When blogging, the latest blog appears first. Since this blog is like a story, it makes sense to start at the beginning, so scroll all the way to the end and that’s the beginning!
Lombok and the Gili Islands
Lombok and the Gili Islands were magical. I haven’t taken the time to write about them yet, but hope to one day!
Nusa Lembongan revisited
To those of you who are still following the blog…we are home now and I have a few more photos and thoughts to share so I’m going to continue blogging until the blogging is done! As I blog from San Diego, I feel so exhilarated to revisit my photos because this trip was a blessing and an opportunity that changed us (more on that soon). I feel even more blessed to have my beautiful home, family, and city to return to.
So we left off last in the north where my parents and Deepali toured the lakes with us. Deepali headed westward from there to check out a town called Seminyak while my parents and we headed to Nusa Lembongan. You may remember that we had thoroughly enjoyed five days in NL the first time we were there…so we wanted to have my parents experience it too. Plus, we wanted to see our NL friends again before we left Bali.
This second trip to NL really warmed my heart. We stayed again at Segara Beach Inn with Wayan and Wayan (and their daughter Made, and Amani’s Balinese grandpa “Kakek”). They had felt like family before and it increased exponentially with each progressive day with them. Some of the fun memories follow…
Amani had remembered Wayan’s noodle soup and had craved it while touring Bali. When we returned, she asked Wayan to make it for her. It’s basically Top Ramen noodles with Indonesian seasoning with a poached egg in it. Wayan made it for Amani every time Amani requested it and Amani requested it for every meal. Keep in mind a few things. One, only breakfast is included at this hotel, but Wayan took care of Amani as she would her own daughter, so Amani would sometimes even stay back with Wayan and have noodles while Yogesh and I went out to eat. That’s not a hotel…that’s family. Second, Amani would finish the whole thing. She ate so well there – better than at any other meal in Bali. I believe it was because it was served with so much love and Amani noticed that.
Here’s Wayan in her hotel kitchen cooking…
Another sweet memory with our Segara Beach family was when we took them out to dinner. For the sake of the simplicity of telling this story, I’ll call the husband Wayan, “Mr. Wayan” and the wife “Mrs. Wayan” although this is much too formal and we normally just called them “Wayan”.
We had been wanting to take the Wayans, Made (their daughter) and Kakek out to dinner on our first trip to NL, but it never happened. They would say that they had just eaten, or Mr. Wayan would say that his wife Wayan would probably refuse going out to eat so we’d have to convince her. Well, we lined it all up on the night before we left NL and everyone hopped on motorbikes (as many people to a bike as comfortable) and headed to a lovely cafe on the ocean. We ordered pizza for all to taste, Kakek ordered a “jaffle” (kind of like a sandwich made in a sandwich maker), Mrs. Wayan and daughter Made cautiously ordered the daily staple of Bali, nasi goreng (fried rice), and Mr. Wayan got spaghetti and shared our pizza. We had known that Mr. Wayan had eaten out before, especially when he was younger, but were not sure if Mrs. Wayan had. When we asked her, we found out that she had never eaten out in a restaurant! She’s my age and has worked in rice farms, done seaweed farming, and had a life full of hard work to access just the basics. But she is always smiling, even when she tasted the pizza and didn’t care for it 🙂 She once said, you just have to smile while you work because it’s the way to be happy. I’ve never heard her complain or seen her sad.
Here we are at the restaurant:
My other standout memory with our Segara Beach Inn family will come at the end of this post.
My dear friend Shelina sent me a cool device by which I can upload my digital camera photos to my ipad, so you’ll see shots from our first and second trip to NL here. You may remember that we had done a motorbike ride around NL and onto neighboring mini-island Nusa Cenigan. In the post where I had described that amazing day, I was lacking photos and had asked you to stay tuned. Well, the photos will be inserted after I complete this post, so please do revisit the motorbike post and view the striking photos.
Here are other some shots of other moments during our first and second trips to our beloved Nusa Lembongan (you should hear Amani pronounce “Nusa Lembongan” so articulately! – it’s precious). Here’s Amani with her grandpa (Pakistani grandpa!):
And NL views from Segara Beach Inn:
And NL ceremonies at the temple. You’ll see Wayan and Wayan all dressed up, Amani headed to the ceremony via motorbike of Wayan’s sister and me headed over via bicycle.
