Traditional entertainment in a modern setting

I've often found that having friends who are visiting from overseas or who are only living in your city for a short period is a fantastic way to force you to do more in your own city.  Too often we find ourselves putting off doing things or exploring places because we think we can do it later.  That later never seems to come unless we decide otherwise.

At the moment, Ayuna and I both had a friend who was living in Hong Kong for a few months and she was keen to see lots of different parts of the city.

One thing we all wanted to see was some Cantonese opera.  In particular, we wanted to go to the Xiqu centre in the West Kowloon cultural district.  This area had been under construction for years and it had now finally opened up for the public to enjoy.  It was the perfect time for all of us to visit.  To top it all off, another one of Ayuna's friends wanted to come and our friend Zuzanna's parents were visiting her.  It would be a nice excursion.

The Xiqu centre itself is a beautiful building.  There's been a lot of criticisms of its design, particularly that it looks a bit "toaster" like from the outside.  Some of those criticisms may be well founded, but up close and particularly inside the main atrium, it is a fantastic big and open space.

We had decided to go and watch our show at the "Tea House theatre".  This would give us an introduction to Cantonese opera rather than requiring us to watch a full opera in its entirety.  The layout of the seating was something different as well, with the theatre designed to look more like the traditional Cantonese opera settings where people sit next to tables and are served food and tea throughout the show.  The seats could have been a bit more comfortable, but I liked how they incorporated in the side tables for our food and tea.  It made everything feel a bit closer to the authentic.

I had arrived early (unlike everyone else), so I was able to enjoy the location for a bit before the show started.

As the lights dimmed, none of my friends had arrived.  Slowly, they shuffled into the theatre in the darkness and made their way to their seats.  Our choice of the "introduction" to Cantonese opera was a wise one.  We got to see a variety of different styles and the directors had clearly chosen some "funnier" scenes from various operas to keep us entertained.  None of us had any experience with this form of performance, so any more detailed nuances would have been lost of us.

Watching the performers dance and sing, it was unquestionably beautiful.  The considerations for the form, the movement and various actor interactions were careful thought out and deliberate.  I think I want to come back and watch some more, but next time I might bring my parents.

Depressing movies

I was convince by my friend Ayuna to watch the old Soviet movie "Stalker" by the acclaimed director Andrei Tarkovsky.

This was a movie which she claimed would change the way I think about cinema.  It was a movie that apparently had a reputation of being one of the great masterpieces of global cinema.

It was a struggle.

It was undoubtedly a beautifully shot and directed movie, but the pace was glacial and the dialogue intense.  As a movie to be watched by friends after dinner, it was not something which made us laugh with delight.  It was more a movie to be admired in an art house cinema or to be viewed by a friends from a book club.

We all walked away from the movie like we had completed a marathon (the movie was of course very long).

As one friend said, this was for him akin to going to a funeral, he didn't enjoy himself but he's glad he went.

I like watching movies, but I think I lean towards his thinking.

Cantonese classics

My day to day diet always changes when my parents visit.  Since they live in Australia, they usually want to eat as much Cantonese food as possible when they're in town.  I can't really blame them.  I'm also the type of person that will seek out the food I can't normally get when I travel.  When I see them in Australia, I'll usually have a "no Asian food" policy since I can get more than my fill of that in Hong Kong.

I was getting dinner with them one night and they took me to an old restaurant recommended by their friends.  It was an old school Cantonese restaurant in North Point.  When I walked in, I immediately felt like I was back in my childhood as the decor looked like it hadn't changed since the 90s.  It's one of the shocking things about Hong Kong, there seems to have been a complete lack of any capital investment by a whole host of restaurants since the 90s.  With rents as high as they are, they probably can't afford the investment or the work stoppage to make it happen.  This restaurant was thankfully quite clean and well maintained.  We sat down and my parents quickly ordered.  The food arrived promptly (but not "too" promptly) and I was thrown further back in time.

My parents had ordered snow pea sprouts with a crab sauce.  The sprouts were fresh and the sauce was light.  The sweetness of crab and snow pea sprouts has always been a great combination, and I remember my parents making this for my brother and I when we were young.

Next was the crispy skinned chicken.  It's still so common at the events held by local Hong Kongers, but it doesn't get the love that it deserves.  Hong Kong will always love roast goose, but there's something about the chicken in Hong Kong.  I'm not sure what it is, but it just tastes more "chickeny" than back in Australia.

