(Aside for you star watchers, I also saw Cassiopia which in the southern hemisphere is an "M" and not a "W")
We laughed ourselves to sleep that night ... ah Gili Meno.
The next day was another hard day of lying around, swimming in the sea, etc. As Angie said, the Gili's have renewed our sense of Indonesia being a decent place to be. Angie was just sick of people always trying to take advantage of us, demanding an unfair price for items (120,000 for bracelets when two stalls down for the same items, the old woman offered them for 20,000). SO Meno has renewed our sense that humans are still decent, even in Indonesia. For example, meeting Bar who became a friend, someone we felt as comfortable with as any of our good friends back home. .... there is probably more Meno, but I jump to yesterday, which started my long trek to try and get to Genevieve (I will get there i am sure). We had to leave Meno at 7:30 AM to catch the boat back to LomBok and back to the Ferry port on the other side (well not quite the other side). Anyway, it was a delightful drive and there were the smells again, but that will wait ... At the
ferry dock it was again, attack of the porters, and people selling us fruit, peanuts, snacks for the ferry, etc. And I did not have any rupiah left, and Ange had it all and we had our transport covered, with about 75,000 for meals until my plane (which departed at 10PM from Denpassar on the other side of Bali). Well as i have said they are desperate, but I was now Gili Meno mellow and having some fun. This one guy had bannas and pineapples (both of the small aisan variety).
And all I had were Thai Baht, so I was trying to convince him to sell me two pineapples for 20 baht
(about 2/3 of a dollar). He grabbed that bill, gave me two pineapples so fast and was gone! I thought, wow what a great deal! and now we have fresh fruit for the 4 hour ferry! along with Angie's 10K nasi campur -- white rice with cocunut, tempeh, and stir fried vegies, wrapped in a pyramid of brown paper -- a really nice meal as it turned out. Well about 10 minutes later the guy returned with his boss
who said that I had ripped the guy off by offering him worthless Thai money!!!!! What a hoot, I ripped off the rip off artist!! Anyway, he fairly insisted that i take my 20 baht bill back and i gave him the fruit back. One of his many competitors sold us honey dew melon AND two pineapples for half the cost (in rupiah) about 2 seconds later so we still had our fruit! Anyway, on the boat (because these guys board the ferry as you arrive like
pirates boarding the ship of spoils when the ferry arrives, and stay on as long as they can b4 the ferry leaves) he was trying to separate me from my two dollar bill as american dollars are good money anywhere in the world.
I was still trying to convice him that the fancier looking 100 baht bill was worth enough for his entire plate of fruit -- somehow the math never seemmed to sink in. Anyway, I didnt buy anything else from him, but it sure was fun turning the situation around on them!
Gotta go catch my plane to Aukland
until next time -- newo out./
Monday, October 27, 2008
Gili Meno pt2
Ok, back to that glorious second day, glorious because it rained>
So the 4 westerners suddenly became alive with the temperature drop and the cool fresh water rinse (since, of course, Bob and Liz's well water is also terribly soft.) We were laughing and playing in the rain, letting it wash the salt water off of us, while Bar sat sullen and cross-armed under the shelter of the roof. After all he did not join us for the cool dip in the seas after our long sweaty, dusty hike -- these islands are dry, since we are near the middle of the dry season. While we were playing in the rain like the young local kids (about 800 or so people lived on Tra-la-la). They reminded me of when we were kids and we would play in the mudpuddles on "dead end street"
growing u p in Corpus. (I am sure Ashley will remember the time someone drove by extra fast and drenched the two of us head to toe in the large puddle across from the Crumbleys (sp?). )
Anyway, Liz had made some delicious cookies and we had enjoyed them after my "shower" and the rain just didnt stop! The street started to flow like a muddy river (Bob said he had never seen that) and eventually we had to walk to our 4PM boat while it poured and lightening cracked. The street eventually overflowed onto the beach which eventually broke its "banks"(it was flat and sandy near the beach side dirt road, before falling to the sea) as we walked to the "bus boat" for our ride back to Meno. But oh how glorious it was to be so clean!
For you see that night before, I had been so hot and so salty that it was all i could do to get to sleep. And angie came in later than I -- around 11:30 or so after hanging and talking to Bar at his bar (bu-dum-pah). She woke me up, and I couldnt get back to sleep.... For one thing, everyone here burns their garabge -- and not together but individually, and that night the smoke from the neighbors was blowing directly into the room and the fan (no ac) which normally was a delight, was blowing the smoky air on me, and it felt like I could not NOT get clean -- slaty and smoky, YUCK! Anyway, after about an hour of tossing and turning, I went out to the beach and looked at Orion strangely up-side down as Gen said the constellations look in the southern hemisphere and saw two long shooting stars, before heading back thru the smoke line (about 3 meters from our door) and finally fell back to sleep. Keep in mind they do the laundry in the salty water too, and at $15/night with breakfast, there is no daily maid service -- so salty me in salty sheets for multi-nights = yucky gross!
gonna let someone else in again .... But we just laughed the whole rest of that night as we were clean and it was cool (after the rain) and so pleasant!!!
So the 4 westerners suddenly became alive with the temperature drop and the cool fresh water rinse (since, of course, Bob and Liz's well water is also terribly soft.) We were laughing and playing in the rain, letting it wash the salt water off of us, while Bar sat sullen and cross-armed under the shelter of the roof. After all he did not join us for the cool dip in the seas after our long sweaty, dusty hike -- these islands are dry, since we are near the middle of the dry season. While we were playing in the rain like the young local kids (about 800 or so people lived on Tra-la-la). They reminded me of when we were kids and we would play in the mudpuddles on "dead end street"
growing u p in Corpus. (I am sure Ashley will remember the time someone drove by extra fast and drenched the two of us head to toe in the large puddle across from the Crumbleys (sp?). )
Anyway, Liz had made some delicious cookies and we had enjoyed them after my "shower" and the rain just didnt stop! The street started to flow like a muddy river (Bob said he had never seen that) and eventually we had to walk to our 4PM boat while it poured and lightening cracked. The street eventually overflowed onto the beach which eventually broke its "banks"(it was flat and sandy near the beach side dirt road, before falling to the sea) as we walked to the "bus boat" for our ride back to Meno. But oh how glorious it was to be so clean!
