Our First Dud Weekend!

This past weekend Mike & I headed to Perth to check out the 'World's Biggest BBQ'. We had seen/heard advertisements for this event which was sponsored by the Lottery Corp (lotteries are big down here also!) and hosted by Surf Life Saving WA - groups from Broome all the way down the west coast around to Albany participated.

We had high hopes of Life Saving demonstrations and competitions, similar to the event we had caught the end of the last time we visited Scarboro beach. We even booked a hotel room in Perth to be sure we arrived at the beach early.

Alas, when we got to the beach, we found the BBQ but discovered that there were no Life Saving demos or competitions scheduled by the Scarboro club. The weather was cool and mostly overcast and quite windy. So our beach plans quickly evaporated.

As usual however, there were many surfers at the beach on a Sunday, so Mike did manage to catch some reasonable photos of them at least.

Guess we can't complain - one weekend of poor planning over the past 9 1/2 months isn't too bad of an average!

Break 3 - Ubud Temples & Dance

And here is the remainder of our Bali experience - this time the Dance and Temples from our Ubud part of the trip.

En route to Ubud, we took a tour into the 'Mother Temple' of the island at Besakih Temple. It is located on the slopes of Mount Agung, the highest peak (volcano) on the island at over 1000 metres, and is over 1000 years old. There are actually many temples here. There are temples for each of the 8 regions of Bali, temples dedicated to Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu who together exemplify the 1 God, and even temples to specific groups of people. For example there is an iron workers temple where the colour red is used extensively to symbolize the fire used by iron workers.

The Hindu priests are both men and women of the highest caste. Typically, they live their 'earthly' life first by having a family, and then once the children are grown, they become a priest. At that time, they give up all their worldly possessions and move to the temple sanctuary and become priests.

The entire complex is built up the mountainside. Temples are routinely maintained, and just as the churches of Europe are often surrounded by scaffolding, so are the temples here. The thatch roofs need to replaced when they wear thin. If local materials are used, a roof will last about 50% longer than if imported materials are used. But it is harder to get local materials, so they end up replacing the roofs every 50 or so years. Once the repairs are complete, the temple cannot be used until a special ceremony has been held to bless the new building. The same is true of any new building in Bali - it cannot be used until it has been blessed. There is a yellow flag draped at the entry to signify that the building can now be used - and you often will see one on new homes and hotel buildings to let you know that it is now usable.

There was a cremation ceremony at one of the regional temples and Mike was allowed to photo although we could not enter the temple where the ceremony was being held. This was likely a more important or wealthy person since it is expensive to hold a cremation ceremony. More commonly, group ceremonies are held in local villages, usually twice a year.

All temples consist of the same basic layout. There is an outer temple, a middle, and an inner temple. The entire temple is surrounded by a wall, with large gates marking the entrance to each section. The gates are framed by statues often indicating the type of temple. Each area contains different types of buildings. The outer section is used for group gatherings and there are often shelters for dancers and drum bands (see photo below of a drum band at the dance we attended). The middle area contains buildings where food is prepared and ceremonial items are stored, and the inner temple contains the large pavilions for the gods. There is a large open pavilion where the gods are supposed to assemble to watch over temple ceremonies. And there are open bales where offerings are made in many places. When making offerings, the person must wear their sarong, sash around the waist and be shoeless (as seen at left). Visitors to temples must also be appropriately covered - usually a sarong is worn which can be rented if necessary (we brought our own). Incense is usually included in the offering along with a blessing of holy water.

Once in Ubud, we arranged to see one more dance performance. This time we went to an evening performance (along with MANY Japanese tourists who are everywhere here in Ubud) to see the Legong Dance performed by a professional troop.

The performance had several 'acts', the main one being the Legong dance itself. The Legong (at right) is performed by several young women (girls actually) and the movements - both body and facial are very intricate. There is a lengthy story of the Legong - if you are interested, click here.