And some photos from time spent with neighbors in the village. A neighbor, Ketut, ran a little restaurant that we enjoyed several times. Amani also enjoyed playing with Ketut’s grandsons and I enjoyed pretending I was going to steal the little one to take home 🙂
Some fun coconut-related moments. Kakek would flaunt his tourist-given nickname of, “Spunky monkey” because he was famous for passing out coconuts from his tree to the Segara Inn tourists.
Here are some photos of the motorbike ride (and the stops we made along the way to play at the beach and admire the views) that we did a second time, but this time with my parents. Unfortunately, the bridge we crossed last time was closed for repair and we couldn’t visit the Sea Breeze Warung, but it was a heavenly ride anyway. I LOVE the wind and the freedom you feel on a motorbike. And it’s so much safer in Bali with small roads where most people ride motorbikes. But the best part about this ride was that we had 3 generations from my family on bikes! My dad used to ride a Vespa 40 years ago while courting my mom and here he was again doing it Bali style! Loved it!
Our last day in NL:
Kakek (I called him “Baba” since that’s a term of respect for elders also meaning “father”) gave me a sarong and a pretty Saraswati postcard as a goodbye gift. He threw out one of his famous one-liners: “far from the eye but close to the heart” and walked away, I think, to hide the tears in his eyes. I felt emotional as well as we left this place full of love and a new family. The speedboat company guys came to pick us up on motorbikes and carried Yogesh on one and our luggage on the other. Wayan took Amani and me on his motorbike and didn’t leave all of us until our boat was leaving. He told us that he hoped we would return to NL and that we shouldn’t even pay to stay with them because it was our home.
Northbound
We had heard from Theresa, my friend who had traveled to Bali for a summer many years ago, that she had a magical experience at Danau Bratan. We traveled to this lake with her driver, Ketut, who took us first to Munduk where we saw a gorgeous waterfall. The feeling of being in the mist of the waterfall was “joyous”. It was a gift from God.
Then we drove to Danau Bratan which was in the mountains near Bedugul. The lake had a serene feel and a temple rested at one end of it. The weather was cool and crisp and clouds rested on the mountains over the lake. The setting was gorgeous. Yogesh described the setting as magical. It reminded me of Hunza/Gilgit (in the mountains of Pakistan) in the fall…rugged, crisp, basic.
And onto the next set of mountains and the lake called Danau Batur as well as scenery on the way:
On the map, it seemed as if the two lakes were maybe an hour or so apart. What we didn’t realize is the only way from one lake to the next was to travel all the way back south to Ubud and then back up north to the next lake. The cultural/language barriers sometimes result in these types of run-arounds. You just have to let go.
When we arrived at the second lake, we were tired and not happy with our choices of accommodations because the area was pretty rustic. We had dinner at a lake-front property which was picturesque. Amani and I hopped on a boat while waiting for our meal. The men on the boat were going fishing close to shore. Amani observed every move they made and I could see dreams of becoming a fisher-girl playingo out in her mind. I just prayed we wouldn’t tip over (we didn’t). We ended up staying at the hotel attached to the restaurant and slept pretty well even though it was the first place that didn’t have sheets between you and the quilt. Oh well.
That night, we walked to another property that had harnessed the natural hot springs into their pool and enjoyed a nighttime dip in the hot pool. Afterwards, we had dinner there – spicy french fries were the highlight.
The next morning, Ketut drove us to Sanur and we boarded our fast boat to Nusa Lembongan. You’ll remember that this is where we began our trip and where Amani became a local. We looked forward to introducing my parents to Wayan and Wayan (the owners of Segara Beach Inn at Jungutbatu Beach) and their family. Amani was thrilled to go back to see everyone, especially Kakek (her Balinese grandpa) and Lookie the dog.
Last days in Ubud
After our trips westward and eastward, we planned on a few more nights in Ubud. My parents hadn’t yet explored the town and Deepali, my good friend from childhood, was going to be in Bali for the next 9 days. She wanted to start her trip in Ubud.
Our stay in Ubud totaled almost a month. There were a few sights left to say and also goodbyes to be had.
