Oh boy, does that make us sad… “last” – it is really all coming to an end.  We can’t believe we’ve been gone for 2 months, and we can’t believe we are going home in 3 days.  Seems like we just left!  But we have more adventures to plan, and more to go on….and pretty soon too!  So, today is our last short rice field walk through Kajeng.  Because we want to go to Sweet Orange for coffee and to support them in their charitable quest to build a good path for the rice farmers on Kajeng by buying a cement slab to put into the path – we need to plan our walk to get there when they are open.  Because this is the short walk – and they are at the beginning if you go through the muddy alley behind the museum, we decide to take the long way around and go through Kajeng road to get to the rice fields.

But it is us, so we actually take the long, long way by going down Bisma to the scooter bridge and taking Monkey Forest road up to Jaya, then going up Kajeng to the path.  It is actually a lovely walk early in the morning.  The hustle and bustle of the day has not begun – there is hardly anyone on the streets (of course, the Bules haven’t even come close to getting up yet!), none of the shops are open on Kajeng yet which makes for a fabulously nice walk.  The biggest challenge?  The fact that we now have to go UP that damn steep hill to get to the rice field path – as opposed to going down it when we go the normal way.

Oh well, we want exercise, this is it!  Once on the path, it is as lovely as ever and we make it to Sweet Orange with no time issues.  We have our 2 iced coffees and then pay for our slab, writing down for lovely owner what want the slab to say – and we are on our way back to the villa, past the cool graffiti building (yeah, that guy was totally squatting there the day we saw him) and into the pool.  It’s our thing now.

Lunch today is actually western.  We said we weren’t going to do it, but Chopperdog got the best of us.  I mean, how can you resist trying a Knucklehead burger that has beef mayo (what is that?) and roast beef as well as a beef patty?  Or the Cone Shovel Chicken burger with crispy fired chicken?  You can’t resist.  You just can’t.  And well worth it – even the cheece fries! Which were actually really, really good fries!  

Ok – we’re stuffed now.  Everything was excellent and now we are walking it off going to the Antonio Blanco museum – which is all the way down Jaya past the Campuhan bridge.  We’re walking off those burgers and fired chicken!

The walk to the museum definitely burns some calories, especially the approach to the museum itself, which, after crossing under the cool archway entrance, is straight uphill until you get to the museum entrance.  Jeez, this place is hilly!

The climb is worth it though.  The museum itself is a work of art, and the story behind Blanco is really incredible. Blanco is originally from Catalonia, studied at the National Academy of Art in New York City, traveled the world to salve his vagabound spirit and ended up in Bali in 1952.  He befriended the King of Ubud who later granted him 2 hectares of land where the museum is now located.  He married a famous Balinese dancer, and they literally lived happily ever after with his 4 children.  His son, Marco, has his artistic talent, and has continued on the Blanco tradition, working in the same studio that Antonio worked in all his life.  Cool.

Paying our entrance fee (only in cash – we are running so low!  Thank heavens, for some reason there are no ATM fees here), we wander into the garden courtyard to be greeted by the birds!  I had read about these guys – they are rescued birds, parrots and others (I’m not sure what) who are completely domesticated here and will jump on you (with the help of one of the guides here) for pictures.  We’re game!  And the guide guy is a great photographer – do you think he’s had practice?  Yeah, probably.  LOL.

What fun to have these birds perched on us.  They are surprisingly heavy though, it is hard to keep your arms up with these guys on them. I always thought birds were really light, but what ever type Parrot is on my left arm is heavy and it is all I can do to keep my arm up to get the pictures.  And he takes a bunch of pictures!  Including in front of the museum’s fabulous entrance.  What a sculpture that is!!!

Entering the museum, we aren’t allowed to take any pictures, so our descriptions will have to do.  Essentially, this 2-story marble goliath of a building was designed and built specifically as a museum.  The soaring 3 story atrium has windows at the very top to let some muted light in, and the furnishings are minimal so as not to detract from the paintings themselves, which line the circular walls.  There are portraits depicting Balinese life, still lifes and some odd, but fabulous mixed media pieces on the 2 floors of the museum proper.  There are more naked women than you can shake a stick at – as the female body was, well, an obsession of Blanco’s.  There are boobs everywhere.  Beautiful boobs, but naked nonetheless.  If you look past that though, the paintings are incredible – the details he brings out in not only the body styles, but mostly the faces and poses are incredible.  There are also some odd pieces with Michael Jackson featured prominently – either Michael himself or his music or just his shadow.  Very strange.

We go through the whole 2 floors, then climb the rusty, circular iron staircase up to the roof level where there are views across the ridge and out over the city.  Plus some really great golden Balinese lady dancer statues (Antonio’s wife was an award winning Balinese dancer – thus the statues up here). 

Because we didn’t read up on Blanco or his son, Marco, before we came, we aren’t really prepared for all the art – and can’t tell who has created what.  Although the studio we can tour is Marco’s – obviously, Antonio is dead and buried – but a lot of the artwork in there is in the same style as hung in the museum – so who knows who did what.

There are a couple other ancillary rooms off the main museum.  One with all the family photos, which is a really sweet touch.  There are also tons of newspaper articles framed and hung.  If we wanted to spend more time here, we could just stand around and read these all day – but we have the internet – we can do that in the comfort of our cool(er) home when we want to get the background.  There is also another little gallery off of the family photo area with more paintings and drawings and articles. 

There is supposed to be a gift shop and restaurant, but we never found those.  We did see the café tables set in the garden area, but never figured out where the restaurant was located, and really didn’t care all that much. Plus, we now have no cash, so assuming they are cash only like the museum entrance fee, there’s no reason to go search out either the shop or the restaurant.

We spend the time instead to wander the garden, taking pictures of the koi pond and the big billed bird that the guide is babying (he told me what it was but now I can’t remember).  The bird is sitting looking at the big bowl of food, but not eating it – so the guide starts to pet him and feed him.  And then walks around with him.  So endearing.  I can’t resist taking pictures!  It is so apparent he loves that bird.

On our way to the exit we stumble upon the amphitheater and the family temple. Oh, good find!  The temple is huge, with incredible carvings and big offering temples.  Plus this massive 50 year old Banyan tree that towers over everything.  Nice way to end our explorations here.

Then it is down the steep hill (oh so much better going down) but then up the hill from the bridge and up the hill on Bisma to our little villa where it is once again pool time and afternoon down time.

Later, dinner is at Rouge, where they give you little refreshing towels to start.  And not just any refreshing towels – but the kind that grow when you put them into water!  What a great idea!  Totally fun!

For food, we share seafood spring rolls which are totally different, almost battered, served with a tartar-like sauce.  For our mains, I succumb to a Maki roll – which is very good and oh so cheap – while Ed goes the more traditional Balinese route with yes, you guessed it, Mie Goreng.  We’ll never get tired of that – and trust us when we tell you that those noodles are at the top of our Foreign Affairs Asian grocery list for when we get home! We eschew after dinner drinks – passing up the ever rowdy Why Not? And Pici Pici for the serenity of the Villa and spend the rest of the night happily in our routine.  Only one more full day left – who can believe it?