KUTA, SANUR & SEMINYAK BALI - OCT 29, 2012

OCT 29, 2012  KUTA, SANUR & SEMINYAK BALI
coming soon*********

SILVER, ART & BATIK in BALI - SUN OCT 28, 2012

BALI SHOPPING Sunday OCT 27, 2012

NOT YET COMPLETE******

Monument Arjun proficient archer, brother of ?

Today is a short shopping tour to visit UC Silver, Batik and 

Breakfast on the terrace at Casablanca - they make a great cup of tea here first thing in the morning!  Sue and Aud had already headed out just after 7 for their walk down the beach board walk to Nusa Dua - the sun was shining and it promised to be a beautiful day.

11 of us headed out at 820am for our half day (5 to 6 hour) shopping tour - as usual Tour Guide Nick was prompt and early arriving at 8am.  The roads were a little less busy than during the work week which is every day except Sunday.  We were passing the Sanur area at 9am on our way to our first stop at UC Silver.  The mot unique and expensive silver jewelry available on the island, and the wealthiest man in Bali.  Sanur is a busy area but a good location to stay for proximity for visiting the capital Denpasar, the airport, Kuta, as well as the North, Central and Eastern areas of Bali or tours.

UC SILVER - we arrived at 930am and left at 11am - everyone found items to buy.  The designs were simply amazing!  We could have spent hours here but I'm not sure that our credit cards could handle more time.  We started looking at the showroom where normally every station would have a craftsman working on a design - but being Sunday there were just a few craftsmen working today.  The designs are very intricate and beautifully made.  The showroom lower floor has silver and the second floor is gold - but I didn't make it there - yet!!!

SEMAR KUNING I art cooperative (UBUD SOUTH) - after a lovely drive North through the countryside we arrived about 1120am and saw the artists painting in several styles, both young boys learning and older Balinese doing very complex paintings.  Paintings included pen and ink, oils, acrylics, watercolors and traditional styles, tropical, realistic and very modern.  The gallery we walked around was huge - set in multiple rooms and amidst balinese gardens - such a sense of peace and tranquility.   Carrie bought 2 small watercolours from artist Reis for $40.  JENN bought a large canvas $350 from artist Merta, representing harmony in the home, planning to hang on the large wall as you enter Jenn's new home in Nova Scotia.  Harry Smith from Belgium came to UBUD in 1933 and taught Balinese how to use bright colours but keep traditional style of paintings.  Harry still alive and living in Ubud.

SARI AAMERTA BTIK  1230pm

NUSA DUA, BALI - SAT OCT 27, 2012

NUSA DUA BALI OCT 27, 2012

What a great day - there was a huge cloud on the horizon at sunrise - but false alarm - it disappeared quickly with the heat of the sun and we had a very hot 33 degrees celcius clear blue sky day!  After a slow start with tea and coffee on our deck watching the beach boys get all the cushions set out on the sun cots (lovely white thickly padded cushions on teak sun cots) and a quick breakfast on the outside deck of the restaurant overlooking the mornings activities getting going, we headed out for a walk.

Since we were here in Bali at the Aston Bali hotel some 13 years ago, there has been a long boardwalk, built of interlocking stones, all along the beach next to the hotels - this makes for a really pleasant walk from the top of the Tanjung Peninsula at the harbour south to the south east point at Nusa Dua.  They have also built breakwaters with a small pagoda at the ocean end - so they provide a useful function as well as a picturesque spot to sit and enjoy the sunrise, and views, while getting protection from the sun.  We left the Aston Bali which is towards the very north end of Tanjung Peninsula around 10 am and arrived back around 12:45pm, unbelievably wet and hot!

We headed South taking photos as we went, and stopping at a couple of beach markets along the way for just a few minutes to browse.  We found a lovely beach club next door at a facility that is a wedding location Taman Bhagawan, for locals and international visitors alike.  The Beach Club is very spa like, very serene and as long as you spend 1250 rhupiah each day on food and beverages (about $14) then you can use the pool and facilities for free - there was not a single person there.

The 5 star and international hotel chains are on this Southern end including such hotels as Hyatt, Sheraton Four Points.  We loved the look of the Royal Santrian, and the Villas at the Laguna Resort and Spa (this is Four Points and the rest of the hotel beach areas looked pretty busy).  The Club Med property had a great location and looked quite appealing.  At the tip there was this amazing monument that could be seen from a long way off - it was massive, maybe 100 feet tall, two characters ??.  This is a large public area with a grassy field and building busily going on - maybe for food stalls or market stalls - we saw an advertisement for a festival Nov 2-4 so this must be in preparation for that.  