For you see that night before, I had been so hot and so salty that it was all i could do to get to sleep. And angie came in later than I -- around 11:30 or so after hanging and talking to Bar at his bar (bu-dum-pah). She woke me up, and I couldnt get back to sleep.... For one thing, everyone here burns their garabge -- and not together but individually, and that night the smoke from the neighbors was blowing directly into the room and the fan (no ac) which normally was a delight, was blowing the smoky air on me, and it felt like I could not NOT get clean -- slaty and smoky, YUCK! Anyway, after about an hour of tossing and turning, I went out to the beach and looked at Orion strangely up-side down as Gen said the constellations look in the southern hemisphere and saw two long shooting stars, before heading back thru the smoke line (about 3 meters from our door) and finally fell back to sleep. Keep in mind they do the laundry in the salty water too, and at $15/night with breakfast, there is no daily maid service -- so salty me in salty sheets for multi-nights = yucky gross!
gonna let someone else in again .... But we just laughed the whole rest of that night as we were clean and it was cool (after the rain) and so pleasant!!!
Gili Meno pt1
So you know something is wrong when no one tells you the same story on how to get to a place or how long it takes. We were told about four different stories on how to get to the small (4km around), flat coral isaland of Gili Meno off of Lombok. Travel time estimates ranged from 4 hours to 10 hours. Who could know that when we departed from Ubud at 6:45 AM on Tuesday it would be almost 34 hours before we reached our destination, and you could still see Bali from the Island! (As i told ange, we could have traveled around the world in less time.)
So the "slow boat" left Bali and after a 4 1/2 hour crossing, we thought OK, we can still make the last boat to Gili Meno which departs from another corner of Lombok from the ferry terminal at 5PM. However, we waited in the harbor of Lombar for almost1 1/2 hours while the dock cleared from another ferry and we had to spend the night on Lombok.
So now I know something about Indonesia, if someone says to you, "its ok, he's my friend, he will be ok, he can get you there on time," ...dont believe it. Also, dont let anyone ever carry your bags, anywhere, even if it looks like they are part of the hotel, or the tour group that organized your travel
plans, since they wont be any way connected, and no matter how short a distance they carry your bags, and no matter how much you didnt need them to carry them, they will still insit that you pay them about $1/bag (which in Indonesia is a small fortune.).
The next day we made it to Gili Meno at long last, and I stayed with the bags near the harbour while Ange went looking for habitation for a few nights. (the pasasge from Lombok to Gili meno is by small boat, think of the long-tail bots that take you to Rai-Lai in Thailand -- roughly a 30-40 ft metal hulled boat powered by a very small outboard.)
This island was the start of "vacation for real", so we wanted to do it right. Ange came back after going up and down the beach looking for a good, not too expensive place to stay, and she brought a local in tow. Right away he offered to carry our bags, and we were very forceful is saying "NO, we can manage, thank you!" He wondered why we didnt want his help, and we explained that we had enough of "porters" and their aggressive demands for money for servcies not requested nor required. (beside we are on a budget as this small island has no atm or proper bank exchange.) He explained that he was not a porter and was not going to charge us for helping with the bags...which turned out to be true.
Now we really, really liked Gili Meno. It may not have been the "greatest snorkeling ever" as it was one time billed, but the snorkelling was excellent. No, we liked it because there were only 500 permanent residents and they were all chill, kind and nice people. No longer was the constant call of "hey boss" for us to buy whatever tourist junk people were selling. Gili Meno is the Crested Butte of Indonesia. Relaxed, laid back, no hurries, no worries (after a few days we could even leave our bungalow room unlocked all day without worry that anything would happen to our stuff. -- nothing ever did.)
Now the guy who helped us out that first day turned into a friend, and near constant companion as he hung out with us when he wasnt working, and was chill and had the inside know-all. His name is Bar and he was kinda sweet on angie. He introduced us to many of the locals,
pointed out the better snorkeling areas (although all the way around this island the snorkeling
was excellent.)
((NOTE to reader -- sorry for any and all misspellings, but I never have enough time to write this blog, and never have time to re-read any of it, as i am trying to get it all down in public places.... i did not bring my computer, which is a good thing because my bags are heavy enough, and i wouldve just lost it by now as i have seemed to have lost most everything else of value, except money, passport, tickets -x-x- knock on wood. Yep, gone are my favorite sunglasses, ipod, earplugs -- ok earplugs may not be that valuable, but if you just flew over night on the "everyone must
take their baby to bali" express -- you may think earplugs are rather valuable.)
OK, enough of the side track. It didnt take long chilling on the gorgeous white sand beach of gili meno before the relative stress of super populated Bali, where every local sees every white person as a walking ATM. And since the terrorist bombings, and subsequent drop in tourism, every local is also super desparate to extract SOME amount of money from the walking ATMs. Keep in mind there are 4.5 million people on Bali, and Indonesia is the third most populous country in the world.
So by day two, we felt like we had been there for a very long time, and were full tilt into relax mode. On day two, Liz Brown and her beau Bob the australian (both of CB fame) paddled over from the neighboring, slightly larger Gili, (it has a hill and nightclubs, etc.) Gili Trabarhan (or something like that). They hung out with us for the day, then paddled the kilometer or so acroos back to their island...they own a small bungalow hotel on that island, where Cricket (also of CB fame) stays whenever she comes over to Asia.
So on day 3, Bar, Angie and I decide that we will go and spend the day exploring Gili Trabaharan, or as Bar says us westerners should call it, "Gili T" or "Gili Tra-la-la". So we take the island hoppper ferry -- same small type of boat that is common here (there WILL be pictures on Picasa ... someday). For 21,000 rupiah (thats about $2.50 for both Ange and I there and back), but it leaves at 9AM and returns at 4PM, so the day it is!
That turns out to be one of the best days, and its one of the best days becasue ... (drum roll please) ... it rained.
Now you may think "huh?" so let me explain. While it is great to be relaxing on the beach, swimming in the sea, etc. It is still HOT (the low at night is something like 31 C), and swimming in the sea is the way to get cool. BUT, this is a tiny remote island, and unlike the large main islands, this island gets its "water" from a well. Imagine what well water on a tiny island would be like? If you guessed "salty" you were right! Water so soft it makes Chapman Ranch water seem Rocky Mountain hard!!
So after two + days, a fresh water rinse was TOO nice for words!! While all the locals (Bar for example) found it too cold and were kinda glum, the four of us (ange, Me, Liz and Bob) reveled in the long cool rinse of wonderful fresh water. I even took the opportunity to actually borrow soap and do a real honest to God open air shower (in surf shorts, as they frown on nudity in this muslim country -- it is muslim here, it was hindu on Bali -- both frown on nudity, so . . .)
