Friday, 29 May 2009
Golden Wedding Day
I am writing this on 30 June and sometime today, we calculate about midnight, we have been married 50 years.
Yesterday we decided to walk the 2+km in the morning to the Ubud Botanical Gardens, unfortunately we selected the wrong road by assuming ours would join since the map showed it merging with the correct one, and true enough it did but having got to the join we had to retrace our steps south (luckily by then we had bought seats in his car from a local householder (entrepreneuress).
They immediately greeted us with the news that the restaurant was closed because they were dealing with a new load of fertiliser in the kitchen, but that we could buy the whole garden for 1 million pounds. In fact they made us tea and coffee but then initially served it with salt in a basin instead of sugar!!
From that, and the fact that they had few visitors each day, like us you will be surprised to find the 4 hectare garden was still in very good condition, though how long it will last is another question. Never the less we picked up a lot of picture of flowers from plants collected all over the tropical world. The paved pathways were in extremely good condition, and indeed looked like a fairly recent improvement.
In between time I blogged for 3 hours and thought the lot had failed to publish, since although telling me it had published correctly and inviting me as usual to 'view the blog', which showed no change from the mess of the day before. I was thoroughly stressed by thought of losing so much time, which did not augur well for our hurried dinner before the shadow puppet show.
Walking back, by the right route this time, we met Joanna going in the opposite direction in the late afternoon. She directed us to an Art Gallery where we were persuaded to buy tickets to that evening's shadow puppet show of a story from the Ramayana. We were surprised to see as many as sixteen tourists in the audience, attracted by this chance to experience this pre-talkies cinema technique, a disappearing attraction which we had first seen in Southern Thailand. The man introducing the show indicated the puppeteers were supported by Agung Rai.
Today Putu again picked us up with a car and driver at 7am and this time took us for a walk between two very small country villages. We started off walking along the boundaries of the rice paddies but Joan found that too hard as it meant continual steps up of 20 inches, so we transferred to a small paved path between borders of tall grass, called 'horse grass' (or is it elephant grass) which is harvested dried and then used for thatching - a task which has to be repeated every 10 to 15 years.
The light and the reflections in the water of the paddy fields were a joy, so was walking in the cool low sunlight of early morning.We went passed a man painting eggs and I stopped to talk to him whilst the other two went on. Most of the 'eggs' were today wooden imitations but he showed me the way he was mapping out the pattern before filling the black and white ones with ink but taken from a source which I mistook for charcoal. He offered me one for 5$ and I wished now I had bought it because being small, but beautiful, it would be easy to add to our luggage.
The country walk was beautiful, in retrospect we think it was the south going part of the Campuan Ridge Walk as a described in the LP. A man in a particularly fine sarong passed as Joan was walking with Putu. 'That was the king', he whispered, but I following with the camera had not been observant enough to capture the moment. Joan assumed he meant the King of Bali, but we are uncertain now we know realise Bali was divided into many kingdoms. No doubt he was well educated, as befitted his rank. Putu said he emigrated to Australia and returned a rich man.
After the walk we had breakfast at the Agung Cottages on our verandah, under this traditional high, peaked, roof. Later I came back to the Internet location, checked my email, and found the blog was in perfect order, so yesterday's panic was unwarranted. It seems there was merely an interruption in the Internet service, and everything was queued and got through in the end. I am now once again a happy man.
In the evening we went to our second dance performance in a suburb of Ubud called Peliatan, an area associated with the education of artists and dancers under the auspices of Agung Rai. This was by far the better experience, for not only was there a mixture of adult and young dancers but the dozen or so tourists in the £ seats were far outnumbered by the local families sitting for free at the sides. We were particularly impressed by a young boy dancing the part of a monster, which he did with such great skill and since there was no one else on the stage, gave a fearsome impression. Also a boy playing the part of a monkey who selected a Japanese girl from the audience and proceeded to search her for fleas
I am writing this on 30 June and sometime today, we calculate about midnight, we have been married 50 years.Yesterday we decided to walk the 2+km in the morning to the Ubud Botanical Gardens, unfortunately we selected the wrong road by assuming ours would join since the map showed it merging with the correct one, and true enough it did but having got to the join we had to retrace our steps south (luckily by then we had bought seats in his car from a local householder (entrepreneuress).
They immediately greeted us with the news that the restaurant was closed because they were dealing with a new load of fertiliser in the kitchen, but that we could buy the whole garden for 1 million pounds. In fact they made us tea and coffee but then initially served it with salt in a basin instead of sugar!!
From that, and the fact that they had few visitors each day, like us you will be surprised to find the 4 hectare garden was still in very good condition, though how long it will last is another question. Never the less we picked up a lot of picture of flowers from plants collected all over the tropical world. The paved pathways were in extremely good condition, and indeed looked like a fairly recent improvement.
In between time I blogged for 3 hours and thought the lot had failed to publish, since although telling me it had published correctly and inviting me as usual to 'view the blog', which showed no change from the mess of the day before. I was thoroughly stressed by thought of losing so much time, which did not augur well for our hurried dinner before the shadow puppet show.
Walking back, by the right route this time, we met Joanna going in the opposite direction in the late afternoon. She directed us to an Art Gallery where we were persuaded to buy tickets to that evening's shadow puppet show of a story from the Ramayana. We were surprised to see as many as sixteen tourists in the audience, attracted by this chance to experience this pre-talkies cinema technique, a disappearing attraction which we had first seen in Southern Thailand. The man introducing the show indicated the puppeteers were supported by Agung Rai.
Today Putu again picked us up with a car and driver at 7am and this time took us for a walk between two very small country villages. We started off walking along the boundaries of the rice paddies but Joan found that too hard as it meant continual steps up of 20 inches, so we transferred to a small paved path between borders of tall grass, called 'horse grass' (or is it elephant grass) which is harvested dried and then used for thatching - a task which has to be repeated every 10 to 15 years.