If you walk around and behind the monument you come to the blow hole on the rocky coral cliffs - the ocean is a glorious azure colour and the swell meant that some water was coming into the blow hole in the coral but not crashing in.  There were lots of locals arriving, especially younger folk in their teens and 20's - obviously a place for socializing on the weekends - today was Saturday.

Very close to here is the Nusa Dua upscale shopping centre where we managed to get a taxi back to the Aston Bali 3000 rhupiah, around $4 - we were so hot and so wet and decided walking back was not the thing to do!  

The afternoon was lazy - we had lunch sitting under the palapa with lovely cool breezes, we swam (or at least cooled off) in the huge free form swimming pool complete with a waterfall and also a pool bar where we enjoyed several umbrella drinks during the course of the afternoon.  We started with a pina colada which was green!  The barman was mortified when we questioned the colour and he realised that he had mixed us a blue hawaii by mistake!  At 430pm we were treated to a beautiful small wedding ceremony (or renewal of vows) right on the beach - lovely decorations - beautiful white flags blowing in the breezes against the backdrop of the azure Indian ocean.  Flags are used a lot in Bali for decorations - they are set on very tall bamboo poles, maybe 15 feet tall and the flags are triangular - very narrow at the top and about 18 inches wide at the bottom. 

We were still relaxing on the sun cots just before 6pm - still very warm although the sun had disappeared behind the hotel which faces East across the Lombok Strait to the island of Nusa Penida (still in Bali).   After a quick shower and change we shared a cocktail on the lounge balcony next to the main lobby which overlooks the gardens and pool, before dinner in the Bella Luna. We celebrated Rob's birthday (we surprised him) and Michelle had ordered him a black forest Birthday cake from the kitchen.  A nice bonus was that there were 3 excellent musicians in the Bella Luna restaurant so they sang Happy Birthday to Rob in both Indonesian and English.

So we went to bed tired and satisfied after a very full and enjoyable day in Bali.

EASTERN BALI - OCT 26, 2012

EASTERN BALI Friday Oct 26, 2012

Today was another great day of touring Eastern Bali - we saw fewer tour buses and tourists than when we visited Kintimani volcanoes and the town of UBUD earlier in the week, so a little less busy and overwhelming today with the traffic.

Nick our guide, Wayan the bus driver, and Made his assistant arrived early at 745am so we left around 815 - a little earlier  than our planned 830am departure.  There were 10 of us today , with 4 staying behind for a relaxing day at the Aston Bali (Rob, Michelle, Suz and  Pete)

Close to // intersection we passed the Ananga batik shop (wonder if I can get back there later in the week?) and the striking and very large Bina Sena statue.  This statue represents the legend where the weapon of Bina Sena is his very strong nail and he is shown fighting and defeating a dragon with his nail - his neck is carved as a snake,  Bina Seng came from a family of 5 brothers and he was number 2 brother.  Then we entered the Pserangan area - known for beautiful teakwood furniture  (remember how each community or village is known for their prowess in one particular art or craft?) - Letros is a recommended store just before the exit for Benoa harbour where we had arrived 4 days at the end of our fabulous 10 day cruise to Camp Leakey Borneo aboard the ORION II. 

After passing the exit for the capital city of Denpasar we drove past Sanur - a big resort area with lots of hotels and beaches along the East coast of Bali and North of the Benoa Harbour.  We pass by the offices of Panorama Travel who are currently the largest inbound travel agency in Bali. Back in the 90's Nick used to work for Fire Tours who were a very large Travel Agency with 67 agents, but it is now very small with only 7 agents after the explosion tragedy in 2002 which resulted in a massive drop in the number of tourists coming to Bali.

The Paradise Plaza is the tallest building at 10 storeys in Bali built in 1966.  Current regulations prevent any building being higher than the tallest coconut-tree, around 4 storeys.  In July strong winds driving North from Australia arrive, so  there are massive kite flying competitions in Sanur in the East, along with 5 to 6 metre surfing on blue point, and Padang Padang which is most popular for surfing.  From Sanur it is about a 25 minute drive from Jimberan to the south beaches popular for surfing.  The surfing events are followed on Aug 17th, which is the Indonesian Independence Day, celebrated every year with big festivals and events.

