The Sun Sets On Bali

Our last full day in Bali was, by design, a split day.  Spend the morning in Ubud and the afternoon touring other parts of Bali.  Ubud is not a quaint little village, it is a sprawling tourist town.  That said, it is a good place to walk around.   There is A LOT of shopping, everything from high end boutiques selling beautiful batiks to marketplace tourist stalls selling carved penis bottle openers (they were even available in 5-packs to make it easy to share with friends).
 

We skipped all of that and headed to the Sacred Monkey Forest, a 10-minute walk from our hotel.  I had been here once before and wrote about it then.  I knew that it would be an hour well spent for us and we weren’t disappointed.

First off, the Sacred Monkey Forest is just that, sacred.  There are temples that are pretty much overrun with monkeys.  Over a thousand of them live here.  They are fed by monkey keepers who also keep track of the monkey/human interactions.  And there are plenty of signs reminding you not to make direct eye contact with them or feed them.

My favorite spot is down some stairs and over a stone bridge that arcs its way through a massive ficus benjamina while crossing a small river.  On the other side is a temple surrounded by moss covered stone carvings.  It reminded me of King Louie’s Temple in The Jungle Book, but Christopher, rightly so, said it also had the vibe of Tomb Raider.  Regardless it was something to see.

We continued to walk around for an hour, visiting the main temple and the monkey cemetery.  The cemetery had monkey graves with tombstones.  The graves also had high mounds of dirt covering them, almost comically high.  This cemetery also begged the question as to why weren’t these monkeys cremated as is the practice in Hinduism?

We ate a quick lunch in the hotel restaurant before meeting up with Joyo again.  This time we were off to a couple of temples and sunset cocktails along the Indian Ocean.  Driving anywhere is Bali takes far longer than Americans would expect.  The roads are narrow and crowded and rarely do you go over 50kph most of the time.  Most intersections are not controlled, that is no signal lights or traffic cops.  In other words, it takes a while to go places.

I noticed a couple of things have changed since we first visited Bali 8 ½ years ago.  First is that the ration of scooters to cars has dropped.  In 2010 we saw entire families, perhaps 5 people, on one scooter.  Scooters were hauling just about anything; multiple large water bottles, 5+ meter-long bamboo poles, or even sacks of concrete.  Now there are significantly more cars and trucks, but still plenty of scooters everywhere.

One other thing is the gasoline for these scooters.  Our first time here we say racks of vodka bottles filled with amber liquid.  I Initially thought that they were filled with some sort of Balinese moonshine.  Our driver explained how once you are out of the city there are no gas stations and that these liter bottles were an easy way to sell gasoline for scooters.  (My issue with this was that with the narrow roads you were only one sneeze away from a driver swerving into a rack and exploding in a fury of flames.)

Today you see these racks, but need to look a lot harder for them.  They have been replaced with mini gas pumps.  These kiosks have two grades of fuel stored in built-in reservoirs in their base—each one holding be 50 liters.  The attendant pumps the gas up where it fills a glass bowl, just like in the old pumps from the 20’s and 30’s.  Once filled with the desired amount, there is a hose and nozzle to dispense the fuel into your scooter.  Simple and efficient.

Our first stop with Joyo was Taman Ayun, a temple that Julie and I visited 8+ years ago.  It is very recognizable with its many towers and the moat that surrounds it.  This is one of the 6 royal temples in Bali.  And unlike most temples, you can’t enter, just view inside from the small, low wall that surrounds it.

It seemed more manicured then the last time we were here, whether that’s true or not, who knows.  But it is lovely.  There were quite a few people inside preparing for some sort of fete. I enjoy how temples pay a part of everyday life in Bali.

As we were walking around, we heard music in the distance and set of to find the source.  Just beyond the temple grounds there was another modern temple being built.  Still an incomplete construction site, there was music coming from thetop floor, the source hidden by bamboo screens. We sat and listed for a few minutes, enjoying the experience.

Our last temple of this trip was another that we had done before, the famous Tanah Lot.  This recognizable temple sits on a rock formation, just offshore.  Christopher was looking forward to seeing this one as it is constructed in Legos at Legoland Malaysia. 