That morning we took a hike up the hill of Gili T and checked out the island and the old Japanese WWII gun emplacement/bunkers, so the rain was delightful after a dry and dusty walk. After a while of the constant rain, the air no longer smelled salty or like the sea. Instead, it smelled to me like a rainforest, and to angie it smelled like flowers.... one of those things that is hard to convey about Asia, the smells.
But right now there is a queue forming for the internet, and i will take a break and sign off for someone else to take a turn. So until next time Newo Out.
So the "slow boat" left Bali and after a 4 1/2 hour crossing, we thought OK, we can still make the last boat to Gili Meno which departs from another corner of Lombok from the ferry terminal at 5PM. However, we waited in the harbor of Lombar for almost1 1/2 hours while the dock cleared from another ferry and we had to spend the night on Lombok.
So now I know something about Indonesia, if someone says to you, "its ok, he's my friend, he will be ok, he can get you there on time," ...dont believe it. Also, dont let anyone ever carry your bags, anywhere, even if it looks like they are part of the hotel, or the tour group that organized your travel
plans, since they wont be any way connected, and no matter how short a distance they carry your bags, and no matter how much you didnt need them to carry them, they will still insit that you pay them about $1/bag (which in Indonesia is a small fortune.).
The next day we made it to Gili Meno at long last, and I stayed with the bags near the harbour while Ange went looking for habitation for a few nights. (the pasasge from Lombok to Gili meno is by small boat, think of the long-tail bots that take you to Rai-Lai in Thailand -- roughly a 30-40 ft metal hulled boat powered by a very small outboard.)
This island was the start of "vacation for real", so we wanted to do it right. Ange came back after going up and down the beach looking for a good, not too expensive place to stay, and she brought a local in tow. Right away he offered to carry our bags, and we were very forceful is saying "NO, we can manage, thank you!" He wondered why we didnt want his help, and we explained that we had enough of "porters" and their aggressive demands for money for servcies not requested nor required. (beside we are on a budget as this small island has no atm or proper bank exchange.) He explained that he was not a porter and was not going to charge us for helping with the bags...which turned out to be true.
Now we really, really liked Gili Meno. It may not have been the "greatest snorkeling ever" as it was one time billed, but the snorkelling was excellent. No, we liked it because there were only 500 permanent residents and they were all chill, kind and nice people. No longer was the constant call of "hey boss" for us to buy whatever tourist junk people were selling. Gili Meno is the Crested Butte of Indonesia. Relaxed, laid back, no hurries, no worries (after a few days we could even leave our bungalow room unlocked all day without worry that anything would happen to our stuff. -- nothing ever did.)
Now the guy who helped us out that first day turned into a friend, and near constant companion as he hung out with us when he wasnt working, and was chill and had the inside know-all. His name is Bar and he was kinda sweet on angie. He introduced us to many of the locals,
pointed out the better snorkeling areas (although all the way around this island the snorkeling
was excellent.)
((NOTE to reader -- sorry for any and all misspellings, but I never have enough time to write this blog, and never have time to re-read any of it, as i am trying to get it all down in public places.... i did not bring my computer, which is a good thing because my bags are heavy enough, and i wouldve just lost it by now as i have seemed to have lost most everything else of value, except money, passport, tickets -x-x- knock on wood. Yep, gone are my favorite sunglasses, ipod, earplugs -- ok earplugs may not be that valuable, but if you just flew over night on the "everyone must
take their baby to bali" express -- you may think earplugs are rather valuable.)
OK, enough of the side track. It didnt take long chilling on the gorgeous white sand beach of gili meno before the relative stress of super populated Bali, where every local sees every white person as a walking ATM. And since the terrorist bombings, and subsequent drop in tourism, every local is also super desparate to extract SOME amount of money from the walking ATMs. Keep in mind there are 4.5 million people on Bali, and Indonesia is the third most populous country in the world.
So by day two, we felt like we had been there for a very long time, and were full tilt into relax mode. On day two, Liz Brown and her beau Bob the australian (both of CB fame) paddled over from the neighboring, slightly larger Gili, (it has a hill and nightclubs, etc.) Gili Trabarhan (or something like that). They hung out with us for the day, then paddled the kilometer or so acroos back to their island...they own a small bungalow hotel on that island, where Cricket (also of CB fame) stays whenever she comes over to Asia.
So on day 3, Bar, Angie and I decide that we will go and spend the day exploring Gili Trabaharan, or as Bar says us westerners should call it, "Gili T" or "Gili Tra-la-la". So we take the island hoppper ferry -- same small type of boat that is common here (there WILL be pictures on Picasa ... someday). For 21,000 rupiah (thats about $2.50 for both Ange and I there and back), but it leaves at 9AM and returns at 4PM, so the day it is!
That turns out to be one of the best days, and its one of the best days becasue ... (drum roll please) ... it rained.
Now you may think "huh?" so let me explain. While it is great to be relaxing on the beach, swimming in the sea, etc. It is still HOT (the low at night is something like 31 C), and swimming in the sea is the way to get cool. BUT, this is a tiny remote island, and unlike the large main islands, this island gets its "water" from a well. Imagine what well water on a tiny island would be like? If you guessed "salty" you were right! Water so soft it makes Chapman Ranch water seem Rocky Mountain hard!!
So after two + days, a fresh water rinse was TOO nice for words!! While all the locals (Bar for example) found it too cold and were kinda glum, the four of us (ange, Me, Liz and Bob) reveled in the long cool rinse of wonderful fresh water. I even took the opportunity to actually borrow soap and do a real honest to God open air shower (in surf shorts, as they frown on nudity in this muslim country -- it is muslim here, it was hindu on Bali -- both frown on nudity, so . . .)
That morning we took a hike up the hill of Gili T and checked out the island and the old Japanese WWII gun emplacement/bunkers, so the rain was delightful after a dry and dusty walk. After a while of the constant rain, the air no longer smelled salty or like the sea. Instead, it smelled to me like a rainforest, and to angie it smelled like flowers.... one of those things that is hard to convey about Asia, the smells.
But right now there is a queue forming for the internet, and i will take a break and sign off for someone else to take a turn. So until next time Newo Out.
