Thursday, 28 May 2009
Journey to Ubud
We took a taxi to Perama to catch the minibus and found they had a nice cool waiting area hidden from the street. (The Hotel used Bluebird Taxis just as Ater had advised us to do, because they were very trustworthy and because their drivers had to use the metre or they would be fired. The meter starts at 0.5$ and the largest fare we have had was under 4$ for the journey at night and in heavy traffic (taking 30 mins or so) from the capital Denpasar to our hotel in Seminyak).
The rest of the 14 passengers were mostly travelling with rucksacks or small wheelie bags like us. After a few minutes one of a group of four young Italians realised she had left all her money and passport at in her hotel (we hoped in it's valuables safe) and they had to get off to retrace their steps. Otherwise the journey was unremarkable and we arrived on time at the Perama terminus which was located as shown by the LP street map.
Finding Somewhere to Stay
In the old days I would simply have used my compass to confirm the direction in which to walk and to break away from any hassle. In South America or China I would have hired a taxi to take me to the most likely sounding hotel from the guidebook with a choice of others in the vicinity. But walking from the outskirts was no longer an option and unlike Kuta there were no taxis on the street. Indecisive I decided to take up the offer of young family man Wayman to look at his place. We mounted his motorbike and went into town, the first room he had in mind had just been let so he took me to another which I accepted and we returned to Joan at Perama, paid 2$ for a transfer in one of their minibuses. First impressions of Hai HomeStay were not good possibly coloured by the fact that it was raining and at 5pm already starting to become dark, and continuing tiredness from the heat. It was one of seven stone built bungalows in a large typical Balinese garden, with trees and plants everywhere plus many stone carvings, a considerable step up from garden gnomes! The quite large room had been well decorated and there were many modern abstract Balinese painting son the walls, but the door although sound showed signs of an earlier attempt at forced entry which made us fear our valuables would not be safe here whilst unattended.
A further uniqueness was that the bathroom was open to the sky, with a floor covered in smooth pebbles, a la Pwyll Du, and was without hot water. But then what do you expect for a largish room with two breakfasts for 10$!!
We hastily left to search of better options for the following nights, bearing in mind that we would probably be spending our Golden Wedding night in Ubud. We soon located Agung Cottages nearby and that was delightful with six bungalows (two larger ones called villas) in a lovely garden full of colourful flowers and a fine views. Joan decided a villa was where she would like to spend her anniversary, so we booked in for five nights.
The next morning at Hai, after a really comfortable night, was delightful. The garden was so peaceful just the occasional noise of a motor bike on the little used street outside, the sun was shining, and a flask of hot water and tea bags was on the veranda. So we sat and contemplated the haste with which we had decided this place was not for us, whilst the young man fetched us a tasty breakfast of fruit salad and a toasted fried eggs and tomato sandwich. Even the cold shower had been pleasant , as we had learned many times before there is nothing unpleasant, or freezing, about a cold shower in the tropics, and the choice of a smooth pebble floor seemed a good choice when the alternative whenever it rained would have been mud. ( The Balinese reflect on the wonder of the Lotus (water lily) flowers which grow out of much disliked mud).
Talking to the man who brought the breakfast we learnt that our bungalow should have cost just 6$ and I investigated an empty one opposite, which had built in bathroom with a hot shower and these went for 10$! We now wished we had spent a couple of days in the company of the young Asians staying there, rather than immediately checking out to join the independent travellers like ourselves in the more upmarket Agung Cottages, though even this was listed under budget accommodation but, not for the first time, we had far preferred an LP budget choice to those in the 'mid range' bracket.
We stayed 7 nights, rather too long breathing in the quiet peace of Agung Cottages at Ubud. It was not quite a case of breakfast in bed, but breakfast delivered to your own balcony.Though it was so different to our starting hotel in Seminyak which was also peaceful and quiet but somehow the pool and sun-loungers, the dining area serving breakfast and well heeled Westerners separated you from the real experience of Bali.
Joanna O'Connor's Story
We were suddenly jolted out of our bliss on meeting Joanna who had just taken early retirement. She was distressed and black with bruises having been violently mugged at 2pm walking along the main street. Since she had been carrying all her valuables in a bag slung over her head, in the usually safe style, but she had lost everything, money of which she was carrying far more than she could reclaim from her insurance, travellers cheques, cards and her British passport (though she was born Polish).
