Back to Ubud

We returned to Ubud, our starting point in Bali, full circle. We went to an all-women's gamelan (traditional orchestra) and dance performance. I am glad that we waited until we'd been in Bali a while to see this performance, as otherwise the significance would not have been as great. Traditionally, it is ONLY men that play the gamelan publicly. In several different places around Bali we asked if women ever played the gamelan, and the answer was a definite "No." So to be able to see an all-women gamelan--one who had performed around the world, no less (it was mentioned that they'd played in Denmark)--was quite amazing. Huge respect to those women, for it can't be easy.

We'd been talking for a while about the various cultural classes in Ubud, and decided to take one on Offering Making. Constantly we have seen women putting out the daily (if not more frequent) offerings, so we thought it would be a good experience to learn more about the significance of them, and how to make them. Our class was more about the latter than the former, but worth it nonetheless. Our class lasted two hours and culminated in our teacher giving the offerings to the gods.

Offering holder made of coconut leaves (I think)

Offerings complete with faces and the necessary flowers

Students and teacher (in proper Balinese attire)

Giving to the Gods

On August 15th, my mom left Bali, going back to the US, marking the beginning of my solo journey. I was not to feel so alone though, for within hours of her leaving I had a lucky 'chance' encounter at the internet cafe: the meeting of a friend, who I met nearly two years ago at a volunteer project in Laos, who is now living in Ubud. I have had the pleasure of hanging out with her and her friends in recent days.

The morning after my mom left, I ran into a cremation procession. I heard that it lasted three days, I missed the climax, but saw part of it at least.

Waiting for the last day

The coming days were to be some of the most interesting...

Padangbai, Bali

We stayed in Padangbai, where the ferry from Lombok lands, for a few days. There aren't so many "sights" there necessarily but it is a nice place to hang out for a few days. We used it as a base for a day trip to surrounding areas. On our day trip, we stopped in Tenganan, a traditional 'Aga' village, which is the name of the people indigenous to Bali (i.e. those who were there before the spread of Hinduism).

The Aga are Hindu now

We learned some things about traditional ways of life, including traditional weaving, which includes the single and double "ikat."

Takes one MONTH to complete

After the village we went to the water palace at Tirta Gangga. It was very beautiful.

Palace Temple

From Padangbai we headed back to Ubud. The traffic getting there was quite bad, mostly because the roads were occupied by many schoolkids marching. The Indonesian National Day is the 17th of August, and apparently on that day there is a marching competition. The children practice for at least a month beforehand, if not longer. We have seen schoolkids marching in nearly ever place we have been, and always on main roads. If cars, buses or motorbikes need to use the road, they simply must go around the marching.

Mataram, Lombok

After a very exciting night in Senggigi we went to Mataram, the capital of Lombok. Many things were closed due to the holiday so we couldn't do very much sightseeing. We tried to go to a local mall, just to see what it was like, but the only things that were open were KFC and McDonalds! Had a good time regardless of many things being closed.

Gas station: motorbikes go on the inside, cars go on the outside

We saw many cool mosques in the area.

In the evening we went to a park across the street where we were staying, where many young people were hanging out. They were very friendly, one group even asked for a picture with us.

Park across the street from us

The next day we headed to Lembar, where we were able to take the ferry back to Bali. Passed many rice fields along the way.

The crops are burnt after the rice has been cut

I'd been prepared for a long and uncomfortable ferry journey, but it was quite nice! Comfortable seats, four hours as advertised, plenty of room, and they even played Hollywood movies (surprising and a bit odd).

Enjoyable ride

The locals opted for sleeping areas rather than the seats.

Local preference on the left

Loved the ferry ride! Would highly recommend it over the famous "fast boats" which, though faster, are much more uncomfortable and so bumpy it can be a bit frightening...

Senggigi, Lombok

We got to Lombok on August 7th, the last day of Ramadan and thus the final day of a month of fasting for Muslims. We'd planned our trip to Lombok to coincide with the end of Ramadan celebrations.

We took the boat from Gili Air to Bangsal, where we then were shuttled to the beachside town of Senggigi. It had some cool sights and several mosques, which we scouted out in the daytime, wondering what was ahead.

Same mosque closer up

We saw other random interesting sights.

Hmmm

Love the name, haven't figured out what it is yet

We heard that festivities would begin around sundown, so we staked out a front-row seats at a small restaurant, where we had a great view of one miniature mosque "float" setting up.

Getting ready

After we'd been sitting there watching and eating our dinner for about an hour, the float finally took off. We thought that maybe that was all we would see, so headed back to our place. We stopped in a souvenir shop and then ran out when we heard fireworks going off. The parade began!

The parade begins

There were many miniature mosque floats, usually with a man (the imam?) inside singing, or playing a recording of singing.

First float

Second float

Third float

The floats were usually followed by a pick up truck full of men drumming.

Drumming following the last float

We walked along with the last float all the way back to where we were staying. It was so cool to see the parade and I feel honored to have been able to experience Idul Fitri in Indonesia!

Gili Air, Indonesia

We recently spent a few days on the small island of Gili Air, just north of Lombok and a 45 minute boat journey from Bali. It takes less than two hours to walk around the whole island. There is only a single ATM (which was out of money when we first arrived) and no motorized vehicles. Instead, for longer distances or for carrying supplies, horses are used.