We drive through BATUBALAN village, known for its' stone carvings.  In fact I believe that the carvings in Bali deserve special mention - nowhere have I seen such huge carvings with such intricate designs - it seems that around every corner, and entering each new village or town, there is a massive carving and a story behind each carving.  This is in addition to all the carvings at each temple, every village and within each home where "offerings" are made several times each day.  Beautiful seems a quite inadequate description for some of these monuments - unbelievable and breath taking seems more apt!  The first art village, Kesimanor Sukawasi, is known for its' batik, then Batubulan village, which has the biggest tree in Bali, a banyan tree, considered to be sacred in Bali.  Celuk (pronounced CHeluk) is next - the silver village considered to be one of the most prosperous in Bali along with Kuta and Ubud.  As we continue towards Ubud we see many wood carvings along the roadsides, then paintings in Ubud.  At the wood carvings we first watch the master carvers to see how the products are made to understand craftsmanship and quality.

The traditional house compound that we visited in Batuan village, sub village Peneda was very interesting - there are 3 separate areas within the compound - the outer, middle and inner.  The inner is where the shrines and temple are located with several types of shrines for: god, ancestors, unseen spirits, storing offerings, and for the Monk when he visits for advice, discussions, and special events such as weddings and funerals.  Domestic animals, such as pigs and cocks, are also kept in the compound but are kept as far away from the temple as possible.  There are 4 specific buildings within the middle compound: Bale (building) Daje (north) seniors house, Bale Dangin (East) ceremonial building, Bale Dauh (West) visitors building,    We paid a gratuity to the family who live here of 50,000 rupiah ($5). The Bale Paon (South) kitchen was amazing - no mod cons here, just a wood fire and hot and smokey, but well set out.  We also saw caged cocks for cock fighting (!), and two caged porcupines.  They sell the animals when they are short of money, and they also eat the porcupines - so sad.

There are 4 types of temples in Bali: family, clan, village and public, and praying and making offerings is a very central part of their culture, in fact it is the basis of their daily lives and integral to their moral beliefs and family and community support.

We turned East on the highway at the town of Gianyar region - again amazing monuments and a  Parliament building where the 40 members of parliament are elected every 5 years.  There are also both a traditional market and a modern Western style shopping centre.  As we drove further from Kuta and Denpasar we could see the area was getting less built up with more trees along the roads, and  views of the rice paddies.  At one point we saw hundreds of yellow song birds for sale in cages along the sides of the road which led to a discussion of the animal market in Denpasar where every kind of animal can be purchased including snakes and monkeys - bought as pets, trained to work etc etc.

One stretch of the highway was decorated (called PANJOR) with huge bent bamboo sticks.. each with baskets at the bottom for offerings to be made every day.  Over our time we saw many of the Panjor decorations along the streets - some drying out and older, other brand new, and still others being made and erected - all very intricate and each village extremely proud of their Panjor.  The members of each village participate in both making the panjor, decorating the village, and then making the offerings each day.

We passed what is today called the Japanese caves where in WWII the JAPANESE hid their guns and  weapons when they overran Indonesia taking just 2 1/2 years  after 340 years of Colonial rule by the Dutch. Shortly after passing the Japanese caves we turned North East at the town of KLUNGKUNG - a new hospital built here with donations from Australia and other countries after the tragedy in Kuta in 2002 when more than 200 people were injured or died and the medical facilities were inadequate.

The drive became more beautiful with every passing mile - it was a narrow road, and we were gaining altitude with switchbacks all the way.  Along the road sides were many fruit trees, durian fruit, clove trees and rice.  Durian is currently in season and several ladies had baskets of it selling it along the road - smells like hell and tastes like heaven is how it is classified in Bali.

Mt Agung is the highest volcano ( no longer active) at 3142 metres which last erupted in  1963 with big rocks thrown for miles around.  It takes around 5 hours to climb following the trail which goes through jungle along which there are many leeches (no we didn't climb this today).  The largest temple in Bali and presided over by Mt Agung, is called the Mother temple, located in Besakih - we visited the Mother Temple prior to lunch.   Nick managed to take the bus on the main road so that we could get closer to the temple grounds and avoid the 1km walk since we had a client on board with bad feet (small bribe required!).   The road is narrow so sharing it with the motorcycles and big trucks going the opposite direction most certainly required all of our driver Wayan's skills and concentration!

To enter the Mother Temple and grounds we each had to wear a sarong and selendang (belt) to cover our knees and legs which Nick provided - the Mother Temple does not have them available although there are lots of vendors available to sell them to every person requiring one.  The Mother temple is huge and so impressive sitting high up the side of the distant slopes to Mt Agung - incredible views of the valley out to the ocean.  There were hundreds of villagers, and communities, arriving to make their offerings and pray - all dressed in their traditional dress.  We saw the villagers arrive and all the family wash and cleanse themselves in the large pool with running water spouting from taps, change into clean clothes, and then enter the inner courtyard (which we did not enter) where they made their offerings and then sat together on the floor cross legged to pray.

