11.06.10
After our first night in the gorgeous villa, we woke up early to head out back up to Ubud, but this time for more of a visit. On our way we stopped in the village of Sukawati, which is known for its gold and silver smiths. The houses here are much more grandiose, and you can easily tell that the entire village is very well off their lucrative trade. As a matter of fact, it’s very easy to identify the trade for each village. Grandma and grandpa grew up carving wood, so they teach that trade to their kids, and when the daughter marries into a different family, she passes that trade down the line (though she most likely married into a wood carving family as well), so these giant, relative villages have mastered that trade, and that is what they sell and that is what they trade with other villages to help sustain their community. When you’re driving by a specific village, you can tell what trade it is they are masters of because that is all you will see being displayed for blocks in their shop houses. To be honest, it’s hard to believe that they have conquered these elaborate trades by hand. The silversmiths, the bone and wood carvers, the rock and ceramic workers, the ikat weavers, the palm leaf scripters, etc etc do such an incredible job at what they do, it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t done by some mass manufacturing machine. But it does make sense…when all you do, every single day, since the day you were born, was practiced this trade to perfection. It’s no wonder that so many people on this island are extremely talented.
We shopped around for a bit, though we were overwhelmed by everything there was to look at and eventually made our way up to Ubud. We stayed in the first homestay that we had found when we had last come up to Ubud, which is a very cute quaint little family pod, where they had turned un-used homes into guest rooms. Apparently, when your daughter decides to move to Denpasar instead of getting married, or when you didn’t have as many kids as you intended, the extra homes built on your property are a great way of making extra cash. What is neat about this particular arrangement is that John and I got a firsthand look at what it is like to live with a real Bali family inside their comfy compound. We watched them pray in the temple and prepare their offerings, and even caught their laxity when the woman elder was running around in her bra. There is grass in-between all the homes and pebble pathways and stepping stones connect each homes doorway. They had this elaborate outdoor birdcage with a song bird inside (and I am not sure the significance, but I have seen this a lot in the Bali homes. Birds and other small animals, such as squirrels, are kept in cages on the home ground. Ketuts house was full of caged animals, even dogs. Maybe this is a sign of status and money, or perhaps it’s a more permanent offering to the gods). There are lots of manicured trees and flowers, all in which make for this secret-garden-like feel of the family village.
We spent the day shopping around, and admiring all that the city had to offer. We once again stopped at Ketut Liyer’s home, but quickly turned around when we found out he wanted $25 dollars (per person) to become our guru. Just too commercialized for me! (Though we did get a picture)
The next morning we found the hidden path that is behind all the hustle and bustle of the streets to see the rice terraces, of which Ubud is so famous for. We made the trek on our motorbike, but the ground was too soft and muddy to get too far. The rice terraces are beautiful though, it’s just a shame that it too is being overpopulated by western villas and resorts. I don’t think the Balinese have any idea the beauty that is before them.
Right after, we started to head for Danau Bratur and Gunung Batur Volcano. On the way we stopped in Tampaksiring to see the ancient monument, Gunug Kawi and the holy springs of Tirta Empul.
To get to Gunung Kawi, you had to walk through a village of hawkers and down a steep path through rice terraces. The view was magical, and I absolutely loved the energy of this place. Of course, the path was also lined with little booths of stuff to buy, but it ended up being a nice resting place as we made the heated, steep walk back up. At the bottom was a river and a mountain side. Inside niches of the cliff were giant statues. There was an ancient looking temple carved out of rock, and is Bali’s oldest temple. It most certainly looked quite ancient.
We made the short drive to Tirta Empul but realized it was nothing more than the same exact river we had just been too that was considered to be holy spring and bathing water. We neglected to pay the 50 or 20 cents to get in, and went on our way. (Did I mention that this clever Balinese charge you for everything? They charge you to enter any of these tourist attractions of course, will charge you to park, will charge you to rent a sarong and will even charge you to use the toilet. Most of the time it isn’t even government regulated. It’s just a few village people who decided to take advantage of the fact that they COULD charge.)
Our final stop was Danau Bratur and the Batur Volcano. What a sight to see. Danau Bratur is just a big lake. It’s peaceful and smooth as glass and full of fresh water fish. Around the lake are scatters of villages who focus 100% on the tourism. Though here, the tourism seemed desolate. Right next to the lake is Gunung Bratur Volcano (active) which is the first volcano John and I have ever seen in person. It was covered in green, which was far from what I had imagined, but the giant gaping hole at the top was certainly breath taking. It last erupted in 2002 and you could still see the black path that the lava had created. On the opposing faces of the mountain though, it was lush forest and seemed to be thriving.
