July 2006
For more photos of our trip to Bali and Java, check out worldtravels.shutterfly.com
July 2006 |
For more photos of our trip to Bali and Java, check out worldtravels.shutterfly.com |
Our first night in Bali we stayed at the Alam Sari bungalows just north of Ubud. Ubud is this cure little artist village, surrounded by rice paddies. Our hotel was a set of bungalows a few miles out of town, so our view out the window was of farmers working a terraced set of rice fields. Lush and green, and not really at all what I expected. I sort of thought it would all be just beach. I wasn't expecting the trees and flowers.
Our hotel had this awesome bathroom that was outside but still private. Ferns and jungle and big bathtub all mixed together.
We took a walk through the rice paddies and the village of Kekali. Charming village, with the kindest people you've ever met. It almost seemed like an advance team had gone through and said "now, some tourists will be coming here tomorrow, so be really nice and say 'hi' to them when you see them!" Every single person smiled and said hi.
We went into Ubud and saw the fabulous artist house of Antonio Blanco. Judging from the house, he was a rich flamboyant artist with a large collection of birds. I like his combination of European and Balinese architecture.
Walter and Joelle, our friends from Delhi , are celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary this summer. They teach in Shanghai now, and invited several of their friends and relatives to hang out with them on the beach in Indonesia . They've rented three villas for all 19 of us to stay in. It's awesome -- each villa has a maid, a cook, and a car and driver. There's a Balinese cookbook, and if you pick out something that looks good, they'll go shopping for the ingredients and cook it for you. We had Gado-Gado the first night, and we'll have Balinese coconut pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. We drove in from Ubud on Friday to begin the party.
Balinese architecture is open and windy. It's warm and sunny all year long, since it's really close to the equator (8 degrees south, according to my GPS .) So there aren't a lot of walls or windows. Just big square rooms open on all sides, and a breeze blowing through. Tiled roofs and rattan furniture. Palm trees and orchids, a little pool, and a view of the beach. We're up on a hill, so we're safe from tsunamis, but we can see vast expanses of sandy beach down below, with the waves crashing on them and all that. Lovely, lovely.
Saturday for lunch we had Hard Rock Café nachos and veggie burgers. We had to see the famous Kuta beach, and while you're there, might as well eat at Hard Rock! We also visited the Prana spa. There's a big spa day planned for later, so we checked it out early to see how fantastic it was going to be. I got a pedicure and manicure; Tricia got a massage. When we come back, it'll be for a 3-hour treatment. We did some shopping at Animale after the spa. It's nice European linen clothes made in Indonesia , so it's like the real Factory Outlet.
Sunday we just lounged around. Went shopping at this wholesale silver store that had really great silver at really low prices. Read books. Sat by the pool. Enjoyed the view of the beach below us and the volcano poking through the clouds. For dinner we had a big Balinese Barbeque with satay (chicken or tofu grilled on sticks with peanut sauce) and lots of great food.
Monday we did a trip back to the town of Ubud. Stopped in Seminyak on the way up for some shopping at a big marketplace there.
Tricia and I ate lunch with Joelle's parents, Zenin and Frieda. The Café Lotus is this totally cute restaurant surrounding a lotus pond. It's owned by a European guy who chatted with us. I had nasi goreng which is Indonesian fried rice. Afterwards, we ducked into the Royal Palace . Since Ubud used to be the capital of Bali , the royal family lived there. I guess they still do, but they don't have any political power anymore. They still have a sweet place, though.
The Royal Palace in Ubud
We visited the sacred monkey forest, where Tricia tried to feed bananas to the monkeys. The very first monkey that came up stole the whole bunch and ran off.
Tuesday was amazing. Walter and Tricia and I flew from Bali to Java and toured the temples of Borobudura. Amazing 9th century temple covered in Buddha statues. We had an excellent tour guide, who took us out for vegetarian Indonesia food afterwards. Tempeh, tofu, soup, and a tapioca-like pudding called “sagoo.” Oh, and a cup of coffee. You can't go to Java and not drink some java!
Our guide knew all about Java, and spoke excellent English. We learned all sorts of interesting details about the politics, culture, language, and history. Walter and I kept asking her questions on the hour-long drive to and from the airport. It was really sad how badly the Javanese economy has been hurt lately. Between the economic crisis in 1997, the riots, the tsunami, and the recent earthquakes, there are almost no tourists anymore. Our guide used to take tourists to the temples 3 times a week -- now it's barely once a month. We were practically the only westerners there. Aside from a handful of tourists and a couple of Indonesian school class trips, we had the whole place to ourselves.
Oh, and on the plane we ate the most bizarre airplane meal of all time. It was a cardboard box containing:
But I digress. The temple was fantastic. And there are two other smaller temples nearby which we also saw.
The ancient Hindu temples are supposed to be excellent too, but they were really knocked around in the latest earthquake, so they're not open to tourists right now.
This guy on the left was climbing a palm tree to collect sap in bamboo tubes, which he'll later boil down for palm sugar. And that big pile of rocks on the right is where the restorers keep all the rocks ifthey can't figure out where to put them. Putting this place together after centuries of neglect and earthquake must have been like a giant jigsaw puzzle with very heavy pieces.
And then we flew back. I think it was maybe the first time we've ever flown round trip in one day. We didn't even have suitcases, just camera bags.
We got back in time for a nice dinner with a few friends. We went to Ku De Ta, which is a pretty swank beachside bar and restaurant.
Wednesday was the big spa day at Prana spa. I am sure that Bali has less expensive spas, but I think Joelle chose the best one. Tricia and I each had a 3-hour spa treatment which included a massage, facial, foot reflexology, body scrub, body polish, and soak. I chose the coffee ground body scrub with a papaya-pineapple body polish, followed by a rain shower table massage. Tricia got the lulur scrub and yogurt polish, with a flower petal bath soak. We don't know what lulur is, but I don't think it smells as nice as coffee.
Then some shopping. More shopping. There's lots of good shopping in Bali . Tricia and I visited Legion beach, and had lunch at the Seaside restaurant, where we ate better Mexican food than any restaurant in India serves. They had tamales made in banana leaves, which I think is a great idea. I'll have to try that in India .
Wednesday night we drove to the western edge of the peninsula our bungalows were on. The Ulu Wati temple, on the cliffs overlooking the sea, hosts a sacred monkey and fire dance. It's based on the Ramayana, so we know the basic story from Indian traditional dance – yet it's a totally distinct style. And there's no instrumentation, just a chorus of dozens of men chanting “chucka chucka chucka.” They called it the Kecak dance. Deana calls it the “chucka-chucka dance.” The temple is surrounded by monkeys, who aren't afraid of falling off the edge of the cliff.
And then how quickly Thursday came! Time to leave. I ate a freaky Balinese fruit called the salak, or snakeskin fruit. I had bought a bag of them a few days prior, but didn't get around to eating them or taking photos until the last day. They're good – not juicy at all, but with a nice distinct flavor. Astringent and bitter, but also sweet at the same time. Like a cross between a water chestnut and a Fuji apple.
We had breakfast and said goodbye to everyone, then headed to the airport and back to Delhi .
