Land of the worlds very best coffee...and views too!

Hi Blogland! Im back with even more Bali goodness...this time its all about venturing out and about, away from the comforts of the resort to discover the real deal. As I mentioned in the last post, we hired our faithful driver Putra, to take us to the best places on the island for a day. He was a real trouper, arriving to the resort by 8am and not dropping us back until after 8pm that evening...that`s a lot of terrain to cover...we`re talkin about 20 Absolute Vodka bottles of Gasolina!

Putra took us to see the traditional Balinese dancers in lavish costumes. We didn’t quite understand the story but hey they could really shake a booty! The hips don`t lie!

We took a tour of a coffee plantation where the “best coffee in the world” is grown, harvested, cleaned and roasted by this sweet sweet lady.

 

I know you must be dyyyyying to know what makes this stuff the very best java in the whole wide world?! Well I sure wanted to know and boy was I in for a treat. There are these little critters that look like the love child of a cat and a raccoon called a Luwak. They go about scavenging the ground and, being the coffee connoisseurs that they are, they pick ONLY the very best beans to eat as they scurry along. So when I said the beans were “harvested” on site that was kind of a loose interpretation. Because the real truth is that the beans ferment in the critters belly and then exit via the natural digestive process...if you know what i mean! And then the locals gather these precious 'deposits' and clean and roast them to produce “the best coffee in the world”. YUM.

We tried a few varieties of beverages, they were all super delish! Even the very best variety 

(when in Bali – do as the Balinese do!)

 

Talk about a view for lunch. Sitting in Kintamani over looking the sacred Batur volcano, at 1500m.

On the way back to the resort that evening we drove through the iconic rice patties in the peaceful village of Ubud. Can you imagine going to work everyday at these rice patties?! Up to your knees in swampy wetness and surrounded by more shades of green than you can possibly find words to describe...I'll be thinking of these rice gods & goddesses with each and every grain of rice that passes my lips. That's no easy breezy business.


It was such a brilliant day that we asked Putra to meet us again the next day too for another round of Balinese adventure (think gorgeous seaside temples).

xo Tegs

So good

Back from the Island of the Gods and yes, this place is truely blessed. I feel like I could probably go on for more days than we were actually in Indonesia about how much we enjoyed Bali to the absolute fullest. It's the essence of relaxation squeezed in between bounds of adventure. The sun was shining everyday (it packed some serious heat) so this is how we coped...

 An afternoon at the surf club.

 

 

We met some beautiful people on the island. Everyone was so kind and caring and always there to help out in anyway they could. Dave and I made a new friend Madi, who I'm pretty certain has like a black belt in Tailoring...if ever there was such a thing. He made Dave a 3 piece suit, custom shoes and a jacket in 2 days!! I still think he has a deal with the fabric gods because I cant really fathom how that's possible, on top of my order for a jacket too?! So naturally I placed another order for a (few) dress(s) to be shipped to Aus. They came before I even got my blog post up!! I think Madi and I are going to be life long friends. Then there was our driver Putra, the most nicest of drivers we could have found in Bali (I could get used to having a driver *drifting into dream*)...we will share our adventures with him in the next post! He took us from a scenic lunch at the top of a volcano, then wound all the way down to these hot springs at the bottom, where the only healing spa in Bali awaited us. I felt healed alright.

 

 
 

My handsome cabana boy!

When we weren`t touring the island, it was straight back to the resort for more bevys and some R&R!

Dave's loving his Bintang and I'm loving him!

Well I think the pictures tell a far better tale than I ever could, but needless to say, we had a wonderful time celebrating our beautiful past nine years together and what a fabulous way start to our tenth anniversary around the sun. Love is so good.

I mean seriously, who wouldn't want some more of this? I`ll take 100 more years please.

Hope you enjoyed Part 1 of our relaxing Balinese bliss, Part 2 is coming next and oozing with adventures away from resort life! 

xo  Tegs

I spy with my little eye...crocodile dundee!

We jetted off a week ago to experience the Island of the Gods and all the beauty that Bali beholds! This trip kicked off our celebration of nine dreamy years together! We are starting the festivities a bit early, but hey, when there is so much goodness to celebrate in this life, it takes a long time to fit it all in!! We did a quick stop over in the capital city of the Northern Territory to check out Darwin, and who do you think I would spot before 10 am but a modern day Crocodile Dundee! No joke, I actually did a double take. And that was pretty much the highlight of Darwin (although i did learn that the city is named in honour of Charles Darwin and that it has had to be completely re-built twice once following a WWII raid and again after Cyclone Tracy tore the city to shreds in '74). Not too much happening up there at the top end of the land downunda, just a good ol' arid, winter heat wave to prep us for the Bali beaches. The only souvenir I took from this place was a mild sunburn. 

 

Before we knew it we were awaiting take off to Denpasar, and ready to get on Bali time! Stay tuned for a BIG post (or two) to come on that next!

  Xo Tegs

Insane in the Bisbane

We're back from the beautiful land of Bali and had one of the most amazeballs trips yet! I took tons of snaps and will be posting them shortly...but for today I wanted to wish a special someone the very happiest of birthdays! Since we cant be in Calgary to celebrate, im sharing a post of celebrations past. I mean, this night was enough fiesta to float a party boat! Isn't it just a fact of life that by adding streamers to the walls and tropical umbrellas to the punch the party soars to another level?! 

Happy quarter of a century Del!!

Cheers Govna!!!

I forsee another impromptu photoshoot in the future!
xo Tegs

Rummage-ing

I bet you’re never gonna guess what Dave and I did today?! 

Well since I can’t really hear any guesses through this cold hard monitor I’m just going to go ahead and blog about it!

Today we took part in an epic suitcase rummage. 

What the heck is this, you ask?! Weeeelllll...its kinda like a modern version of channeling your inner granny and getting your garage sale on! I'd heard about this once a month event a few months back...so when June rolled around I decided to take the plunge. We booked a stall, packed our used goods in a suitcase and joined about a hundred other people to host a mega suitcase rummage in the middle of the city center. So, seeing as we are trying to lighten the load back home to Canada, thrifty ol’ me thought that this was the perfect opportunity! Some may think this concept is purely el-cheapo, but there is some awesome stuff out there for very reasonable bargains (think nothing over 5 bucks!). Like in our case, the stuff we were selling was in perfectly good condition it just couldn’t be used in Canada...or, we didn’t plan on packing it there. And last, but certainly not least, all of the “goods” go to homes where they can be loved a little longer rather than going into the land fill. Its saves another 50 articles of clothing, books, dvds and new dvd players from getting purchased off the shelf at Dick Smiths...and that’s the part I love the most!

Dave got right into the sales pitch with me, we had a "name the price and its yours" policy on everything. And he really took the "everything must go" tagline to heart. I took a little break from the merchant role, to wander the stalls with Sabi...only to return to Dave, sweet Dave who had sold my umbrella!!! The one that I used on the walk over and the one that I still needed for the next two months of rainy season - for a dollar! Luckily the chap was only a few steps away so he kindly let me keep it in return for his coin!

The icing on this giant “once loved” cake is that I made my very first commission, selling my only original painting to a man who wanted to gift it to a friend! (it was hung in our house for close to 2 years!) Heck yeah, i’ll admit it was a solid day in the life of a granny and gramps. We wheeled our suitcases away richer and feeling a hundred pounds lighter. And that’s our gorgeously green effort for today.

xo Tegs