of photos of the city and river, which was always changing. We did some minor excursions such as visiting Icon Siam shopping center and Asiatique. I don’t have the energy for my usual writeup, so just enjoy the photos in the gallery. Many have descriptive titles and captions. Thankfully, Neil took over writing up our activities while I was temporarily out of commission.
Neil here, as a guest contributor. While Nan’s been alternating between ice packs and napping I’ve gone out for some nearby exploration. While planning the trip last month we thought we would visit some of the famous sights we saw almost 30 years ago, but once here, neither of us felt much interest in seeing them again. Instead, I’ve been enjoying the little out-of-the-way local places meaningful to the neighborhood residents. But before I get to that, let me insert an update because I did go to one of the old places after allâŠ
Bonus excursion: Saturday morning I took the Orange Line Express Boat up to Phra Arthit Pier then walked to Khao San Road to see my old stomping grounds from 30 years ago. Apparently, it comes alive at night because at 10:30 am it was almost a ghost town aside from vendors setting up for business. Even so, I hardly recognized it with McDonalds and other Western franchise businesses now present. I remember it being seedy and full of restaurants iconic of Thai charm and low backpacker enticing prices. It seems to have gone upscale for a new breed of spring break mentality party hounds. Even with no crowds and wide spaces there were already a few aggressive hawkers who stepped in my way so I’d have to pay attention to them to avoid collision. I’ve seen basically the same thing in other countries.
So now I have fond memories of a long-gone era and the current generation has created something new. Yes, personally I lament the loss, but I’m also happy it brings jobs and money for the Thai people who depend on this place for a living. As I’ll show below with my Vishnu Temple safari, I can still have the kind of sightseeing experience and personal interactions I prefer in my travels.
Little out-of-the-way places, my favorite!
Thursday the 20th, after breakfast and another infinity reflection photo in the elevator (Nan: another one??), I decided to visit Yan Nawa Fire Station, the big fire station I saw from the window of a bus a few days earlier. When I arrived mid-morning, a couple of the guys were washing a snake. They were happy to talk with me and let me take pictures. They explained it had been caught in a rat trap and it may have had poison on it, hence the soap and water bath. It didn’t make sense to me until they were finished and they dropped it into a big cage with a pile of other snakes, some of them as big around as my arm. Once a month the department of forestry picks them up and releases them into the wilderness. They usually have 20 or 30 snakes each month. After bonding over snake washing, they gave me a quick tour.
That afternoon I realized I should have asked if I could buy a souvenir firefighter T-shirt. So I went back. When I arrived, the chief happened to be the first one to see me and he explained the guys from the morning were now on stand-by downtime. He invited me into his nice air conditioned office where we talked using my phone’s translation app. I think the app must be pretty bad because half the time we were looking at each other thinking what he just said makes no sense. Eventually, another firefighter (Mr. Kladsaard??) came in and his app worked better.
Chief Singchai is on the bomb squad (you can see it in English on the shirt he’s wearing) and in addition to fire and rescue (both people and snakes), they can also act as police. With the big hotels and high-rise condos, they have multiple ladder trucks, tankers (2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 liter), and engines they can deploy. You’ll see a bunch of scooters parked in among the big trucks so I wonder how fast their response time can be, unless maybe some firefighters use the scooters to weave through snarled traffic or side alleys to get there soonest??
There were no T-shirts I could buy, but when they found out I’m coming back around February, they each gave me one of their personal shirts hoping I can swap it and bring them back a Maui shirt. Maybe I’ll bring a third Maui shirt and swap with someone who’s my size. When we come back, the chief wants me to come home and meet his wife and kids. I sure hope the app gets better by then.
On the way to and from the fire station I explored the neighborhood a little bit. There was a well-loved Chinese shrine on a corner and nearby was an old-fashioned Chinese apothecary shop. I’d gone to one like it in Los Angeles about 30 years ago when I was under the care of âChinese Mamma,â an old-school semi-retired acupuncturist.
