Haifa in Brevity

The weekend before Christmas I woke up to my phone ringing. "Look outside, the weather's nice. Let's go to Haifa!" Noah announced over the phone. Within an hour we were headed to the Central Bus Station and on our way to Haifa. 

Haifa had been on my go to list for awhile. It has two of my favorite things: mountains and the coast. Plus as a bonus it also has religious significance as the center of the Baha'i faith. So we decided to take the afternoon to explore the city, take in the sights, and visit the Baha'i temple.

A front view of the temple.

The temple has an insane amount of beautiful gardens that wind up and down the side of Mount Carmel.

A picture Noah took of me walking around the streets of Haifa trying to find entrances into other parts of the gardens.

The Baha'i temple.

Me in the gardens near the temple.

Garden selfie!

We only had time to spend a few hours there, but the city was gorgeous and we enjoyed some amazing food and gelato during our mini adventure. Although we only got a brief taste, it was an awesome trip and definitely a place I would have loved to spend some more time exploring. 

Watching the sunset over the lower portion of Haifa from the gardens.

The "Inn for Spiritual Travelers"

Although I traveled all around Ubud, I had to pick a location that would be my temporary home despite my nomadic two-wheeled roaming. I got to experience some of the Christian and Muslim culture in Java, so I decided while I was on Bali I should truly round out the inter-faith experience. So on Friday evening I checked myself into an ashram.

I stayed at the Anand Ashram, 3 kilometers north of the main street in Ubud. It was absolutely gorgeous and the two locals who live and work at the ashram are so nice and welcoming. I am so glad I decided to try a different type of housing for my time in Bali. It was really rewarding, and for the most part I didn't even mind the early morning wake up times to make all the pre-dawn programing.

The main inn for the ashram residents. (I think the ashram can hold up to 8 people at a time.)

However I was reassigned to a hut they had on the premises due to another person wanting a traditional room.

Although I personally just think he or she must have been afraid of spiders. I got to shower outdoors with this not so little fellow and some of its friends only inches away from my body. (This one was probably 4 inches in diameter.)

The main center of the ashram. Downstairs and upstairs there's a sort of all inclusive temple. The upstairs is a meditation room and downstairs is a gathering area for yoga or other activities.

The view from the second floor, outside the meditation room.

There was nothing radical or life changing about just three days at the ashram, but it was a beautiful place with an amazing vibe. Everyone passing through on their travels had such great stories and experiences and it was nice to stay with people who valued something other than coming to Bali to get raging drunk on the beach. I think staying here was one of my favorite things I've done in Indonesia.

I Want Candi

This weekend we did a little more touring around Jogja. Saturday the three of us went downtown to tour the water castle. Also known as Taman Sari, it was built by the first Sultan of Yogyakarta and was used as a resting area, meditation area, defense area, and hiding place. So welcome to Cribs: Javanese Royalty Edition.

At the ruins of the watercastle.

The three of us at the center of the underground mosque, where the azan used to be performed.

Some local kids were flying kites on the roof of the structure leading to the mosque.... so our guide showed us where they climb up and we went up too!

The entrance to the sultan's pool.

So the story goes that the balcony was for the sultan to watch his multitude of women essentially strut their stuff to the pool. He'd fill his pool with concubines and then toss a single flower from the balcony into the pool. The girl who was able to get it would be taken into his "final room".

The bedroom that the sultan would bring the winning concubine to. And you know, me just being my casual self.

Outside of one of the sultan's guest houses with our adoring fans *cough* personal male concubines *cough*.

And Sunday was no less exciting. Ayu took us to Prambanan. At this point I feel like I'm racking up UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but Prambanan held its own amongst the others. It is a Hindu temple compound originally built around 850 CE but has had an interesting history of natural disasters and historical take overs between now and then that has influenced the current appearance. Now only a few temples have actually been reconstructed. Hundreds more lay in rubble in the surrounding area.

The main temples dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva surrounded by the rubble of other temples.

The three of us in front of Prambanan.

A statue of the god Brahma inside one of the temples.

Also, as usual, we were more exciting to the local students than the actual temples. (Shout out to my parents: hundreds of Indonesians apparently think you created something cooler than UNESCO Heritage Sites that took centuries and dynasties to create. So I guess props to you.) This is a picture of students taking pictures of us.

We managed to avoid the paparazzi every now and then for a photo of our own though.

Not too far off from the main Prambanan temple complex are ruins of some other Buddhist temples that we got to visit as well.

One of the Buddhist temples.

Also if you're worn out from all the touring you could buy an iced cold Bintang (or mineral water, if you're into that) from this guy.

Overall it was a fantastic (and exhausting) weekend. My next few days are full of other adventures... just of the more mundane variety. Tomorrow I'm off to the immigration office to renew my visa. Also, I'm going to try and apply for an Indonesian drivers licence... so, that could end well....

A few after-notes...

1. The title is something that popped into my head as we were touring Prambanan. "Candi" (actually pronounced ch-andy) is the Indonesian word for temple. But the chorus of "I Want Candy" wouldn't get out of my head after I thought of it.

2. Happy father's day Dad!

3. The caption on the last photo is a joke. I'm being sarcastic about alcohol being sold at such a prestegious religious site. I don't support drinking... particularly at such locations (unless it is mineral water).