Within the Mother Temple compound are many temples, and each "family" in Bali has their own family temple within the Mother Temple which is where they go to pray each year as a special outing.  This is considered a family outing and the children, and parents, look forward to travelling to the Mother Temple and bring along a picnic for this very special event which lasts all day.  There are many special days during the year - not all the same for every village or family.

The destar or udeng head dress, the sarong (underneath) and saput (top layer like a sarong).  There are 3 castes or levels in Bali the HIGH, the MIDDLE, and the LOW.  The head dress for the low is called destar, and for the middle and high is called udeng.  In addition when the Balinese converse their polite language is high, when they converse with their same cast it is called middle language, and when they are very upset and use angry rude words it is called low language.   Authorised Balinese Tour Guides must always wear their traditional dress, so we had the pleasure of Nick, our own tour guide, wearing his traditional dress every day.

After visiting the Mother Temple - walking up and down the hundreds of steps - very worn and ancient, knowing how lucky we were to be in this special place - we were back on the bus and driving through beautiful countryside with amazingly narrow streets and lots of switch backs -a glorious view whichever way you looked.  You could understand the availability of adventure touring in Bali.   Whitewater rafting is very popular and available in Eastern Bali - the Ayung river for grade 2 rapids;  in Ubud for beginners; there are also advanced grade 3 and 4 rapids in Eastern Bali cost $45 to $85 USD per person including the transfers, instructor and lunch on the river Unda, and also available on the river Teagawaja which is grade 3 or 4 rapids.  We passed several Rafting Company office and rafts along the road as we headed south East from the Mother temple to the Matagiri restaurant where we would have lunch.

We shared lunch (Indonesian buffet) at the open air Matagiri restauarant with unbelievable views in the most amazing location overlooking the rice fields in many shades of green, and Mt Agung on the horizon.  I think we could have stayed there all afternoon sipping on white wine or ice cold Bintang beer and just taking in the views - truly spectacular!  The buffet wasn't quite as good as in Mt Batur but still enjoyable with fresh fruits and banana pancakes for dessert.

The crops grown in this area vary depending on the season:  dry season - tobacco, chilis, corn, nuts, long beans, and rice if they have a water supply.  Wet season - rice.  We did discuss yoga and in Bali only the revered old folks go to an ashram.   The ashram is for religion, yoga and meditation - when the Balinese are young they are taught  to focus - Balinese don't start learning Yoga until they are in their 50's.  Rather a different take than we have in the Western world I would say?

Getting back for a minute to the structure and caste system within Bali.  There are 3 languages: Balinese upper, middle, low.   The Indonesian language is Bahasa Indonesia.  The people from each cast, first, second, third and fourth caste - can marry outside caste; caste is handed down from father to son.  When  a couple get  married the wife always takes the husband's caste. 

After leaving the Matagiri we headed in a generally Eastern direction towards the coast but turned North when we hit the coast road. We arrived in the village of Tengasan just before 4pm which is where they make a very expensive and very fine woven textile in traditional patterns - it is known as garingsing, it looks like a  type of batik, and a small sash 20cm by 120cm would cost approximately $250 USD.  The ladies sit on the floor and use their feet to hold the frame steady, and their hands to pass the shuttle with the silk in it backwards and forwards through the very fine base threads.  Being someone who loves mostly bright and/or dramatic fabrics, I found the garingsing quite sombre.  In this village we also saw several rattan baskets with cocks in them died in bright colours of orange, blue, yellow and pink - I just hate the thought of cock fighting which I believe is what these cocks were on sale to do.  We also saw a palm tree decorated in dozens of empty egg shells stuck on the end of each branch - a novel approach for decorations!

At a little market just outside the walls of this little village we bought placemats and baskets made from ATA grass which is grown here - the leaves are slit into fine strips with a knife, then it is dried and woven.  It looks like rattan but is not.  By now we were running quite late and were in a hurry to get back - a shame because many of us would have spent longer in the market here and bought much more given the time!  We left the village of Tengasan at 445pm passing the locals heading to the village for the festival at the temple which lasts for 3 days.  We also passed a volleyball game in progress at a park on the side of the road with hundreds of people standing on the sidelines watching and supporting the players.

Luxury hotels I want to check out:  Amankila, Amannusa in Nusa Dua and Amandari in Ubud.