In addition to the mostly Thai population, the neighborhood has quite a few of Indian heritage. Much to our delight because right away we found an excellent little Indian restaurant frequented by locals not tourists. Seeing on the map there is a Vishnu temple within walking distance and since its beautiful beguiling gold spires were visible from our room, I decided to check it out if I got a chance.
After Nan’s morning nap and in between my two fire station visits, we took the hotel ferry boat to Icon Siam shopping center. Wow, what a fantastic place. Visually stunning, even to the point of being disorienting. This is where you will find all the elite shops you’d see in the high-end district of any European capital. The shop workers have an aloof professional demeanor that I suppose is expected of them. This is the opposite end of the spectrum from Big C or MBK where you find the Thai working class people. Nan and I could fit right in at the fancy mall, but honestly an hour was plenty. We find much more enjoyment with people of any social class as long as they have open loving hearts.
After high tea and our afternoon swim (pool, not river), we decided to finally go see Asiatique to get some good photos at sunset. Hahaha, a dramatic little thunderstorm decided to visit Asiatique pretty much the same time we did. I got a beautiful photo of it building up as Nan boarded the shuttle boat. But it all worked out fine. The rain hit within 5 minutes of our arrival and we wandered around the shops while the rain came down. I got some chicken satay skewers from a pretty Thai food service worker who had perfected the universal bored teenager look. We were finished about the same time as the rain tapered off. Among throngs of shoppers squeezing past each other in narrow passageways I was once again reminded I am not a herd animal.
Friday the 21st at about 3:40 am local time was the Summer Solstice. We didn’t look it up until that afternoon, but it turned out Nan and I both felt it because both of us awakened about 3 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I generally meditate under such circumstances anyway and it was sweet. Around 5:20 there was enough light to start the time-lapse sunrise video. It was pretty, but I think I like the previous morning’s sunrise video a little better.
After breakfast we got a quick photo with some of our favorite servers, Mr. Pornsak, Prim (aka Dutchess Primrose), and Tin (I wish we could have gotten Beu in there as well). Nan set off for the dentist and I decided to do a Vishnu Temple safari. I called it that because rather than take the big busy streets I wanted to take the smallest alleys and walkways I could find. I figured there may be dead ends and wild animals, and I wasn’t disappointed.
As soon as I crossed the street from the hotel the fire trucks roared by responding to a call. Very auspicious. Not long later, down a small alley I chanced upon a wedding reception for a sweet young couple. I wish them a long happy marriage! Later, down a small sidewalk with an overgrown cemetery on one side (dating back to the 1800s??) I came across a sweet old couple who had had a long happy marriage. They had three very young kittens to bring them joy in life. I pulled out my phone and showed them photos of my daughterâs three goofy cats and they were delighted to see them. Simple pleasures transcend language.
The Vishnu temple was beautiful and obviously a central part of life for many people. Not a tourist in sight. I was very respectful and lingered for about half an hour enjoying the serene peaceful beauty.
I then passed small neighborhood Wat Prok Yannawa but didn’t go inside because some kind of Moms and Kids event was going on. I was attracted to the shade at nearby Teochew Cemetery Park where I wandered for a little while. The graves looked to be newer than the ones I passed earlier. The park was well tended and I saw several people out for a walk or exercise. Nearby was a small fish and shrimp farm. Had a worker been present I might have asked if I could let a shrimp pinch me to see what it feels like. Many years ago I sat in a little jungle stream near Panelque and the shrimp came out and crawled all over me and it tickled so bad! Their pinches didn’t hurt because they couldn’t get a grip. As big as these shrimp were, they looked pretty weak.
From there I followed a canal because why not? Eventually, I started seeing beautiful street art murals on walls and fences done by the neighborhood residents?? Following intuition I found some canal catwalks with more beautiful murals. I stayed on the catwalks until I finally reached Wat Yan Nawa where I and busloads of tourists enjoyed the colorful splendor. I took a few photos inside before one of the workers told me it’s not allowed. I’m glad I got the statue with the sunglasses before they stopped me (hint, he’s tall dark and on the right).