The incident had happened a couple of days earlier leaving her with injuries including a worrying head injury (leaving her with severe headaches) and apparently bad bruising to her hip. The attackers were on motor bikes, maybe they just pulled her over and she fell to the ground hitting her head on the kerb but she though she might have been kicked. Passers by took her to the ambulance station where they applied ice to the swelling on her head and treated the abrasions as best they could.
Now she was just beginning to deal with the consequences, she had earlier cancelled her cards and informed the insurance. But was now in the same catch twenty two situation we had been years before with a young family in Seville when she presented herself at the unhelpful British Consulate in town. Yes she could get a new passport but she would have to pay for it in advance, but now she had no money so sorry we can't help you - all so reminiscent. Only the thought of having a young family refusing to leave their premises until they helped had worked earlier for us.
She got help from a British man she had only met on the plane from London. They were not travelling together but had followed the same route first to Sanur and then Ubud. If she would transfer money to his account he would pay for a replacement passport and give her the equivalent money in Indonesian currency. At the time she first spoke to us she was uncertain whether he could be trusted, but he appeared whilst we talked and she went off with him to return a little later with a big wad of Indonesian rupiah and a big smile.
Today she smiled again in recognition that she would be getting her passport in time to return by the air flight she had booked, and I handed her 25 pound notes (all the English currency we had) so she could buy another National Express ticket to Brighton on her cardless return to Blighty.
Her faith in Human Nature is gradually being restored.
Wake up in one of these lovely gardens in early morning and look out over the mist and listen to the birds and the crowing of cocks, look around the garden flowers and flowering shrub, only photos could illustrate this scene, and relax in the cool of early morning. That is a unique experience.
There are so many restaurants to choose from it is difficult to know which way to turn but it doesn't seem to matter. Every night of the week there are a different array of Balinese dances to attend (typically 7.5 to 10$). There is also a seemingly endless number of art galleries. The Tourist Information seemed devoid of information hand outs but speak to them and it is a quite different scenario, a charmingly helpful girl spent time with us and the dance events, identifying the best on each night of the week. The equally charming woman, who we had first spoken to, on the street sold us the tickets for a performance. We walked there that evening and thoroughly enjoyed the performance, wonderful expressive dancing with Balinese hands, fingers, eye movements and body shapes.
The third day we went to the ARMA Agung Rai Museum which is not only the repository of the fine collection of Balinese paintings many in the old style, and the rest of the collection of Agung Rai, but some of more modern form by a variety of Balinese and also many expatriate painters who made their home in Bali between the wars, and some who died because of their choice.
ARMA (Agung Rai) serves not just as a museum but a place where visitors, including foreigners, can stay to absorb the beautiful peaceful atmosphere, similar in some ways to an Ashram in India. In addition they provide opportunities to children to learn the traditional dance or farming skills. All this is well documented in the introductory chapters of the LP so I can expand later.
On having completed our long stay we got into conversation with one of the curators, a second year University student called Putu Martana (nicknamed Liong since Putu is a name frequently given to the first born son, as Putira is to the first daughter). The similarity in many ways with Ater was amazing. He had specialised in 'Tourism during his last years at secondary school, they normally make the final years vocational, eg tourism, electronics, hotel and catering etc. He got a job at the Agung Rai Museum to learn how to make contact with tourists, a task his laid back manner and good English was ideally suited for, and eventually on explaining his predicament he found one or maybe several willing to fund him at University. As he explained there was no chance a boy from a little wood carving village could never hope to afford the tuition, but found that 400$/annum
He was now in his second year studying English and Japanese. Like Ater he was a delightful young man and so interesting and easy to talk with. Like Ater he offered to take us to his village to see the wood cutting. We arranged to meet the following day when he would pick us up at 7am and take us around but that he had to start work at the museum by 10am. (We paid 15$ to the driver and 5$ to Putu for the almost three hour trip, both were well pleased). That was the first of three such trips.We set the alarm for the first time on this holiday and first experienced the wonderful cool of early morning in the tropics. We vowed to adjust our internal clocks once again to make best use of the tropical day, for the early morning before the heatof the day is superb. We went to the Elephant Cave where the carving is believed to have been carried out long ago using nothing more complicated than human nails. It is now a Temple and a wonderful park descending and climbing 750 steps at that time in the morning was nothing like the challenge it would have been in the heat of the day.