ANITA COOKING SCHOOL, KUTA BALI - OCTOBER 25, 2012

ANIKA's COOKING SCHOOL, KUTA BALI - Thursday Oct 25, 2012

What an amazing day this turned out to be at ANIKA's Cooking School!  The 6 of us were ready and waiting for our pickup at 7am in the Aston Bali lobby when our van arrived - Suz, Linda, Michelle, Carrie, Terry and I. Unfortunately Pete was still feeling very much under the weather and unable to join us but Suz was feeling somewhat better and squared her shoulders and came along - she simply did not want to miss the opportunity. It was a beautiful morning, and our driver Noman, took off at a very fast pace "we must be at the Kuta market by 7:30am"  No problem, in spite of all the hundreds of motorbikes weaving in and out of the traffic, we made it through the rush hour and made it alive crossing the road to where our male cooking class teacher was waiting for us.

We joined with 3 ladies and 1 man from Aussie (for one lady this was her 3rd trip back to Bali and Anika to take the cooking class - a good sign), and soon our chef was leading us through all the stalls in the market (fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken, baskets, offerings for the shrines, spices, fresh fish, dried fish) and explaining in detail about everything that was in there that the Balinese cook with and that we would be working with today!  Some of the items are only available in Bali, but he also gave us names of substitutes we could get in Canada or Australia.   They use 5 kinds of ginger in Bali!! When I didn't recognize the ginger that we get in Canada - he said, that's because yours is dried and wrinkled when you buy it in the grocery store - ours is fresh and plump!

Also, he told us the various natural remedies provided by much of what we were seeing (snake fruit will constipate you if you eat too many, ? nut is a laxative, nutmeg is a hallucinogenic and if you eat 3 you will die; turmeric has antiseptic properties and is used in iodine which is why it is so yellow!)  It was a very fast tour but so interesting - we also looked at the large shallow mortar bowls, made from black volcanic rock, used for grinding all the spices and vegetables to make the Balinese dishes - 25,000 rhupia ($3 USD) for a small one - but he assured us this would not be big enough and we would need a large one (too big and heavy for our luggage!)  We then piled into 3 cars for the short ride back to ANIKA's Cooking School and what a pleasant surprise that turned out to be.  

ANIKA's cooking school is inside a walled compound and feels very relaxing as you step inside - flowering shrubs, small swimming pool, trees and the entrance on the ground floor to the Guest House (55,000 rupia per night).  We walked up two short flights of stairs to a beautiful area where there was a very long table set for us, along with cooking and cutting tables.  We met another three gentlemen form Aussie (Perth and Darwin) bringing the total to 5 men and 8 ladies.  The Aussie guys told me their wives had no interest in coming and had sent them off on their own - they all loved cooking!

First we were served breakfast: hibiscus juice, water, and three small sweetmeats with coconut.  After washing our hands we were talked through all of the vegetable and spice ingredients for each dish that we would be cooking, and we were all assigned a spot to stand with a VERY sharp knife, and under expert tutelage we cut and chopped all the ingredients.  Certain items get chopped one way or another depending on which dish they are to be used in.  This took awhile - some of us being much more proficient than another in the simple art of chopping (without taking off fingers in the process!)  Next step was to grind many of these ingredients (mostly spices and tomatoes) together to form various pastes and sauces - well - what a long and hard job this was!  There were 6 bowls to grind and so we traded off, some more than others, when our arms and wrists got tired - which was often!  But smelling the pastes afterwards - delicious!

Now came preparing to cook - the first was the satays - small pieces of pork and chicken threaded onto fresh bamboo sticks that are first soaked in water so that they don't catch fire  when cooked on the coals.  Then small pieces of fish with its' sauce into fresh banana leaves, again to be cooked directly on coals - the other local man that worked at Anika's was busy with the fire behind us.  Next was the huge woks with coconut oil? where we cooked the vegetables and mixed in the spices and pastes that we had made - there were another two local ladies overseeing this process to ensure we stirred and flipped and did everything correctly.  It was a lot of fun, not stressful at all for those of us who don't consider ourselves to be good cooks, and we all got to share in the dishes from start to finish.                  

Around 11am we were finished, and the dishes looked fabulous and smelled delicious - now came the best part - we got to eat everything we had made!  After photos of all of us proud Balinese Chefs with our accomplishments spread in front of us, we sat down at the large table and shared this wonderful meal. Truthfully I was quite amazed that I had participated in preparing these dishes that looked so amazing and tasted wonderful - the best traditional Balinese dishes that I had ever tasted!  Needless to say we ate well but only ate about half of what we prepared, no doubt the guests at Anika's guest house get the benefit of the meal that was left.

Our class cost $65 each, so after paying and purchasing a black apron embroidered with ANIKA's cooking school logo we were driven back to Aston Bali arriving at 2pm and sharing the experience with the others who had not gone to Anika's.  We had planned to utilise the Spa facilities at ANIKA's but the Spa was not as appealing as the fabulous Spa at the Aston Bali and I think several of us were ready to get back, hit the beach and relax for the afternoon.  What was left of the afternoon flew by and after a swim in the pool it was time for a shower and change for the evening's activities. 

