01 Feb Day 4 Begins With the Mother Temple

On day 4 we drove a couple hours to the Mother Temple of Besakih, the largest, highest and holiest temple in Bali. It is over 1,000 years old and truly breathtaking in its vastness and ageless beauty. It was like an Asian-style Stair Stepper as we went from plateau to plateau up endless stairs until we arrived at the highest temple area, the 7th, to sit in silent meditation with an opportunity to give thanks and offer gratitude before heading down the 8,000 steps.

Lunch overlooking terraced rice fields was a sight to savor and slowly sip, yet another killer opportunity for pictures, until my friend Peter, Slip-Foot Scott, decided to do a little breakdance on the slippery edge of the cliff in his most excellent of ill-chosen footwear, classic boat shoes, that gripped not the ground and came out from under him, immediately launching his cell phone into the air and down the hill. Pretty funny in retrospect but we almost lost my travel wingman to the rice paddies.

That evening was another angry ocean adventure with Peter, Kelly and Sandra as we devoured the Indian Ocean energy, waves crashing just a few feet in front of our toes while we enjoyed a variety of local drink concoctions, from Lychee Martinis to Vanilla Foam Martinis – a synchronous match to the ferocious storm remnants from Narelle that kept us alert to getting pummeled in our oceanside lounge couch.