Soaking up the Balinese Culture, Balinese Dance

After a spectacular hike to watch the sunrise on Mount Batur, and then a nap, I decided that it would be good to see one of the Balinese Dances. Ubud has many spots where various dances are performed. There are different ones each night. This night, I was checking my email in Starbucks and the temple in the back of the Starbucks building was to be location of one of these performances. This was called the Chandra Wati: Ladies Orchestra and Dance Troupe. Hopefully it was going to be able to be held outside at the temple. Unfortunately, the rains started shortly before 7 and, with the performance scheduled for 7:30, it ended up that the show was performed indoors. Of course, I didn't know the difference. But the temple looked rather nice, lit up as such places tend to be in tourist areas. It probably would have been quite an attractive event at the temple.

I went into the building where the performance was going to be held and found a seat. There were instruments arranged throughout the room. I think they were made of bronze, but I don't really know for sure. There were also a few of the offerings that adorn all the temples in the area.

After a short while, the musicians came in and took their places and the music began. It was loud. There must have been 50 women playing various metal instruments, and most of those were played by banging something against them. I do find coordination of a large number of instruments to be amazing, but still, this was loud, being inside a building instead of outside at a temple.

The dancers came out and performed their dances. There seemed to be stories involved in each piece, but there were no synopses provided for them, so I don't know what the stories were. It was a nice performance though, and I am glad I went.

At the end all the dancers gathered on the stage and let people come up to get their photos taken with them.  I didn't go, but I took the chance to take a photo of them all in one place and standing still.

Ubud

Ubud is an interesting place. It's a fairly large area consisting of about 18 little villages that have collectively been designated as the community of Ubud. It's the art/culture capital of Bali. Here can be found all sorts of painting shops where you can find any kind of painting you like. I talked to one gallery proprietor, and he told me that he was a member of a group of about 20 artists that all put their work into that one gallery. I assume that they took turns manning the gallery, and then the rest would be off either painting or resting and gaining new insight.

Walking through town yields all kinds of interesting sights. Temples are everywhere. There are public temples. There are also temples that are in private residences. I was told by a guide on a bike tour that many people in the area are Hindu, and part of the Hindu practice is to maintain a temple in the private residence for religious observance. Every day an offering is made. Most days this is only pieces of banana leaf with a bit of rice on them. These are left in significant places in the home. At certain times of the year, though, the offerings get more elaborate, with flowers and more elaborate presentations that consist of little boxes woven of banana leaf. And a couple of times a year, there are really big observances. During these times, the people make large offerings to be taken to the main temples of the town. (Some of this is pictured in the entry for the bike ride through the Ubud area.)

In addition to the temples, there are the rice fields that are in the town area.

Craft shops abound. So do wood-carving shops and other souvenir places.

And some of the restaurants were interesting as well. I found a good Mexican restaurant, as well as one of the famous local spots, the Dirty Duck Diner. I was told that it was a good place to eat. I went there for dinner the first night I was in town. It was indeed good. I had the house speciality, not surprisingly, duck. It was marinated and cooked in Indonesian spices and then fried to finish it off. It was quite tasty. And somewhat expensive. So I only ate there the first night. The Dirty Duck is also among a bunch of rice fields. The come right up into the middle of the restaurant area. It creates a nice ambience.

Yes, Ubud is an interesting little town.

Ubud and the sunrise trek of Mount Batur

After leaving Kuta, I came to the Ubud area.  Ubud is a town about an hour into the island of Bali from Kuta.  It seems to be one single town, but what is called Ubud is actually a collection of about 18 communities, that are collectively called Ubud.  And it is considered the cultural and artistic center of the island.  This is where you find boutiques, carving shops, painting shops, handicrafts, artsy little restaurants, and the like galore.  And it's where you can experience nature and daily-ish Balinese life, amidst the large of tourists, of course.  And it's quite a charming little place as well.

