Bali

Thursday, November 26, 2009…..Happy Thanksgiving

We are on the island of Bali…many people’s idea of paradise. It is lush island with beautiful beaches that can be used for relaxing, swimming and excellent surfing, snorkeling and scuba dives.

Unlike the rest of Indonesia which is mostly Moslem, Bali’s religion is a mix of Hindu and local animism. The native people are friendly and accommodating. There is a large population of expatriates living full-time or part-time here as well as a major tourist industry.

My friend Danny lived here for 5 years before coming to the USA. One of his friends is Del, who works part-time for the Washington State in mosquito control and lives 6 months of the year near Ubud, Bali in a small village where he leased some land from the village chief and built a small lovely house which he rents out when he is in Washington State during the summer. The location and views of the local rainforest are remarkable.

Ubud is in the center of the island and is an area filled with native and foreign artists...painters, sculptures, fabrics.  You can stroll around central Ubud and the surrounding villages to see some lovely creations. It is far from the beaches and the tourist here is respectful and culturally attuned…unlike the trendy resort areas.

Here are some local Balinese teen-agers:

Del’s house:

Bathroom decoration:

Back yard:

Front porch:

View out the bedroom window:

A view of the house from across the valley…you can see how it is located on the top of a piece of land that sticks out into the small river valley:

Decorative figure on wall:

Local rice terraces outside of Ubud:

The Market and Mt Merapi

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The next day we got up early to go to a local market in Yogyakarta. This is always a good way to get a flavor for the local people and activities. It is common for 2 or 3 generations of a family to be involved in presenting and selling goods

This is a sample of the folks at the market:

As it was clear day after the market we drove about 40 kilometers north of the city to see Mt Merapi.  This is a legendary mountain that is an active volcano, last having a major eruption in 1994. There is smoke that continuously escapes from the top. The mountain has religious significance and is thought to be represented in the form of ancient temples at Angkor, Borobodur as the  center tall cone structure in the center of these complexes. It is about 9500 ft in altitude

We were quite lucky to time it well so we could get good photos as the clouds that were drifting by obscured the mountain about 45 min after we arrived.

After the viewing of the mountain we went over to a spot that has a trail that goes to a waterfall that is popular:

Borobodur Temple and Raft Trip down the Elo River

The first day we visited Borobodur Temple outside the city. It is a Buddhist temple built in the 8th Century that is out in the country side surrounded by lush foliage.

After the Temple we had a rafting trip arranged by a friend of Danny's nephew, Putra.  We spent 2 hours floating and paddling thru the rain forest down the Elo river which had some fun but tame rapids.

 

 

On to Yogyakarta

Sunday, November 21

We drove on to Yogyakarta that took us on narrow roads thru extensive rice fields that periodically  went over numerous rivers..

It is quickly apparent that growing rice is backbreaking work:

Typical narrow road:

The local folks use the abundant water running in the rivers to was trucks and motorbikes; also we see a common way for small children to be transported around :

On the road in West Java: Jakarta to Tasikmalaya

Saturday, 21 November

It is approximately 300 miles from Jakarta to Yogya by way of roads that are mostly 2 lane and of varying surface quality. Bumpy and narrow and shared by all manner of vehicle: cars, big and little trucks, small vans and large buses, horse drawn carts and motorbikes. So we plan to take 2 days.

The first part of the trip is just escaping the Jakarta sprawl by going south. Soon we see our first volcano in the distance, Mt Salak, before we turn east to climb over the Puncak Pass at 5000ft on a busy highway that climbs thru tea plantations.

Mt. Salak from the toll-road highway:

Danny and nephew Putra at an overlook at Puncak Pass:

We descend from the pass and drive thru lush rainforest punctuated by extensive rice fields and many small towns.

Tea plantations:

One of the highlights of the day came late in the afternoon with a visit to a traditional village called Kampung Naga. This village has tried to maintain itself by keeping to the old traditions of its people, not easy in these days of TV, cell phones, and the internet.