Lastly we had sang choi bao.  Of all the dishes, this was what I least expected.  It is a truly old school dish that is rarely seen anymore.  It was once a favourite in Australian Chinese restaurants, probably due to the novelty for Australians back in the day of wrapping up their food with a piece of lettuce.  Novelty factor aside, it can be a great dish.  The freshness of the lettuce being the ideal accompaniment to the rich and fatty stir fry of minced duck, mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

For the three of us, it was more than enough food.  All three dishes aren't exactly contemporary, but they were very well cooked.  I probably don't explore enough of the truly local in Hong Kong.  Living in my expat bubble, it's a bit too easy to get caught up with all of the international cuisine available in Hong Kong.  There's plenty of time for that to change though.

Running into new friends

I've been really enjoying running lately.

It definitely helps to have a couple of friends who love running and who are willing to put up with my slow speed.  Running with them has also been great as they've been able to help me to identify issues with my technique which has dramatically changed both my running abilities and my overall enjoyment of the activity.  Who would have thought that being better at something would make it more fun?  A real shock isn't it?

We try to go up and run on the Bowen Road Fitness Trail, up in the Western Mid Levels area of Hong Kong.  It's a nice and flat running track which sits halfway up the mountain and which snakes from Central all the way over to Happy Valley.  When running at night, it gives some of the most incredible views of Hong Kong.  You feel as though you are running through a forrest and yet you still feel illuminated by the incredible bright lights of the evening skyline.

One night, after we finished our run, we were recovering in Bowen Road Park when we heard rustling in the bushes.

There was not one, but two porcupine moving around!

I had only seen a porcupine once before in Hong Kong and that was a fleeting glance as it ran away.  This was

We tried to follow them for a bit at a safe distance.  It was an amazing experience to be able to see these two incredible animals just wandering around a park in the middle of Hong Kong, going about their daily routine.  Seeing such unique animals was not something I ever expected when I first moved to Hong Kong.

Ed and I followed them for a little bit.... but then we turned and ran quick as Alan had run a bit ahead to look at them and accidentally scared them so they began to bolt directly at us.  As much as I liked looking at these animals, I still didn't want to get too close!

Impromptu street parties

The "place to be" is never a set location.

When I first got to Hong Kong, most people would go out either in Lan Kwai Fong or around the Soho area.

These days, the place to be in Hong Kong seems to be narrow section of Peel street between Hollywood Road and Staunton Street.

Every Friday and Saturday night, a street party forms in this area as people pop in and out of the bars and restaurants on either side.  It's an amazing place to catch up with friends and the atmosphere is truly incredible.  Knowing Hong Kong, this will probably only be a short lived thing before everyone moves off to another location.

In the meantime... I feel for the people living the apartments above!

Sunset Peak

I don't do enough hiking in Hong Kong.  It's so easy to get so absorbed into the city itself that you forget that you are surrounded by forests and nature.

Ed on the other hand had fully embraced the hiking scene since he had moved to Hong Kong.  He suggested a big hike for everyone out on Lantau Island which seemed like a great idea.  It always seems easier to hike in Hong Kong when you have a "hike leader" who acts as both guide and organiser.

For this hike, we would be doing something a bit more challenging than the normal hikes on the island.  Ed had tasked us with climbing to the top of Sunset Peak before walking to Cheung Sha beach for food.  Sunset Peak is the third highest peak in Hong Kong.  The hike itself wouldn't be too difficult, but it was definitely a bit longer than the short one of two hours hikes most of us normally did.

We arrived by ferry at Mui Wo and began the walk up.  Our group was a fairly varied collection which included Hong Kongers, Australians, Europeans and Russians.  At first, we went through jungles and relatively thick forests.  Not surprising given where we were in the world.  It was helpful for us to have the canopy of the trees protecting us from the heat of the sun.  As we got further up, the trees started to get more sparse and the clouds also started rolling in.  It was still warm enough without the sun, but we were thankful to avoid the harsh glare.

One of the German girls who had come hiking with us was surprised by the change in scenery.  She lived in the North of Germany and she mentioned the surroundings felt far more like Denmark than a part of Hong Kong.