I rode the hotel ferry back from Sathorn Pier, standing there leaning over the rail as usual even though I didn’t even pretend to be taking pictures since there were no other passengers. When Nan got back from the dentist she took a short nap while I worked on photos and then we went down to happy hour canapes and a stroll along the riverfront. I’ve been capturing another sunset time-lapse while writing this. You can see how I put the little tripod on an inverted table on a chair, powered by long USB cable which also acts as a safety line just in case. I’ll post the best videos to YouTube if you’re interested.
In summarizing my recent activities: infinity reflection photos, snake and fire truck photos, boat ride photos, following canals to who-knows-where, and ducking down potentially dangerous side alleys just to see what’s there, ⊠the evidence seems to suggest Neil is just a big kid. Oh well, at least I play well with others.
Breakfast on the Terrace 3x Time-lapse 1:10
We enjoy the boat traffic and the birds chasing each other. I jokingly said we should walk through the frame and then said ‘why not!’
Bangkok Boats at Sunset 60x Time-lapse (0;36)
Looking northerly from the 34th floor. This is shortly after a rainy cloudburst at sunset, and some dark clouds still linger. Because of the rain there were fewer party boats than usual.
Sunrise from the 34th Floor 60x Time-lapse (0:57)
This is the last sunrise before the 2024 summer solstice. It was a beautiful morning!
Solstice Sunrise 60x Time-lapse with Boats on the Chao Phraya (1:05)
Taken from the 34th floor starting about 5:20 am when it looked so clear. Summer solstice was at 3:40 am local time that morning.
Sunset 60x Time-lapse Chao Phraya Boats Long Version (3:23)
The full moon high tide has the river flowing backwards. If you look carefully you can see the water flowing upstream. We’ve seen the water level change a few feet in a matter of hours with the current being quite swift.
Happy (belated) Father’s Day to all you fathers!
Neil has a new hobby which is taking time-lapse photos of the river life and changing light. We’ve been enjoying the sunrise and sunset time-lapses. He’s uploaded a few to YouTube and we included the links for you to view if you would like. The video description is right below the clickable image.
River at Sunrise 30x Time-lapse (1:00)
This was taken from our 11th floor balcony. That fast colorful boat at the end is one of the Chao Phraya Express Boats, orange flag route. I love the quiet calm water of the early mornings. Watching a boat wake on glassy water is like looking at a Zen garden with moving ripples.
Fish Surfacing in the Chao Phraya River (0:17)
Fish were surfacing like this all along the Chao Phraya River in front of the hotel this morning. I asked what they were eating and the hotel staff said the fish were coming up for gulps of air because there’s not enough oxygen in the river water. Slow it down to 0.5 or 0.25 speed if you want a good look at the fish. Doing that, I identified them as Chao Phraya catfish. Apparently they are fun to catch and in the Gulf of Thailand some charter companies specialize in them. I wonder how the hotel staff would feel if I went fishing off the terrace while guests are having breakfast??? (If not for the pollution, they would probably put them on the evening’s menu, haha.)
Party Boats 30x Time-lapse on the Chao Phraya River, with Fireworks (0:41)
My first time-lapse of the colorful party boats unexpectedly included a fireworks display. The boats either have cover bands playing old favorites or else they have a DJ playing the karaoke version of the songs. Either way, they have a live singer belting out the lyrics for all she’s worth. Trouble is, every singer is terribly off-key and loud enough we hear them a kilometer away, no exaggeration. I’ll never be able to hear an ABBA song or YMCA again without fondly remembering this trip and those off-key lyrics reverberating off the nearby buildings up and down the river.
Sunset Glory with Boats 30x Time-lapse (1:54)
There was a storm rolling in from the west at sunset and the clouds were interesting to watch. If you look closely at the top edge of the clouds you can sometimes see the light defracting into rainbow colors. Downdraft from the cloudburst kicked up a brown dusty wind that preceded the rain. When the wind arrived I stopped recording because I didn’t want it to blow the camera over the balcony railing. A lightning show quietly continued until about 3 am. Sadly, lightning does not show up in time-lapse videos.