Many of us shared our personal sundowner preference including Gin and tonic, wine, beer or cocktail of the day while relaxing at the outside deck of the main lounge gazing out over the gardens, pool and ocean before heading into dinner. Dinner was delicious and presented very artistically - looking just as good as it tasted!  After dinner while some folks headed back to their room to sit on the deck and enjoy a night cap while enjoying the views over the moonlit ocean and beach, others headed back to the lounge for a glass of port or brandy night cap, or tea and cookies.  Each day here in Bali has been so special, something new to see or do, and enough familiarity to be very comfortable doing nothing but the same as the day before!

JIMBARAN. BALI - OCT 24, 2012

TANJUNG BENOA BEACH & JIMBARAN, BALI - WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24, 2012

After such a full day yesterday, the lazy day that we had scheduled for today to enjoy the beach and pool was very welcome!  Regardless we still woke up early and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise - the advantage of being on the East side of the island! At breakfast in the Casablanca restaurant we ran into others in the group and everyone is looking forward to an easy day enjoying the sun.

The day disappeared quickly between time in the pool, lunch, and a walk up the beach towards the harbour along the boardwalk, stopping along the way to browse through the beach markets.  These vendors are amazing selling everything from swimsuits, coverups, sarongs, dresses, baskets, jewellery, fake watches, and wooden carvings and everything in between.  The pricing in Bali is very reasonable for just about anything that you should buy be it from a beach vendor or in a store.  By now many of the group are wearing new loose fitting and very attractive dresses ($10 to $12 each) that are easy and cool to wear in the high temperatures in the 80's - mind you after Borneo the humidity feels much lower here especially with the breezes off the ocean.

There is a large SPA at the Aston Bali, located next to the pool and beach, and almost everyone tried out the spa today from pedicures to hot stone massage, to full body treatment packages including facial, massage, exfoliation, body wraps and finishing with cleansing tea and a flower bath (the water was covered in heavenly smelling frangipani blossoms)  - when I tell you that this package (and it was heaven and very professional) cost approximately $55 each you can see what great value all of the spa treatments were.  The rooms were available for single or couples treatments.  

Each day in the large and elegant main foyer at around 4pm two Balinese musicians would play their traditional ?? for the next couple of hours.  As the sun dipped lower we shared fancy umbrella cocktails sitting at the swim-up pool bar - a grand day for everyone.  Brenda was feeling much better today, Audrey was managing to hold her own with a heavy cold, but Suz and Pete were quite under the weather - the only good news being that at least everyone had great digs and comfortable beds to relax in and did not have to do anything should they not want to!

Today we had arranged to be picked up at 4:30 and taken to the West facing Jimbaran Beach, 20 to 30 minute ride, for a seafood dinner.  Jimbaran used to be a tiny local fishing village where you could go for a wonderful fresh fish dinner cooked by tiny restaurants in makeshift kitchens - you would sit at teak tables and on this beautiful beach with your bare feet in the sand while you watched the sun dip below the horizon, while the twinkling lights at Denpasar would glow brighter and the planes would continue to land and depart from the international airport.  Today this has developed to the point of there being over 60 restaurants at Jimbaran with much more effective kitchens,  You still sit at tables with your feet in the sand but there are hundreds of tables and a couple of thousand tourists enjoying dinner and the sunset.  There are also tourists and locals walking up and down the beach who buy corn cobs from the vendors roasting and selling it on the beach.  So even though this was more commercial than our previous visit it was still very enjoyable.  We had a long beachfront table at the Matahari? restaurant and our dinner was timed perfectly to enjoy our corn soup before the sun set and our main fish course arrived just after the sun went down.  The restaurant provides the transfer free of charge so we all fit into the two vans with drivers whose English was pretty limited but their capability of driving fast in the very heavy traffic was quite well developed!   After dinner we didn't hang around but headed straight back to Aston Bali and shared a couple of drinks at the main lounge.

MT BATUR KINTAMANI, BALI - OCT 23, 2012

KINTAMANI, BALI - Mt Batur volcano Monday Oct 23, 2012

After a good rest I was up early and on the beach, and walking out to the small pagoda at the end of the water break, for the amazing sunrise over the island of Nusa Penida and the Indian Ocean - purples, blues, pinks and golds - glorious!  Breakfast was in the Casablanca restaurant on the main floor with two air conditioned rooms and an outdoor patio overlooking the busy  street out front with the locals heading to work on their motorbikes, although there are lots of cars and vans as well.  Breakfast was excellent, lots of fresh fruits, cheese, cold meats, pastries, croissants, toast, bacon, eggs, beans but I loved the fresh mango yoghurt and the freshly made muesli.