We left Joyo and bought our tickets to enter the grounds.  The thing is that here the grounds start off with stall after stall of tourist shops.  It was a veritable market place of carvings, fabrics, other knickknacks.  The good thing is the proprietors were not that aggressive so it was pretty easy to keep moving on.  That said, it did detract from the experience.

After taking pictures of the temple from the shore (tourists are not allowed inside) we walked around for different views.  We realized that when we were here 8 years ago we approached from the west and didn’t have the shops to parade through.  We ended up 

having a beer at a small café on the cliff just above the temple, a nice, chill experience.

It was then off to the last stop of the day.  Julie wanted to end the day at a beach bar at sunset and I had done a little research.  We ended up at The Beach Bar at the Alila Hotel in Seminyak .  And what a great choice it was.  We arrived about 75 minutes before sunset and while all of the good tables (and prime view bean bags) were taken, we did find a sitting area with a sofa and a couple of chairs.  Not prime view, but it was great.

We ordered some drinks and snacks and waited, watching the colors of the sky change almost by the minutes.  We made several trips to the deck just above the sand to take photos.  It was gorgeous.  There was also live music that just added to the experience.  It wasn’t too young of a crowd and we enjoyed it.  As Julie said “You did good finding this place”.  Enough said.

We headed back to Ubud, navigating the traffic of Seminyak (making us happy we stayed in Ubud).   We felt good about our visit and bought enough small things to remind us of his visit for a long time.  Bali is wonderful.  Yes, it is touristy, but it isn’t overrun with Americans. We never thought we would make it back when we first visited 8 years ago, yet we did.  Will we go again?  Who knows, but I would sure like to.

Going with the Grain for a Rice Time

The next day we just stayed in Ubud.  A friend in Singapore had told us about a nice hike called Campuhan Ridge Walk.  Originally a trail to bring goods from villages to Ubud, it has now become a very popular hike.  Starting just off a main road you walk along the side of Ubud Palace, Moss covered walls on the left and a vine covered river on the right gives it a very Indiana Jones vibe.

After a few hundred meters you breakout into countryside.  The trail is covered with large pavers so the walking is easy.  You head uphill for a good kilometer or two with valley views on each side.  It reminded us of one of our favorite hikes back in the Bay Area – Edgewood Park.  We were there fairly early, but by no means as early as some.  There were people there, but not what I would call crowded.

As the trail leveled off we reached a village with some guesthouses, cafes, and some artist studios.  We kept trekking along and began to hit rice paddies.  We were at the season where we could see the beginnings of the next crop.  Some paddies were being prepped by turning over the muddy soil beneath the water with a walk behind rototiller.  Afterwards, the bottom was smooth and leveled by hand with a screed.  Then bamboo poles were used to layout a grid with impressions in the mud.  Finally, rice shoots were planted at the intersection of the grid lines.

Even through there is lots of rain in Bali, it appears to share something in common with the American West—water rights.  Concrete canals run over the hillsides and will split and apportion the right amount of water to each farmer.  These splits are not symmetrical and you can almost see the portion allocated for each group.  For example, there are 10 shares on the canal, and 2 go down here to these 2 farmers on the left, while the other 8 shares go further.  Simple but effective.
 

Another thing we didn’t know about rice is that after the paddy has been drained and the rice harvested farmers release ducks into the paddy. (I assume that they have had their wings clipped and are unable to fly.)  The ducks will then eat up the grains that didn’t make it into the harvest—fattening the duck and cleaning the field.  The Balinese Circle of Life!

It turns out the village is called Keliki and is home to an art movement, the Keliki miniature paintings.  This started on the 70’s and one of the key players was an artist named Wayan Surana.  We went into his gallery and ended up buying one of his works.  His daughter was minding the gallery while he was teaching an art class elsewhere.  Our purchase experience will be the subject of another post.

We returned to our hotel in Ubud for lunch and a little bit of relaxation.  Sitting in loungers by the pool for the afternoon with no cares other than a scheduled 2pm massage.  Post massage was cocktail time. Downtime is good on trips like this—a body needs it’s rest! 