Ubud
So after a long hiatus on the blog, i am finnally at a place where I can post something so here it goes:
So the last few days in Kuta were pretty fun. Ange and i took a trip across the penisula to a fancy seafood place where you pick out your seafood, then they grill it for you. The tables were on the beach itself, so it was
fun to watch the waves roll in and crash on the beach with your toes in the sand. It was also nice to see more of the island and get away from the Kuta area. There was a traveling four or so piece band that went along the beach playing songs for tips along the way, sort of like the mariachi
singers in a mexican restaurant in texas. They came up to our table and played, "Lady in Red" probably because Angie was wearing a red skirt. After asking us where we were from, Colorado, they played a John Denver song. We were impressed with their repertoire of songs, but they suffered from what Ange and I call "Id-nigh oker" disease. You see when we were in Guadeloupe (French Carribean) years ago, we were at a bar where a guitar player (think Tyler Hansen at the Princess) played the Steve Miller song, where the refrain ends "your a mignight toker" but being a french speaker, he did not quite catch that bit of english, and everytime he would sing, "Id-nigh oker" which made us laugh. These guys were the same but on a slightly higher scale... they didnt know
most of the words and simply made sounds that were very close. That is part of the reason I cannot recall the exact John Denver song they played, as too many of the "lyrics" were just sounds.
We finally left the touristy trap town of Kuta on Bali and went to the interior town of Ubud. Where Ange wanted to do the last of her buying. Ubud was much nicer, it was there that i was able to upload some pictures. More of that to come when I can get to it.
The place in Kuta was right in the middle of the action, but located in an interior of a "block" if you could call it that which meant it was a reasonably quiet place to stay in the heart of it all -- a little paradise of green and flowers, etc. The place in Ubud was truly quiet -- or if not quiet at least rural in character. Located about 1/2 a km from the busier (but not as hectic as Kuta) town center, it was really green, and complete with the sounds of the jungle at night and the crowing of roosters in the morning. It had a beautiful pool, a nice bathroom and all the guest rooms were made of stone. Ubud was nice. It was cooler than Kuta, the food was all good, and the place was the nicest place we stay at in Indonesia.
It seems that I have written all this before, but I cannot find the posting on my blog, which leads me to think "what happened to it?" At any rate I have a lot to write, and I will publish this one and move on. We were in Ubud for two days and then we were off to Gili Meno, a small island off of Lombok the next large island in the Indonesian archipelago.
until next time,
newo out.
So the last few days in Kuta were pretty fun. Ange and i took a trip across the penisula to a fancy seafood place where you pick out your seafood, then they grill it for you. The tables were on the beach itself, so it was
fun to watch the waves roll in and crash on the beach with your toes in the sand. It was also nice to see more of the island and get away from the Kuta area. There was a traveling four or so piece band that went along the beach playing songs for tips along the way, sort of like the mariachi
singers in a mexican restaurant in texas. They came up to our table and played, "Lady in Red" probably because Angie was wearing a red skirt. After asking us where we were from, Colorado, they played a John Denver song. We were impressed with their repertoire of songs, but they suffered from what Ange and I call "Id-nigh oker" disease. You see when we were in Guadeloupe (French Carribean) years ago, we were at a bar where a guitar player (think Tyler Hansen at the Princess) played the Steve Miller song, where the refrain ends "your a mignight toker" but being a french speaker, he did not quite catch that bit of english, and everytime he would sing, "Id-nigh oker" which made us laugh. These guys were the same but on a slightly higher scale... they didnt know
most of the words and simply made sounds that were very close. That is part of the reason I cannot recall the exact John Denver song they played, as too many of the "lyrics" were just sounds.
We finally left the touristy trap town of Kuta on Bali and went to the interior town of Ubud. Where Ange wanted to do the last of her buying. Ubud was much nicer, it was there that i was able to upload some pictures. More of that to come when I can get to it.
The place in Kuta was right in the middle of the action, but located in an interior of a "block" if you could call it that which meant it was a reasonably quiet place to stay in the heart of it all -- a little paradise of green and flowers, etc. The place in Ubud was truly quiet -- or if not quiet at least rural in character. Located about 1/2 a km from the busier (but not as hectic as Kuta) town center, it was really green, and complete with the sounds of the jungle at night and the crowing of roosters in the morning. It had a beautiful pool, a nice bathroom and all the guest rooms were made of stone. Ubud was nice. It was cooler than Kuta, the food was all good, and the place was the nicest place we stay at in Indonesia.
It seems that I have written all this before, but I cannot find the posting on my blog, which leads me to think "what happened to it?" At any rate I have a lot to write, and I will publish this one and move on. We were in Ubud for two days and then we were off to Gili Meno, a small island off of Lombok the next large island in the Indonesian archipelago.
until next time,
newo out.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
the end of Kuta
On Friday 17 (?) Oct, the breeze finally kicked back in, so the heat was tempered by it. It is still super hot though. I arranged a tour guide to take me around to some other parts of Bali to see some temples while Angie does her last shopping day in Kuta tomorrow (Saturday). Then i went to meet Angie for lunch at the Aromas cafe, after which I spent the rest of the day relaxing while Angie shopped. I read in the book, then went to the beach to do a little swimming. Kuta is a surfing destination, so the beach features 4 feet or higher waves. It was fun swimming in them, sort of like a water park. Before I got the hang of going thru the wave under water, I would get spun around and tossed and turned. On one, which i thought had to be a double wave, i got all turned upside down and was swimming down instead of up, but touching the bottom orients one's self pretty good, and luckily I didn't drown! (It really wasnt that close so don't worry mom!)
On the tour on Saturday, I learned some fun facts about Bali from Made (which means the 2nd born -- so first names or casual names, apparently, go something like, "1st Born Son" "2nd born son," etc.) the tour guide: there are 3.5 million people or so living on this island, and it has 4,000 km of coastline, so it aint small. I had arranged for a "temple tour" that didnt really turn out that way. The first stop was an actual temple that was cool to look at. It was called Pemerintah Kabupaten Badung, it was nice, and had a grassy area in front and behind, so it felt very park-like as opposed to the rest of the island which was either urban or ag land.