Our guide, Nick who owns and operates Nick's Tours, arrived at 8am and by 815am there were 12 of us boarding the 20 passenger bus, new, clean and air conditioned.  Brenda was not well enough to come along which was a real shame, and Jenn decided to spend the day relaxing.  The population of Bali is 3.55 million and the traffic is very busy in Southern Bali, with lots of motorbikes and the objective was to ensure we made the traditional Barong & Kris dance performance which started at 9am.

We managed to get there before 9am, along with all the other tourists and their taxis and buses, and we went inside to get good viewing with seats about half way up the bleachers where we could sit and watch, and listen to the orchestra playing their ?? gong music before the performance started,  As each tourist arrived they were given a ? flower - the national flower of Bali.  The Barong and Kris dance performance lasted for 1 hour - fabulous costumes and masks, very precise dancing and movements - especially the feet and hands - the very long finger nails!  I just loved the tiger with amazing long hair and complex costume.  There is a story being told and fortunately the printed hand out (in English!) that we were each given as we entered helped us follow the story along with the dance.

After the performance was over  (the good guys won), our bus was just a few feet away  from the exit parked on the side of the street, and welcome cold bottles of water were waiting for us, especially after sitting in the warm theatre.  As we drove through Kuta and headed North Nick told us that the highest hotel in Bali is 10 floors, the building code does not allow any building to be higher than a coconut palm - there is one hotel ( Paradise Plaza in Sanur) which has managed to stretch this a little and is the highest building in all of Bali.

Today we are heading North to see the volcano but the towns that we pass through are full of artists - usually each town or village being famous for one specific type of art or craft.  The Balinese are very community oriented and everything they do, they do as a family and community which has resulted in a very gentle and caring people who support each other and where everything revolves around their family temple, their community temple, and then the larger family that they belong to within Bali.  This has also meant that each community has developed skills and techniques that are passed down through their own generations for one particular skill or craft.   We are touring later in the week when we will stop to shop in a couple of these villages.  

The first town we pass through is Batubulan - a center for stone carving - the skills having been passed down from generation to generation.  Several substrates are used for carving including limestone (softer), sandstone (softer than limestone requiring special chisels), and volcanic stone which is very hard and heavy.  The completed carvings for sale that we saw in each store and front yard along the roads as we drove along were truly amazing - how we wanted to stop and shop!

The next town that we drove through was Seluk - the centre for silver jewellry.  The most phenomenal buildings and frontages were by UC Silver www.ucsilverbali.com and apparently U C Silver sells very unique and beautiful designs, but a lot more expensive than other stores.  We were told that the man who owns UC Silver is the richest man in Bali. The density of buildings started to open a little after Seluk.  Next was Kemenuh village known for wood carvings where we visited a local wood carver.  This huge workshop and studio was amazing - very   intricate with perhaps 5,000 square feet of showroom containing beautiful carvings in several different woods (the multi coloured crocodile wood  was beautiful) - including many which had come from the forests of Borneo!!  Oh dear!  The carvings ranged from 6 inches to 20 feet and the prices ranged about that much as well - from a few dollars to many thousands!  It was wonderful to wander through and just appreciate, and even watch a couple of carvers working on pieces as we walked by.   

Nick continued as we drove answering our questions and teaching us about daily life in Bali. Each village has its' own meeting hall and each family sends 1 representative to the village meetings.   At these meetings they discuss issues and problems and come to a consensus in what to do for the best benefit to the community. The Balinese make offerings every day at their temples, and these include food - the poorer the family then the smaller the offering like rice grains, also included are flowers and often the figurines at the temples are wrapped in black and white checkered cloth called poleng.  Black is considered evil and white is considered good - but black and white live together and Nick explained that everyone's job is to control the two forces of good and evil and become a good wise person. If you do not control the forces then you become a bad force.  Interestingly grey is the symbol of a human being - influenced by both good and evil.

We stopped in Ceking and Tegalalang village to get out and walk along the trails through the rice fields - it was beautiful and has become such a tourist attraction that on the hill sides overlooking the rice fields (functioning as they always have) there are now open air restaurants built so that you enjoy your lunch overlooking the breath taking beautiful scenery.  It was very difficult to even drive through the narrow one lane street here, and there is even traffic parked along the sides- and our 19 passenger bus had lots of problems!

