I've been to Bali too.

I have been so lucky so far in 2015.  I've been in the US in early January, Batam in February, Chiang Mai in March and recently I was in Bali too!  In 2 more weeks I'm traveling to Tassie to see my boys, and in June I'll be heading to the US again.  WOW.

So Bali.  My wonderful friend Em runs 2 retreats every year to Bali; Soulful Escape to Bali 

I wasn't able to go for the full trip, but just a few days escape over the weekend.  I arrived late at night, and this was the lovely villa where I stayed.  As I arrived in the dark, I didn't even know where to go to find breakfast in the morning, but was pleasantly surprised to find this:

 We did indigo dyeing:

 Stopped to have some yummy treats

And then the indigo guy came with his buckets of indigo and showed us how he worked.

 Em's friend and business partner, the lovely Nicole, speaks fluent Indonesian and lived in Bali a number of years ago.  She has lots of local contacts and is a wonderful giving and sharing person. Such a pleasure to meet her.

 I loved watching her interact with the locals.

 We did our own indigo dyeing...I'll show mine at some point.

 This guy is covered in indigo from head to toe.

 I chose to wear gloves, but they broke...

 We had lovely lunches...

 Walked through rice fields.

 And back streets.

 Em and Nicole are so gorgeous.  They really make it a special experience.

 I was fascinated by the "architecture" (for want of a better word) and how it compared to Thailand.  The stone work in Bali is so earthy and chunky somehow compared to Thailand.  I also love how those gateways look like they have been cut in half and moved apart.

 An early morning shot of the pool with mist rising off it before we did yoga.

 A highlight of the trip was the silversmithing workshop.  I will definitely do this again when I go back.

 I made a cuff.

 The light was pretty bad in there, and it was only yesterday when I realized that my "o" was actually a "q".

 And I made a ring (although our teacher did the soldering while we peddled the bellows)

 And a pendant.  I loved doing this course.  So interesting; so much potential!!!

 There was some shopping around the streets of Ubud.

 And lovely dinners.  Em is my Aussie friend living in New Hampshire, US and the last time I saw her we were both rugged up to the max in her studio in December:

While I love a good winter and was so happy to be dressed like that, I know that it's not her cup of tea.  It was so nice to see her just blossoming in her "natural habitat".  Love this girl!

 Another shot of my very cool villa.

 This most unappetizing looking of things is Durian.  I tasted it for the first time and it is really revolting.

 The daily offerings.

 Bali goodness.

 Through Nicole's connections, we got to go and see a Balinese dance class at her friend's compound.  It was just like all the dance classes I'd taken my kids to over the years. Just gorgeous to see how kids around the world are all the same really.

A sewing shop.  I want this machine.

 A tattoo newly made on one of the participants.  There was a lot of tattoo talk this trip, but I really wasn't tempted.

 Our little group of lovely creative, generous women.  I came in late and left very early, but they opened their hearts to me.

 We are all killing ourselves laughing as while this was being taken this a group of tourists (?) all wearing the same uniform (?) came in and demanded that they have their photo taken with us too.  VERY STRANGE!

 As the group went off to their next lovely activity, I waited for my driver.

 And finally took this photo looking up into the ceiling of our patio area.

 Of where we sat, created, ate meals, did yoga.

 Of our creative work area

 And of myself, happy and rested.

 I am, indeed, very lucky.