Ubud

We worked our way back to Bali from Lombok, since we'll be heading home from the airport in Bali. I guess I thought before coming to Bali that it was all about the beaches, but I now realize that it's really all about the culture, and Ubud is the cultural center. The temples, the ceremonies, the beliefs of the Balinese people are fascinating. The religion of the majority of Bali's population is a mixture of Hinduism and ancient animistic religions of the native Balinese people, and it's such a large part of their lives, it's evident everywhere. Every household has multiple shrines, and offerings are made every day. The culture is portrayed in dance like I've never seen- the "cak" of kacek is mesmerizing, legong is beautiful. Ubud isn't just a place, it's an experience!

Kecak-  Known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant, the piece, performed by a circle of 150 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting "cak" and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from theRamayana where the monkey-like Vanara helped Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. However, Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.<sup>[2]- wikipedia)


Legong- A refined dance form characterized by intricate finger movements, complicated footwork, and expressive gestures and facial expressions.-wikipedia)</sup>

Kuta, Lombok

Mangroves

"hello!"

finding the next secluded cove

making friends

the beach

From Gili Air, we went back to the main island of Lombok, south to the town of Kuta (not to be confused with Kuta, Bali). Kuta, Lombok is a laid back surfing town. There are goats on the streets, cows on the beach, and it's possible to walk around the rocks from cove to secluded cove...

Gili Air

Our room at Eazy Gili Homestay

The "big" market

Next island in the archipelago- Lombok- and off the northwest coast of Lombok, there are 3 small islands, called the Gilis. We picked the smallest- Gili Air- 90 minutes around by bicycle, no vehicles (only horse drawn carriages), and intermittent electricity. Our hotel had a cold salt water shower, and even so, the tank ran dry at one point. (What do you want for $5.70/night?) But it was the most relaxing, wonderful place. Snorkeling off the shore was excellent and we ate all our meals in ocean front restaurants for a couple of bucks. We went for a day or two, ended up staying six. It was hard to leave.

The Beach

Bali

 Next in the archipelago of Indonesia is Bali- 

First stop was Kuta. Like many beach towns, there were lots of shops and tourists. We'll be back to Bali, since we fly out of here, so we decided to keep moving after a couple days. 

Kuta Beach, Bali

We went to Padengbai, where we spent the night in order to get a ferry to the next island in the morning. In Padengbai, we stayed at a funky little inn (starting to get that island feel), and snorkeled the Bloo Lagoon, where, after passing a bit of flotsam and jetsam, we saw beautiful live coral and lots of colorful fish

Zen Inn, Padengbai, Bali

breakfast in Indonesia

pineapple pancake

Most hotels in Indonesia include breakfast, and it's always "pancakes", which are actually more like crepes- usually made with a choice of pineapple, mango, or banana. And, of course, java coffee, which is coffee made with powdered grounds that settle in the bottom of the cup- you learn pretty quick to NOT take that last sip.

Java

Chicken Soup in Bandung food court

puppeteer and musicians behind the scene

 Java- We flew from Singapore (best airport I've ever been in- massage chairs, video games, "islands" with orchids and koi ponds...) to the string of islands of Indonesia- to the island of Java to start. Our first stop on Java was Bandung- the easiest place to get to from the airport in Jakarta (we didn't want to get caught up in Jakarta). The scenery of Indonesia is beautiful and the price of everything is incredibly low. Bandung had our favorite food court of the whole trip (and we've eaten in alot of food courts).






After a couple days in Bandung, we took a train
to Yogyakarta, where we saw a traditional shadow puppet show, and the sultan's palace.



  We were anxious to get to the beaches, so we headed to Bali- a 24 hour ordeal- 2 trains, 2 buses, a ferry, and a minivan, and we finally made it to Kuta, Bali.

Singapore

 We spent New Years Eve in Singapore to watch the fireworks. Singapore has a population of 5 million, and I believe all of them were at the harbor with us. But everyone was very peaceful- the laws in Singapore are strict- even chewing gum is against the law.  We spent a couple days there to check out the huge modern malls and a good National Museum. Then on to Indonesia.

Batek Tribe

Our 3 day stay in Teman Negara was even better than expected-

meals on the floating restaurant were good, the night jungle walk was interesting (how to lure a scorpion from it's hideout, snakes in trees, viewing deer from a "hide" or lookout...), the canopy walk was fun, the boat rides were peaceful (until we hit the "rapids"), but what impressed me most was the visit to the nomadic aborigines- the Batek tribe. They make fire with friction on wood, and they hunt with blow pipes, using darts tipped with poison made from a tree sap. They say it takes one dart to kill a bird, 3 or 4 to kill a monkey. They let us try using a blow pipe (no poison on our darts!). I found their culture fascinating.  Wikipedia says it much better than I can.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batek

making darts

blowpipe

making fire