Earlier as we passed through Ubud we had seen all the primary school children on their way to school all carrying what looked like rolled up wicker mats, he explained their first task was to sweep the school clean using them as brushes. Equally at the Elephant Cave before opening an army of about ten men were brushing that clean, yesterday's baskets of Hindu offerings, and all the leaves and petals that had fallen in the last twenty hours.
Next stop was the Pura Tirta Empul (Water Spirit Temple) apparently the third most important Hindu temple in Bali. Again they were cleaning up before opening time and we were able to experience the temple before any other visitors arrived. The only activity was a few men and women bathing in the holy water which issued from carved stone spouts into a large tank.
Then by chance leading a group of women and supervising a major clean, we met Mrs Agung Rai, whose painting we had seen in the Museum the previous day. She suggested that the next time we came we should stay at the Agung Rai Museum. She was as charming as the young men met the day before. This is a family of a man who having started making money by collecting paintings in the villages and selling them on to backpackers, eventually becoming a rich man he set his mind to devoting his life to restoring and sustaining the traditional Balinese style of life.
Returning to Ubud we passed slowly through several villages, thus seeing the early morning activities and we had had our eyes opened once more to the charm of Bali.
Perhaps I should backtrack to the day before to record the long conversation we had withe other curator of the museum Francois, he too came from simple village stock but although only being through primary school, ie till 12, his English was first class having picked it up entirely by ear, and that would apply to other languages. He took us to coffee, which when I offered to pay he said was free. We had a very long wide ranging conversation, about Balinese life and their politics in which he was extremely well versed. We talked about the bomb and the role of Muslims in particular. Most Balinese are Hindu but since the rest of Indonesia is largely Muslim they know that in national government terms they are only a tiny minority. Moreover he was most concerned that most of the Muslim schools were private and financed by who knew who from outside Bali, moreover what they taught was not under state control or even supervision. That made me reflect on my dislike of Faith Schooling - far better to have Muslim schools within the state system than outside it.
Today we walked to the Botanical Gardens and on the way back bought tickets for a Shadow Puppet show of a story from the Ramayana, changing our earlier intention to visit the week's most expensive dance show. I must finish here and get some dinner, as usual our first meal since breakfast.
Putu Matana, nickname Liong
boyputuari@yahoo.com
Tel 081805592797
Hai Home Stay
60 or 100 Rupiah
catoenx@yahoo.com
Jalan Jembawan No. 34
(0361)970761
We took a taxi to Perama to catch the minibus and found they had a nice cool waiting area hidden from the street. (The Hotel used Bluebird Taxis just as Ater had advised us to do, because they were very trustworthy and because their drivers had to use the metre or they would be fired. The meter starts at 0.5$ and the largest fare we have had was under 4$ for the journey at night and in heavy traffic (taking 30 mins or so) from the capital Denpasar to our hotel in Seminyak).
The rest of the 14 passengers were mostly travelling with rucksacks or small wheelie bags like us. After a few minutes one of a group of four young Italians realised she had left all her money and passport at in her hotel (we hoped in it's valuables safe) and they had to get off to retrace their steps. Otherwise the journey was unremarkable and we arrived on time at the Perama terminus which was located as shown by the LP street map.
Finding Somewhere to Stay
In the old days I would simply have used my compass to confirm the direction in which to walk and to break away from any hassle. In South America or China I would have hired a taxi to take me to the most likely sounding hotel from the guidebook with a choice of others in the vicinity. But walking from the outskirts was no longer an option and unlike Kuta there were no taxis on the street. Indecisive I decided to take up the offer of young family man Wayman to look at his place. We mounted his motorbike and went into town, the first room he had in mind had just been let so he took me to another which I accepted and we returned to Joan at Perama, paid 2$ for a transfer in one of their minibuses. First impressions of Hai HomeStay were not good possibly coloured by the fact that it was raining and at 5pm already starting to become dark, and continuing tiredness from the heat. It was one of seven stone built bungalows in a large typical Balinese garden, with trees and plants everywhere plus many stone carvings, a considerable step up from garden gnomes! The quite large room had been well decorated and there were many modern abstract Balinese painting son the walls, but the door although sound showed signs of an earlier attempt at forced entry which made us fear our valuables would not be safe here whilst unattended.
A further uniqueness was that the bathroom was open to the sky, with a floor covered in smooth pebbles, a la Pwyll Du, and was without hot water. But then what do you expect for a largish room with two breakfasts for 10$!!We hastily left to search of better options for the following nights, bearing in mind that we would probably be spending our Golden Wedding night in Ubud. We soon located Agung Cottages nearby and that was delightful with six bungalows (two larger ones called villas) in a lovely garden full of colourful flowers and a fine views. Joan decided a villa was where she would like to spend her anniversary, so we booked in for five nights.
