We were pleased to arrive at our somewhat remote accommodation and meet our Balinese butler Putu (and eventually his wife Nyoman). He helped settle us in and made extra effort to find a power converter for Bob. The room has an outdoor shower and w/c area, netted bed, and our dinner ordered in by Putu was served on our patio overlooking a small koi pond. The surrounding rice fields and tree groves will be nice to wander through in the upcoming four days here.
The oversize washroom sink and adjacent cloths drying rack indicated to us that the management would not mind that we did our five days worth of laundry (The Culvert had not been conducive to washing cloths). We are 10 days away from the K.L. washing machine, so likely we'll be doing a few more small hand loads.
Our initial room survey netted a large spider, one and a half times the size and twice the speed of a v.large wolf spider. A lizard chirped its approval at Bob's having reduced the competition tonight. However, we finally met our lizard two days later and that spider would not have been a problem for him.
The oversize washroom sink and adjacent cloths drying rack indicated to us that the management would not mind that we did our five days worth of laundry (The Culvert had not been conducive to washing cloths). We are 10 days away from the K.L. washing machine, so likely we'll be doing a few more small hand loads.
Our initial room survey netted a large spider, one and a half times the size and twice the speed of a v.large wolf spider. A lizard chirped its approval at Bob's having reduced the competition tonight. However, we finally met our lizard two days later and that spider would not have been a problem for him.
October 7th we enjoyed a quiet morning and a delicious Balinese
breakfast (included with our $27CAD equivalent per night room cost).
In the afternoon, driver Madee dropped us 5Km north at Bali Pulina, which had been recommended to us by Victoria pals the Youngs. We wandered the tranquil sloped gardens and rice terraces and enjoyed civet-processed coffee ("catpoochino", the locals say) and deep-fried banana. Bob photographed birds, including a Javan Pond Heron. We stayed 2 1/2 hr and then walked home the 5Km gauntlet of craft shops and cafes. There is so much beautiful work, and in extraordinary quantities - we think the makers in this area sell in batches to overseas buyers, as we have seen similar product in Victoria.
There was a special Balinese ceremony this evening for locals, and we
delighted in seeing the clusters of beautifully dressed women and girls
with colourful baskets on their heads. We were told that the ceremony
was because the youngest son of the Ubud palace family is getting
married and there is a period of days when the bride is presented to the
palace and then returned for a ceremony at her home for the various
stages of the marriage. The process started on October 7th.
October 8th we took a cab to the Campuhan Ridge Walk. It was lovely and we stopped at the upper end at a painter's studio and bought 3 works. We also had coffee, omelette and pancakes at "Ant", prepared and served by owner Junee, who told us a number of stories that helped us better understand his Balinese priorities: he had a great job, that paid well, but his mom (71yo) needed him so he quit and helped to set up a series of coffee shops near home with his pal; his wife is in St. Petersburg, Russia, studying massage therapy, and when she is home in three weeks he has plans that they will make a baby; and they are hoping his wife will be able to use her certificate to work in a fancy hotel spa in Bali. He was very interested to hear about Canada.
On our walk back home we passed through the high-end shops of Ubud and found two more little paintings we couldn't resist. In the smaller communities we pass through on our long walks home we find it interesting to see Balinese daily life. We saw again that in front of every great Bali building project is a great cement mixer! These noble beasts spin their mix, which is hoisted to upper levels by a winch to a waiting sluice above. Many people working quickly together! Smaller projects, such as garden walls and motorbike ramps over stairways are mixed by hand. The cement mixer is rented from a "home depot" type shop. There is no room on the road for pumper trucks!
October 9th was a full-day tour (9:30am - 6:30pm) with driver Madee to view two volcanoes in the north, to walk down two hours to the super volcano caldera lake, to walk in a bamboo forest and, at sunset, to watch the Kukukun fly home to roost. Each activity has a user fee of between $1 and $2 each, which we've come accustomed to pay.