After arriving on the shuttle bus from Kuta, I was met by a guy who was hanging around the station offering places to stay.  It seems that in any touristy place, when you get off the sort of bus that carries tourists, there will always be the caterer types who are ready to take you to accommodation or to offer tours of the area.  Well this fellow took me to his home stay and it seemed nice, so I opted to stay.  Then he sat me down and explained how it would work if I wanted to take a tour around the area.  We could go on his motorbike and go see the volcano and then go see some temples and rice terraces and have a good look around.  And all for the low, low price of 900 000 Indonesian Rupiah.  Now this may sound like a great lot, but it comes to around 100 dollars in conversion.  (The Indonesian Rupiah is having a rough time, I guess.)  Even so, this was still what I considered to be quite a bit.  I had been reading things showing tours to be about 400 000 Rupiah.  He then started hedging and offering a lower price, but this was still too much for me.  He then told me that the 400 000 ones were for people in a tour.  Oh.  Well, that's what I was wanting.  So he said he could get me on a tour.  But I wanted an itinerary.  He didn't understand.  we went around and around for about 20 minutes before I finally convinced him that he would take to a tour office for the sunrise trek.  Off we went.  When we got there, the tour guy said there was no tour.  So my home stay owner then tried to convince me to use him again.  Aargh.  Why didn't he understand that I don't want to spend that kind of money on a one day affair, when it should be possible to get on a tour, and I didn't believe for one second that in a town that relies on such touristic adventures for revenue into the economy wouldn't have some kind of sunrise trekking tour available.  Well, he did know of another company.  Aha!  So you know someone else, but they probably aren't in your "circle" and you won't get anything out of it.  I did eventually get it sorted out, and on a tour for the next morning, leaving at the ripe time of 2 am.  It was by then about 8 pm and I still needed to get something to eat.  Yikes!!  I wasn't going to get much in the way of sleep.  But it promised to be a nice morning and set of sunrise conditions.  I was going to deal with it.

I got to bed about 10 o'clock.  And woke up about 1:45 am.  The tour guy showed up right at 2, and off I went.  We stopped to pick up three young women from London, and then a German couple.  Through the dark of the night we drove.  The sky was initially cloudy, but with only light clouds and the moon shone through faintly.  At times a few stars were visible.  It appeared it would be a rather nice morning to view the sunrise.  But it was dark.

Now, I must point out here that I am not always the most prepared person in the world.  I will often be caught out missing some piece of equipment needed for something I am doing.  But it isn't usually because of lack of foresight.  Why do I point this out?  I do this because I don't wish anyone to think that I am too high and mighty.  I do recognize my own faults in matters such as this.  But still...

We stopped somewhere along the way to get some breakfast.  Now, it was dark and so I think I must have missed something, like a path tot he little shack where we ate.  But there was a man in the shack and it had soap and other sorts of things on shelves on the walls that were for sale.  It was a little shop.  But to get to it from the car, we wound through a little bit of forest on a path that was not clear, and certainly not well traveled.  If that was the true path to the little shop, the guy would get no business.  So there had to be a better defined path somewhere and our driver led us on a shortcut that he knew from long practice.  Most of us, at any rate.  The three Londoners opted to stay in the car.  It was early you see, and they didn't feel like getting breakfast.  They wanted to sleep in the back.  O--kay then.  I began to wonder at that point how much of what would be necessary had impressed itself on their minds.

In the little cafe/shop we were treated to banana pancakes and some tea.  Also there were two Japanese women who had come up from Kuta.  We all had a nice breakfast and then broke up into two groups, as there were only allowed four people per guide up the mountain.  I ended up with the three Londoners.  When we got back to the car, it had grown foggy.  I was a bit surprised by that.  It had been clear when we went in, but now it was quite foggy.  I knew we had climbed a fair amount, but such changes in the air I have only experienced on mountains that were somewhat higher.  The tropics must make some sort of difference.