The light and the reflections in the water of the paddy fields were a joy, so was walking in the cool low sunlight of early morning.We went passed a man painting eggs and I stopped to talk to him whilst the other two went on. Most of the 'eggs' were today wooden imitations but he showed me the way he was mapping out the pattern before filling the black and white ones with ink but taken from a source which I mistook for charcoal. He offered me one for 5$ and I wished now I had bought it because being small, but beautiful, it would be easy to add to our luggage.
The country walk was beautiful, in retrospect we think it was the south going part of the Campuan Ridge Walk as a described in the LP. A man in a particularly fine sarong passed as Joan was walking with Putu. 'That was the king', he whispered, but I following with the camera had not been observant enough to capture the moment. Joan assumed he meant the King of Bali, but we are uncertain now we know realise Bali was divided into many kingdoms. No doubt he was well educated, as befitted his rank. Putu said he emigrated to Australia and returned a rich man.
After the walk we had breakfast at the Agung Cottages on our verandah, under this traditional high, peaked, roof. Later I came back to the Internet location, checked my email, and found the blog was in perfect order, so yesterday's panic was unwarranted. It seems there was merely an interruption in the Internet service, and everything was queued and got through in the end. I am now once again a happy man.
In the evening we went to our second dance performance in a suburb of Ubud called Peliatan, an area associated with the education of artists and dancers under the auspices of Agung Rai. This was by far the better experience, for not only was there a mixture of adult and young dancers but the dozen or so tourists in the £ seats were far outnumbered by the local families sitting for free at the sides. We were particularly impressed by a young boy dancing the part of a monster, which he did with such great skill and since there was no one else on the stage, gave a fearsome impression. Also a boy playing the part of a monkey who selected a Japanese girl from the audience and proceeded to search her for fleas
Sunday 31 May
This being a Sunday and Putu had a holiday we saw him almost all day. Unfortunately he had chosen to take us on a comprehensive tour so we ended up by spending too much time in the car and not enough visiting areas close to Ubud.
First as Joan had agreed we went to the National Botanic gardens, although this was more half way to Lovina where we were going to move to the next day. It was very impressive for being fairly high it was cool and the gardens were laid out in a style which was not that different to a drive around a British estate, lots of grass, lots of elegant layout and lots of trees. Joan was however disappointed with the two glass houses handling Orchids and the other with Cacti. The orchids were all native species which they were intent on preserving, very few were in flower, and those that were were not as flamboyant as the hybrid orchids to which we are accustomed.
From there we drove to the nearby Lake Bratan with a Buddhist temple which was nearby and a pleasant place to visit.
On returning to the car we found ourselves back in Denpasar where we called a halt to the trip, so we would not be too tired for the evening meal we had been promised at Putu's home.
He picked us up again at 7pm, but this time the electricity had failed, we think all over Bali though we were note aware of it at the time. His mother had prepared us a fine Balinese meal with around ten differing dishes, rice of course, the various things cat fish, chicken, grated coconut, dishes of spicy green vegetables, of delicious sea food in a tomato based spicy sauce, a dish of tofu and soft pig skin, satay sticks of sea food some with the rest without coconut, to drink we were given a green coconut full of milk and we ate the soft coconut flesh for desert. For starters we had crunchy pork chitterlings, something I remember well from the war years as my Baker grandfather kept pigs we the waste from the bakery and was I believe allowed to kill two a year for his own consumption - nothing was wasted including these fat based intestines??
That is what we remember, though when we look at the photos we will probably see other dishes, remember all this was of necessity eaten with the light of a few candles. The only view of his mother father sister and his best friend and our driver Dexno, was by flash photography. Altogether a most enjoyable ending to the day and our friendship with Putu.
This being a Sunday and Putu had a holiday we saw him almost all day. Unfortunately he had chosen to take us on a comprehensive tour so we ended up by spending too much time in the car and not enough visiting areas close to Ubud.
First as Joan had agreed we went to the National Botanic gardens, although this was more half way to Lovina where we were going to move to the next day. It was very impressive for being fairly high it was cool and the gardens were laid out in a style which was not that different to a drive around a British estate, lots of grass, lots of elegant layout and lots of trees. Joan was however disappointed with the two glass houses handling Orchids and the other with Cacti. The orchids were all native species which they were intent on preserving, very few were in flower, and those that were were not as flamboyant as the hybrid orchids to which we are accustomed.
From there we drove to the nearby Lake Bratan with a Buddhist temple which was nearby and a pleasant place to visit.
On returning to the car we found ourselves back in Denpasar where we called a halt to the trip, so we would not be too tired for the evening meal we had been promised at Putu's home.
He picked us up again at 7pm, but this time the electricity had failed, we think all over Bali though we were note aware of it at the time. His mother had prepared us a fine Balinese meal with around ten differing dishes, rice of course, the various things cat fish, chicken, grated coconut, dishes of spicy green vegetables, of delicious sea food in a tomato based spicy sauce, a dish of tofu and soft pig skin, satay sticks of sea food some with the rest without coconut, to drink we were given a green coconut full of milk and we ate the soft coconut flesh for desert. For starters we had crunchy pork chitterlings, something I remember well from the war years as my Baker grandfather kept pigs we the waste from the bakery and was I believe allowed to kill two a year for his own consumption - nothing was wasted including these fat based intestines??
That is what we remember, though when we look at the photos we will probably see other dishes, remember all this was of necessity eaten with the light of a few candles. The only view of his mother father sister and his best friend and our driver Dexno, was by flash photography. Altogether a most enjoyable ending to the day and our friendship with Putu.
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