Un-Bali-vable

We had arranged a car and driver thanks to the recommendation of a friend and Joyo met us in the hotel lobby at 9am.  We had already set up our plans because we knew we didn’t want to spend all day in the car like we had 8 years ago.

Our first stop was Tegallalang Rice Terrace.  This is close to Ubud and also quite well known.  But we got there early enough there were only a trickle of tourists around and no touts pushing their whatever as “the best” and “most beautiful”.  While Joyo waited with the car we walked along the sidewalk looking at the terraces and marveling at how the heck they didn’t wash away.  There would be the occasional stairway heading down and finally we took one. 

Steps turned to stepping stones which turned into a dirt path which turned into a sidewalk.  There was no option but to meander, so we did.  There were several giant swings which looked about as safe as climbing Half Dome in flipflops.  Some had steel frames others were just hung from adjacent palm trees.  None looked as safe as a county fair carney ride. 

While this is a tourist attraction, it is also grows rice.  The flooded paddies had new shoots coming out.  The next paddy would be 2 feet over and a similar distance down.  I am guessing that this soil has a high clay content as they kinda defy belief.  As we headed back up different steps we realized that there were tickets sellers at the top selling access to the steps going down.  Oh well, we got away with it for free.

Pura Tirta Empul was our next stop.  This temple and its bathing pools was founded in the 10^th century.  Today it’s bathing pools are frequented by tourists and, one assumes, the occasional Hindu.  We donned our sarongs (they are free after paying the ~$3.50 USD entrance fee) and headed in.  First off was the bathing pools.  They are quite picturesque with offerings over about 20 spouting fountains. 

Lots of people, almost all westerners, were in the water, bathing their faces in the holy waters.  It seemed somewhat sacrilegious as this holy ceremony was turned into a tourist experience.  It also seemed somewhat unsafe after reading about a recent e coli contamination.  But it made for beautiful pictures.

Wandering the rest of the temple was interesting too.  My favorite was a koi pond in which the water was amazingly clear.  Watching water bubble up from the bottom I think it was clear because the sand bottom acted as a giant filter.  We also found it interesting that the exit of the temple routed you through a warren of aggressive shop owners.  One was able to cajole Christopher into her stall.  We quickly grabbed him and were on our way.

It was a short drive to our next temple, Gunung Kawi.  Honestly, I had forgotten what made this one special.  The first thing that made it special was the phalanx of shop owners that you had to pass through on the street to the entrance.  If we thought the ones at Tirta Empul were aggressive, they were nothing compared to the ones here.  Throwing sarongs over your shoulder telling you “you must buy”, not listening to polite Nos!  Finally I used my size and western rudeness to lead the way through.

After buying our tickets we started walking down stairs—LOTS OF STAIRS!.  You could see that we were headed down to the bottom of the river gorge but we didn’t remember what we would be seeing or how many steps it would be.  At one point Julie gave up and found a nice place to enjoy the view while Christopher and I kept going and going (all the time remembering that we had to climb back UP those stairs).

Finally, we entered a slot canyon, still headed down.  Looking at the walls I realized that this was not natural, it was carved out of volcanic basalt.  Hitting the bottom, we turned to our left and there were niches carved into a cliff that had carved shrines in them. All made out of 1 giant piece of stone.  The amount of effort to do something like this in the 11^th century is unimaginable.  

 

There was another section that had a temple with several rooms, again carved out of rock.  After we did a little exploring we headed back to the top.  250 stairs later we got there, dropped off our sarongs, and met Julie.  We quickly connected with Joyo and we were off to lunch at Pangkon Bali.  This restaurant set in rice paddies and geared to tourists, but was good and exactly what we needed.

Our last temple for the day was Besakih Temple, known as Bali’s “Mother Temple”.  Built over a thousand years ago it was always open to every caste.  It is built on the slopes of Mount Arung and has lots of steps.  The view from the front accentuates its height and on each side of the main steps there are terraces filled with colorful tropical plants.  Multi-tier pagodas dotted the grounds.


 

After buying our tickets we somehow acquired a guide, don’t quite know how, but we did.  He led us to a field in front of the temple and began explaining its history.  He also mentioned the importance of offerings and the next thing you know two, then three, women surrounded us with offerings for us to buy. A 100,000 rupiah later (about $7USD) we were owners of offerings, which our guide offered to carry for us (the least he could do assuming that he got a kickback from the ladies).