The next morning at Hai, after a really comfortable night, was delightful. The garden was so peaceful just the occasional noise of a motor bike on the little used street outside, the sun was shining, and a flask of hot water and tea bags was on the veranda. So we sat and contemplated the haste with which we had decided this place was not for us, whilst the young man fetched us a tasty breakfast of fruit salad and a toasted fried eggs and tomato sandwich. Even the cold shower had been pleasant , as we had learned many times before there is nothing unpleasant, or freezing, about a cold shower in the tropics, and the choice of a smooth pebble floor seemed a good choice when the alternative whenever it rained would have been mud. ( The Balinese reflect on the wonder of the Lotus (water lily) flowers which grow out of much disliked mud).
Talking to the man who brought the breakfast we learnt that our bungalow should have cost just 6$ and I investigated an empty one opposite, which had built in bathroom with a hot shower and these went for 10$! We now wished we had spent a couple of days in the company of the young Asians staying there, rather than immediately checking out to join the independent travellers like ourselves in the more upmarket Agung Cottages, though even this was listed under budget accommodation but, not for the first time, we had far preferred an LP budget choice to those in the 'mid range' bracket.
We stayed 7 nights, rather too long breathing in the quiet peace of Agung Cottages at Ubud. It was not quite a case of breakfast in bed, but breakfast delivered to your own balcony.Though it was so different to our starting hotel in Seminyak which was also peaceful and quiet but somehow the pool and sun-loungers, the dining area serving breakfast and well heeled Westerners separated you from the real experience of Bali.
Joanna O'Connor's Story
We were suddenly jolted out of our bliss on meeting Joanna who had just taken early retirement. She was distressed and black with bruises having been violently mugged at 2pm walking along the main street. Since she had been carrying all her valuables in a bag slung over her head, in the usually safe style, but she had lost everything, money of which she was carrying far more than she could reclaim from her insurance, travellers cheques, cards and her British passport (though she was born Polish).
The incident had happened a couple of days earlier leaving her with injuries including a worrying head injury (leaving her with severe headaches) and apparently bad bruising to her hip. The attackers were on motor bikes, maybe they just pulled her over and she fell to the ground hitting her head on the kerb but she though she might have been kicked. Passers by took her to the ambulance station where they applied ice to the swelling on her head and treated the abrasions as best they could.
Now she was just beginning to deal with the consequences, she had earlier cancelled her cards and informed the insurance. But was now in the same catch twenty two situation we had been years before with a young family in Seville when she presented herself at the unhelpful British Consulate in town. Yes she could get a new passport but she would have to pay for it in advance, but now she had no money so sorry we can't help you - all so reminiscent. Only the thought of having a young family refusing to leave their premises until they helped had worked earlier for us.
She got help from a British man she had only met on the plane from London. They were not travelling together but had followed the same route first to Sanur and then Ubud. If she would transfer money to his account he would pay for a replacement passport and give her the equivalent money in Indonesian currency. At the time she first spoke to us she was uncertain whether he could be trusted, but he appeared whilst we talked and she went off with him to return a little later with a big wad of Indonesian rupiah and a big smile.
Today she smiled again in recognition that she would be getting her passport in time to return by the air flight she had booked, and I handed her 25 pound notes (all the English currency we had) so she could buy another National Express ticket to Brighton on her cardless return to Blighty.
Her faith in Human Nature is gradually being restored.
Wake up in one of these lovely gardens in early morning and look out over the mist and listen to the birds and the crowing of cocks, look around the garden flowers and flowering shrub, only photos could illustrate this scene, and relax in the cool of early morning. That is a unique experience.
There are so many restaurants to choose from it is difficult to know which way to turn but it doesn't seem to matter. Every night of the week there are a different array of Balinese dances to attend (typically 7.5 to 10$). There is also a seemingly endless number of art galleries. The Tourist Information seemed devoid of information hand outs but speak to them and it is a quite different scenario, a charmingly helpful girl spent time with us and the dance events, identifying the best on each night of the week. The equally charming woman, who we had first spoken to, on the street sold us the tickets for a performance. We walked there that evening and thoroughly enjoyed the performance, wonderful expressive dancing with Balinese hands, fingers, eye movements and body shapes.