It was easy to understand her perspective.  When thinking of Hong Kong, these windswept grassy hills aren't the first thing to come to mind.

There were plenty of rocks for us to climb and there was definitely a great sense of achievement for reaching the top.  The walk down towards Cheung Sha was treacherous though.

As we started to descend, it started to rain.  The rock paved paths went from being helpful to slippery and we struggled to get to the bottom without falling.  The group split in two as the fitter and more experienced surged ahead, whilst the rest of us took more care.  We arrived completely soaked, but still happy that we had made it all the way.

Returning to the scene

Years ago, I visited Hong Kong when I was just a university student.  I had a great time and one night I was even taken out to party in Lan Kwai Fong by some family.

We had a great now out and I remember they took us out for dinner at a Russian restaurant.  I even wrote about it all on this blog.

That was years ago.  This is now.

My Russian friend Ayuna wanted to take some of us out for dinner at a Russian restaurant.  She suggested we go to "Ivan the Kozak" up on Wyndham street.  Why not I thought?  After all, what better way to experience a country's cuisine than to have a local introduce it to you.

The food was nice, it was hearty and filling.

I was getting a strange feeling though.  Looking around, everything felt "familiar".  I had the distinct feeing that I had been here before....

It turns out of course that I had been here before.  This was the same restaurant that I went to when I was visiting Hong Kong all those years ago (albeit in a slightly different location).  It's strange how powerful a memory can be, how feint hints of the familiar can stir up memories that you thought you had lost long ago.

This evening ended on a much more civilised note.  There would be no fake wrestling with drunken Scotsmen in LKF.  Instead, we ended up at a jazz bar listening to music and drinking glasses of wine.  Very refined in comparison.

It happened again

The Starbucks near my work has been vandalised to varying degrees about 4 or 5 times.

Everytime, it gets cleaned up, rebuilt and then reopened.

Walking past it this morning I noticed that it had been attacked again.

Starbucks in Hong Kong is run by the local Hong Kong company Maxims and the daughter of one of their founders made some unfortunate comments about the nature of the Hong Kong protests.  This lead to a quick reaction from the protesters against all things Maxims (including Starbucks).

I feel bad for the employees of this Starbucks, but I also can't understand why they haven't put in place some better security after all of this vandalism.  Surely by now they must have realised that this location needed some better metal gates or something like that?

Sunshine and fresh air are the best cure

I feel awful.

My head hurts, I'm congested and I have no energy.  Getting sick is always annoying, but there's something about getting sick during good weather and the warmer months which seems extra off.

A group of my friends were heading to the beach at Chung Hom Kok.  I agreed to go even though I felt like death.  One of the great things about living in Hong Kong is that nothing is really ever that far.  I live in the middle of the city, and this trip to the beach was a 15 minute cab ride. 

The moment I got to the beach, I laid out my towel and promptly fell asleep.  The sand was soft, the sun was warm and a fresh breeze blew in just often enough to keep me cool.

I woke up a bit later as it got warmer and moved my towel under the shade.  I looked out and saw that everyone had gone swimming.  I was happy enough to lay there and enjoy the outdoors.  I felt far better than I had earlier.

Rest, sunshine and fresh air.  It's amazing how restorative are combination they are.

Bad decisions

I love going out in Hong Kong.  The night life in this city is fantastic and I've always enjoyed its "everyone is welcome" approach and attitudes.  There's no particular groups or age profile for who goes out and everyone has fun.

I was out one night with the final stragglers for the evening and someone suggested Flaming Lamborghinis.  For some bizarre reason, everyone left seemed to think that was a good idea.  After a short walk, we were all in a dingy bar in LKF.

A Flaming Lamborghini was ordered.

I stood back and watched it all happen, having no intent whatsoever to join in.  The participants circled the flames and drank up the spirits with their straws to the delight of those around.

Diana looked at me, clearly trying to get me to join in.  It wasn't going to happen.

Little brothers grow up as well

The process of ageing is strange.  I don't really feel any older or different to how I felt when I was in my early twenties.  I think that the lack of the "grown up" events such as marriage and children to date have contributed to this lack of any noticeable change.  On the whole, I find that my life from then to now has not dramatically changed all that much other than that the quality of the booze I drink is better and the places I stay are nicer.  Still, as those around me started to move onto the next phases of their lives, it was dragging me along with them.

