Bali culture and massage

Bali culture in Kuta

The Balinese culture permeates every aspect of your day here. There are statues everywhere, lots of hidden temples and shrines and little offerings to the gods put out in front of every house and place of business. Here are a few pictures from my day: 

Statues:

And check out these properly weird looking cheeky chappies. ;)

Signs are beautifully carved, and temples seem to be found everywhere.

This baby was close to Starbucks. 

Here is a picture of a bunch of the good luck offerings together on a table: 

Balinese food is available everywhere but so is everything else. Check this out! Look closely and you'll see a sign for gluten free pizza and pasta! 😄

They also like their food fresh it seems:

After a snack near the beach (Ok ice cream... It's a holiday!), I did some browsing of the markets which was intense (the attention is occasionally stifling) and then headed off to my massage :)

Balinese massage

Most of the hotels have spas and all the spas do massage. There are extra spas along the roads, and massages offered on the beach. You can get a massage with your dry-cleaning and if you are buying a bottle of water you may also be offered a massage. "How much is it?" will often be met with "what do you wanna pay?" And once "you look tense, you deserve a massage, let mama give you relax" hehe. Not long ago all this would have seriously freaked me out. Now it's just funny, but still I can feel my boundaries being stretched while I am here which is what I wanted :) To grow as a person a bit at a time but not so fast that it hurts ;) 

I arrive at my massage in good time and get 10 minutes to sit and chill by the fountain before the ladies greet me and shower me with apologies for their absence which I don't quite understand since I was fine and early. :) 

I am taken through to a room and given disposable paper panties, or my 'glam massage knickers' as I decided to call them. I lay on the massage bed for my chosen back massage (I had the option of back or foot). I soon realise that 'back' means 'anything you can see from the back' as my feet, legs, hands, arms, back and butt cheeks are massaged. They also do massage differently and many a cracking and popping sound was heard to emanate from my back region. I knew I was in for trouble when she discovered the knots in my shoulders and I heard her climb onto the table to get some more leverage. 'Crunch crunch crunch' pop and she seemed satisfied; I'm not surprised too, I think my shoulders now sit about an inch lower ;) To finish my head is massaged in a way that is as delicious as it is crazy-hair inducing, and when I get dressed I look in the mirror and thank the Bali gods for my sun hat :) 

I continued my exploration with a bit more of a walk around, but the jet lag combined with the massage pretty much knocked me out after I arrived back at my hotel and I felt too sleepy-drunk to venture out again. I ate some strange fruit  and passed out happily on my enormous comfy bed still holding my hat and thinking about my favourite moment of the day watching the waves in the sunshine. :)