Haarlem and Leiden, The Netherlands

Haarlem in the Netherlands was a wonderful surprise, with everything good about Amsterdam, but it was much more laid back and even more friendly. In fact, the Dutch even have a word for people who are fun, warm, and cozy: gezellig.

Haarlem also shares the Netherland's relaxed laws and attitudes about sex and some drugs. Right off the train, you walk past adult toy and other sex shops, as well as shops selling cannabis and mushrooms in many forms. Not surprisingly, there is a high percentage of frat boyage and other aged groups of men traveling together in this country.

We visited the Dutch Masters at the Frans Hals museum, which used to be an old men's home, then an orphanage. We toured the windmill shown above, and saw from the inside out how a windmill works.

We daytripped into Leiden to see tulips, but it was the wrong season for full blooms of local fields. I did learn, though, that the Dutch went into tulipmania in the 1600s, when the tulip was introduced to Holland by a botanist who found them in Turkey. Tulips became all the rage and were sold for outrageous amounts, making fortunes for some traders. Today "tulipmania" refers to an economic bubble.

St. Bavo Church in Haarlem was one of the most interesting churches we've visited, containing a gorgeous organ that was once played by Amadeus Mozart. The reformed gothic-basilica church, dating back to the 1200's, also houses contemporary religious paintings and sculptures. The "floorboards" are actually the stone crypts of the town's former rich and famous. Story has it that there was some high odor in the church for some time, with all those folks laying head to toe and mano a mano. But they were all gezellig about it, the dust has settled, and that time has long past. Today it is an interesting mix of old and new, and a serene energy permeates the place.

St. Bavo Church

Organ Played by Mozart

Someone's Resting Place

Spanish Cannonball Still in Wall

Sculpture

Canal Life Totally Doesn't Suck

Our Nightly Quest -- Gelato

My Little Pony

Holland, Where the Appeltaart is Warm and the People are Gezellig

Current Schedule

... or, as our friend Robb (Robb Kane, a nice man) says, we make plans and God laughs...

July 24 to now: England, Lubeck Germany, the Netherlands, Copenhagen, Munich and Fussen Germany.

Fussen, Rothenburg, and Wurtzburg Germany: 8/17-28
Paris, France: 8/28-9/1
Lausanne Switzerland: 9/1-3
Interlaken Switzerland 9/3-?
Italy
Greece
Spain 10/12-11/10ish

Merrie Olde England

Leaving our family and friends in the US to move into Europe was made sweeter by meeting up with our loverly friends in England.

In London, Trina met us for coffee and din din at Bar Italia in Soho. The following day, we met to see the Monty Python musical Spamalot, which was indeed "funnier than the black death." Thinking she should dress for the event, Tough Trina wedged her arm into the door in the Tube and arrived smartly tattooed. (BTW, you can thank Trina for the technology behind the prophecy room scene at the end of the latest Harry Potter movie. How cool is that?!)

We were later joined by Emily and Mark. Emily took us to a couple of great pubs and a luscious (-ly naughty! :)) coffee house for yummy desserts. At one pub we met her friend who performed comic folk music that night, and is actually from San Francisco. He too was funnier than the black death. Fortuitously, Emily and Mark happened to sit below a love poem about "Em."

We went on to Northwich to visit our friend Richard, an old roller coaster buddy of Eric's. We went to see Richard's sister and her husband at their magical cottage in the English countryside, and his sister (after a workday of being a police sergeant over organized crime!) treated us to the most delicious ever homemade lemon shortbread and cream and fruit-filled cake. Traditionally, first-time guests are to blow the horn hanging on their ceiling. We're not sure why, but we did anyway.

Of course if Richard and Eric get together, there must be roller coasters. So we took another gorgeous drive through the countryside to Alton Towers, an amusement park built around the grounds of old castle.

Eric and Richard at Alton Towers

As we had more important people to see, we had to cancel on the Queen. But we did a drive-by on her house.

Obligatory Pics of Buckingham Palace and Implacable Guard

Tower Bridge

Rosetta Stone in British Museum

Pasties

Fish 'n Chips

Artist in Front of Northwich Cafe

Woman in Front of Parliament Building

Westminster Abbey

Olde and New London

Home Sweet Home, or, Two Weddings and a Funeral for a Friend

(Note: More on Bali and our trip to northern Thailand, as well as pics from our trip home, will be posted later, maybe when I catch up with those pics again at home in November. This post takes up with us in Pai, in northern Thailand. Since then, we have been to England and I am writing this from Amsterdam the night before we leave for Lubeck, Germany.)