We volunteered a few more days at the orphanage/school (Yayasan Widya Guna) and loved every minute of it. Yogesh was everyone’s hero – the kids and teachers just loved him because he was giving every ounce of his heart and soul with every interaction. In fact, when the last day came and it was time to say goodbye, one of the students, a girl named Putu who rarely spoke or interacted with others, kissed the back of his hand during their handshake. We both felt so attached to the kids and had a hard time saying goodbye – and we had only been there a week (me, a little less because I was tending to a sick Amani).
Here’s a shot of the kids receiving donations of clothing and toys from friends and family. They were so appreciative. And another shot of precious Wayan with his new bear.
I wrapped up my painting classes and said goodbye to Mr. Nyoman, my teacher. Amani said goodbye to her teacher, Putu, and his pregnant cat. She was hoping to bring a kitty home but didn’t even get to meet them…
We went out for a meal at sunset to a place called Sari Organik. We celebrated Deepali’s birthday at this gorgeous rice paddy viewpoint. My parents, our neighbors at Panorama Hotel (Ron and Mary) and Amani’s friend, Lola, and her family joined us on this evening out. My favorite moment was when we were walking back along the rice-paddy path back to the main road. Amani spotted fireflies and it was magical to see the twinkling of these creatures with this beautiful backdrop. She noticed a firefly stuck in a spiderweb but it was too entwined by the web to get out (Yogesh tried to save it). She didn’t know whether to be sad or not but Yogesh beautifully explained that this was nature and how the world worked. Later, she delicately caught a firefly in a loose-fisted grasp. She held onto it for a moment and then set it free and watched it as it took flight. Magical. Truly magical.
After a few last days of yoga, good eats, and goodbyes, we left Panorama Hotel, which had become our home for the month. Here’s us with the staff. This staff was more than that. They gave Amani bread to feed the fish in the pond, gave Amani goodies like orange juice, sweets and hugs, gave us rides to and from places in town, filled us in on their life happenings, and showered us wtih warmth. Amani woke up each morning, got ready and left the room before we did, to hang out with the staff and walk around the property. We even left her with the staff once while we ran an errand. She called all the ladies “Bibi” which means “aunt”. Bibi Wayan, Bibi Ting Ting and Bibi Ade were here favorites especially because of the sweets they carried in their pockets.
We had looked for other places to live – homes for rent, other hotels that were less old…but in the end, nothing compared to the staff and the positive vibe we got at Panorama.
Our next adventure was a northern excursion to Danau Bratan (Lake Bratan) and Danau Batur (Lake Batur). See next post…
Eastward ho!
Our next excursion with my parents was to the Eastern coast of Bali. We planned an overnight trip to Amed which is a town comprised of a group of coastal villages. On the way there, we hit some noteworthy sites. My dad wrote an email blog about this trip, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m cutting and pasting his words here:
“Today we left Ubud at 9 am to go to Amed, an small town on the ocean in east. We decided to vacate our both rooms. The management told us to put all our stuff in one of the two rooms and go away. They will not charge even for one room!
Mr. Ketut, our driver came to pick us up. We hire him as needed. Today he was with us till 5 pm and took us to a few wonderful places on way to Amed. His bill was $45 for his car, gas and driving services!
Our first stop was a palace Kartha Gosa. It had a great amount of painting on the ceilings, beautiful courtyard and a small museum.
Next we stoped to see an small village Tenganan of 225 people population. No cars are allowed in this village. People live here with their ancient tradition and ceremonies. Their commerce is weaving, make baskets, do painting, carving, etc.
It rained now and then for a few minutes at each time. The warm weather made it feel nice. It reminded me of my birth place Indore where we used to play happily in the rain.
We then headed for lunch at another small village Candidasa. The restaurant here was very very beautiful, surrounded by beautiful flowers, trees, statues and a nice pool. It was a five star classy place. We enjoyed the lunch very much.
The most amazing place was next. The Water palace of Tirta Gangga. Tirta means water. It was a park and palace with water fountains and a huge pond with many stepping stones in it. In the pond were all sizes of gorgeous koi fish. The water comes from a natural spring. It was just beautiful.
