Getting Wet in Bali
Ubud, Bali

It's been raining every afternoon here; we didn't realize that it was wet season here haven't gotten used to the fact that it is the dry season from November to April in SE Asia. But... we are now in the southern hemisphere!! Didn't think about that one, nor did we realize it'll be different. After all, Thailand is quite close to Indonesia, right?

Anyhow, it's been very interesting here inspite of the rain. I know I haven't written much about Labuan or Singapore yet; I will attempt to catch up later. For now, let's talk about Bali. We arrived here very late on Wednesday night. Getting through the airport authorities involve lining up to pay for our visa, then get our visa sticker, then clear immigrations before going through customs. It wasn't too bad actually, there are just many people in the queue. For those who didn't know, Indonesia just introduced the new $25 tourist visa last month. Prior to that, many visitors were able to visit visa-free. Oh well.

Our drive up to Ubud was about an hour from the Denpasar airport. My first thought upon stepping out of the airport was 'it is so humid here!' It still is, but at least Ubud is a bit higher in elevation, so not as terrible. Many tourists head over to Kuta Beach, which is quite close to the airport.

We are staying at the Saren Indah Hotel, a very small place in the midst of rice paddy fields in the very southern end of Ubud. Since we arrived so late at night, we didn't really have any idea what our surrounding entails. Imagine our delight in the morning when we looked out of our windows and saw lush green paddy fields on both the front and back of our room. We are on the top floor, with a wonderful balcony and huge king-sized room. We've been given an upgraded room. Woohoo!

Business here is still very slow since the bombing 4 years ago. Everyone we've met tells us the same. Our room rate is a minor fraction of the published rate, plus we were given airport transfer, massages, and tickets to a dance and the Monkey Forest. Not bad for $35/night eh?

The staff has been extremely friendly, polite and professional. I was very impressed the first night when the two men who brought out bags out just left the room without lingering to wait for a tip.

We slept in the first day enjoying the rain storm outside. In the afternoon, Kamong (our driver) drove us to the village of Pejeng, where we observed a ceremony at the Moon Temple. We are here at a good time; it is the full moon and there is some kind of annual festival going on. For 10 days, different temples around the country host a celebration. Women dressed in identical beautiful clothing of sarong, and matching laced top walk down the streets each carrying a huge basket of fruits on their head. This is the offering to the three Hindu Gods: Vishnu, Shiva and Brahmin.

The fruits are stacked 5 to 10 layers high, I can't even imagine the weight of these things. Yet many women walk around as if it's normal to carry things on their head. In fact, the lighter baskets would be balanced without the help of hands. We stayed at the temple for about 2 hours, enjoying the music (three different orchestras), and watching the prayer rituals.

We had meant to stay for an evening dance, so we ate at the local stalls just across the street. We had satay (2 plates) - definitely not as good as the ones in KK, rice, soup and 2 ice teas, for about $2.50. Kamong met us later in the evening as he went for his prayer. Unfortunately the danced that night was cancelled; one of the musicians had passed away just that day so the entire village would not be able to perform.

Yesterday we woke up earlier, and went on a day tour with Kamong. We first visited the Elephant Cave (Goa Gajah), which pays tribute to Ganesh. This cave was built in 11th century, and was only excavated in 1954.

Then a short drive to Tampaksiring, where we went to the Gunung Kawi, a temple with monuments carved into the side of huge rocks. We had to walk 15mins downhill to get to the temple. It was very refreshing to walk through the rice fields; these were not yet harvested and were so green and full! Women were out doing their laundry, and taking their baths from the natural water that ran through the area.

We also visited a small waterfall nearby. Two men with sickles accompanied us, so we gave them a little 'tip' at the end of it. Then it was off to the Holy Spring. These hot spring is believed to possess magical power to keep you young. There are special baths for the locals to immerse in their 'fountain of youth'. We saw three people fully clothed praying in front of the water jets.

By now it was lunch time. Just when it began to rain, we arrived at our restaurant up in Kintamani. It was a tourist buffet (bah!) but I guess that's where all the drivers take their guests. We had a view of the crater lake (Lake Batur) and the volcano (Gunung Batur), and the larva! Too bad the clouds kept creeping up so we only got to see the scenary once in a while. It sure poured the entire time we were there, but luckily it had ceased by the time we got back to the car.

We had an interesting time when we were at Gunung Agung, visiting the Besakih Temple. Kamong had already warned us that the local guides there were very forceful, and make a lot of trouble even though it was ok for us to walk alone. Sure enough, as soon as we turned the corner from the carpark, a bunch of guys sitting up behind a table started to talk to us, demanding for our ticket, and telling us that we needed a local guide to see anything. We eventually walked off since they wouldn't listen to us, and one tailed us for a whle. Finally Winston told him that we had no money to give him, etc. and he eventually walked off unhappy.

Not ten seconds later, we met another 'guardian of the temple' at the bottom of the steps. This one was more intrusive, holding Winston's arms as we started to go up the stairs. Eventually after several sessions of polite arguments, we got rid of him as well. Whew.. it sure made the whole experience of visiting this wonderful monument quite unpleasant. The complex is very impressive, built between 8th and 11th century, housing over 800 temples.

Last night we had planned to go watch a Kecap dance; we were unlucky again a second time - the dance was cancelled! We will try again tonight. We're getting our free massages in an hour, so I better get back soon.

Oh, I forgot to mention that while driving throughout the central region of the island yesterday, we saw many convoys of political parties. It is just a month away from elections, so the campaigning has begun. One of the parties all wore red t-shirts (PDI). We saw many of them in Ubud, racing through the streets in cars, trucks and motorcycles, even little boys not yet 10 years old were involved. There were many flags on these vehicles, as well as along the streets and on building tops. We saw another party in a different town, with a different coloured tshirt, though nevertheless the actions were the same. All in all, there are 70 parties in this country. We can't even imagine how messy the election will be.

I'll try and write about the missing parts soon. For now, know that we are both well and enjoying Bali. We've decided to spend all our time in Ubud; we were originally thinking of heading over to Lombok as well, but I think there's more than enough to keep us busy here. Lombok will have to wait for another time.

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About to Change Tracks
Singapore

We're at Changi Airport in Singapore, about to get on a plane to Bali. This marks the end of our rather relaxed stay in Malaysia and Singapore, where we have been treated and spoiled by our relatives with both room and board. Hopefully we haven't gotten so relaxed (and fat) that we can't make our way through the next few countries independently!

Actually, the next few weeks aren't going to be all that "challenging," at least in terms of culture shock, transportation, or communication. After a week in Bali, we'll transit back through Singapore on the way to Sydney. We're not sure what our itinerary is going to be in Australia, but now that we think we have a bit more time there, we'll probably do a bit of sightseeing and visiting before heading to New Zealand for a few more weeks. Then it's up to Fiji for a week, where we'll be joined by Ken and Ev.

Oops, gotta catch the flight, see you later!

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