This is a hillside on the edge of the village that contains rice terraces:

This is the river that runs next to the village at the bottom of the valley:

Jakarta

Friday, 20 November

My day in Jakarta involved meeting Danny’s family. Danny was born and raised in Jakarta and lived in Bali for 5 years before coming to the United States. He lived and went to school in Houston and moved to San Diego about 8 months ago. I met him in San Diego this summer. When I found out that he was going to return to Indonesia for 6 months to visit his family, I figured that this would be a great opportunity to have a local connection for seeing this country. So we figured out a plan where we would spend 6 days on the island of Java..1 day in Jakarta, 2 days driving across West and Central Java to the city of Yogyakarta, the cultural center of Java. He would then join me for the 5 days on Bali that I had already planned.

First we went to the Family Compound in the southern suburbs of this large city. The parents and 7 of the 9 living children live there with their spouses and children… 22 people live in 5 residences. Danny’s twin brother, Eddie, the father and the husband of the oldest sister accompanied us to a thatched roof restaurant on a lake about 45 minutes from the Compound. During this day I got to see a lot of the area…from the crowded, densely populated central Jakarta with its high-rise hotels, office buildings and apartments to the lush suburbs and countryside.

There are photos of the restaurant and the monkeys that are in the lake that beg for food and are very good at catching food thrown to them.

This is a photo of Danny posed surrounded by a poplular asian fruit...Durian:

This a photo that Danny took of me, the father, Eddie the twin brother and Wito the brother in law:

Danny and I will go in Wito’s 1997 Chevy Blazer accompanied by Wito and his son Putra on our trip to Yogya. Putra is a serious student photographer who often works for twin brother Eddie, who is a professional photographer. Danny is a serious amateur phographer so we will have photographic firepower on this trip. Wito works for the Jakarta Airport security.

Just a note on my hotel for the 2 nites in Jakarta. It is the JW Marriott…yes the same one that was bombed about 8 months ago along with the nearby Ritz Carlton. Security is much tighter that boarding an airplane, with 5 security people descending on any car or taxi that tries to enter the front driveway checking the trunk, underneath with mirrors. Then one’s luggage is x-rayed and you go a metal detector on entering the hotel. It is protected by machine gun toting police at the immediate entrance. Here is a photo of me with one of the guards:

Jakarta, Java, Indonesia

Friday morning, 20 November 2009

After 2 days in Bangkok recovering from the flight over to Asia, yesterday I flew thru a connection in Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta arriving last nite (Photo above from the hotel room). Plan is to stay one day in Jakarta and then take 2 days driving thru the rainforests and volcanoes of central Java and finish with 3 days around the cultural capital of Java around Yogyakarta. Then will fly off to Bali for 5 days. I am getting out my camera today so will try to start posting photos. I will be traveling on Java with my friend Danny from San Diego who is back in his native Indonesia visiting his faily for a few months. We will travel with his brother and nephew in one of their cars.

I arrived in Bangkok at 6 am after 17 1/2 hours in the plane from LAX. My room at the hotel was ready when I arrived at 8am so I could shower and nap.
That first day in Bangkok, I had lunch again with my 82 yo cousin Jean at the Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel. She is doing very well.
I went out that evening so I could go to bed at bedtime in my new time zone.
The second day I met with my friend Aong and his buddies for dinner, a few games of pool and a couple of hours of kareoke at a bar.
Tomorrow we go off into central Java...hopefully decent weather and good photos.

Trip to Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam starts tomorrow

I will be leaving tomorrow on by annual Big Trip to South East Asia by enduring a 18 hour flight from LAX to Bangkok. This year I will spend about 10 days in Thailand and break new ground by visiting Indonesia (Java for 6 days and Bali for 5 days) and central and southern Vietnam for 12 days.
I will hope to post blog entries on most days with photos. It is probable that I will not have reliable internet access when traveling the backroads of Java for 4 days and for a couple of days on the beaches of Vietnam. So those entries will have to be delayed.
Have a good Holiday Season, everybody.