Seeing my younger brother getting married was definitely one of those events that would help drag me forward a bit.

He and his fiance had been together for years, but now the wedding was happening.  Both of them lived in London, but they had enough family in Australia and specifically around Brisbane to make that the ideal location for the wedding.

They chose a beautiful location in the heart of Brisbane for the ceremony.  It was an imposing and grand cathedral, the type of which I didn't really expect to see in Australia.  During the ceremony, I read one of the prayers, so I walked to the front of the church and stood up at the lectern.  Looking out across the church and all the people seated in the pews, you could really feel the size of this place.

After the wedding, we went to a hotel in South Bank for the reception.  Inside we were able to do some of the more traditional elements of a Chinese wedding as my brother and Vicky did the tea ceremony with the various parents and older generation.  As the older brother, they even served me tea as well.  It was a nice touch to our culture and it was interesting to see all of their non-Asian friends gathering around to watch.  All of them seemed intrigued by the tradition and many of them said they wished they had something similar they could do as well.

As the night went on, the skies darkened and the Brisbane skyline came to life.  We had a lovely view of the lights from the wedding reception.  The later the night went, the more of the older people who started to leave.

After a while, it was only the closest of friends who remained to continue the party.  The lights of the city eventually started to switch off and eventually so did the music.  Some of the committed decided to continue the party elsewhere, but for me it was time to sleep.

The Gabba

Sometimes timing works out perfectly.

I had travelled to Brisbane for my brother's wedding.  He and his fiance lived in London, but due to family, they decided that it made more sense for them to marry in Brisbane.

By sheer luck, the AFL results fell in such a way that one of the semi-final games was to be in Brisbane the night before the wedding.

It had been a couple of years since I had been able to go to a game and it had been over five years since he had been able to go to a game.  Not living in Australia will have that impact.  It was perfect then for a group of his friends and him to enjoy his final night as an unmarried man watching a game of Aussie Rules.

The Lions were playing the Giants.

It was my first time at the Gabba as well.  It was a very nice stadium, with comfortable seats and great sight lines of the entire field.  I even got to eat a meat pie.

The game was good to watch and eventually the Giants managed to push in front.  Having lived in Sydney, they were kind of my second team after the Hawks, so I was happy they won.

After the game, we joined in the traditional of having a kick on the field.  It was a nice way to finish the game, and also a nice way for my brother's last night as a bachelor to end.  Having a last kick with his friends seemed to be a nice analogy for the end of childhood.

Peng Chau

Ed and I go to Cheung Chau all the time.  That's not an exaggeration either.  We really go there that much.  There was one period last year when we went there five weekends in a row.

We thought it made sense to branch out a little bit and visit somewhere different.  We decided to stay close by and shifted our attention to Cheung Chau's smaller neighbour, Peng Chau.  Ed decided that since the island of Peng Chau was so small, he was going to circumnavigate it by swimming.  I had no interest in that at all, so I decided I would hike around the island.

Within a short time, I was out of the town near the ferry terminal.  I was surrounded by small farms and forests.  It's amazing that even in a bustling metropolis like Hong Kong, there can still be small market farmers.  They don't produce that much relative to Hong Kong's consumption, but it's still nice that you can get fresh fruit and vegetables that don't need to be imported.

It didn't take long for me to get through the denser parts of the island and out to some higher peaks.

The views were nice enough, but the island really is tiny.  It took me no time at all to walk the entire island.  It did feel like a mini-version of Cheung Chau.  There were some lovely beaches and some rocky outcrops to look at, but nothing as good as what Cheung Chau had to offer.

There was also nothing like my favourite beach on Cheung Chau with the bars and restaurants sitting directly behind the sand.  This could be a good thing though.  It could be a nice change to be able to spend some time on a beach with less crowds and activity.

I eventually found Ed and his friend.  They were both exhausted as they pulled themselves from the water.  We went and found his friend's family and we were soon devouring Thai food not too far from the ferry terminal.  The two kids of Ed's friend were hilarious as they ran around causing mayhem for all those around.

After lunch, we decided we wanted a coffee.  Ed's friend knew of a great spot which was half antique store and half cafe.  We went inside to sit for a bit and get our coffees.  For the two young owners of the cafe, a couple who were expecting a child, our appearance was far more confronting than they could have ever imagined.  As we adults sat and drank our coffees, chatting and laughing, the two kids were in constant motion.  The store offered far too much intrigue and curiosities for them to stay still and they were wandering everywhere, exploring and creating their own games.  The young couple, with the girl being very pregnant, looked on with terror.  Her partner got up several times to readjust their perfectly arranged store, but by the time he had sat down the two kids would go through again and move everything once more.  Ed and I joked afterwards that they probably had a glimpse of their possible future, which almost certainly diverged away from the more perfect images they had in their minds.

Yau Ma Tei

Stan wanted to go buy some kitchen equipment so I agreed to follow him to Yau Ma Tei.  There's an area around Shanghai street that is famous for its stores full of kitchen equipment for both commercial and home kitchens.  We walked around for a few hours and found what we needed and other stuff that we definitely didn't need.  I found for myself a large cast iron grill, something I had always wanted.

As we walked around Yau Ma Tei, we were both a bit surprised by how quiet it was.  The protests in Hong Kong had been going on for months now, and the impact on the streets was very obvious.  Areas that should have been bustling and busy were deserted.  It felt at times like we were in the film "Inception", walking down an empty street.

Eventually we found an area that had a bit more life.  We walked into the Yau Ma Tei fruit and vegetable market to stock up on some supplies.  Produce was cheaper than normal and even though it was lively, it was still far less busy than it normally would be.

As it got later, we decided to get some dinner.  We weren't too far away from some of Yau Ma Tei's famous claypot rice restaurants.  The lines at these restaurants used to go around the block.  Now, the restaurants are half empty.  The loss of the mainland Chinese tourists has hit these restaurants hard.

We ate our fill of the fragrant rice.  Cooked slowly over coals, the top if fluffy and the bottom develops a crispy crust.  There's an almost roasted flavour to the rice that always goes well with the various meats and condiments you chose to top it.

I felt bad for the wait staff.  They seemed a bit sadder than normal.  I could only imagine the stress that they must be going through in this period with the potential loss of income and employment from these difficult times.

Kuta is gross

Bali is almost certainly the most visited location for Australians outside of Australia due to its cheap prices and close proximity to Australia.  As a result, it also has a reputation in Australia that swings wildly between positive and extremely negative.  Bali has become famous for tropical beauty, cheap prices, partying and easy access to a foreign culture.  Depending on the perspective, this could all be for good or bad.  To add to this confusion, the sheer number of Australians in Bali creates another point of enormous divergence as some love the ability to holiday overseas in more familiar surroundings, whereas other people see this as a scourge on this poor island.

For me, the trip to Bali had been extremely positive.  I had gone in with a bit of trepidation, worried about the rumours of what Bali was and what too many Australian tourists had done to the place.  I had heard stories about the terrible behaviour, the mistreatment of locals, the cultural insensitivity and the general destruction of what was once a pristine landscape.  Living in Australia, stories about disastrous trips to Bali involving injury, arrest or illness seemed to be a regular staple of the news.  All of this fear had been muted a bit since I had moved to Hong Kong though.  In Hong Kong, the attitude towards Bali is a bit different, as Bali is one of the premium flight destinations, whereas for Australians it is still very much a discount airline destination.

Thankfully, my trip had been nothing but positive.  The forests of Ubud were relaxing and made me feel embraced by nature.  The coastline out to the east of the island were untouched.  Jimbaran had offered us all one of the most beautiful sunset dinners I've ever had.  The cliffs in Ungasan were truly spectacular.  Renee and I had been lucky.

We were approaching the end of our trip and Renee wanted to do some shopping.  We asked the concierge at our hotel about where the best locations for some markets.  She considered and then suggested that we go into Kuta as there were some larger markets there.

Kuta has a very interesting reputation for Australians.  It was probably the "first" place in Bali that was discovered by Australians and the entire of Bali's tourism structure probably grew from the locals servicing the needs of those early surfers on Kuta beach.  These days, Kuta is known for being the centre of "bogan" Australia and is meant to concentrate the worst of all tourism that arrives in Bali.  Renee and I got a cab and headed off towards Kuta which is only slightly north of where we were staying in Jimbaran.  From the moment we stepped out of the cab, I knew we had entered into somewhere uniquely disturbing.  I could hear the sound of AC/DC blaring, but I was confused because the sound was moving.  It was "approaching" us.  I couldn't work out what was happening until I saw a strange flatbed truck drive past.  It was a portable bar that had a large group of what I'm assuming were Australian tourists drinking, screaming and punching the air, all the while the AC/DC screamed out into the surroundings.  I later read that this used to be a "cycling" bar where the bar would only move if everyone pedalled ... but since no one was capable of pedalling, they shifted it onto the truck.  No one around us seemed to flinch or respond at all, so I assumed that this awful sight was a regular attraction in the area.