Dental work update: I waited until Wednesday, 4 days after the deep cleaning, to go in for them to start working on my teeth to receive new crowns. What I found out was that they needed the time to make the temporary crowns that I would wear for a week before getting the permanent crowns. Before he even started he took pictures of me from different angles with my mouth closed and also with teeth showing. This will help him design the new crowns to best to fit my mouth and give me the right bite. He numbed my whole mouth and then drilled off three existing crowns and then began making my teeth look like toothpicks as I call it. I was in the chair about 3 hours and he didn’t finish. He put temporary crowns on all of my teeth. On Friday I went in and had a root canal and one of the molars prepared for a root canal. There was a lot of decay so she had to remove that and then build it up a little. After 2 hours in the chair for the root canal, I then spent another four in a different chair while the primary dentist finished all the core work for my crowns and then took scans in order to prepare the permanent porcelain crowns. The old way of doing it was I used to bite into gel where they’d make an impression of all my teeth. Now they do it digitally and they have a metal plate that they put on each tooth that takes a picture of it. It was a long day. He would have rather taken the scans another day because my gums are still swollen from the deep cleaning and were bleeding a little bit. He had already asked me to extend our trip by 3 days to get all the work in. We’re now going home on Sunday the 23rd. This allows more time for them to make the permanent crowns.
With all the core work done for the crowns, we could do the oral surgery to put in the implants. On Saturday, I got two implants on my left upper jaw and one on the right upper jaw. He needed to do the sinus lift on each side and I still look like a chipmunk. Neil has added a picture of us at breakfast that someone took for us yesterday and Neil said this is definitely going in the album because it shows my chipmunk cheeks. The dentist said one went in very firmly but the back ones on each side went into pretty soft bone. We need to wait at least 6 months before he can put a crown on the implant. So one more trip coming back to Bangkok next winter or spring to finish the work. I’m doing pretty well. I use a cold pack once in a while and have a headache a but no real pain in the jaw thankfully. I still think the headache is from taking antibiotics which run through Thursday. I’m always glad to have those done with. We stayed quiet all day Sunday, and I napped much of the day and still didn’t have any problems sleeping at night. But now I’m more energized.
Today (Tuesday afternoon), I went in for her to finish that root canal. Only an hour!
After getting the root canal done today, I won’t go in until Friday when he will start putting on the permanent crowns. I’m hoping the swelling is reduced by then. Finally, Saturday will be my last appointment to finish any crowns and see if any sutures can come out. Otherwise they’ll dissolve on their own.
We extended our stay at the hotel by 3 days and will be moving to an higher level floor for that experience. You can expect more photos to be added of the new view.!
Sightseeing: While I was at the dentist all day Friday, Neil went on an adventure of taking the water taxi express boat all the way to the north end of the line up the river. He got off and explored the marketplace. He said he was the only non Thai person in the area.. The market was clean and neat and everyone was very friendly. He got some great photos of the sites along the shore. I haven’t felt like doing much touring myself but we might go out on Wednesday and Thursday to see a few more sites.
Neil came with me Saturday to escort me home after the surgery. We rode the elevated trains to the pier to catch the hotel shuttle boat. It took about 45 minutes to get home and I was fine because of course I was still very numb, ha. We thought we would usually take taxis to or from the dental clinic but the street traffic is so horrendous, it is faster and easier to take the BTS SkyTrain. Neil laughed that he was a great help, because it was me showing him the route to and from the train platforms and where we change trains since I’ve taken it so many days I can do it while drugged up.
We did finally get rain one afternoon as we were just getting back to the hotel. I had to laugh because the shuttle van we were in didn’t seem to have working windshield wipers and the driver was leaning forward squinting through the window as the rain poured down the windshield.