Then we headed down, after having climbed all that way.  Now I did make note of this, but only to myself.  This is again to make it clear that, although I am calling the kettle black here, it is knowing that I am the pot.  However, from the back I heard, "So let's get this straight, we climbed up the mountain, and now we are going down again, only to climb back up later."  And there was some grumbling about that.  (Well, it's dark, dear darling, and we have no idea what it looks like out there.)

We got to the parking lot where our driver was to leave us in the company of our guide, who would be taking us up the mountain.  And then it started to come clearer how little of what was required had impressed itself on the minds of the young Londoners.  "It's dark."  (Hmmm.  It 4 am.  It's not June, and we are not in the high Arctic.  Yup, that would mean it's going to be dark.)  "I don't have a flashlight."  (Well, it is dark and you are going tramping through an unfamiliar area.  Did it not occur to you that you might need a flashlight?)  "Why didn't they tell we would need a flashlight?  Why didn't they give some idea of what we would need?"  (Does your mother still spoon-feed you, too?)  There was a general scrambling as the driver searched for and produced a couple of flashlights for the Londoners.  "This one doesn't shine very bright.  How am I supposed to be able to see and not fall down?  Are we going to be climbing over rocks and things?"  (You don't get out of London much, do you?  You are damn lucky that the driver had a couple of spare flashlights for you use, as you showed no forethought as to what you might need for TRAMPING UP THE SIDE OF A VOLCANO IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STINKIN' NIGHT.)  And off we went.  "Ouch!"  "What's wrong?"  "I didn't bring very good shoes for this.  These are so thin, I am feeling the sharp edges of the rocks through my footwear."  (Sheesh!  Mountain.  Mountain!!!  That means rocks.  And though I will cut some slack on this one because not everyone studies any geology, volcanic rocks means sharp rocks.  Foresight.  FORESIGHT!!!)  And the complaining went on and on.  Eventually I found out that if I went to the back, the moaning and complaining became an unintelligible drone, rather than a stream of words that I could make out and gnash my teeth at.  That's when I started bringing up the rear, in order to "use my strong flashlight to help illuminate the steps of the others."  And that's my story and I'm sticking it to it.

I have no photos of the climb up to show because, well, it was dark, and they would be somewhat uninteresting.  And they would all look the same.  So I will start with sunrise time itself.  The photo at the top is a panorama of the full view I had at sunrise.

The night had cleared nicely by the time the dawn started.  There were some clouds off to the east, but rather than close off the sunrise, they promised to give sunrise some character.  And it was quite spectacular.

Now, just to be fair, by the time the sun had done its rising, the Londoners had come around to the point of view that it had been rather glorious and a very cool thing to have done.

After the sun had risen properly, we got a chance to look around at the area, including the crater of the volcano itself.  The volcano is still active, so there was steam rising from spots, and there were little vents where you could warm your hands here and there.  And we ate a little meal that included eggs boiled in a river nearby, heated by the volcano.  The having gone up, only to go down, only to climb up again had been because of the outer ring of the volcano.  We had gone over that outer caldera, and had climbed the central cone.



As is obvious, there is a lake inside the caldera, called Lake Batur.  There were little bits of mist moving about inside the caldera, over rocks and trees.










As we walked down the cone at the end of the morning trek, what we passed was able to be seen.  It was quite striking.

And then, it was back to the guest house and a well-earned nap.  It was definitely worth the lack of sleep.

Bali Taxi Drivers (Actually Taxi Drivers in Every Tourist Spot)

I'm sure you know the ones.  You are going somewhere, and it's close, or it's not, but you want to walk.  You aren't looking around in any way that suggests that you are looking to be taken anywhere.  You aren't trying to flag down a taxi (or a scooter, or a tricycle, or a form of transportation of any kind).  You aren't giving any indication that the services of a taxi, or whatever, is wanted.  And yet, as you walk by them, one after another, they ask you if you want a taxi, transportation, a ride.