We reached our destination Amed at 5 pm. The hotel is on the beach. Our room is facing the ocean. There.Is a nice pond in front of our room and a great amount of greenery. The sand is black from the volcanic rock. You can see Mt. Agung clearly from here – Bali’s tallest mountain/volcano. We went for dinner in a restaurant next door. While we were eating it rained heavily and then stopped.
Because of the rain, couple of frogs came out and settled near the pond and started making loud noise. The hotel manger happen to pass by and sent his man who came and removed the frogs.!! Rest of the night it was the soothing sound of ocean waves.”
Back to my words:
On our way back home, we asked our driver to take the scenic route. This involved driving on a curvy road along the eastern coastline from Amed to Candidasa before heading inland. The route was breathtaking. It added an hour and a half to our journey, but hey, “Pelan, pelan” (Balinese for “Slowly, slowly”). Why rush back to Ubud when we could take our time going home while admiring the Balinese coastline?
This “pelan pelan” thing is sinking it’s teeth into my system. I’m liking the going slowly mentality (who’d ever thought I’d say that?). I really want to maintain that upon my return to the US and to work.
Westward ho!
We’ve made Ubud our home base because it’s an easy spot from which to make trips and because it’s a fun town in which to live, being an artsy community with a good mix of tourists and locals.
We’ve hit a few areas of Bali so far:
– Nusa Lembongan (the island off of the southwest coast of Bali)
– some spots on the southern peninsula called the Bukit Peninsula (Uluwatu, Jimbaran, Kuta).
– Ubud (somewhat central Bali)
My parents arrived in town on July 19 and we’ve been having so much fun. We gave them a day to relax, get a massage, and have lunch with some new friends. Then we decided to hit the west coast. Road trip!
My painting teacher, Mr. Nyoman, and his son, Putu, who was Amani’s teacher, had offered to take us to watch the sunset at Tanah Lot temple. This is a temple on the southwest coast of Bali – one that’s pictured on most travel brochures of Bali. It is built into rocks in the ocean and is pretty spectacular. We were gone from 1:30pm-8:30 pm and stopped at three sites total: Taman Ayun Temple, a butterfly farm, and finally Tanah Lot.
Taman Ayun:
Butterfly farm (they had stick bugs, beetles and other amazing things – note the bug that looks exactly like a leaf):
And the exquisite Tanah Lot temple:
It’s amazing when you start to make friends in a new country. I find myself somewhat surprised when it happens because it seems like it takes so long in one’s own hometown to make new friends. Not only did we have the pleasure of traveling with Mr. Nyoman and his son – which was very enjoyable (I especially loved watching Amani walk hand-in-hand with Putu), but we also made some international friends.
On the day that mom and dad arrived, I mentioned we had lunch with some friends. We had met Caroline, Daan and Mitch (age 3 1/2) from the Netherlands at a warung one day and clicked right away. Shortly after, we met Jordi, Airi and Lola (almost exactly Amani’s age) from Spain. We organized a lunch get together with them all at a place Airi found called Cafe Topi. This was a Japanese run cafe, with a gorgeous, natural venue (we sat on tatami mats and ate Japanese, Indonesian and Indian food), while the kids attended a workshop (for $2 each!) making origami animals and other homemade toys. Many of the toys were the same as what my parents had played with when they were young. A sweet Japanese grandparently couple helped the kids complete their projects.
In other news, Amani has been attending an international school here. It’s called “Pelangi School” which means “rainbow school”. Her teachers are called by their name preceeded by the prefix “ibu” which means “mother” or “Miss”. They are wonderful with the kids, most of whom are from other countries, but some of whom are from Indonesia. I think Amani was so starved for kid companionship, that she didn’t barely look back when we dropped her off at her first day of school. On that day, they all took a “bimo” to go swimming, and she landed the role of Cinderella in the classroom play 🙂
I got my hair straightened (something like a weak Japanese treatment) by a girl named Made who owns a salon. She wants to come back to the US with me, find work, and escape her unhappy marriage ;(
Me beforehand with wavy hair (I’m at a cafe with Yog enjoying time together with just him and me – Amani is at school, mom and dad haven’t arrived…call it a date!):
Lastly, we’ve visited a few orphanages/schools. No Indonesian kiddos in our future – Indonesia doesn’t have an adoption process because they believe they can take care of their own according to the director of one orphanage. I was happy to hear that the job of the two orphanages we visited was not to house the kids, but to link them with relatives that could house them and love them while the orphanage center would provide supports in the form of monetary contributions from donors and classes taught by staff and tourists/volunteers.
