6-7
Quiet day. Judee awoke with Bali Belly, a temperature and headache. She slept most of day and into the night. I, on the other hand, ran errands to get water and light snacks for her to eat; went to the internet to check email; sat by the small pool and read; wrote in the journal to catch us up; ate lunch and dinner just down the street at a small restaurant with very good cheap Indonesian food. All in all, a very restful day for both of us.
6-8
Judee is better and we are off to walk the side roads and paths west of Ubud. The main drag has many shops selling paintings, wood carvings, stone carvings, sarongs, T-shirts, and other assorted souveniors: window shopping, but just really enjoying the hot moist day. Yesterday and today started with rain overnight and into the breakfast hours, so the humidity was high. Over hill and dale, through rice paddies, looking at villas for rent, we wandered the green landscape. Just off the busy road we decided to visit the Blanco Art museum, a huge compound with birds of all kinds, art work by Blanco and his son, all set in the absolutely brightly colored Balinese mansion on a hilltop. Antonio Blanco (a Spainard) moved to Bali, married a leading Balinese dancer and painted furiously for years in a flamboyant style, a la Dali at times. He loved nude women and wild wooden frames to put them in. The views from the museum roof top gave us our first 360 degree panoramic views over the jungle foilage and across the rice fields. Upon leaving the museum, we found a warung, a small roadside eatery, where we each tried a new dish to our delight. How delicious they were!
1. 2. Antonio Blanco museum
3. street chess players |
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6-9
After another great breakfast served in the open dininng area perched on the side of a deep jungle forested ravine, we marched down to the bank to withdraw another $1,500,000rp ($173. US) to pay for our five nights at Gusti’s ($750,000rp) and have enough for the next several days on the road. We then packed up and left by a small road that wound up the spine between two river valleys, past layered rice paddies and through a number of villages specializing in wood carving. There are not enough people in the entire world to buy all of the masks, lizards and cats being produced in these small villages. The items are almost exactly the same, village after village after village. I will never see another relief-carved cat without remembering this road and its many men, sitting among the shavings, all waving and calling out Hello. The traffic was fairly light, the domestic and farming scenes, eye-candy. The traffic grew heavier and more aggressive as we merged into the main road, now lined with hundreds of souvenior shops, all selling the same stuff. We no longer find any of the offerings intriguing, just too much of the same!
Up to mt. Batur
1.& 2. rice terraces
3.Lake Batur
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We climbed for the entire four hours we were on the bike, up to the craters edge of Guhung Batur. Tourist Police stopped us to accept an $8,000rp charge to be in the area (!) and then we gazed down upon Danau (Lake) Batur, the two smaller still active craters, and the more recent volcanic flows all deep within the larger crater. The most recent eruption was in 2000 with a very large and destructive flow in 1994. Over the rim we went, brakes on all the way down the torn up switch-backed road, stopping at the bottom for a room. This is not quite to the standards we have found in the more touristy developed areas. Bali is rougher than I expected. It is developing and suffering from the same problems we saw in some of the Latin countries: 1) rubbish, notably plastic; 2) people who have experienced the tourist and their wealth and want to share in it. Some younger people want to leave. Most natives try to sell anything they have for the highest price to the tourist and don’t want to take No for an answer. There is also begging. 3) A higher standard of living that brings more vehicles, hence pollution and congestion. 4) Modern plumbing (or more modern than squat holes) which puts great demands on water, sewage and the ingenuity of the builders to incorporate these rooms of modern wonder into a previous life-style of river bathing and outdoor relief. The idyllic Bali is feeling the pressure of its population explosion and the influx of the tourist with their foreign dollars.
Mt Agung & Lake Batur area scenes
1.& 2 Locale temple
3. ladies with offerings
4. lady at cliff carving
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Like many other cultures, the Balinese eat anthing and everything, much inedible to my Americanized tastes. They don’t butcher their meat, but hack it to pieces with a cleaver, so bits of grizzle and bone shards can be found even in Satay. It is often difficult to assertain from which part of the animal the meat comes from or for that mater, which type of animal unless the head is still attached to the carcass. The huge variety of vegetables are fresh and plentiful, served with rice or noodles. Local dishes are served everywhere, but as with the American hamburger, in as many variations as there are restaurants. Fruits are also readily available.
6-10
Last night we were not lulled to sleep by the awful chanting over loud speakers from the village down the way. It is a five day holy festival here with chanting every night. So, in the morning after a fitful sleep, we decide to move on. Since we were deep in the volcanic crater and the road in was steep and torn up, we negotiated for a ride out by van. Loaded up our gear and Bici in the van and took off up the road only to find it mobbed by traffic from the village traveling to an extension of their festival in another village. All this mixed with sand trucks and contruction narrowed the road to less than one lane which made for many stops and starts. Further, we ran out of gas and had to coast down and buy a little from the local store. To say the drive was hair raising was an understatement, but we were very glad we were not doing it on Bici.
At the crater rim, we loaded Bici and took off in the festival traffic for 2km, then off on a side road up and around along the crater through the cool cloud forest at the top. There are even pine trees here! After 3km we started our downhill descent for 18km. Yesterday we climbed, today we zoom down, passing villages and hamlets. Again, we are on a long ridge with broad views off both sides. We must use our drag brake constantly and occasionally the hand brakes in tight turns and traffic. Passing temples and many stalls selling sand and gravel, then moving into the temple stone cutters area. The sound of the 3’ diamond stone cutting blades screech and wail accompanied by the chip, chip and ping, ping of the many men hand chisling the black volcanic stone.
1. & 2. Water Palace
3. school guardian |
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We stop to speak to a Dutch couple on bikes touring with their three-year-old daughter in a trailer. We exchanged travel stories and found out they were going to the same destination today as us. Maybe, we will see each other later at Torita Gangga, the water palace.
1. Stone cutter
2. Cattle ploughing |
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Scenes from Amed area (June 13)
1. sail boats
2. sun rise
3. fishing boats returning in the morning |
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(June 14)
1.& 2. WaWa WeWeII pool
3. drummers
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(June 15)
Market scenes on the road to Lovina 1.-3.
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