We’ve been enjoying the pool late afternoons. Neil even went down Sunday when I was sleeping all afternoon. I enjoy the view from the pool since it’s up on the 6th floor and you can sit at the edge of the ‘infinity’ pool and look out over the river. We did inspect a few other hotels when we were thinking of maybe moving to another one for three days. We didn’t like any of them as well as what we have. And the pools are ground level away from the river. I definitely think we’re getting spoiled. Also the staff here all know us because we’ve been here so long and are so happy to see us each morning when we come to breakfast and they take good care of us.
Thank you for following along with our travels and Adventures.
We came back to Thailand this June for more dental work. We left on the 4th and arrived on the 6th after crossing the dateline. My first dental appointment was the 7th for evaluation. Neil came in with me to see the dentist so he could help me make decisions. I came to get implants but I also knew I would need other work. The dentist found that the cap on my front tooth has been causing my lower front teeth to loosen up. We’re going to do the work of replacing the caps on my teeth, I guess the proper word is crowns. This is something I’ve needed for years.
Saturday I went in for a deep cleaning where they numbed my whole mouth in phases and got the plaque off of the teeth under the gums. I thought I would be really sore for a couple days but I was eating more than soup by the next morning and it hasn’t bother me at all.
My next appointment will be on Wednesday when they take off the old crowns and get my other teeth ready for new crowns. Then Friday will be the implant surgery and following Wednesday I will have the permanent crowns put on.
Neil booked us into the lovely Chatrium Hotel that has a river view with a balcony. It’s a one bedroom suite that even includes a kitchen although we haven’t used it yet except for the fridge. đ We figured we’d be spending time in the room for my recovery after of the dental surgery and wanted a nice place. It’s also very hot in Bangkok right now so we haven’t been going out much midday, choosing instead to enjoy time on our balcony.
I’m actually sitting by the pool as I write. From our room Neil took a couple of pictures of me on the recliner under the umbrella. Although they’ve been saying that it was going to rain every day, today looks like the first day we might get some. At breakfast this morning, the staff were hustling about bringing in all the cushions from the outside chairs, and at the pool just now, they took in all the rolled towels from the chairs. Still no rain yet.
Breakfast is included with our room and it is a huge buffet with Asian, Indian, Western (American and European) choices. It has a large fruit bar and wonderful bread and pastry selection. Three fresh juices are available each day and two fancy coffee machines that stay busy.
Watching the river from our bedroom and balcony, we see huge barges being towed up and down the river, water taxi boats, and the smaller personal long tail boats. But at night, large brightly lit party boats with loud music start cruising up and down the river from sunset till after 9:00. We open our window and sliding door for fresh air and can hear the music clearly all the way up in our room on the 11th floor. The first few nights nothing bothered us because we were so tired, but we are finally adjusting to the time zone and able to stay up a little bit later. We venture out for dinner each evening and have found an Indian restaurant a block away we really enjoy.
Friday, October 20, Day 7 Departure Day
We requested a late check out because our flight was not until 1 am; yes, you read that correctly, 1 am was our scheduled departure time on October 21 but we would plan to be at the airport by 11 pm on October 20.
We had time to relax and repeat my birthday morning with a swim, breakfast and a soak in the hot pool. And we decided to try a pizza again for lunch because Neil talked to them and convinced them to leave it in the oven till the bottom was crispy brown. So much better.
There was the usual flurry of checking out with Komong coming too early to carry our bags while we were still packing and then figuring out how to cash in the wristband. Wayan was standing by and we were loaded up and saying goodbyes to everyone before we knew it.
Our first stop was just down the road from the resort at the temple Puna Jati Batur which is on the shore of Lake Batur. One website refers to it as the oldest temple in Bali. The other temple associated with it is Puna Segara Ulan Danu Batur which is located in the lake and connected to the shore by a wooden bridge. The temples are basically part of the same complex since you have to walk through the Jati Batur Temple to reach the wooden bridge to the temple on the lake.