Rumor has it the lifespan of the horses here is three years

The setting is beautiful, just north of Lombok with views of the giant volcano Gurung Rinjani, which takes up nearly the whole northern half of the island. There are two similar islands, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangen, which are next to Gili Air. They are all common tourist destinations.

County Fair Vibe

The island is popular for snorkeling, scuba diving, and pure relaxation. We did some snorkeling and certainly a fair bit of relaxing.

Just across the water from Lombok

Enjoyed many a cool beverage

As remote as Gili Air felt, it still at Western essentials such as Oreo's.

Roadside Store

Next we headed across the water to Lombok, just in time for the end of Ramadan.

Wanagiri, Central Mountains

We stayed in the village of Wanagiri in the central mountains of Bali for a few days. We were quasi-couchsurfing with a family who ran a hotel right next to their house. It was so nice to get to know them and stay with them.

My mom and me with Jero and his wife and son

Me and their 7 year old daughter Koming, ready for school

During our time there we visited many nearby sites.

Water Temple

Jatiluwah Rice Terraces

We also visited some hot springs, which had a lot of sulfur in them and turned my skin a bit orange. Rather strange.

Many tourists

The location where we were staying was simply stunning, with views of two lakes.

View across the street

From the back of their property, there was also a great view, which photos don't do justice.

Backyard view

During our time there we were able to visit Koming's primary school. The children were incredibly excited and followed us around, shouting "Hello!"

We also got to watch their local gamelan orchestra of traditional Balinese instruments. This was quite a treat as we've seen the gamelan at official performances before but have never seen a local practice session.

Gamelan practice

Before the musicians arrived, we got to try the gamelan for ourselves.

My mom giving it a try

During the practice, local teenage girls practiced the Joged dance. It was amusing to see because they would be sitting texting on their phones like teenage girls anywhere, and then get up and perform a very Balinese dance.

Dance practice

They also invited (or forced) each of the Westerners in the audience in turn to dance with them. A bit embarassing, but not so bad since we'd already been through it once before.


A wonderful time getting to know the family and seeing a genuine practice of the gamelan and traditional dancing. Thanks to Couchsurfing for another wonderful experience!

Byebye!

Lovina, North Bali

After a great time in Ubud, we headed north to the beach town of Lovina, just outside of Singaraja, Bali's second largest city. There were many tourist shuttles heading to Lovina (not to mention many private drivers who would be happy to take us), but we decided to take the "cheaper" more "local" route: bemo -- a shared van sort of vehicle.

This journey required five different legs. For each leg, we had to negotiate a "fair" price with the driver. The tourist office in Ubud as well as an Indonesian friend we'd made helped us to get an idea of what price might be fair. The first few legs were sucessful: we found a driver quickly, agreed on a seemingly good price, and didn't have to wait too long for the bemo to fill up or at least get a few other people. We tried talking with the other people we rode with, but the language barrier was great and the language section of the Lonely Planet didn't get us much of anywhere. We did share the bemo with a few school girls for about ten minutes, and they were happy to talk to us.

Happy to practice English

For one part of the leg, the bemo was full to the max with at least 12 people plus the driver squished in. We didn't have an extra inch of space, but this just made me happier and feeling like I was having a local experience.

After finishing the third leg of the journey, we were dropped off in a place with "no bemos" as someone told us, telling us that they would help us get a bus. The price was not good, compared to the other prices we had been paying. I argued relentlessly, but the man insisted it was a "local price" and that it would take "three hours." Since he was beginning to get worked up--and we didn't really have any other option--we gave in and agreed. That being said, the bus was very comfortable and gave us great views of the volcano we were passing. It did not take three hours (surprise surprise), instead it was more like two, which was still longer than we'd expected.

Our last leg of the journey was easily arranged. All in all the journey took us about 4 or 5 hours and Rp. 110,000 (US $11). Upon arriving, we felt a great sense of accomplishment, having made it such a long way (in reality only 82 miles) in a somewhat local fashion. Unfortunately, we then saw that the shuttle bus would have taken less than three hours and only cost Rp. 100,000. But still, we had more of an experience, right?

Our first night in Lovina we were lucky to hear about a children's dance and music performance, by donation only. We'd been wanting to see children performance so lept at the opportunity. There were only about ten people in the audience, and the children were adorable and talented. They even made everyone in the audience get up and dance.

Dancer with gamelan orchestra in the back

One of the most common tourist activities in Lovina is to go dolphin watching early in the morning. We were hesitant, as chasing dolphins by boat sounded somewhat uncomfortable. We'd imagined large boats holding lots of people. When we saw the boats we decided we'd give it a try.

Holds 4-6 people

It was a bit uncomfortable how close the boats would get to the dolphins, but it was cool to see them nonetheless. I'm not sure if I would necessarily recommend it to others, though.

Dolphin chasing in action

We established a relationship with the masseuse at our hotel, Sori, and she invited us to come with her to the temple one day in Singaraja. We negotiated on a price that we would pay for her son and granddaughter to pick us up and drop us off (the negotiating took a few days). We weren't really clear on what exactly was going on or what was special about the day, but it was very cool to be at a legitamate ceremony without other tourists. We had to dress in proper Balinese attire (or as close as we could get) which for women means a long sleeved shirt, sarong and sash around the waist, with hair pulled back. We mimicked Sori and her family as we went through prayer, and we even got blessed with sacred water and sacred rice. There was also a dance performance.

Me with Sori, granddaughter and son

Dancers about to begin

After a few enjoyable days in Lovina, we headed into the mountains...