There was an entry procession, a welcome dance, and a warrior dance - the Baris Tunggal (photoed at right). This dance included a solo depicting the moods of a young heroic warrior. The other dances included a Barong dance (photoed above left), as well as performances by the drum band(below left), and a dance with the Jauk (at lower right). The Jauk is a masked character with long hair and fingernails who openly expresses his feelings - it is a kind but crude character which is loved by the Balinese for its openness.

And once again, we had a lovely room in our hotel - Tegal Sari in Ubud. We were at the end of the complex, and our room looked out over the rice fields. We could hear the chanting at the temples in the distance, the clacking of the bird chasing windmills and smell the fires which were set in the rice fields once they were harvested.

The fields were totally worked by hand and we saw them harvesting the fields right beside our rooms. All of the supplies were hauled in by hand in the morning, and carried away at days end. Of course, all on their heads :-)

And with this peaceful scene, we headed off from Bali. It was the perfect break for us and Mike and Kyle both were much rested to head back to school. Definitely somewhere we would highly recommend and will hopefully return to one day.

Break 3 - Ubud Monkeys and Markets

I'm splitting our Ubud experience by topic rather than days. We visited the markets and the monkeys on several occasions, but I'm grouping them all together to give a more concise review.

Surrounded by all the skilled and talented people of Ubud, the Monkey Forest is a beautiful rainforest sanctuary. There are several temples on the property and as you can see, hundreds of monkeys. They are very well fed by both the visitors (you can buy bananas on the way in), and by the staff in addition to their scavenging. The offerings put out at the temples are quickly enjoyed by the monkeys. There are so many bananas that many of the monkeys don't even bother with them. Even the ones who like bananas do not accost you to get one - they are happy to just approach and take from your open hand.

Mike watched this one mother and baby (at left) at length. She found a whole coconut, and then as he watched she proceeded to crack it open, drink the milk inside, and then peel it open and eat the meat. It was fascinating.

Although they will take food from you, they are definitely wild animals. There are staff walking the grounds 'keeping an eye' to make sure none of them get unruly. It is amazing to walk among them and watch their behaviours - and it is very noisy. They are so used to humans that it is like we aren't there. They groom, eat, nurse, mate, play, bathe, fight, and socialize all around you. Every now and then they will hear a call or fuss and they will all run off to check out what's going on - often a dispute between two or more others. But just don't get them mad - I saw several occasions of aggressive teeth baring at visitors if you anger them.

The temples in the Monkey Forest were varied - there was a funeral temple and a graveyard along side. The graves were interesting as they only bury their dead for a short time until they hold the cremation ceremony. So the headstones merely marked the date of death (not birth), and the oldest was just a couple of years ago.

While we were here, it was a full moon, and in addition to the full moon ceremony, it was a 6 month celebration at the local temple. Each temple has it's own cycle of special celebration dates - but they occur every 6 months (the Balinese calendar has 35 day months and is very complex). On these dates, there are 3 days of larger ceremonies and family members return to celebrate. There are 3 days of special offerings including animal sacrifices - which are eaten after the ceremony. Since there were ceremonies ongoing, we could not enter the temples. But as you can see from a couple of shots, they were very nature oriented and rustic. It felt like we were walking in an Indiana Jones movie!

Back out on the streets, Ubud is the cultural capital of Bali. You can take courses of many kinds, and the stores and markets are full of wonderful handiwork. Just prior to our arrival the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival was held, so we missed out on that one. There are many shops, just as there were in Legian, but here they are much more upscale and the quality of the wares is much better (and less harassing to buy).

And at the top of the main street, is the market. Both tourists and locals shop here. There was everything from food to furniture, clothing to crafts. And everywhere the women (and some men) carried their loads on their heads.

The market opens around 5am with the food sections, and while they close up by about 3pm, the rest of the market stays open till at least 6pm or later for the tourist booths. We spent both time and money in market!