NO!!!!!  I DON'T!!!!!  IF I WANTED TO GET A RIDE IN A TAXI, I WOULD BE LOOKING AT YOU AS THOUGH I WANTED A RIDE!!!!  WHAT I AM DOING IS LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD IN THE DIRECTION I AM GOING AS THOUGH I AM GOING SOMEWHERE, I KNOW WHERE I AM GOING, AND I DON'T REALLY WANT TO BE BOTHERED WITH SOMEONE WHO KEEPS ASKING IF I WANT A RIDE!!!!!  LEAVE!!!!  ME!!!!  ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

End of rant.

Bali, Indonesia and Kuta

There isn't a whole lot to say about Kuta, so far at any rate.  I may spend another day or so there before I leave Bali, but my first impressions are that it is a tourist town that is quite busy, that it's more expensive than Jakarta, and that it has the unfortunate claim to fame of being the place where terrorism came to Bali.  Kuta is the where the nightclub that was suicide bombed in 2002.  There is a shrine to the incident and the victims somewhere, but I was unable to find it during a half-hearted attempt on my first day in town.  But overall, aside from the beach, there isn't really much to recommend Kuta.  It's one of those places where you want to get out of rather quickly, so that you can find more interesting things to do and experience.  But they had a nice beach, and I went and sat on a beach chair for a while (before the torrential rain started), reading a book and having the chair tender offer to send a woman to my room later that night.  That day there was a fairly heavy surf and it made a lot of soothing noise and made for some nice photos.  At least I think so.

Given the weather, there wasn't a lot of people on the beach.

And once I had gotten my laundry done, it was a good place to leave behind.

Jakarta, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

When Ririn and Sarah, the two young women in the Jakarta tourism office, told me about Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, I thought it might be a miniature world where there were small buildings that were famous in Indonesia.  It thought it would be an interesting way to spend a couple of hours on my last afternoon in Jakarta.  So I decided to head off on the Busway to find it.  I ran afoul of lousy directions yet again, and wound up sitting drinking tea with a man named Luhut in his neighbours' "yard" about his job, my job, and life in general.  Here are the neighbours.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a photo of Luhut.  Oh well.  Then he took me on his bike to the bridge across to the park.  It was so much more than a miniature land.  It was actually a micro representation of Indonesia.  There were a whole bunch of pavilions where each province of Indonesia is represented.  They have a little compound where they present the culture of the province and its people.  Here is one of those compounds, the one for West Kalimantan.

My grave mistake was in thinking it was an amusement park of sorts.  Inside the buildings in each pavilion area was a small museum, showing the dress of the people of the province, or some of the history, or some other aspect of culture.  It was fascinating.  In addition, there was a bird zoo/museum, an animal zoo/museum, multiple other museums covering everything from history to transportation.  There was even a couple of pavilion/compounds for Europe and other parts of the world.  It was a fascinating area and would have taken two weeks easily, let alone the three hours I ended up having available to me.  It is quite the place even if it doesn't, as the foreigner I met there cynically told me, represent Indonesia as it is.  Of course it doesn't.  But neither do the Maori cultural shows in New Zealand or the Native American presentations in North America show the current state of those cultures.  It shows the way it was.  And that is fine.

Late in the afternoon, a fair-sized monster of a storm rolled through to the north.  I was glad I was south of it.  I imagine it was a fairly nasty thing to be under.  But it looked interesting.

Jakarta, reflections

Normally, when I go to a big city as an entry point to a country, I like to get out as fast possible.  Most big cities are just that and aren't very interesting.  They are noisy and polluted and unfriendly.  They are the way into a country and may have some interesting things to see or do, but those things are often difficult to reach and not worth the effort.

