MY coffee interest and background keep surfacing here. I stopped for a morning coffee at Cafe Moka yesterday. Talking with their barista, I looked into the hopper and showed him how they could tell it was a blend of beans. Different color beans, different roasting profile, combined to make a very good espresso. It’s the product of a company in Australia and imported here.
Another shop showed me their beans, they use Toraja coffee from Sulawesi. I visited that company and saw their coffee plants. It’s a single origin espresso blend which I haven’t had yet.
Tutmak’s used Balinese beans with maybe a Jave bean in there and the cappuccino there today was excellent. Kerek at Kafe asked me to show him some tips. Lisa, at Nyoman’s birthday party, started talking about Kopi Luwak. When Noyman explained it was “poop” coffee, everyone crinkled their noses. When I mentioned I had some in Sanur, they were curious about how it tasted.
There are many forms of Kopi Luwak coffee, most have only a small amount of Luwak beans in them and the quality range is dramatic. I told Lisa to look for the Kopi Luwak from Kopi Bali in Sanur. It’s 100% pure and excellent. Her brother sent her 100 Euro’s to find some good stuff and bring it back to him. This afternoon, searching for an ATM, I discovered a Kopi Bali shop now open in Ubud. I stopped, learned it’s been open only a month, and picked up some literature on Kopi Luwak for Lisa.
Amy from New York mentioned she is picky about coffee. We started talking and she asked me for suggestions on how to use the press pot and what kind of beans to use. She was surprised by how much there was too it and offered me some free Yoga instruction in exchange for all the coffee information I shared.
I’ve seen great espresso machines all over Ubud and unfortunately, most don’t know how to use them properly. The quality they do provide is adequate for most tourist though so perhaps it’s only me that is picky.
Today, I went back to my friend Eddy for a session. He was amazing, is always amazing and I left feeling more open and with energy flowing. The experience today was very different from Monday’s, my first session with him. I’m really quite impressed by how much my energy has changed in only six days or so here. That was my intention.
Any concerns Eddy expressed about the energy around my sternum vanished. He did an interesting energy balancing around the spot where the rib kept popping out, literally tracing the rib line without me telling him what had been going on there in that specific spot.
This afternoon, I took two friends to see the ‘Holy Knife”. It was about a 30 minute motor bike ride to et there and by the time everyone finally coordinated, it was only an hour later than we had agreed. That’s the challenge with groups, communication and orchestration. I explained to Elena that the Holy Knife doesn’t speak a word of English with is OK with me. I don’t need to hear what he’s saying and am only interested in experiencing. She was going to watch but after watching the Holy Knife work on me and then my friend Teet from Eastonia, she jumped up on the table.
When we got back to Ubud, they both headed off for a nap. Before the session, Elena asked me for a description of how the Holy Knife works? I couldn’t give her one. She is very analytical about it and wants details. After the session, I asked her if she now understood how it was impossible for me to put words on that experience, one that can only be understood through experiencing. She did!
Tomorrow, I’ll go see Tjokorda Gde Rai, the healer other healers have been trained by. I’ve been in Bali for six days, had five healing sessions and been to the “Melukat” or cleansing waters. It is really amazing how different I feel from when I arrived. Part of it is rest and the rest is the result of healing. Sleeping has been restless and not very rejuvenating for me the past 10 months or so. Saturday after my first healing session with Nyoman, I slept 12 hours. Each night since, I’ve slept at least 10 to 11 hours! Last night, I was up late and woke early so maybe I’m catching up a bit.
Saturady morning at 6:30 am, I’ll be jumping into a transit van for the coast, transfer to a boat and be on the Gili Islands by 10:30 that morning. Hopefully, I’ll have a nice little bungalow on the beach with my hammock hung in time for lunch. My writing updates from there will be spotty if at all. I may leave my computer here since there internet is spotty at best and I don’t want to lug the extra weight.
Nyoman’s wife Wayan has hinted several times, asking when I come back, will I be staying with them? Today, she asked me if I WOULD come for NYEPI (Balinese New Year and day of silence) to be with them and their family? She’s saving a room for me so I can be with them. What a nice invitation!
She’s had a nasty cough and has never learned of doing a hot water bath inhalation. Just down the road about 50 meters is a really nice natural herb shop with soaps, salts, oils, lotions, incense, ginger, and essential oils. They don’t have eucalyptus here but they do have Cajeuput. The people at the shop said it would be very good for her lungs. I showed her how to do it, she made her own bath one more time last night and then slept restfully all night long, something she hadn’t been able to do. Today, she told me she hadn’t coughed for hours.
Yes, I’ll stay with them when I come back and it will be an honor. After that, I’ll spend my final few nights at Dewa’s before going to Denpasar and flying on to Singapore.
Until next time…Ciao…
Images of daily life and the markets…I haven’t quite figured out this gallery thing so you’ll see repeats of the photo’s above:
