No gain without pain?

If you are a person who enjoys spas, you are spoilt for choice here in Ubud at all price levels. We have been once or twice but are not frequent spa attenders. Therefore, for us to have two utterly contrasting experiences in two days is quite out of character. Both good, but very, very different.

If you are reading this back home, Gay, you'll be pleased to know that we took your advice, booked in at Skin and had the most relaxing time. A foot and leg massage plus pedicure for me, and ditto massage and ear candle for Eddie. Everything you said, and we will be back. It's not the biggest, flashiest place in town, but it's located on one of my favourite streets, it's friendly and we both felt fantastic afterwards. The spa experience that Westerners have come to expect.

At the other end of Jalan Goutama, the end that hasn't become trendy yet, is Boreh Pijat. Pijat we knew. Massage. But boreh? We would soon find out. Noticing the greenery we walked in to be greeted by Ketut who showed us around. Behind a garden full of organic herbs was a small massage area and sauna and Ketut explained that the herbs are used to make a traditional Balinese clay paste that is smeared over the body after a massage and then sweated off, along with toxins, in the sauna. With a price list designed to attract locals, how could we resist an invitation to try, and booked for today. Me, being a little more cautious (I thought) opted for a reflexology treatment, Eddie for the works.

When will we learn not to arrive early? We should know about jam karet* by now. Ketut wasn't around, and the two young people, Wayan and Eka, weren't quite ready for us. In the most polite Balinese way, of course, they bustled, despite our protestations that we would wait. Offerings needed to be presented, prayers to be said and the fire made in preparation for the sauna. Not to mention the grinding of herbs and preparation of the paste. I had brought a book (a great one about Bali loaned to me)** but as soon as Eddie eventually set off on a little walk, it became action stations.

Wayan, who had made the offerings and prayers a little earlier, was to do my reflexology. A young man who has a distinct spirituality about him, he spoke very little English - just a few words. Eka's English was much better and she dealt with Eddie.

Now I knew just enough about reflexology not to expect a gentle foot massage. I knew that pain was a marker for a problem area in the body. Two minutes in I was ready to call it quits, like the wimp I am. I thought about cowboy movies where the poor sod who needs to have the bullet removed is given a rag to bite. I thought about childbirth. I thought about burning coals. Nothing had prepared me for the fact that I am obviously in such poor internal shape that every millimeter of my foot/feet was excruciating. I have no wish to be discouraging, and yours, dear reader, will be an entirely different scenario, of course. But I endured. I survived for over an hour and at the end Wayan had to admit, when showing me the charts, that I had 'banyak' problems. Well I've lived with them this long, so I'll continue as I was. Not going through that again. But we had a good laugh together at my expense, and a little I later found out that his implements of torture included a shark's tooth and a cow's horn with a piece of jade embedded.

Meanwhile, Eddie was being prepared by Eka for his pasting and sauna with a rigorous massage. We both finished at about the same time, but I was really finished and could return to my book. Eddie was pasted up and had to wait for the sauna to get hot enough so his treatment took probably another hour. After a shower he emerged sparkling, looking 20 years younger and full of beans. He's booked again for next week***. Me? Maybe a nice shoulder massage will be enough.

It was only when I was waiting for Eddie to finish that I noticed a framed newspaper article on the wall. Only a few weeks ago the Jakarta Post had written a story about Ketut and Boreh Pijat. We had the real deal, all right, and if you'd like to know more, and what boreh is, it's online here. It's fascinating, and I was interested to read about Made Sumendra's connection. His Pondok Pekak library has been on my list of must-write-abouts ever since we visited ages ago. It's moved higher up that list now and you will hear about this wonderful place soon.

Oh, and my feet are still tingling, but they feel great. Bali magic of some sort definitely happened at Boreh Pijat today. But Skin was good too, in a totally different way.

* rubber time
** The Night of Purnama, by Anna Mathews, now a rare book.
*** He also had two bottles of jamu made from tumeric and other herbs from the garden.

Bar Luna

Bit of a literary hub, Bar Luna. Situated in Jl Goutama, it's the de facto Festival club during UWRF week, with book launches, drinks, talks and just conversation with other attendees. But each Thursday night (and other nights too we discovered) they hold a literary event. The bar is one of the enterprises of Australian expat, long-term Ubud resident, and honorary Balinese, Janet DeNeefe. Janet's name and Ubud are synonymous and she has been inspirational for many young Balinese women in showing them just what is possible. She founded UWRF in 2004 as a positive response to the terrible Bali bombings that took so many lives, Western and Balinese, and which all but destroyed the tourist industry. UWRF is now considered to be one of the best literary festivals in the world.

Last night was the first of a series of talks previewing writers who will attending the 10th anniversary festival this year. Called Festival 4Play, four writers and their work are profiled. Not everyone who is invited to Ubud is a household name. That's part of the charm, discovering wonderful new talent, especially from SE Asia.

So last night we heard about:

• Ian Burnet and his beautiful book Spice Islands, a historical account of the trade that changed the world.
• Carina Hoang's Boat People: personal stories from the Vietnamese exodus 1975-1999. We were fortunate to have M. Bundhowi present. His photographs from the period is one in the book and he now travels the world as a  peace photographer, having long since discarded his boyhood wish to be a 'war' photographer. He told his story with grace and charm.
• Pat Grant, a young cartoonist (his description) whose graphic novel Blue is causing a bit of a sensation.
  
  So far, one Javanese and three Australians, but finally
• Danny Morrison from Ireland. Two very different titles - Then the Walls Came Down, a series of (one-sided) letters to his partner from his time in prison during the troubles and Rudi: in the shadow of Knulp, which the reviewer described as the best piece of fiction by a living writer he had read in the past ten years. Quite a wrap. Having recently been in Ireland, these were of particular interest and have been added to the TBR pile.

But wait, there's more. Becky Wicks is back in town and on Tuesday night she'll be talking about her latest adventures as recounted in Latinalicious while another four books and their authors get the treatment on Thursday. Somehow I have got in on the act, so I hope I can do Lionel Shriver justice.

So much to do and, fortunately, plenty of time to do it in.