Kyle and I took a Balinese cooking course on Friday (Mike went photo shooting of course). Our lesson started with a trip to the market to discover the local ingredients and spices. They use many of the same foods we use, but their varieties are quite different and unique. For example, their eggplants are about the size and shape of a plum, their cucumber much smaller, and their beans much longer (about 3 feet!!). So despite having the recipes and learning the techniques, we will never be able to totally replicate the dishes since we don't have the right stuff :-(

Hopefully we'll still be able to whip up some decent dishes though. We learned how to make the base gede (spice), and several dishes, all of which we enjoyed. And Kyle has become quite the pro at origami napkin folding. Any restaurant we visit where the napkin folding is unique, Kyle deciphers it and learns to create it. He now has 3 or 4 decent designs under his belt. Can you tell he is getting bored of his parents company?

Break 3 Days 6-10 Amed - the Real Bali

Our drive to Amed took about 3 1/2 hours - again taking us past
spectacular scenery - including roadside monkeys! By now we had learned why the name Wayan - our driver's name this day - was so common. First born (male or female) are named Wayan, second born are Made (pronounced maudeh), third is Nyoman, fourth is Ketut and then if necessary, the fifth name cycles back to Wayan. Families are not overly large, but obviously Wayan would be the most common!

Our second place of rest in Bali was on the east coast in Amed. Here we were away from the tourist chaos of the south, and were surrounded by the sites and sounds of the 'real' Bali.

Our rooms were idyllic. Kyle had his own room with twin beds and Mike & I had our own room (photo). Each room had it's own bathroom - Kyles complete with a family of geckos who lived high up on the walls. They were nice 'pets' except for their noisy nightly chorus of throaty 'ohhh ohhhh' which woke Kyle (and us) up at times! Between the rooms was an outdoor sitting area where we spent much time lounging, reading and playing cards.

The restaurant at Anda Amed was very good and the menu while not excessively long, had great variety. We ate several meals there, although we did venture out to try a few other hotel restaurants also. Meals were accompanied by Punkie and Holly (the ducks in the photo). They loved the popcorn given as a pre-dinner snack! There was also Daisy and Creamball the two dogs who were often around. Although they did not beg as such, they sat under your table waiting patiently for any handouts.

Kyle spent endless hours in the pool which had an infinity edge overlooking the ocean. The gardens were again spectacular - with orchids, frangiapani, huge hibiscus trees and many others which I can't even name.

Amed is a fishing village. On a couple of the mornings, Mike rose early to venture to the beach to see the fishermen. The fishermen went out twice a day - morning and evening. When they returned with their catch, the women would meet them on the beach and carry the fish up the steep hill in baskets on their head. Needless to say, there aren't a lot of overweight people here!

During the day the locals would work on fixing their nets, maintain their boats, act as chauffeurs to the tourists, or otherwise occupy themselves. On Friday evening we joined several of the locals and other tourists at a bar to see a live band - quite impressive rock ballads (although we suspect that the lead singer learned his English by copying Bon Jovi), some Jimi Hendrix and even they even entertained us with their own creation.

In addition to fishing, there was also lots of local farming, and many of the rice paddies had been 'upgraded' by adding a well - this allows them to farm sweet potatoes, corn or other crops which require more routine watering rather than flooding.

School runs in two shifts - morning (7 am to 12:30) or afternoon (12:30 to 6:00). So you often see kids coming or going to school around the noon hour as they shift change. The older kids often share a motorcycle - the younger ones walk or get picked up by motorbike. Rush hour at the school consists of many motorbikes!

The area where we stayed was also a great diving and snorkeling spot. Having a more laid back holiday, we didn't spend as much time snorkeling this time around. We did get down to the water twice however - once off the beach in front of the hotel, and once we took a drive down to a Japanese ship wreck where there was good snorkeling. The fish were quite good and there was a lot of coral, but after the Ningaloo reef, we found this one to be quite bleached out. But it was still fantastic swimming amongst the schools of fish and seeing the brilliant colours of the fish. It really is a whole other world which you don't appreciate until you are under the water.

In Amed, Mike and I again visited the local spa - I had a pedicure and Mike a reflexology session. We even returned for another massage, scrub, moisturize, facial, floral / herbal bath treatment. It's hard to resist since it is so affordable - and there is nothing like having a spa outdoors surrounded by the wonderful aromas of the flowers and the sounds of free roaming chickens, cows and pigs :-)

With each sunset, we became more relaxed. Bali really is paradise!