The walk to the caldera lake took us through three communities, two of which were abandoned due to volcanic ash activity. The roadway had been swept clear of ash, but we could see piles on the roadside and within the built areas. One of the two abandoned sites had some revitalization and included a wedding photo op destination park with a cluster of overhead sun hats, a pair of butterfly wings and other interactive displays. Yolanda explained to Bob a detail she had read at the Sarawak Textile Museum that has the bride's entourage of ladies holding colourful sunhats over the bride's head to make shade for her and the display we were seeing might be referring to that tradition.
The bamboo forest stop was an unexpected surprise! We found it v.interesting and were curious to find out that harvesting was on three-month cycles, with the harvest proceeds going to the local, traditional Balinese community. We walked through the community and saw clusters of women and men preparing for two upcoming weddings.
In 1965, the town of Petulu was in trouble, so hosted a ceremony of good fortune. Shortly thereafter, a flock of large white birds showed up and the community petitioned for the birds to be a protected species. Now people flock to see the herons returning to roost at sunset, and a small fee is collected. Viewing platforms have been incorporated into the ornate rooftop vista for tourists to get a good vantage as the trees around fill. Bob managed to photograph four species of herons/egrets in the roosts.
Upon returning home, Yolanda noticed her wallet was missing and Bob quickly went out to see if driver Madee was still around. Not only was Madee there, so were two Balinese fabric clad youth on motorbikes. They had been chatting to Madee at Petulu so knew we were at the Kishi Kishi Villas. As the sun set on Petulu, and Bob was still up on a platform, Yolanda had been sitting on steps below chatting about the birds with the two youth. She had left her wallet on the stair and the two found it and brought it back, with about $85 CAD equivalent inside (850,000 INR). Such a thoughtful act of kindness!
In the late evening, our two female German neighbours headed out for fun on the town and in the process their hair dryer cut the power three times. They left with our place in darkness, and after the power was recovered again by Butler Putu, we could hear the hairdryer humming at high speed and the power cut out again. Putu restored the power again and Bob went out in his p.j.s to let Putu know about the hairdryer, so he went into their room and unplugged it. The chatty girls returned about 2am. After about 40min, Bob suddenly sat up and said loudly, "I guess they will be talking all night; that's not very considerate". After a moment of silence and a bit of giggling, it was quiet next door - we guessed they understood English.
We had seen two days ago that the Ubud palace was being decorated for the wedding of the youngest son. Today, as we passed the palace, having just been to the post office, we saw that the decorations were complete and racks of 1mx2m wedding "cards" were displayed for four blocks on the sidewalks. We head to the West Bali National Park tomorrow so won't be around for processions. That will be a fantastic display of colour, finery and performance! Even at this point the clans were gathering in their colours for today's presentation of the bride and groom to the President of Indonesia.
We signed up for Paon Bali Cooking Class for our last evening in Ubud (Oct 10th) to maybe learn a bit about flavour. The morning class includes a market component, but the afternoon class is more cooking time. And cook we did! Puspa and her team orchestrated an expert evening which had 18 people individually contributing to 8 dishes over a 4hr class (3:30-7:30). We sat and ate for an hour or more (including a soup intermission at 5pm). It was fun and delicious and we met interesting people who had been or were heading to places in SE Asia.
At the cooking class we not only learned about building flavour, we learned about how Balinese home architecture is organized. Each room is a unique structure within the walled family courtyard. The highest most room building is the family temple – a ceremony is held there every 6 months, plus on special family, community, religious and national occasions. The next room building level is for the grandparents. Below are room buildings for family and guests and then is the kitchen and storage. Respectful, and practical. Some modern constructions are multi-room (car, eat, sleep combo), but most have three, and often five stone and brickwork building rooms, all with ornate cornices and filigree windows, rarely with glass. Now, when we are zooming along in a cab at 20-40Km/hr or on our long walks, we know where the family properties divide and what buildings we are seeing.
We are off tomorrow to West Bali National Park, 3.5hr west of Ubud. We will miss so much about being in Ubud - even the weather has been great, with no rain, blue skies, and not unbearably hot or humid.
We are off tomorrow to West Bali National Park, 3.5hr west of Ubud. We will miss so much about being in Ubud - even the weather has been great, with no rain, blue skies, and not unbearably hot or humid.
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