We kept walking through different parts of Kuta.  We found the large markets as promised, and they were filled with all the usual trash and nicknacks you would expect at these types of tourist market.  I looked at all the Bintang beer singlets and wondered who would actually pay money for these.  I suddenly had a wave of images in my brain of all the times back in Australia that I had seen people wearing the singlets and realised.... oh, that's who buys these.  We walked past a few people who were desperately haggling over what would have been less than $1 back in Australia.  I'm in two minds these days about this sort of bargaining and haggling.  On the one hand, there's always the principle of ensuring you get a fair deal, but then there's also a point at which it seems to be verging on some sort of a game, where the need to "win" the bargaining duel is necessary for a story to be told back home.  For the price of a story, the poor local is deprived of much needed money that would go to supporting their family.  I've now generally settled on the idea that bargaining should still always be conducted for the principle, but that there is still a limit on how far to go.  Thankfully, there were places with some nice dresses and handbags that Renee was looking for, so it wasn't a total waste.

We walked closer to the beach and all along the water.  Under the shade of the trees, there were thousands of tourists.  They were all seated on various types of plastic chairs and being brought countless beers and drinks in buckets and tubs.  Children were running around screaming and there was rubbish everywhere.  This was it.  This was the centre of the rumours and stories I had heard about Bali.  It's been a while since I have been truly shocked, but this did it for me.  I found the combination of the loud music and intense drinking on this otherwise beautiful beach to be a strange sight.  Were it not for all of these tourists and the binge drinking, this really would be an incredible beach.  I looked up and down the beach and even now, I could see the beauty and the consistent sets of waves.  The surfers who discovered this place must have truly thought they had discovered a paradise.

Most of that paradise now seemed to be gone.

As we walked further back and away from the beach, there were dirty shops and streets.  Fast food franchises and bars dominated the area.  To me, the whole area was an example of the worst parts of cheap Western tourism.  It may have brought more money into the region, but the cost seemed to have been the loss of the positive things which brought the first tourists to begin with. 

Recovery day

The wedding had been great fun.  The location had been stunning and bride and groom looked great.  The next day, they had arranged a recovery day for everyone back at the villa.  They set up an incredible lunch and relaxation session for everyone on the grounds which rivalled the events of the evening before.  I think I actually liked the food at the lunch even more than the food at the reception!

We had been told it was going to be more of a pool and lounging day, so Renee and I arrived dressed for that occasion.  I dressed like a homeless person who lived on the beach.  Renee decided to simplify for the pool and came in a bikini and a sheer wrap.  When we arrived, we had clearly gotten the message wrong as everyone was far more dressed up.  Renee didn't seem to mind and she turned heads as she strode past everyone at the tables and straight towards the most comfortable beanbags set out on the lawn overlooking the ocean.

I grabbed some food and drink before making my way over to Renee.  The lawns were well manicured and it was a nice sensation to be able to walk on it barefooted.  It's something that you don't think too much about living in Hong Kong.  You don't have access to that many lawns, and certainly not lawns like this.  It's not that you miss it as such, but it's something you notice when you are around it again.  Standing here in the tropics, next to the ocean, the feeling of the grass under the feet felt slightly incongruous.

It was hard not to have a good time.  Everyone was relaxed and happy to be together.  The wedding had been incredibly fun, but this was now an opportunity for everyone to socialise without the formalities surrounding the wedding.  The suits were gone and everyone was free to lay down, talk, eat and drink.  On top of that, the bride and groom were both able to now enjoy themselves as well.

After a little while, Ed and I were feeling a bit restless, so we decided to go down to the beach to try and swim.  When we got there, we found it full of people lounged around on beanbags, but no one was swimming.  We ran out into the water and then realised that with the tide out, the water was at knee height going out far into the distance.... we tried our best to swim out a little bit and then realised that almost all of the ocean floor was teaming with spiny urchins.  We did our best to avoid them as we swum in this shallow water before giving up and returning to the comforts of the villa.

