Birthday tour

What a great 56th birthday I had! Many people made it something very special for me.

It started at 1:45 am. Kadek picked us up at the hotel to drive to the volcano, Batur. We were on the road for about 2 hours, and I have to be honest, Rainer and I took a nap or two in the car. The drive there was quite foggy, too foggy for my taste. But what could we do. A volcano is very high, and the top is cold and foggy. When we arrived at the parking lot with Kadek, we switched to a jeep. Our driver's name was Mangku, he was 34 years old (by the way, it's his birthday today) and had 4 children. He drove us up the volcano for another 45 minutes. I can't put into words how cool it was. The jeep was quite big, and the sound of the engine was awesome, but it smelled like an old steam locomotive. When we reached the top, he parked the jeep and told us that we could stay here and grab a coffee if we wanted. The community of all the jeep drivers was great. Everyone helped each other to find their spot. There were about 300 jeeps around us. So there we stood, around 6:00 am, and waited for the things that were supposed to come. There was only fog, whole walls of fog coming towards us, and I was really worried that it wouldn't be a beautiful sunrise. But fortunately, I was proven wrong. Mangku took photos of me, and suddenly everyone clapped and shouted, and I realized that something amazing must be happening behind me. The sun slowly emerged from the mist in its full red color. It was sensational and indescribably beautiful. I had goosebumps all over me. If you are in Bali, nearby, you should definitely take such a tour. It's worth 100%. And for those who are not as lazy as us, they can also hike up for 2-3 hours. 🤣 After observing the sun for a long time, how it wanted to brighten the day, we drove back down. But not to our final destination where Kadek was waiting for us, but to a place full of lava stones. Mangku also took photos of us there. In total, we were on the road for 3.5 hours and paid 42€ per person.

For us, it was a very valuable investment and experience to be able to witness the sunrise on a volcano in Bali.

After that, we went to a silver workshop with Kadek. My wish was to make a ring myself and to get a nice birthday present from Rainer. A few days ago, I found a yellow shell in the water in front of our hotel. Rainer wanted to try and make a pendant out of it. The jewelry experts communicated with each other because it seemed to be a not so easy task. But they were optimistic and created a necklace with Rainer. Mine was a bit simpler 🤣. I knew that I wanted two rings in one with a stone. I drew my idea for them and chose a stone that I liked. My lucky stone is the moonstone, and they had it in the right size for me. So both of us started following the instructions, knocking and grinding as much as we could. I even got to stamp my name into my ring. Meanwhile, we had to pump gas into the Bunsen burner with a bellows so that the professional ladies could melt on a piece or two. It was a lot of fun, and we laughed a lot with the ladies. But the best thing was that I received my wish from my colleagues as a birthday present. On the way there, Rainer gave me the voucher in the car. I didn't know what to expect, but I was moved to tears.

I love this ring.

Although we had received a breakfast package from the hotel, we hadn't eaten much until then. Kadek suggested going to a Warung for lunch and then driving to the Monkey Forest. So that's what we did.

The "Monkey Forest" is a zoo where only monkeys of a certain species live. However, there are 1250 of them in 10 different families. There are times when the monkeys fight each other, but they are usually peaceful. Provided you don't look into their eyes, pet them, or tease them. The forest they live in has a subtropical climate. It's quite humid 🤣. But you can see trees and palm trees that seem to reach the sky. Very impressive. Lianas at least 10 meters long. In one corner, a monkey even climbed onto Rainer's shoulder. Looked around and then continued climbing over me and then onto the wooden railing. We were probably just in the way 🤣. Really cool. On the other hand, Kadek made strange noises to take photos of the monkey. He said it was probably the monkey language that the monkeys would understand 🤣🤣.

After spending an hour there, we continued to a district in Ubud where artists and painters live. Kadek took us to a place where countless paintings were exhibited. It was a school or an academy where artists were trained. A very nice, artistically educated man showed us around a bit and explained some things to us. I also showed him my pictures that I saved on my phone, and he told me that they were really good. But he advised me not to take my inspiration from the internet but from my own head or thoughts. Let's see if I can implement that someday.

At 5 pm, we drove back to Amed. Wili, Kadek's wife, had invited us for a birthday dinner. We had "chicken tutu". It is a Balinese specialty (which you have to pre-order at the restaurant at least one day in advance). It is a cooked chicken in a quite spicy sauce. It was served with a special salad (slightly warm), rice, roasted peanuts, and a spicy dip. We ate everything with our fingers, as is typical in Bali. There aren't really any table manners like in Germany. Of course, there is cutlery for everyone, but it tastes best with your fingers 🤣. And it's not a problem to make some noise while enjoying the food 🤣. You don't have to follow everything that is shown here. 🙏🏽 But the best thing was when Kadek brought me a birthday cake, singing, with his son after dinner. I was totally moved. Such a surprise. Really amazing. Unfortunately, the number was not correct 🤣, it should have been a 29, but Kadek said that those numbers were sold out. The cake not only looked good but also tasted very delicious.

It was one of the most beautiful birthdays I have ever experienced. I would love to have more birthdays like this in the future. ☀️🎁🌋🌄💍🐚🐒👩‍🎨🎂☀️