It was a nice, calm, serene break from the busy, crowded Kuta city. We werent allowed inside the actual temple, but there wasnt any actual "inside" any way. It was all open air surrounded by a short stone wall, and then a moat with a grassy area to the pavers of the inner courtyard/temple. On one side there were pagodas, with multi-storied thatched roof features, so these are like multiple roofs on top of each "temple" lesser numbered roofs leading to the most numbered roof system in the middle. (see pictures!). Facing them are raised platforms, where presumably somebody prays. There are offerings fruit, rice, flowers, incense, sometimes a cigarette or money placed on the wall. They make these offerings pretty much everywhere in Bali -- the hotel had some of these walled "temple" areas where they made offerings in the morning and evening. On the sidewalks in front of shops (so you have to watch your step) there would be these offerings on a plate of folded banana leaves. Also, along the beach there would be the occasional offering (to the surf god, I presume). The natives also made water offerings every now and then, sometimes by splashing water in front of the store, other times by splashing it on the roof above.
Anyway the Temple pictures will show how humid and hot it is here, there is green moss growing on the stone carvings, pavers, steps, just about anything (the hotel in Ubud had the green moss everywhere -- see pictures). The garden like atmosphere of this temple was highlighted by the sweet fragrance of many flowering trees and shrubs. Again, a nice break from the beach city of Kuta. On one side there is a bell tower with wooden bells (and very narrow stairs) which got you further into the breeze and provided a nice overview of the area.
The next stop was supposed to be a rainforest with monkeys tour. It actually was a small wooded area with quite a few rather aggressive monkeys surrounded by a larger touristy stall shop area. My driver passed me off to a very small woman who guided me thru the "monkey forest" which consisted of buying some peanuts to feed to the monkeys, and after the brief tour she brought me back to her stall where she rather firmly insisted that i buy something, so i did. Can you say "tourist trap?"
The next stop was also a "tourist trap" there was a temple out on a rock not far off the coast which you could not get to, and werent allowed into anyway. The legend has it that this old Hindu monk showed up to convert the balinese from monotheism to hinduism, and when the rulers of the area challenged him, he showed the strength of the new religion and won the hearts and minds, if you will, of the locals by picking up the gigantic rock and flinging it into the sea. So the Balinese were converted to Hinduism and built a temple on this rock outcropping.
The temple area was flanked on one side by a fancy golf resort, and in front of it was an even larger and more fancy bunch of tourist stalls selling yet more crap. (Including a Polo store... Ralph Lauren at this holy Hindu site!) The other "temple" at this site was about the size of the "temple" at the hotel, while the shopping area was about 2 acres in size. Again, can you say "tourist trap"? In fact it was more interesting to see the rice patties stacked up along the edge of ravines, or just about anywhere where there wasn't developed city, than to have gone on the "Temple Tour." But i just enjoyed getting out of Kuta and seeing more of the island of Bali.
The next day we hung out at the beach for a while, had one last meal at the vegetarian restaurant/juice bar (Aromas see pictures) and then left Kuta for Ubud. This is a much nicer place to be, not nearly as crowded and our hotel here is a beautiful, quiet oasis just outside of the city center. From the street it looks like a small gate, and not very much more, but it went very deep into the lot and backed up to a very deep ravine all surrounded by lush tropical forest. It is a quiet little oasis not too far (a small walk from) the city center. There is a lovely pool, and it is a very interesting layout with many stone "towers." (Think three stone rooms stacked on top of each other with very narrow stairs climbing the outside of the building to each room.) The pool is at the end of the deep set lot, above the ravine. Looking down the ravine there were obviously more rooms, so i decided to go down the stairs and see just how far down this hotel goes. Would you believe there were four stories of rooms (again one room per story) going down the ravine under the pool? Across the ravine, there is jungle. It is nice, very green, and besides the loud noises from the jungle, peaceful.
The hotel also has a good restaurant according to the Lonely Planet, so when we learned that they were doing dinner that night, we jumped on it. It was good, too. They had a buffet of about fifteen different balinese dishes, and we tried all of them. The smoked duck was a real standout. Also we sat at a ten-top table with other guests of the hotel, and had quite am interesting little dinner party. There was Georg a Dane who lived in Thailand with his Thai wife and son, Jordan. Clarissa, an art reviewer from Singapore, and a newlywed couple Aaron and Paula from Vancouver. All in all a very delightful evening.
There was a terrific storm that first night at the hotel in Ubud. I haven't seen/heard(?) such heavy rain since the flash flood in San Antonio in my Trinity days -- the one that flooded uphill like a tide coming in, complete with "strobe lightening." This storm was very similar, big thunder, heavy rain, and of course that is why everything here is so lush and green and covered with mossy growth. Today (Monday Oct 20) we shopped Ubud and Angie got her final items. We then had a delightful massage, and I found this internet place where i could FINALLY upload some pictures. (it took forever, so i only did a select few) Look for more when i can find a better connection. OK! We have to go get freshened up before dinner, and tomorrow we head for Gili Meno!
Until next time, NEWO out!
On the tour on Saturday, I learned some fun facts about Bali from Made (which means the 2nd born -- so first names or casual names, apparently, go something like, "1st Born Son" "2nd born son," etc.) the tour guide: there are 3.5 million people or so living on this island, and it has 4,000 km of coastline, so it aint small. I had arranged for a "temple tour" that didnt really turn out that way. The first stop was an actual temple that was cool to look at. It was called Pemerintah Kabupaten Badung, it was nice, and had a grassy area in front and behind, so it felt very park-like as opposed to the rest of the island which was either urban or ag land.
It was a nice, calm, serene break from the busy, crowded Kuta city. We werent allowed inside the actual temple, but there wasnt any actual "inside" any way. It was all open air surrounded by a short stone wall, and then a moat with a grassy area to the pavers of the inner courtyard/temple. On one side there were pagodas, with multi-storied thatched roof features, so these are like multiple roofs on top of each "temple" lesser numbered roofs leading to the most numbered roof system in the middle. (see pictures!). Facing them are raised platforms, where presumably somebody prays. There are offerings fruit, rice, flowers, incense, sometimes a cigarette or money placed on the wall. They make these offerings pretty much everywhere in Bali -- the hotel had some of these walled "temple" areas where they made offerings in the morning and evening. On the sidewalks in front of shops (so you have to watch your step) there would be these offerings on a plate of folded banana leaves. Also, along the beach there would be the occasional offering (to the surf god, I presume). The natives also made water offerings every now and then, sometimes by splashing water in front of the store, other times by splashing it on the roof above.
Anyway the Temple pictures will show how humid and hot it is here, there is green moss growing on the stone carvings, pavers, steps, just about anything (the hotel in Ubud had the green moss everywhere -- see pictures). The garden like atmosphere of this temple was highlighted by the sweet fragrance of many flowering trees and shrubs. Again, a nice break from the beach city of Kuta. On one side there is a bell tower with wooden bells (and very narrow stairs) which got you further into the breeze and provided a nice overview of the area.