One special center we visited included a program for kids with disabilities. Though many kids with disabilities are sadly kept locked away from society, there were kids here who were benefitting from an education and meaningful activities. Yogesh and i were fortunate enough to spend time with the kids. Yogesh surprisingly was able to teach them a lesson in Qi Gong (he had picked up some moves from Yoga Barn!). I was so moved to see him lead the kids in the exercises. On another day, Yogesh held a child, named Wayan, who had lost the ability to speak and move after a fall. This enabled Wayan to see the activities that were going on while having time with male figure. I normally am not brought to tears when working with kids with disabilities, but I had a really hard time hiding mine here even though the kids seemed so happy.
The Arts in Ubud/ Step by Step
I wanted to post a photo of Amani’s finished wood carving project. The teacher barely spoke English and didn’t have much idea of how to handle children, so much of the project was done by him 😉
My painting classes are going really well. I’m learning to do a traditional Balinese painting of goddess Saraswati. My teacher, Nyoman Jendra, has some works on display in NYC and Colorado. For all of his accomplishments, he is very humble. We spend about an hour to an hour and a half each day working on this painting. I am thankful for his patience and kind nature. He has, in broken English and with lots of modeling, shown me that the amazing feat of creating Balinese art takes time and is a “step by step” process. I’m in awe every day of how dramatically the painting changes. It started off as a pencil sketch, turned into a black and while piece of art, and now is coming to life in color. Here are a couple of the steps. I’ll post the finished product eventually.
So the theme of going slowly, step by step, has shown up repeatedly in Bali. First, when we stayed in Nusa Lembongan at Segara Beach Inn, Amani’s Balinese grandfather reminded us daily, “Slowly, slowly holiday” – meaning take it slow on your holiday. But he modeled, “Slowly, slowly” in his approach of all things. We find ourselves (even Amani) saying, “Slowly, slowly” all the time,…I say it most frequently while on the back of the motorbike while Yog drives us around Ubud.
In our yoga classes (we’re doing these daily here at Yoga Barn), we had an instructor who was able to do amazing things with his strong and flexible body. He reminded us that reaching higher levels took patience and the practice of a series of small steps. Again, step by step…It really struck me.
And now, watching the painting unfold is teaching me the same thing again. Don’t rush. Step by step and big things can be accomplished.
luwak coffee, uluwatu, jimbaran …
So I had mentioned our trip to a coffee plantation, … but I need to go into a little more detail.
Tina was able to join us – it was during her stay in Bali.
I had met our driver, Mr. Nyoman, while walking home from monkey forest with Amani. She had done such a good job walking to monkey forest, and then gotten scared of the monkeys in the forest, that I thought I would spare her having to exert herself by walking home.
Many men call out, “Taxi,” as you walk down the streets of Ubud. I looked for someone with a kind face and found Mr. Nyoman. Now, keep in mind, a taxi driver can be someone who drives an actual taxi, spelled, “TAKSI” or it can be someone with a car who is a “driver” and between jobs driving tourists around the sights of the island, he may choose to drive tourists on shortly drives around town. Mr. Nyoman’s English was really good and his personality was as kind as I had hoped. While he drove us “home” to the Panorama Hotel, I asked him if he did tours. He said yes and we set up a tour for the coffee plantation, the temples and the rice paddy views for Friday (a week ago). Though I loved the temples, especially the water temple, the coffee plantation part of the day was my favorite.
There is a special, very expensive coffee, that is exported out of these plantations. We learned about this as we entered. First up, tourists are able to meet the luwak, a catlike animal that eats coffee beans. The coffee beans are pictured in my previous blog post – they are red and look like cranberries, but slightly larger. I tasted a coffee bean and it tasted like a sweet fruit with a coffee-ish aftertaste. When a luwak eats the bean, his body doesn’t digest the entire bean but his enzymes changes the bean in a certain way. After he poops out the bean, it is cleaned, dried, roasted, ground, sifted, and then made into coffee. The luwak coffee is supposed to have a different taste than regular Balinese coffee and is highly sought after. Of course, Yog saw this whole thing as something similar to the Emperor’s New Clothes, but we tried the luwak coffee regardless.