We planned to return home from northern Thailand for a two-week family visit on July 8. As it turned out, my old friend and former brother-in-law Gary passed away a couple weeks before, so we decided to return home early. (See also my Sad News post.) This was a terribly tough decision, as my heart was home with Gary and our extended family, as well as in Asia with Eric and our friends Holly and Jacob, where we were to finish our Asia adventure with more treks and ruins to visit in Sukhothai. I guess the biggest conundrum was whether my return at this time would really make a difference to anyone at home. In the end, whether they really needed me there or not, I needed to be there with our family. Of course Eric fully supported my decision and was ready to come home with me. In arranging travel that morning, the choices for the 20+ hours transit home were either to leave in two days (the day of the memorial) and arrive at the memorial late, jetlagged, and bedraggled, or to take a bus now from Pai to Chiang Mai and then fly to Bangkok, then on to San Francisco. So our leavetaking from Asia was abrupt. We had a quick lunch with Holly and Jacob, then stepped into a tuk-tuk, the driver sealing us in with a plastic sheet against the pelting rain, through which we waved good-bye to Holly and Jacob as we pulled around the corner, verklempt and in disbelief. How could we possibly be leaving Asia? All of the memories of the last seven amazing months bloomed inside me, to remain memories (and stories!) until I pass this way again.

I never regretted the decision to leave when we did. It felt very right to say good-bye to Gary in person, and especially to be close to his daughters and our family. I also reconnected with some old friends I hadn't seen in quite a while. And I was able to spend some special time with a few family members, talking with them and giving them Reiki, which seemed to help them create some peace.

At home, we went to the wedding of two of our friends, and got to see a number of friends we haven't seen since we left for Asia, in addition to Sheila, who was with us in Vietnam. The next morning, we met up with Holly T and Rob in San Francisco, with whom we were in Cambodia, Malaysia, and Bali. We also visited with Josh and Matt at Josh's cool new company in San Francisco.

We also visited with another friend who filled us in on her magical April wedding, which we were sad to have missed. And we joined my old work team for a retirement lunch for our friend June, and managed to see some other dear friends as well as missing some other dear friends.

And we got to see a lot of our family. We visited Eric's folks at their home in California's Gold Country, where we went creek walking and panned for gold. The one food I had been hankering for in Asia, peaches, were in abundance there, in all their juicy goodness, and we ate lots of them. In Mt. View, we visited with my dad, saw the Harry Potter movie twice (once with Todd and once with Hayley), and went on hikes at Deer Hollow and along the bluffs above the Pacific north of Santa Cruz. At home, I cradled the lovely cedar box that holds our kitty Spike, and felt very close to him. Timmy finally remembered who we are and came out from under the couch. Zoette deigned to have us pet her once or twice. My mom and stepdad, along with my brother Mark and wife Teresa, came to see us, and we celebrated everyone's 2007 birthday with one cake and many candles.

People keep asking if we have culture shock coming back, and I have to say no we didn't. What I did experience was kind of like coming back into the world after meditating for eight hours or so. The energy of all that is home was crisply defined. Situations that were blurry came into sharper focus. All that is sweet and loving felt all the more so. My relationships with family and friends became more clear and the love that is really there was all the more immediate. The air felt pristine, the sunlight soft, and the smell and energy of the redwoods, like our little house bordered by morning glories, felt like home.

Bali-licious

One Being's Offering is Another's Lunch

We met an Australian tourist who said that the food in Ubud is terrible -- the portions are small and the noodles are ramen. After almost a cumulative month of amazing gastronomy in Ubud, we all looked at each other in disbelief. We have no idea where this guy was taking his meals.

Ubud is the heart of Balinese art, music, and food. Smooth, sweet, homemade white brem (unfiltered sake-like rice wine) served on ice with lime, bubur injin (black rice pudding with coconut cream), bubur ayam or soto ayam (chicken rice porridge or chicken noodle soup), crepes filled with palm sugar and fresh coconut, lamek, and babi guling (roast suckling pig) kept us all ecstatically satiated.

Many of the restaurants offer cooking classes. We took a class at Casa Luna, owned and operated by Janet de Neefe, an Australian immigrant who married a Balinese and is raising their four children Balinese style. The couple owns a guesthouse and two restaurants. Janet has also authored a couple of books. I read Fragrant Rice, her biography, which also includes recipes.

Morning Market

Our cooking class included a trip to the market. The slimy, gelatinous green drink below, high in antioxidants and not unlike primordial soup, is popular with locals, especially as a morning pick-me-up.

Mangosteens, Yum!

Palm Sugar Out of Coconut Shell Mold

In Which Eric Is the Only Volunteer to Peel Eels

Eric Woks It Up With Janet de Neefe

Balinese Cremation Ceremony

Death in Bali involves one of the biggest and most important of Balinese rituals - cremation. This way the body/soul is returned to the four elements of earth, fire, air, and water, and the soul is free to move on to its next life.

Cremation ceremonies are quite expensive. The body may be buried until it can be cremated along with richer deceased, until relatives have saved up for cremation, or until an auspicious day. Sometimes this means weeks, sometimes years. But when it happens, it is an epic, joyful event.

When someone dies, the family lights lanterns around the house to notify the community. Then they prepare food as usual and offer it to the deceased, to keep up their connection with the deceased. The soul remains with the body for three days. The body is then buried if not to be cremated right away, or taken to the temple and prepared for cremation.

