I have finally managed to muster enough motivation to look at a computer again. What a strange feeling. Going from Internet-aholic to complete disinterest in a matter of days! Quite surprised myself.
Bali, or to be precise, Ubud has bewitched me. With each day that passes it's spell gains a stronger hold. Why, you ask? It has no beach, is in the middle of the island, why am I unable to move from this tiny town?
Well, first of all, the surroundings are absolutely stunning: lush green rice paddies, palm trees and bamboo rustling in the wind, artists work spilling out of their studios, cute children playing in the streets, laughing locals in their colourful native dress... Combine that with an abundance of fresh and organic food, (I feasted on fresh salads for the first two days after all those rice soups and fried noodles!) and fantastic accommodation: intimate bungalows or losmen (home stays - you stay in the family compound), it equates to = my paradise!
And what is more, they import the most delicious Australian wine!
However rewind, rewind... I forgot that I haven't been keeping you up to date!
I flew in to Bali with Singapore airlines and just LOVED every minute - they are pure airline luxury. Spent an enjoyable journey chatting to a South African couple on the way to their honeymoon. Now Manuel and I had constantly being quoting Leo's SA accent from the film "Blood Diamond" in Cambodia. So it was quite intriguing to hear a real SA accent. (And apparently Leo's accent wasn't THAT good...)
Now the original reason for my going to Bali was to enjoy some sun, fun and beach. Therefore, I made my way directly to Kuta, a fast-paced surfer town, where the vampires come out to play.
Tired, I crashed into bed and rose early, intent on exploring. As I wasn't all that happy with my room, I decided to go check out possible alternatives. A few of disappointments later, I grumpily decided to accost other travellers in the hopes that they'd have good tip or two. Spying a girl a few meters further up the road, I had my first victim. "Yes", she said, after I had made my intentions clear. She knew of a good place and offered to take me there. CHF 5.- for a clean room, pool and private bathroom. Sounded good. What sounded even better, was, that she was staying there in a twin room and would I like to share? Of course I jumped at the chance and as fortune has it, I made a really good friend.
By the end of the day I was not enjoying Kuta as much as I expected to. The narrow roads lined with over-enthusiastic touts (Darling, how are you, you buy.... you look inside) were not part of the peaceful beach life I had imagined. Nor were the masses of tourists (it is holiday season in Jakarta at the moment) and the many western cafes and shops. Sarah was planning to move up to Ubud the next day, so I invited myself along for the ride.
A bemo (mini bus) dropped us off somewhere in Ubud and almost immediately we were accosted by two touts offering accommodation. "Thank goodness there are only two," we thought, reassured that Bali's Artist capital (Denpasar is the islands capital city) would provide us with a peaceful haven. The first night was quite an adventure. We were too tired to go look for a room, so we followed one tout and took the cleanest room available. Having dumped our stuff, we wandered up the street and found a really cute cafe. Weary, we went in for some reviving lemongrass tea. In Bali, most shops, cafes, etc. are situated on the land of the family compound to reduce cost. The owner was really nice and let it slip that she has two rooms that she rents out. As we were so impressed by the simplistic beauty of the cafe, I nearly fell over myself in my haste to see the room. It was absolutely beautiful. Clean, huge, and comparatively cheap! We booked it instantly for the next few nights.
A Balinese family compound is comprised of the family temple (symbolising the head of the family / body), the north house (where the elders live), the east house (in our case the guest house) and the kitchen (the lowest part / the foot of the house). Most losmen (= home stays) have just two rooms to rent, which makes it a very intimate and interesting setting. Everything is very open and you can observe them going about their business, cooking the daily fare in the morning (they only cook once and then its for the whole day), praying in the family temple, playing with the kids, making offerings, etc. a real insight into their daily life.
Another interesting point is their names.
All Balinese, regardless of their sex, have one of the following names, depending on their birth order:
The first born is either Wayan, Putu or Nengah. Second born are named Kadek or Made. Then the third born are Nyoman, Ika or Kamang and fourth born Ketut. If they have five children, they start again with the names of the first born.
According to Kadek, the owner of my losmen, they have "family planning" nowadays and there are rarely more than two children per family.
The children generally live with their parents until they marry. Then the wife moves into the family of the husband. Unless her family has no male offspring. In that case, it can happen that the husband relocates to the wife's family compound.
Sarah was only going to be in Bali for a couple more days, so we decided to do the fast paced sightseeing tour and hire Kadek as our driver. It was absolutely stunning going round the island, seeing monkeys, waterfalls, lush scenery and a sunset at Tanah Lot temple (the southern most tip of the island). Feeling in the mood for adventure, we decided to climb Mt Batur (a more or less extinct volcano) to see the sunrise. That meant leaving at 3am to be able to start climbing at 4am. It was quite steep going up dark windy paths and with hardly any sleep (no, white wine did NOT make me tired!). We stumbled along like sleepwalkers. Actually, that is the best way to describe us! However we reached the top with nothing more than a few bruises and scratches - luckily it was just past full moon, so we didn't have to rely solely on the fading torches. The view was magnificent and our guide made hard boiled eggs and baked bananas in the smoking earth for breakfast. Yummy!
In the evening we met Andrea, an American psychologist cum tarot card reader. She read us our fortunes and I was quite pleased with mine ;-) Anyhow, she retired to Senggigi, Lombok a few years ago and has invited me over.
So tomorrow I will leave this lovely city and continue my journey on to Lombok, where I will first enjoy Andrea's hospitality in Senggigi, before making my way up to the Gilli islands (beautiful!). Ideally I will stay there for a few days and then make my way back over to Lombok and down south, to Kuta (Lombok). Confusingly enough there is a Kuta on both Bali and Lombok). This Kuta is supposed to be undeveloped paradise; pure beach, sun and peace.