The next stop was supposed to be a rainforest with monkeys tour. It actually was a small wooded area with quite a few rather aggressive monkeys surrounded by a larger touristy stall shop area. My driver passed me off to a very small woman who guided me thru the "monkey forest" which consisted of buying some peanuts to feed to the monkeys, and after the brief tour she brought me back to her stall where she rather firmly insisted that i buy something, so i did. Can you say "tourist trap?"
The next stop was also a "tourist trap" there was a temple out on a rock not far off the coast which you could not get to, and werent allowed into anyway. The legend has it that this old Hindu monk showed up to convert the balinese from monotheism to hinduism, and when the rulers of the area challenged him, he showed the strength of the new religion and won the hearts and minds, if you will, of the locals by picking up the gigantic rock and flinging it into the sea. So the Balinese were converted to Hinduism and built a temple on this rock outcropping.
The temple area was flanked on one side by a fancy golf resort, and in front of it was an even larger and more fancy bunch of tourist stalls selling yet more crap. (Including a Polo store... Ralph Lauren at this holy Hindu site!) The other "temple" at this site was about the size of the "temple" at the hotel, while the shopping area was about 2 acres in size. Again, can you say "tourist trap"? In fact it was more interesting to see the rice patties stacked up along the edge of ravines, or just about anywhere where there wasn't developed city, than to have gone on the "Temple Tour." But i just enjoyed getting out of Kuta and seeing more of the island of Bali.
The next day we hung out at the beach for a while, had one last meal at the vegetarian restaurant/juice bar (Aromas see pictures) and then left Kuta for Ubud. This is a much nicer place to be, not nearly as crowded and our hotel here is a beautiful, quiet oasis just outside of the city center. From the street it looks like a small gate, and not very much more, but it went very deep into the lot and backed up to a very deep ravine all surrounded by lush tropical forest. It is a quiet little oasis not too far (a small walk from) the city center. There is a lovely pool, and it is a very interesting layout with many stone "towers." (Think three stone rooms stacked on top of each other with very narrow stairs climbing the outside of the building to each room.) The pool is at the end of the deep set lot, above the ravine. Looking down the ravine there were obviously more rooms, so i decided to go down the stairs and see just how far down this hotel goes. Would you believe there were four stories of rooms (again one room per story) going down the ravine under the pool? Across the ravine, there is jungle. It is nice, very green, and besides the loud noises from the jungle, peaceful.
The hotel also has a good restaurant according to the Lonely Planet, so when we learned that they were doing dinner that night, we jumped on it. It was good, too. They had a buffet of about fifteen different balinese dishes, and we tried all of them. The smoked duck was a real standout. Also we sat at a ten-top table with other guests of the hotel, and had quite am interesting little dinner party. There was Georg a Dane who lived in Thailand with his Thai wife and son, Jordan. Clarissa, an art reviewer from Singapore, and a newlywed couple Aaron and Paula from Vancouver. All in all a very delightful evening.
There was a terrific storm that first night at the hotel in Ubud. I haven't seen/heard(?) such heavy rain since the flash flood in San Antonio in my Trinity days -- the one that flooded uphill like a tide coming in, complete with "strobe lightening." This storm was very similar, big thunder, heavy rain, and of course that is why everything here is so lush and green and covered with mossy growth. Today (Monday Oct 20) we shopped Ubud and Angie got her final items. We then had a delightful massage, and I found this internet place where i could FINALLY upload some pictures. (it took forever, so i only did a select few) Look for more when i can find a better connection. OK! We have to go get freshened up before dinner, and tomorrow we head for Gili Meno!
Until next time, NEWO out!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Goodbye Thailand...hello Bali!
Alright, here it goes and not all good this time...
So it turns out that i left my sunglasses at the bowling alley, and that was that, they are gone. But thanks to my wonderful friends and family, I was able to get new ones in Bangkok before leaving the country and heading for Bali, which is good since it has been very sunny here.
On Monday we slept in, then went to have a tasty snack/lunch at one of the roadside snack shacks that are everywhere here. Noodles with pork balls and some great chicken sate. Then we went to town where Methet and Angie got facials and I had a lovely, long (two hours) massage. After that we picked the kids up from school, then I got into the pool while Methet and Angie played tennis.
If there was one good thing about loosing my sunglasses on sunday, it happened during my swim. For one, I was really mad at myself to loose the sunglasses so I took it out on the pool water by swimming particularly hard and fast. Also, because of going bowling, i had tweaked my left buttock a little (Lyn and Shelly will know my issues with the good ol' pirformis muscle.) So while swimming the little bugger was acting up... but breakthru! I finally figured out how to engage the gluteous without getting the pirformis also (pain being an excellent motivator) -- a struggle i have been dealing with for six or so years -- trying to separate the two -- and for at least the rest of that night the pirformis was still and pain was no more!!
Tuesday it was back to Bangkok for Angie's last minute shopping and my dental appointment. The dentist office was a large place and I had one of the best and quickest cleanings ever. During the consultation, the dentist did not recommend having the work i was thinking of doing, but of course they would do whatever i wanted them to do. BUT they needed more time than my planned return to Bangkok allowed to get everything all done, so I have decided to skip that. (Also the cost savings was not a great as i anticipated, so if i have issues in the future its back to Dr. Anderson in gunny.)
Then we went on an excursion to replace the lost sunglasses. We went to one place and they said, one week, which didnt work because i was leaving the next day, but place number two agreed (after some haggling) to do it in about two hours.
While waiting for the glasses to be ready, two of Methet's friends who live in Bangkok and are also Philipinos met us at a restaurant where got a bite to eat. They were lively company and really funny, which was just what i needed at the time since i was a bit down on myself for loosing my favorite sunglasses.
By the time we finally got back to Pattaya, Rick, Methet, Angie and i had a most delightful and delicious Thai dinner at this really cool restaturant that was on a hill, almost a cliff overlooking a not quite crescent beach below with the towers of Pattaya city in the distance and nearer condo towers along the beach. The restaurant was all open air, like a lot of things here in tropical asia (including this internet cafe), and had dining areas that stepped down the hill towards the sea. What a delightful farewell dinner from Thailand. Rick and Methet are such wonderful hosts, and I look forward to seeing them and the kids when i get back from New Zealand.