We drove down to the lake and found a place to stay in Toyabungkah. We paid and left our stuff in the hotel, only to get back on the bike and do some exploring. One thing I hadn’t expected was the temperature change. It was quite chilly up in these high altitudes and we weren’t the least bit prepared. The landscape was rocky and overgrown with tall dried out weeds and just emanated death. It felt far removed from typical Bali, but it was what it was. At the top of the mountain all the large restaurants and hotels were closed up and barren. It gave you this feeling like it was a ghost town. I am lead to assume that after the 2002 eruption, it just hasn’t been the same for tourism.
We stopped at a little restaurant to try the fish that was so popular for this area. What we didn’t realize was that the fish was cooked whole. John had asked me how exactly to eat it, assuming I had a better idea then he since I grew up fishing (thank you grandpa!), but I was never the one who prepared any of the fish, and often ignored the entire process in fear that I may try to release all the fish we just caught. So out our meals came out and fortunately they were already gutted. We carefully ate our fish, pulling out tiny bones along the way. Though scary looking, it was really good. John loved it so much; he even ate the brain and gills (yuck!). We went somewhere else for dessert and made our way back to the hotel before dark.
We had been approached by several hawkers, trying to sell us a morning hike up the volcano where you get to cook eggs on the steaming holes. Enticing, but we weren’t prepared to spend 60 dollars to take a walk. Instead, I sat on the hotel bed, mapping out our way back to Seminyak in the morning. All of a sudden, I felt something hit my arm. A bug had dropped from the ceiling, which reminded me bed bugs. I decided to pull back the covers and take a closer look at the mattress, just to be safe. Sure enough, there were fat juicy bed bugs, waiting to pounce. We showed the staff, whom apologized and started to change the sheets and clean room while we gathered our things. We told them we didn’t feel comfortable staying there, and asked for our money back. Sheesh what a process that was! John ended up arguing with the manager for about 15 minutes. They said they couldn’t give us our money back because we already paid… even though the room was filthy. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the only guest. John proceeded to tell them that we needed to eat too, and that they were wrong in not giving us a refund. He somehow managed to get at least half back, but they weren’t happy about it. It was now dark, and our options for hotels were thin. The first placed we stopped at we made sure to check for bed bugs first. We saw traces of them, though none could be found. We were paranoid at this point and didn’t want to take any chances. We went back up the hill to Penelokan and stopped at the first place (the only place) that wasn’t boarded up. It was 50 bucks a night (versus our typical 10) and figured our best bet was to make the drive back to Ubud. John refused and walked back to the reception desk. He came back 10 minutes later and told me to grab my things. Like a pro, he managed to bargain them down to 20 dollars. The room was large and clean, there was a nice patio that overlooked the volcano and lake, though it was too dark for us to see anything. There was a TV with cable (including Cinemax) and a warm shower (most places are only cold water). It too, included breakfast. So sure, it was more then we wanted to spend, but it came with a few luxuries that we were excited to have at that moment (we even got towels and toilet paper! Yes, even in the hotels, you don’t get toilet paper. And the bathrooms in the shower are a toilet, a large basin for water and a shower head. I have a small problem with showering next to a toilet but unless you’re in a fancy resort, it’s unavoidable).
The next morning we went back to Seminyak and for the next couple of days, did nothing but shop, watch movies, and relax our tail bones. We enjoyed wondering around Seminyak and Kuta, and got lost a number of times. One of the more exciting things that happened on our days of relaxation are the Bali tattoos we got. Mine is around my wrist and says ‘Nasib Sudah Mene Mukanku’. It means ‘Destiny has found me’ in Hindu-Balinese and is written in Balinese script. At the center is the Bali ‘Ohm’ symbol. Hindu belief says that when the world was created ‘Ohm’ was the sound it made. It is one of the most significant symbols and you can see it everywhere in Bali. They believe it to be good luck, but I also found out that there are several ways of creating the ‘Ohm’ symbol and it varies from each Hindu country. Johns is on his chest and is a picture of Barong, the good spirit (Barong and Kris, the good and bad spirits are very important and popular gods here). The man who did our tattoo was smaller than Aunt Zia! We were both so excited after words, and posted lots of pictures in the gallery.
Tuesday, Nov 2nd, we went to Wonderland (beach) to do the photo shoot with David. We played in the water and laid in the sun all day. The waves here are incredible, and we all really enjoyed watching all the other tourists getting pommeled by the massive breaks.