As we drove near to the temple, there were cars parked everywhere on the road and the parking was packed full. It became clear that it was a celebration day for the entire village. Wayan double parked and stayed with the car while we went to explore. I felt completely under-dressed with all the villagers in their beautiful temple finery. The entire temple complex appeared to be filled with seated family groups both inside and out of the temple. 
We chose not to go into the temple itself because it didnât feel appropriate but we did walk around outside and up to the top to overlook the temple. We could look straight down to the wooden bridge and Puna Segara Ulan Danu Batur where the priests looked like they were just coming out to begin the ceremony. The gamelan orchestra was already playing and we enjoyed the music for a little bit before we headed back to the car.
We drove along the South edge of Lake Batur and began the climb up out of the caldera. There were picturesque views all the way up and we stopped for a photo at the very top before starting our way South and downhill toward the airport.
Our next destination was Kayuan Demulih, a holy water temple in the little village of Demulih. It was in poor condition with the lack of maintenance but we could feel nice energy in the temple, feeling like it was sacred going back for centuries. Hereâs a short video showing it clean and beautiful. The large pool no longer held much water and was stagnant. The back pool where the spring water entered the temple was still full but it was sad to see so much trash in it. There was a concrete wall section at the front and it became clear that this was the public shower area divided between the men and women. The shower is turned on by pulling the cork out of the pipe coming out of the wall! An older woman was surprised to see tourists there as she was leaving and scurried off as we arrived. The older man who arrived while we were there was so intrigued to see us there, he stayed staring at us the entire visit. We still had a Canang Sari, the small trays of offerings from our day at Pura Besakih, the Mother Temple. Wayan helped Neil make ceremony at the small shrine at the back of the temple grounds.
As we were continuing South, Wayan pointed out the rice field we saw being planted on Monday. It was now flooded and we could see the very young plants poking above the water. A short while later, Wayan pulled off to the side of the road and asked if we would like to visit a typical Balinese family home compound. They were friends of his who accepted a donation for tourists to visit. We walked in the front gate and along the first house building and then we stood in the courtyard as he pointed things out. 
There were two solid built buildings on the property which were the residences, a kitchen building that looked to be constructed of bamboo and rattan, and a kitchen garden to the side of it. There was a wooden building which Wayan said was the granary and tool shed. At the rear of the property was the family temple. We could see several shrines built in the area. 
Two toothless old men of the family were entertained watching us the whole time. Children and old folks on Bali seem to be bored and have plenty of time to interact with us if weâre interested.
Our next destination was to see a Balinese dance performance as part of my birthday gift. Wayan thought we were early so asked us if we wanted to visit one of two markets. We chose the craft market. But the traffic was so congested and slow that we crawled along and ran out of time. We decided we needed to go straight to the temple for the dance.
There are dances performed most evenings at the Pura Puesh Batubulan temple. A portion of the temple outside grounds is set up with covered theater seats and a stage in front of one of the temple gates. Pura Puesh Batubulan Kecak and Fire Dance was the performance we had purchased tickets to see. There were three dances scheduled: Kecak, Sanghyang Dedari (dance by young girls), and Sanghyang Jaran (a fire dance.) All of the dances were accompanied by a choir of men using only their voices instead of instruments to weave complex percussive chants.
I was there to enjoy the dances as art, while Neil, the anthropologist, was unexpectedly intrigued by the deep spiritual history of the dances. They date back centuries if not thousands of years, with similarities to shamanic trance dances found in ancient cultures around the globe. The first dance, the Kecak, was modified in the 1930âs to depict stories from the Ramayana (putting a Hindu veneer on the ancient dance). But originally, those dancers would offer themselves to be temporarily inhabited by deities or ancestors to drive away sickness and death and to allow them to express their wishes to the village.
According to the handout we were given, Sanghyang refers to a spirit that dives to the mortal realm, and Dedari means âangels.â In its original form, performed in village temples for centuries, the girls would be placed in trance prior to dancing. They would then perform a free-form legong dance, with the angelic spirit moving them in synchronicity. 