Then it was back to the Truscott's house for packing. And I finaly got to sleep around midnight. 4 AM came awful early (which is when we had to leave for the airport for the trip to Bali), but the flights were delighful -- now i know why singapore airlines is considered one of the worlds best. And we arrived without incident in Bali.
After the very long imigration line (a little over an hour) we made it thru customs in about 15 seconds, and here we were (or rather are). And we made it to the hotel that Angie had stayed in before in Kuta where she is doing some more buying. It was quite a bit more run-down than Angie remembered and there is a doorway with a balinese stand-alone wooden post and lentil affair -- those in CB can see examples of this type of carved wood with some of the pieces Blake has at Mabuhay. Now the balinese are typically short/small asian persons, and I must of hit my head on the darn thing about three times before figuring it out. They said it would be a little noisy in our room, and noisy it was! The dog started the occasional bark at around 4(?) in the AM and Angie found the clinking bell on his collar the most annoying. By 6 or so the place was a buz with the ladies next door (about 2 meters next door) getting their day started. But for about $12/night with airconditioning, what does one expect? So we decided to change hotels to one that is much quieter, nicer and with a bigger pool.
(Quick aside, one of those things you dont really remember in hindsight, but is definitely an issue when you are here: In the US cigarette smoking is practically penalized by death these days, no more smoking in public spaces not even bars, or even near doors to public places in CO at least. Well not so here. The Balinese smoke a clove type cigarette and the aussie/euro crowd, well they are smokers too, and smoking is permitted everywhere, in the restaurants, etc. For examle, I am sitting here writing this blog for oh about an hur, and here walks in some white guy... he's german by the language on the screen... who has to choose the computer right next to me even though the whole place is empty. He immediately lights up a cigarette and starts to chain smoke.. he is on number two in his 15th minute here. Another aside, on Sunday we ate at a Japanese Sobu restaurant on Sunday with the truscotts, and Rick mentioned that he felt a little out of place since we didn't bring their dog with us. Sure enough, virtually every other table had a little yippy dog at it.)
Now I arrive in this country not speaking a lick of Indonesian, but they speak fairly good english (it must be all the aussie tourists that come here for the surfing and heat?) But that is ok, because Angie who has been here often (fifth time) speaks about as much Indonesian as I speak Thai which was sort of our arrangement, I lead in Thailand, she in Bali (although with Methet being our guide most of the time, I think i got the better end of that deal). It seems to me that the Balinese, at least the ones i have met so far, and admittedly Kuta is a bit on the tourist trap side of things, speak better english than even the Thai (english is an official language there), so coping with the language barrier has been very easy so far.
The balinese people are very nice, and outgoing, they like to engage in conversation, which I learn in the Lonely Planet book is one of their cultural idiosyncrasies = the need(?) to engage in small talk. I find that if I pause and take the time to converse just a little bit, I get a very pleasant smiling, engaging conversation, and often learn something too. They seem to very much appreciate it as their typical interaction with the Australian tourists seems to be the cold shoulder. Admittedly the initial contact is hey buy this chachi, or can i get you a taxi, "Hey Boss, you need transport?" It just goes to show that a little smile, and some small talk can turn what might be an exhausting exercise in "quit pestering me" into a pleasant little chat.
So I am worried about not hearing from Genevieve to firm up my travel plans, since I am supposed to meet her in about ten days from now. You know you've got good freinds when you put out the call via email to our common friends to see if anyone knows if she is off the ice (left Antartica) or not, and within that day you get the message, that she is. And, as if she heard me calling psychicly that day, here at last is the email from Gen that I have been waiting so impatiently for. It is so nice to hear how happy she is to be free of the instituional life, in fact I will share some of the email with you just so you know how great it is to here it (yo followers in CB, stop by the PO and remind Adele to check out my blog):
Hi Honey!!I'm in christchurch enjoying the warmth, smells, and foods of the real world.I'm traveling with my good pal Jolene to Tonga on the 20th. We have a house on Vava'u until the 26th.We'll then make our way to Hapa'ai. I'll fly back to Auckland early morning on the 4th. That's it for plans. I'm kind of just going day to day enjoying the non-institutionalised life! It sure is grand, isn't it!!! So, let's meet in Hapa'ai around the 28th - give or take a day for Tongan time. Try to get a flight back to Auckland for the 3rd or 4th. We can then go from there. There are a few places on the North Island that I want to go and some friends that I want to see but for the most part, it will be fun renting a car and just exploring. I think I'll be flying out of Christchurch back to Denver around the 19th or 20th, but I'm not sure yet (I have to talk to the Raytheon travel folks today or tomorrow.)Yea!!!! I love New Zealand and want to stay here. I love it, I love it. Depending on how things go, we can visit Nick Frame in Wanaka. Do you remember him?Give Ange a big hug for me and apologize that I'm slow with my responses. And then remember to take deep breaths and have a good time.
It is hot here in Bali. Ange swears it is not hotter than Thailand, but I swear it is. I found out what it is though, in Thailand there was a breeze, or lots of fans, or it rained often. Or if it did not rain, the cloud cover cooled Thailand down. In Kuta, there has been no breeze. Speaking with one of the Balinese who was selling kites on the beach. (By the way it is a lovely beach, wide with soft reddish yellow sand, and the ocean water is quite cool, just the thing for the afternoon swim/cool down.) And remembering that even though I did not want a kite, i talked with him a while... where are you from ... Colorado in the USA ... california, no colorado -- i draw a map of the USA in the sand, pont out california and texas, then the square of Colorado -- Oh in the middle ... yes it is very mountainous and high ... i live at 3000 meters and it is already cold and snowing there ... etc. He is very engaged and seems quite interested in the conversation. That leads to him commenting on how very hot it has been. He thought it was at least 3 or 4 degrees celcius hotter than usual because of the lack of breeze. All i know is that i feel like i am in a sauna, no matter what activity I am engaged in, even if it is just sitting at a table for dinner, or walking down the street, or negotiating for a tour, or whatever. Yes even now in the internet cafe inhaling the second hand smoke from the German guy, with a fan blowing above, my shirt sticks to me like a teenybopper wet t-shirt contest, and sweat stands in large beads on my forehead, occasionally running into my eyes.
But this is what I wanted, right? escape from the cold at home? On the positive side of the heat, with the heat, my back is so completely relaxed, that i am having very few issues with it. So even while, i find it sweltering beyond belief, that is very big upside.