We continued on to the town of UBUD, which is very well known for its' market, shopping and large number of guest houses and hotels and resorts, with rates from very reasonable to hugely expensive at over $400 USD per night.  Ubud has become very popular on the tourism circuit and its' prices have increased correspondingly but still the pricing for Spa treatments are very economical in comparison with elsewhere in the world, especially Europe and North America.  In Ubud there is a very old komaneka monkey forest tree.  There are volcanoes to the North and East in Bali and these areas receive lots of rain, whereas the Western side of Bali is very dry and the Bali National Park even has tigers.  Volcanoes erupted in 1917, and 1926 and in 1963 two volcanoes erupted in Indonesia and nothing would grow because of the large amount of residual ash.  Since the farming community were devastated at being unable to grow crops, the Indonesian government developed a relocation program where they moved population away from Sumatra and  Bali to Borneo - we had heard about this translocation project a few days previously while in Kumai.  Each family that was translocated was given 2 hectares of land to farm.  

The Botanical Gardens are close to the town of Bedugai and are quite an attraction according to Nick.  The type of trees that we could see from the bus were changing to fruit trees as the altitude increased and we got closer to the volcano.  There are 9 types of banana trees in Bali, and more than 40 banana tree types within Indonesia.  As far as snakes go there are no cobra or python, just small green snakes.

The road to the volcano gains altitude continuously and you realise that the road is actually along a ridge which is the edge of the volcanic caldera, with a huge and deep valley on both sides.  We were lucky enough to arrive at the volcano in time to see the summit before it clouded over which it does every day - so we managed to see the massive volcano and large valley with lake at the bottom and take photos of course!  You can trek to the top of the volcano should you wish, but Nick did tell us it gets very cold at the top!  It is still active and you can frequently see smoke still coming from its' summit.

After enjoying the view outside we went into the Grand Puncak Sari restaurant for a very good buffet lunch - all local Indonesian dishes which were excellent. Bali is known for its' very tasty but spicy food and everyone enjoyed lunch - I think there must have been at least 30 different dishes available - my favourite being the pork and fish satay with fresh peanut sauce - mmm  good!  Mind you - they also had onion rings which were amazing - the onions were sweet and the batter was so light, almost like tempura - I think most of us would have had more given the chance!  The fried rice and noodles were excellent, and Linda confirmed that the hot sauce was REALLY hot!

After lunch around 245pm we headed back down the caldera ridge and enjoying the colourful fruit and vegetable stands set up along both sides of the road - the owners take great pride in their goods and arrange everything in small vertical piles arranged meticulously to look appetising and get you to stop and buy.  We saw lots of Durian (tastes wonderful and smells awful we were told time and again) and Jackfruit - which looks similar to Durian large (about the size of a watermelon) with a bumpy green skin.  The jackfruit is bright yellow inside and cut into sections , the pith is removed and it tastes good but quite sticky. 

After a 45 minute drive, our next 30 minute stop (unscheduled but a nice bonus) was at a coffee plantation, where we all tried a small glass of many types of coffee including ????? but I think the biggest novelty was the coffee made from the beans which are eaten by a cat but not absorbed - so when the beans are retrieved from the cat's output!! it is made into very expensive coffee which costs about $5 a small glass!  There was also a small store which carried a wide variety of gift items: coffee, essential soaps and oils, chocolate, tea - beautifully packaged and lovely gifts to take home (if you had room left in your suitcase!)

By now we were all getting tired but enjoyed the Tampaksiring Temple which had apparently only been discovered in recent years.  It is an amazing temple built down at the bottom of a small but steep ravine, which required us to walk down all these steep steps - and climb back up again afterwards!  We arrived after closing time but they allowed us to enter (you have to pay to enter every temple as a tourist, the fee here was 15,000 rupiah about $1.50 each) and we wrapped a sarong around our waists, which we also had to do at every temple as a sign of respect no uncovered legs or shoulders.  I really loved this temple, it had a very spiritual feel to it - there was a large concrete pool at the bottom where everyone would wash themselves prior to praying.  There was an amazing cave cut out of the cliff side for worshipping inside, and the carvings on the outside of the cave face were spectacular.  Then at the very bottom of the ravine (steps all the way to the bottom) was a small stream surrounded by huge trees and vines, with large carved broken rocks lying on their sides - it made me think of a movie set, it looked staged, but was obviously so very old. 

This was our last stop, and very rewarding it was, before the slow drive back to the Aston Bali hotel in Tangung Benoa through busy traffic.  We left Tampaksiring around 530pm and arrived back at Aston Bali, very tired, just after 730pm.  Our driver and his helper had done an amazing job - he must have nerves of steel to drive that bus through the streets and traffic we had encountered today!

We immediately made our way to the bar overlooking the gardens, pool and beach and shared a cold G&T before freshening up for dinner at the ? restaurant.  Another very busy and successful day in Bali!