Dear Friends,
Last Sunday, my family and I went to a deserted beach at Sanur area, eastern side of the city.
It was a cold early evening with clouds and strong wind.
The scenery was almost monochrome with no sign of lights.
The road was heavily damaged with forsaken buildings along its sides.
Perhaps the remains of the tsunami.
Just like a typical scene of survival horror games, Fatal Frame, Resident Evil... you got the idea...
At the end of the road, there was a small house and a complex of temples, which amazingly clean and well maintained.
The place give us a warm atmosphere despite the cold weather.
It feels like coming home from a thousands years of journey.
A mid aged man greet and welcomed us warmly.
He was having a serious kidney problem and was magically healed when he tried to drown himself at this beach.
Then he devoted himself to this beach, saying good bye to his wife, children, family, neighbor and the rest of the world.
He sleeps on the sand regardless it's hot or raining.
He looks so calm and free.
After some introduction, we place the offering at the temples and begin the purifying ritual.
He bathed us with a mixture of coconut water, river and sea water.
Then we walked into a place where the river meets the sea.
The river itself is the end flow of the nine rivers that flow through out the Bali island.
We dip ourselves there for sometime and felt cleaned and refreshed.
All the burden seemed to washed away by the river's flow.
Once we're ready, we prayed at the temple.
The temple was build at the edge of a pier.
If you look at it with hazed eyes, it seemed like a gate that connected heaven and earth.
There was also lots of figurine of gods and demons, as well as deities from other religion such as Buddha and the Goddess Kwan-Im.
Once we finished, we said goodbye and thank you to the elderly man.
We felt like staying there forever but life calls.
We'll go there again on the next full moon.
Until then, peace and farewell....