Now, Jakarta is a big city.  There are 10 million people (I was told) living there.  It is noisy and polluted.  There are some interesting things to see and do there, but they are far apart and mostly rather small and limited in interest value.  But I found Jakarta to be an incredibly interesting place.  Most of that interest came from the people.  Unfortunately, I didn't photos of the people I met there, so I can only tell about them.  There was Jonev who I met coming out of his university where he is doing an MBA.  I was trying to follow what turned out to be vague directions from the bus station to my chosen area to search for a place to stay.  (I don't why I didn't think they were vague at the time.  It is a city with 10 million people and the guy in the bus station waved in the general direction I wanted to go and said my destination was about 10 minutes walk.)  Jonev was living in the same area and offered to show me the way.  He took me there, helped me find a place to stay and then took me out for dinner.  We were out until 2 in the morning.  He gave me lots of information about where to find things to do in Jakarta and then in Bali as well.

There were the guys in the mall the next day at the information desk.  Jonev's directions had proven to be somewhat vague as well.  (He pointed down the street and told me to take a right at the corner and I would find the center of the city action that way.  Again, Jakarta is a big city and I really didn't know what I was looking for, so I got lost again, predictably.)  I found a mall and a bookstore where I bought a map and then went to the infomation desk in the mall and asked for help.  The guy there got three other guys, maintenance men I think, to come over and together we all poured over the map, finding where we were and where I wanted to go.  Then they told me the best way to get there.  And the whole time they were talking to me and finding out where I came from and that sort of thing.

There were the two young women in the tourism board's office (which was in the very building where I had had breakfast before following Jonev's vague directions) who kept poking at me and laughing at me and telling me I was funny.  They found me very entertaining and kept me there talking with them for nearly an hour after I had the information I needed to enjoy my stay.

There was the man who saw me standing looking through a fence at a mosque.  He offered to take me in and show me around.  He gave me a right good tour, under the watchful eyes of the security-type, who followed us around the mosque on my tour.

There was the police officer when I went walking past the President's residence and toward the Old Town area.  He started talking to me in the middle of a really busy street, telling me his life's story and asking me about mine.  He told me how he had lived in Bali or Java (I forget which), but that he had to come to Jakarta with his family so that he could provide for them properly.  He kept me there talking in the busy thoroughfare for a good half hour, and seemed genuinely interested and happy that I was there talking to him, and shook my hand heartily as I left on my way.

There were the students in the museum at the Old Town who came up and asked me to take photos with them.  We spent a few minutes doing that, with them giggling and laughing and peppering me with questions.

There was the young woman who was also at the museum with her brother who just started talking to me and spilled out her story as she asked to take a photo with me as well.

There were the two gay men who entered the shopping mall as I was leaving and stopped me to ask me about myself.  And to tell me that if I was gay, well, they wanted to know.  Hmmm...

There was the guy as I was going to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a place I will describe in a little bit.  I was a bit lost again (something of a theme, I know), and had passed him once.  I gave up on the direction I was going and had turned back, and I passed him again.  He called me over and asked where I was headed.  I told him.  He told me I had been on the right path and I would find a bridge nearby leading to the park.  Then he invited me to sit down and offered me tea.  Of course, it wasn't his house.  He was visiting his neighbours, who didn't speak English.  So we sat there in his neighbours "yard," while they peeled little onions and drank tea, and he told me about his life as a consulting geologist in the oil industry.  Then he took me on the back of his bike to the bridge and sent me on his way.

There were the people everywhere in Jakarta, up the sides of buildings doing some repair work, on buses, on bicycles, on the other sides of streets, everywhere, who would shout and wave and say hi.

I am mightily impressed with Jakarta, and all the people who told me it's an unfriendly place, all the websites that say it's a dangerous place, I just don't know.  I'm sure it can be.  I'm sure bad things happen there and not everyone is nice.  And quite possibly, some of the people who seemed friendly would have taken advantage of me if they had a chance.  But not all of them.  I believe that most of those people were genuine.  They were just being kind and nice in a kind and nice big city.