Tropical wedding

The day of the wedding had arrived.  Renee and I got dressed up and headed down to the Ungasan Clifftop nice and early.  I had read a lot about how bad the traffic could be in Bali and I had experienced it first hand when I nearly missed my flight the last time I had been here.  Even on this trip, the traffic we had seen on our first day up to Ubud made us both nervous about being late.  So rather than risk it, we decided to go extra early.  This decision of course meant that there was absolutely no traffic at all and we arrived we ahead of schedule.  We walked around the wedding location, took some photos, and then with nothing else to do Renee played with her phone whilst I got a coffee.

Other guests started to arrive and so we all moved to the lawn which had been set up for the wedding ceremony.  It overlooked the water, the bridal arch looking small with the background of blue stretching towards the horizon and the sky.  The colours of the place seemed a world away from a traditional church and seemed to give everything a life that a wedding should have.

All the guests seated themselves and soon the music began.  The bridal party all entered and smiles were on the faces of everyone.   A close family friend of Alan presided over the wedding and gave the ceremony the formalities required in this casual setting.  The strong breeze which had been blowing calmed slightly for the ceremony itself, and so the bride's veil gentle floated in the air as if that had always been its purpose.  It was a happy affair and the smiles on the faces of the bride and groom beamed towards us all.

After the ceremony, there was some time for all of us to socialise before the reception.  Some decided to relax with a drink, some played games on the lawn, and others decided to look out into the distance from the clifftops.

It did feel like we were living a charmed existence out of a modern fairytale.  Everything looked a little bit too perfect.  Everyone dressed up in their formal attire, walking with glass in hand around the manicured gardens and lawns of the villas.  The blue ocean framed the entire vision we were experiencing.

As the sun set, we made our way to tables which had been set for our dinner.  The winds were a bit stronger than expected and so the tables were moved slightly in from the cliff side.  It wasn't a noticeable difference and it opened up more space on the side for people to dance later.  The bride and groom came in to rapturous applause.  The drinks flowed and the speeches were made.  People didn't seem to pay too much attention to their food and were soon mingling amongst the tables and laughing. 

Soon, no one was seated at their own seat anymore.  It was a truly happy time and as the music started to get louder, more and more people moved towards the dance floor.  It all continued into the early hours of the morning.

Dinner on the beach

After our grand tour around Uluwatu, Renee and I went back to the hotel.  We had arranged to catch up with everyone for dinner on Jimbaran beach.  We had been told that dinner on this beach was one of the "highlights" of any trip to Bali.  It helped that our hotel was right next door to it.  We arrived early to get the table we booked and we arranged it lengthwise to ensure that everyone would get a nice view.  I didn't want anyone with their back towards the sun and the water!  The reviews of the beach were on point.  We sat and watched the sun slowly set over the ocean as everyone started to arrive for dinner.

Everyone's gaze was transfixed on the horizon as the sun slowly made its way down over the water.  The haze in the air was helpful in this instance, as it shielded everyone from the most intense glare of the sun and provided a glow across the sky.  As the sun fell further, the shallow waters along the beach captured the last of the light and sent a pillar of fire towards us along the sands.  It was a lovely image and everyone jumped up to take photos.

Once the sun had fully set, the scene of the beach changed dramatically.  Candles were lit on each of the tables, and the entire length of the beach was filled with the warm glow of their lights.  Dozens of these tables stretched out into the distance, each with their lights shining out in the darkened sky.  It was an exceptionally beautiful scene.

We moved onto ordering food.  We were on the beach, so we would have a seafood dinner.  Jess did the ordering and we had plate after plate arrive on the table.  Everything was as fresh as you would expect and was barbecued for us at the other end of the beach.   It was hard not to be contented.  It isn't too often you are able to gather such a large group of friends in a foreign country and we were making the most of it.  I stood back to look at the scene and I looked towards my friends who had arranged themselves in what appeared to be a Biblical like scene along the length of the table.

After we had finished eating, we moved back to the rooftop of the hotel for more drinks.  We looked out across the beach from our improved view and saw all of the lights dotted across the distance, each representing a table full of happy diners.