Yog and I couldn’t really tell the difference between luwak coffee and Balinese coffee. We thoroughly enjoyed the tasting part of the visit. We were given about 10 mini cups of different coffee and tea variations, some with milk or sugar, some without. There was a vanilla, ginger, chocolate, etc. coffee and lemon, ginger, ginseng, etc. teas. Everything was delicious. Amani was able to try cacao mixed in hot water with sugar (basically a no-nonsense hot chocolate) and loved it to the last drop. What made everything so enjoyable was the view:
Breathtaking…
The next day, we headed to Uluwatu, which is in the south of Bali, in the Bukit peninsula. It is a town situated on cliffs that overlook the ocean. We stayed in a two bedroom home for a night where we enjoyed a chat with Mama Lucy, the jolly housekeeper. She told us about the days before tourists and proper (“black”) roads. We rented motorbikes and rode to Padangpadang Beach where Amani swam in the ocean, Tina bought us coconuts, and I got a sarong for Amani to wear to the temple where we were hoping to catch the Kedak show (Balinese fire dance at the temple over the water) at sunset. We were a littel too late for the show, but enjoyed the amazing view of the ocean from above. We returned the next day and took some photos:
Then we headed to our final destination with Tina: Jimbaran. Tina only had a week with us and ended her trip on her birthday. It was fitting to stay at a resort and enjoy the luxurious side of Bali. My friend Theresa had told us about the lovely resorts in Jimbaran, and Jehangir Mamoo had told us about his stay there as well. So we picked a gorgeous hotel called the Keraton Hotel, didn’t worry about being on a budget for that night, and enjoyed a gorgeous hotel, beach and pool. Keep in mind, we had been staying at hotels for about $25-30/night in a country that could be called a developing country, so we were used to hotels that are a little rough around the edges. To have a hotel that had bathrooms that were squeaky clean, bathrobes and slippers provided for each of us, and still have the architecture and style of Bali, was a huge treat. The cost was $150/night. The beach in Jimbaran was ideal for swimming and lounging. And what made it even more perfect is that you could walk just to the right of your hotel on the beach and find warung after warung (roadside eateries) serving fresh seafood on the beach (we preferred this food to the westernized and overpriced hotel food). These little eateries became even more enticing by night, when they set up an increased number of tables and chairs and put out candles everywhere. Musicians strolled around singing familar songs with Indonesian accents, and vendors grilled corn or sold light up toys by the ocean. The hot and humid air turned warm and breezy the way a tropical vacation should feel.
We had eaten at one of these warungs at lunch time (I had fried red snapper – yum!). When I headed over in the evening, I wondered what all the above hullaballoo was about. I figured they had set up for someone’s wedding. I was mistaken. The above festive description was a nightly affair, drawing tourists, most of them Indonesian or at least Asian, around for yummy seafood dinners. We enjoyed the ambience thoroughly. Amani enjoyed making new friends and running around with them (and often bossing them around a little!)
After a night in Jimbaran, we spoiled ourselves with a second night – we couldn’t resist. During this time, Amani learned how to swim in the pool because it was just the right depth to allow her to feel comfortable but give her the room she needed to flail her arms and legs to propel herself forward. We were so proud when that little fishy finally got all four appendages off the ground and actually swam!
The town of Kuta is minutes away from Jimbaran so we decided to go have lunch there. Though we found a warung with delicious food and enjoyed our lunch, we decided to turn right back around after seeing the commercialized tourist trap that is sadly a part of Bali now. Tina left for a late flight that night and got home safely after a long delay of flights.
Here is Jimbaran:
Touring areas around Ubud
Today was a day of touring around with our driver, Mr. Nyoman.
We saw the elephant cave temple (Goa Gajah in Bedulu), went to Tampak Siring and saw the Gunung Kawi temple with its 320 steps and the Tirta Empul temple which has fresh water springs running through it, enjoyed Ceking village’s coffee plantation and rice paddies, and ended the day at Lebih beach for a look at the black volcanic sand…
Bali at Four 