The third day we went to the ARMA Agung Rai Museum which is not only the repository of the fine collection of Balinese paintings many in the old style, and the rest of the collection of Agung Rai, but some of more modern form by a variety of Balinese and also many expatriate painters who made their home in Bali between the wars, and some who died because of their choice.
ARMA (Agung Rai) serves not just as a museum but a place where visitors, including foreigners, can stay to absorb the beautiful peaceful atmosphere, similar in some ways to an Ashram in India. In addition they provide opportunities to children to learn the traditional dance or farming skills. All this is well documented in the introductory chapters of the LP so I can expand later.
On having completed our long stay we got into conversation with one of the curators, a second year University student called Putu Martana (nicknamed Liong since Putu is a name frequently given to the first born son, as Putira is to the first daughter). The similarity in many ways with Ater was amazing. He had specialised in 'Tourism during his last years at secondary school, they normally make the final years vocational, eg tourism, electronics, hotel and catering etc. He got a job at the Agung Rai Museum to learn how to make contact with tourists, a task his laid back manner and good English was ideally suited for, and eventually on explaining his predicament he found one or maybe several willing to fund him at University. As he explained there was no chance a boy from a little wood carving village could never hope to afford the tuition, but found that 400$/annumHe was now in his second year studying English and Japanese. Like Ater he was a delightful young man and so interesting and easy to talk with. Like Ater he offered to take us to his village to see the wood cutting. We arranged to meet the following day when he would pick us up at 7am and take us around but that he had to start work at the museum by 10am. (We paid 15$ to the driver and 5$ to Putu for the almost three hour trip, both were well pleased). That was the first of three such trips.We set the alarm for the first time on this holiday and first experienced the wonderful cool of early morning in the tropics. We vowed to adjust our internal clocks once again to make best use of the tropical day, for the early morning before the heatof the day is superb. We went to the Elephant Cave where the carving is believed to have been carried out long ago using nothing more complicated than human nails. It is now a Temple and a wonderful park descending and climbing 750 steps at that time in the morning was nothing like the challenge it would have been in the heat of the day.
Earlier as we passed through Ubud we had seen all the primary school children on their way to school all carrying what looked like rolled up wicker mats, he explained their first task was to sweep the school clean using them as brushes. Equally at the Elephant Cave before opening an army of about ten men were brushing that clean, yesterday's baskets of Hindu offerings, and all the leaves and petals that had fallen in the last twenty hours.
Next stop was the Pura Tirta Empul (Water Spirit Temple) apparently the third most important Hindu temple in Bali. Again they were cleaning up before opening time and we were able to experience the temple before any other visitors arrived. The only activity was a few men and women bathing in the holy water which issued from carved stone spouts into a large tank.Then by chance leading a group of women and supervising a major clean, we met Mrs Agung Rai, whose painting we had seen in the Museum the previous day. She suggested that the next time we came we should stay at the Agung Rai Museum. She was as charming as the young men met the day before. This is a family of a man who having started making money by collecting paintings in the villages and selling them on to backpackers, eventually becoming a rich man he set his mind to devoting his life to restoring and sustaining the traditional Balinese style of life.
 |
| WITH MRS AGUNG RAI |
Perhaps I should backtrack to the day before to record the long conversation we had withe other curator of the museum Francois, he too came from simple village stock but although only being through primary school, ie till 12, his English was first class having picked it up entirely by ear, and that would apply to other languages. He took us to coffee, which when I offered to pay he said was free. We had a very long wide ranging conversation, about Balinese life and their politics in which he was extremely well versed. We talked about the bomb and the role of Muslims in particular. Most Balinese are Hindu but since the rest of Indonesia is largely Muslim they know that in national government terms they are only a tiny minority. Moreover he was most concerned that most of the Muslim schools were private and financed by who knew who from outside Bali, moreover what they taught was not under state control or even supervision. That made me reflect on my dislike of Faith Schooling - far better to have Muslim schools within the state system than outside it.
Today we walked to the Botanical Gardens and on the way back bought tickets for a Shadow Puppet show of a story from the Ramayana, changing our earlier intention to visit the week's most expensive dance show. I must finish here and get some dinner, as usual our first meal since breakfast.
Putu Matana, nickname Liong
boyputuari@yahoo.com
Tel 081805592797
Hai Home Stay
60 or 100 Rupiah
catoenx@yahoo.com
Jalan Jembawan No. 34
(0361)970761
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