On Wednesday, we decided to make another trip up north, but this time to a Gunung Batukaru and the lake Danau Bratan. Our first stop was at Tanah Lot, which is another very important temple. It’s a temple that they built on an island rock thing. It’s quite beautiful but it’s too sacred to actually go inside. We took a detour through Tabanan which I really enjoyed. The rice terraces’s to Tanah Lot were really gorgeous, and at one point, we even went down a little side road so that we could spend some more time with the scenery. I’m not sure what it is about the rice terraces, but we absolutely love them. It’s like fine architecture made with nature. The way the water is pooled in the little divisions and the green rice sprouts just make for such a magical feeling (do I sound like a hippie or what!?).
We made it up to Wangayagede to see the Pura Luhur Batu Karu temple. Behind it was the large cascade of Gunung Batukaru, but it was completely hidden by clouds. Now, there wasn’t anything spectacular different about this temple. But there was not ONE hawker. We were one of three other tourists and we were surrounded by complete peace and quiet. We loved it! We took our time to explore all the nook and crannies, explored hidden paths, and stopped to appreciate the silent prayers of the few Balinese at the temple. There was a gorgeous water pool with a temple in the center. Again, nothing compared to the floating palaces and temples we had seen before, but the screen atmosphere made it seem far more spiritual then all the other places. There were stepping stones laid under the water which we both admired a lot.
We made a second detour through Jatiluwih and Senganan to see the never-ending landscape of rice terraces. We stopped a number of times to take pictures, and it was probably my favorite part of the entire trip.
We practically passed up the lake, Danau Bratan, because it was just a pool of water. Not nearly as developed or as large as Danau Batur, we decided to turn around and found a place to stay in Candikuning. Dusk was coming and it started to rain. Again, it was freezing now that we were in higher altitudes. The place we stayed at was shiny and new and was one of the cleanest places that you can get for 100,000 rupiah. Wet and cold, we wrapped ourselves in a blanket and watched what few Indonesian channels our TV picked up. We fell asleep and didn’t wake up till 8am the next day. Well kind of…I was woken up around 5am by the humming and howling of singing prayers over loud speakers. As we made our long drives from one place to another, there were a number of times we would run into a village that was in ceremony. They decorate their village very intricately with bamboo and palm leaves. They twist and turn the palm leaves to make hanging ornaments (Cili) and tall, flag-like structures with bamboo (called Penjor). They will carry baskets of offerings on their heads and walk down the street in a parade to the temple. Normally the head of the parade is led by some large puppet of Barong (the good spirit) or we have seen greatly ornamented chariots, in which they carry the priest. On certain occasions we will drive by a village or a ceremony when they are singing and humming through the loud speakers. As much as I would like to say that it is beautiful, it has a strange, eeriness to it. It’s always a male and is a strange combination of notes. Think monk-like, except more of a constant chanting. It doesn’t even sound like they are saying words, but if they are; it is most likely in Hindu (the language that they use to pray in, though not all the time. It’s also a dying language that the younger generations are losing). Creepy as it may be, it has this strange luster to it, so I laid there awake to listen. I am pretty sure the man sung for about an hour, but I easily fell back asleep.
Breakfast was less then enjoyable the next morning; expecting eggs and fruit, like normal, we were instead brought a dish of bright pink and muddy purple gelatin goo, covered in toasted coconut. We tried it, but kindly pushed it aside when we realized there was no way our stomachs would allow us to digest it. I think it’s safe to say here that it is an acquired taste and something your stomach has to learn to digest. We scarfed down a bag of potato chips instead and went back towards Denpasar. Our last stop was at Mengwi to see Taman Ayun Temple. It is supposed to be quite popular due to the moat that surrounds it, but it was one of these attractive temples we had been too. It was quite small and not nearly as impressive as the others. It was on the way home, so why not? Before heading back to the villa, we quickly took care of our visa extension and spent another hour trying to find our way back to the villa. Dave would be leaving Bali at 11pm, so we decided to have a good-bye dinner at a nearby sushi joint. It was really sad to say goodbye, but John and I are so grateful for all the incredible people and friends we have been making as we travel. It has been the single most amazing part of our entire adventure and it really fills your heart to know you have so many kind and incredible people in your life. We feel so blessed.
The last few days we have, once again, done nothing but enjoy our cheap movies and catching up on the blogs. We got a chance to Skype with some friends and family, and we can’t help but chuckle a little when we hear that it has started to snow back home. Another reason why we are so happy that we are in Bali!