Similarly, for the boyâs dance, an entranced boy on a costume horse (jaran) dances around and then upon a bonfire made of coconut husks. Where else around the world do indigenous cultures have entranced dancers tread upon hot coals?? Seems to us we were seeing a glimpse of Balinese culture that predated the arrival of Hinduism.
After the dance performance, Wayan offered to take us to the âsouvenir shopâ near the airport since we hadnât had time to stop at the other market. It turns out Krisna Oleh Shopping Center is a five story shopping center with the fifth floor holding a large pool and open air restaurant. We hadnât had a chance to eat dinner and we headed to the fifth floor for some food. I thought it might be a food court but instead it was a fancy sit down restaurant. With limited options, we enjoyed a nice meal before spending over an hour shopping. 
When we got to the basement to meet Wayan at the car, it was the only vehicle remaining in the garage! It was a short drive to the airport and we arrived at 11 pm exactly two hours before our departure time. We said our goodbyes to Wayan and got a last photo with him before sorting ourselves out with our luggage and changing for an overnight flight. We checked our luggage and went through passport control. We were on our way home!
After a short flight without any sleep, we landed in the Philippines at 5 am with a 12 hour layover. Our plan was to spend the morning in old town Manila seeing the sites and to enjoy a meal before needing to get back to the airport through what we heard would probably be horrible traffic. It was raining when we landed. Rain wouldnât melt us but we werenât prepared to lug our travel backpacks around all day while trying to keep everything dry. And we felt overly tired. We decided to just stay in the airport all day. We did find a few benches without arms (very rare) where we took a couple of naps during our layover. And I found a delicious piece of chocolate cake at a coffee kiosk to complete my birthday celebration.
After another redeye flight, we landed in beautiful sunny Oahu. After customs and passport control, we boarded our Maui bound flight and were thrilled to see our home out the window as we came in for a landing. Home again, home again.
Thank you for coming along with us on our Southeast Asia adventure.
Wednesday, October 18, Day 5
Neil asked what I wanted to do today; did I want to go explore? I said I wanted to just relax after three intense days of touring!
As you could see from the photos in the last post, our villa at Toya Devasya was marble and wood and open air. And best of all we had our own private hot pool. We could step out of our bedroom and into the pool. The pool had a continual flow of the hot springs water spouting from a statue at the far edge of the pool. The pool maintained a bathlike temperature. A little more heat would have been nice, but it was at a temperature where we could stay comfortably in the water as long as we wanted without overheating.
Breakfast was included with our room. We put on our suits and robes and headed out to explore the resort. There was a central area with restaurant counters that had different types of food: Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Indian, and Western. They had a multipage menu that we could order from and not have to wander around to all the counters. They had very sweet waitstaff hovering around to assist you. We found one waitstaff who finally understood we had tickets for breakfast and explained the menu to us. 
She took our order and we found a table that overlooked one of the infinity pools. A lot of other folks were arriving and claiming tables. We figured out these are the day visitors who can buy entrance and hang out all day. An option for us next time.
While we were waiting for breakfast, a man appeared at our table and introduced himself as Komong and said he was sorry he hadnât greeted us last night as he was at a ceremony at the temple. We couldnât understand the word he used for his role but we finally figured out he was our personal valet and/or concierge. He wanted to know what time we wanted our room cleaned. We settled on right away since we were heading to the hot pools and he got on the radio to call this housekeeping staff. He asked if we needed anything, and we requested two extra towels and another lounge chair. (As a note: There were about 12 villas. In our three night stay, we only saw one other villa occupied. We definitely got personalized service.) With our breakfast came a pot of burning oil to keep the flies away from the food. It was necessary and appreciated.
We next headed to the HOT pool. We discovered it the night before when we were moving around the infinity pool to the back (and away from the loud pounding music that started pouring out of the bar at sunset.) The hot pool is up a few steps and through the Love Cave. I am serious, that is what they called it. Anyway, that is where we spent our soaking time among the purple elephants spouting nice hot water! I wonder if the elephant theme was inspired by Ganesha?
