What would normally take a week, has taken 3 weeks to finally get my stamina back up to my baseline of 45-minute runs every other day. I no longer have the luxury of slacking off like I used to in my younger years, and expect not to pay for it. The “bounce back” in menopause is slow, and it has been a frustrating and eye opening experience. The muscle loss is occurring at a much faster pace with extended disuse. Walking and hiking just aren’t enough to maintain muscle mass. Just 6 weeks of no dedicated strength training, muscles have been replaced by mush. Being able to hit the gym everyday for the last 3 weeks has helped stave off further decline in conditioning. Lesson learned.
We did take one day off from hitting the gym this week, and ventured out to Karangasem Regency (the east side of the island) to visit two of Bali’s most important temples. Despite the small size of the island, the infrastructure and traffic dictate how long it takes to get from point A to B in Bali. Sanur to Lempuyang is about 76 miles, but takes 2.5 hours of driving to get there. For context, the distance between our house and LAX is 53 miles, and that takes an hour to cover (driving in the HOV lane while on the 405). So a visit to the east end of Bali essentially takes a full day.
Lempuyang Temple is a place of worship for the locals. It is one of the Sad Kahyangan Jagad, or the 6 holiest places of worship in Bali. Foreigners are not allowed past the middle sanctum of Bali’s temples. We can wander the grounds outside the temples. For young tourists, Lempuyang Temple is the place to get that Instagram shot of the candi bentar (temple gate) with Mount Agung in the background.
Made, our dedicated driver while in Bali, suggested that we leave the hotel at 3AM to arrive at the temple by 5:30AM, half hour before the temple opens. Arriving any later, would mean waiting hours to get a photo, so we dragged ourselves out of bed at 2:30 in the morning just so we could get in front of the line.
The early morning light traffic got us to the temple at 5AM, and we were not the only ones there.
Joe got a bonus shot because his poses differentiated him from everyone else’s.
By the time we were done at 6:20AM, the new comers were holding ticket numbers in the 160s, a 2.5 hour wait based on calculations.
Besakih Temple is the mother temple of all Bali’s temples. Dating as far back as the 13th century, it is the largest and highest, and is located at the base of Mount Agung. It is especially sacred in the eyes of the Balinese as it was left unscathed during the 1963 volcanic eruption that killed 1,700 people.
Hinduism was the original religion in Indonesia until Islam took over at the end of the 13th century. Nowadays, Bali is the only place in Indonesia where Hinduism is the predominant religious faith. There are similarities to Indian Hinduism, but there are a lot of traditions unique to Balinese Hinduism. For example, animal sacrificial ceremonies prior to major festivals may involve sacrificing cows, which are considered sacred in India. Our guide also mentioned that brown colored puppies are also subject to sacrifice. He later commented that all the street dogs are no where to be found during major festivals. Well gee, I wonder why…
The last stop of the day was the Tukad Cepung waterfall. It’s a short three quarter mile walk down to the waterfall. If you come, bring sandals because you will need to wade in water. We left our flip flops in the car and my feet took a beating from walking on the small rocks.
We still had extra time left on our 12-hour tour, and Made had suggested visiting the coffee plantation and Tegalalang rice terrace, but my menopausal hot flashes were screaming for hotel AC, and Joe was more than happy to get out of the heat. So we took a pass.
FIRE'd @ 47 