Offerings are everywhere in Bali.  Sometimes you literally are stepping on them.  They are typically small trays of woven palm with flowers, or a few grains of rice, or even a cookie.   I think we got the “deluxe package” as we had trays, flowers that looked like a sushi handroll, and incense.  Our guide placed them for us under a statue at the entrance to one of the temple compounds.

Our guide shared his knowledge with us.  We learned that the temple was dedicated to Shiva (The Destroyer), Vishnu (The Preserver), and Brahma (The Creator).  We learned that the black and white fabric that surrounds statues is known as “saput poleng” and symbolizes how opposites can work together in harmony. We learned how the unique style of Balinese gates, called “candi bentar” are similar to “yin and yang” and symbolizes the balance of forces.  We learned a lot for our 100,000 rupiah tip.

Bali is such an international destination you can pretty much eat and drink whatever kind of food you want.  For our first full dinner in Bali we thought Mexican sounded good—and it was, made even more pleasant by the fact that it was right next door.  A cheese quesadilla, some fajitas, and churros hit the spot.  Don’t get me wrong, we ate our fair share of Balinese food on this trip.  It’s just sometimes a little bit of home tastes good.

A Bali Folly

Julie and I first went to Bali back in 2010 for a birthday celebration (no need to say whose or which birthday it was).  We had a great time, but learned an important lesson – Bali has traffic, narrow roads, and it can take forever to get anywhere. We stayed that time down in Nusa Dua, which was lovely, but it meant crossing Denpasar to get to the real Bali, not the sanitized resort version.  We said if we came back again (and it was a big “if” at that time) we would stay somewhere else in Bali—so we did!

Back in January we realized that Singapore had a 4-day weekend in August with National Day on 8 August and Hari Raya Haji on the 12^th.  Seeing that every long weekend in Singapore is a chance for a getaway weekend we booked our flights to Denpasar and figured we would work out the other details later.  We were glad we did because a quick check of airfares as the actual date approached show that they had more than tripled.

The flight to Bali is almost 2 ½ hours, so we consider it a quick trip by our adjusted scale (living in Singapore, anything less than 8 hours we are considering a short flight).  Landing at Denpasar we were greeted by long lines in the immigration hall.  There were arrows pointing to the right for “those 60 years or older or with children under 6”.  I felt like I had won a prize!

A quick check with and officer to make sure that I could bring my family along (“Yes”) and we stood in that line.  Turns out we were standing in the wrong line.  And it took about 20 minutes for us to realize.  We quickly moved over to the proper line and got through immigration in about another 10 minutes.  Without the benefit of my “golden years” I think that the wait would have been over an hour.

Thankfully, our bags were circling the luggage carousel after immigration so we picked them up and headed off to find our driver.  We have become somewhat spoiled in Asia by having a driver meet us versus getting a cab.  You get used to seeing a sign that says “Hamilton” and following someone to your car.  And it’s usually not extravagant—this one was about $28 USD and it is a 75-minute ride.

Anyway there was a sea of signs, I have never seen so many.  So all of us were looking for our name.  Some greeters had names at the end of poles that they would shake vilolently , as if that would somehow the sign name match ours.  We got to the end (probably 150 names) and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, then Julie pointed that we needed to keep going as there was another section.  Sure enough at the end of that section we saw our name and we were on our way.

Back riding in a car in Bali, a couple of memories of previous trips popped into my braid.  First is the unique, at least from my perspective, spelling of taxi – the rooftop signs on the cars all say “Taksi”.  The second is traffic.  Denpasar is nothing but traffic.  And this time it was worse as there was a political congress in town.  So our trip to our hotel was a little longer than we expected, but we got there before 11 pm.

We had two rooms at the Ubud Village Hotel right in Ubud.  I had stayed here in April 2017 while the family was still living in the US and wrote about my trip then.  It’s quite nice, nothing fancy but it has a restaurant, two pools, and a spa.  The staff is great and it is very well priced.  (Priced well enough that Christopher got his own room.)