After we were like prunes, we headed back to our room to dress and explore the town for restaurant options. Exploration only went a few hundred yards in either direction on the dirt road that had very few eatery options for lunch and dinner. We tried one for lunch and the food was extremely disappointing with the prices about the same as the resort. We decided to eat at the resort for the rest of the meals and got a wristband for charging meals and drinks. The wristband was waterproof and can go in the pools with us.
We rested in the afternoon and used our private pool. We went for happy hour at the bar and then enjoyed dinner in the second floor dining room at sunset and a soak in the hot pool to end the evening.
Thursday, October 19, Day 6 My Birthday
Soak, rinse, repeat. My birthday was perfect.
Neil served me morning tea floating in our private pool, we went to breakfast in our robes, we sat in the hot pool, we met the owner by happenstance, we explored the resort, we went down water slides, then repeated the soaking.
Komong arrived at breakfast to confirm we were ready for our room to be cleaned. I gave him the keys, just as yesterday, even though we never did figure out how to lock the front doors so it really didnât matter. He would then return the keys to me while we were in the hot pool so we knew the room was ready. He also wanted to know if we needed a driver to the airport the next day. He called his friend to come talk to us at breakfast. The short version is the driver wanted to charge a lot more than Wayan because we wanted to do some touring on the way to the airport. I sent a Whatsapp text to Wayan and he confirmed he would pick us up at 3 pm the following day. Transportation secured.
Neil had researched having us take a boat ride on Lake Batur on my birthday. The boats were very large pontoon boats with some plastic chairs. Reviews said they were a comfortable ride. They would take you across the lake to see a cemetery (with skulls hanging around), and a statue of Dewi Danu, the primordial water goddess in Balinese Hinduism. I know it is a cultural tradition for the village and the reviews said the guides do a very good explanation but nothing about it really attracted me. And where the lake had been flat the first day of our visit, we woke to a windy white capped lake and were happy to not have planned a boat ride.
Neil was asking Komong questions about the source of the hot water and other details like temperature and flow rate. (Neil is fascinated with spring water in general.) He was having a hard time explaining when the owner happened to walk by and Komong introduced him. The owner (Ketut) lives in Australia most of the time but was in Bali as there was work being done on property he was overseeing. He was thrilled to answer Neilâs questions and show us the site of the spring and the wells including the new one being dug because the original hot water well had been cooling. 
That answered one main question by learning all of the resorts in the area sourced their hot water from underground. The spring flow has greatly diminished due to all the wells on nearby properties pumping vast quantities of water.
We were out and about so we decided to walk the rest of the resort. We found the tent camping area with âtentalowsâ where you could rent a tent with beds and shared restroom/shower facilities. The dock and water sports were accessed from this area but were not in operation as it was low season. We found more soaking pools and the olympic size chlorinated swimming pool. There
were two pools where they had water slides. We had to carry up a two person inflatable innertube boat like thing to ride down on. Naturally, we had to check out both slides! A few times! We were laughinâ and hootinâ like kids.
After lunch, another birthday present: I got a massage in our room on the outside lounger! Lovely!
For dinner, we actually dressed up in clothes, ha. I had noticed earlier a chocolate cake and some chocolate pudding cups in a refrigerator by the Japanese food counter. We asked to get chocolate pudding for dessert with our meal order. The process was so confusing because the servers said those were for breakfast but finally they sold us some. 
The best way to describe them was Neilâs comment that they were JLOs â Jello Like Objects. It was a firm brown jello with NO flavor. I didnât taste even a hint of chocolate. We had a few bites, ate the whip cream off the top and that was my birthday dessert. (Thatâs okay because on our layover in Manila airport, I found a coffee shop with chocolate cake that I thoroughly enjoyed.)
We would have had another soak in the hot pool after dinner but they drain it at 7 pm, scrub it, and refill it for the next day. Instead I floated around our private pool before bed. What a wonderful birthday.