For cremation of the buried, the bones are exhumed and sprinkled with holy water. All of the bones may be wrapped up for cremation, or just some of them and a wood carving symbolic of the deceased's soul. The body is brought to the temple and prepared as above, then placed along with offerings into the procession tower. The processional moves from the temple to the cremation grounds, where the body and offerings are moved from the tower to large papier mache-type bulls that will carry the souls to heaven. The bulls are burned along with the procession tower. After the deceased's bones have cooled, the family takes the bones (which may be ground by a priest) in coconut shells to be thrown into the sea, the final step in releasing the soul to its next life.

The whole community is invited to the cremation, including tourists. The intention is the more the merrier in order to send the soul off to heaven and its new life. All attendees wear sarongs to show respect for the occasion.

Waiting for the Procession to Begin

Selling Sarongs to Tourists in Front of the Temple

Blessing Offerings

Placing Bodies Into the Procession Tower

Family Emerging From Temple

Carrying the Tower

Bulls Will Carry the Souls to Heaven

Processions Were A Lot Easier Before Electricity Came Along

More Procession Pics

Offerings and Bodies Placed in Bull

Soul on Its Way to Heaven

Quintessential Bali (May and June)

Big Bali

Little Bali

Where do you begin to talk of Bali? With the epic mountains and volcanoes, the tinkling charm of the gamelan orchestra, the mesmerizing dances, the full canvas of foliage, the laughing children, the seaweed plots and rice terraces, the fragrant flowers popping with color, the succulent food, the ubiquitous, sensual art, the crystalline water and coral reefs, the air potent with chi?

What permeates all of this is spirituality. In their own unique blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, and animalism, the Balinese bring together the spiritual with the profane (or at least the practical) in every aspect of life. This is evident in the offerings they make and set out daily, everywhere, from homes to businesses to cars to boats to rice fields; one up high for the good spirits' protection and one set low to appease the bad spirits and maybe encourage them to be good. The offerings are almost always a small, handmade banana-leaf basket containing just rice or any combination of rice, flowers, incense, small foods such as nuts or small Ritz crackers, cigarettes, alcohol, and bottles of water. It is not unusual to accidentally trip over the offerings in doorways or on sidewalks, or for dogs or monkeys to sniff through them and eat the food. Not to worry! The energy of the offering is effective upon the intention and placement of the offering; what happens after that is of little consequence. The balance of good/bad yin/yang is also depicted in the black and white cloth Balinese wear and tie around sacred statues. Additionally, Balinese rituals can involve various forms of animal sacrifice, from baby chicks to water buffalo, and amulets, charms, and potions for everything from protection from volcanoes, to abundant harvests, to winning love.

Dark Bali

Light Bali

Happy Anniversary and Drinkies 7.5 (May)

May 7 was the six-month anniversary of our travels. We can hardly believe it. India, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Bali, and that's only the first half of this amazing year. Even more, we get to meet up and travel with friends old and new. We aren't sure what we did to deserve this, but we know we are truly blessed and are grateful.

With Holly K, Rob and Holly T, and our new friend Jacob along, how could we not call Drinkies 7.5?!

Drinkies 7.5 ~ Tropis Club, Kalibukbuk, Bali

Clockwise starting lower left: Holly T and Rob, Jacob, me, Holly K, and Eric

Todd says he thinks we are lying about the names of places we've been. He thinks we're actually calling from a pay phone across the street from our house in Mt. View: "Hi, how's it going, we're in er, um, Kalibukbuk . . . ."

Sad News and Requests

While I was visiting home in April, my dear old friend Gary Gaines received a diagnosis of cancer located in various places in his body. Gary is the brother of my (still beloved) former husband Randy (hi Ran!). While we were in high school, Gary would drive us to dances (and dance like a madman). He drove us over the hill to Santa Cruz, many times, in his amazing sky blue convertible Thunderbird. Gary was also the husband of my best friend of 13 years, Kathy. We raised our kids together with a lot of life, love, and joy. (Kathy died of cancer in 1989, when our youngest kids were eight years old.) Gary is such a vibrant life force that it seems against nature for him to be so ill.

Gary is getting care in Fresno, CA. His grown children and other family members are caring for him too.

Please take a moment to send Gary and his family your prayers, affirmations, and healing energy for health, strength, and peace.

If you too are an old friend of Gary's and would like to track his progress, send me email and I'll forward you the blog his daughter is keeping.

My heart is heavy. I think of Gary and family every day, and send them prayers and healing.

Additionally, I recently heard from Todd telling me he had to make the heartrending decision and have our cat Spike put to sleep. Spike passed away in Todd's arms. Please raise a glass to Spike (milk being his favorite bev), help us give him a great send-off to his next life, and send Todd your prayers of love and support.

Spike and My Dad

It seems almost odd for me to be in paradise (Bali at the moment) while all of this is happening. Past experience also tells me, though, that living our best lives, in love, awareness, and vibrancy, is the best we can do.

Current Schedule

4/15: Fly from Singapore to Bali
4/15-5/11: Bali!
4/15-5/3ish: Ubud
5/3ish: on to Lovina, Sanur
5/11-5/15: Visa run in Singapore
5/15: Return to Bali. Wouldn't you?!!!!
6/12: Singapore, then on to Malaysia, northern Thailand, maybe Laos