--- oh dear there goes cigarette number three! Hey i bet Phillip Morris stock is a great buy now with the recent down turn! They will undoubtedly still sell their cigarettes to everyone else in the world even if the US is anti-cigarette nazi world, no longer like the scenes of the Good Night and Good Luck Clooney movie. ---
Last night (thursday) we ate at a restaurant that was run by an aussie coupl. We choose it because it had a lot of people in it, many more so than the comparable restaurants down the street, and we figured, hey its crowded it must be good. And it was good. But unlike Thailand where virtually anywhere you eat it is going to be good, Bali is a hit or miss, mostly miss, kinda place (so far). The one wonderful exception is the great vegetarian restaurant/juice bar (Aromas) where i can get shots of wheat grass and some of the most interesting and delightful fruit juices i have ever tasted. Yum; real, whole food. But i digress: The aussie's restaurant. We noticed that there seemed to be a bunch of people at the other tables looking at stacks and stacks of obviously pirated DVDs, games, CDs or whatever. Then we noticed that the guy who was selling these pirated DVDs is wearing a local police uniform! Is that rich or what? The cops are the ones pushing the stolen goods onto the australian tourists!
I do not really like Kuta, it is a city, it is too hot, too crowded with too many white tourists, and too much traffic, etc. The only good thing has been to relax, read some in the book, hang out in the pool, walk around on the very nice beach, splash in the cool ocean. So it is nice to relax a little, but i can deal with less cigarettes, less deisel fumes, etc. Ange is almost done, so we will be leaving sunday for a couple other places for her buying, and then off to the Gili islands which is supposed to be some of the best snorkeling in the world. It will be nice to get out of the "city" even tho this is nothing like Bangkok which is a mostly modern first world city in the year 2008.
JEEZUS cigarette number five!!! I have to post and sign off.
Until next time,
Newo Out.
So it turns out that i left my sunglasses at the bowling alley, and that was that, they are gone. But thanks to my wonderful friends and family, I was able to get new ones in Bangkok before leaving the country and heading for Bali, which is good since it has been very sunny here.
On Monday we slept in, then went to have a tasty snack/lunch at one of the roadside snack shacks that are everywhere here. Noodles with pork balls and some great chicken sate. Then we went to town where Methet and Angie got facials and I had a lovely, long (two hours) massage. After that we picked the kids up from school, then I got into the pool while Methet and Angie played tennis.
If there was one good thing about loosing my sunglasses on sunday, it happened during my swim. For one, I was really mad at myself to loose the sunglasses so I took it out on the pool water by swimming particularly hard and fast. Also, because of going bowling, i had tweaked my left buttock a little (Lyn and Shelly will know my issues with the good ol' pirformis muscle.) So while swimming the little bugger was acting up... but breakthru! I finally figured out how to engage the gluteous without getting the pirformis also (pain being an excellent motivator) -- a struggle i have been dealing with for six or so years -- trying to separate the two -- and for at least the rest of that night the pirformis was still and pain was no more!!
Tuesday it was back to Bangkok for Angie's last minute shopping and my dental appointment. The dentist office was a large place and I had one of the best and quickest cleanings ever. During the consultation, the dentist did not recommend having the work i was thinking of doing, but of course they would do whatever i wanted them to do. BUT they needed more time than my planned return to Bangkok allowed to get everything all done, so I have decided to skip that. (Also the cost savings was not a great as i anticipated, so if i have issues in the future its back to Dr. Anderson in gunny.)
Then we went on an excursion to replace the lost sunglasses. We went to one place and they said, one week, which didnt work because i was leaving the next day, but place number two agreed (after some haggling) to do it in about two hours.
While waiting for the glasses to be ready, two of Methet's friends who live in Bangkok and are also Philipinos met us at a restaurant where got a bite to eat. They were lively company and really funny, which was just what i needed at the time since i was a bit down on myself for loosing my favorite sunglasses.
By the time we finally got back to Pattaya, Rick, Methet, Angie and i had a most delightful and delicious Thai dinner at this really cool restaturant that was on a hill, almost a cliff overlooking a not quite crescent beach below with the towers of Pattaya city in the distance and nearer condo towers along the beach. The restaurant was all open air, like a lot of things here in tropical asia (including this internet cafe), and had dining areas that stepped down the hill towards the sea. What a delightful farewell dinner from Thailand. Rick and Methet are such wonderful hosts, and I look forward to seeing them and the kids when i get back from New Zealand.
Then it was back to the Truscott's house for packing. And I finaly got to sleep around midnight. 4 AM came awful early (which is when we had to leave for the airport for the trip to Bali), but the flights were delighful -- now i know why singapore airlines is considered one of the worlds best. And we arrived without incident in Bali.
After the very long imigration line (a little over an hour) we made it thru customs in about 15 seconds, and here we were (or rather are). And we made it to the hotel that Angie had stayed in before in Kuta where she is doing some more buying. It was quite a bit more run-down than Angie remembered and there is a doorway with a balinese stand-alone wooden post and lentil affair -- those in CB can see examples of this type of carved wood with some of the pieces Blake has at Mabuhay. Now the balinese are typically short/small asian persons, and I must of hit my head on the darn thing about three times before figuring it out. They said it would be a little noisy in our room, and noisy it was! The dog started the occasional bark at around 4(?) in the AM and Angie found the clinking bell on his collar the most annoying. By 6 or so the place was a buz with the ladies next door (about 2 meters next door) getting their day started. But for about $12/night with airconditioning, what does one expect? So we decided to change hotels to one that is much quieter, nicer and with a bigger pool.
(Quick aside, one of those things you dont really remember in hindsight, but is definitely an issue when you are here: In the US cigarette smoking is practically penalized by death these days, no more smoking in public spaces not even bars, or even near doors to public places in CO at least. Well not so here. The Balinese smoke a clove type cigarette and the aussie/euro crowd, well they are smokers too, and smoking is permitted everywhere, in the restaurants, etc. For examle, I am sitting here writing this blog for oh about an hur, and here walks in some white guy... he's german by the language on the screen... who has to choose the computer right next to me even though the whole place is empty. He immediately lights up a cigarette and starts to chain smoke.. he is on number two in his 15th minute here. Another aside, on Sunday we ate at a Japanese Sobu restaurant on Sunday with the truscotts, and Rick mentioned that he felt a little out of place since we didn't bring their dog with us. Sure enough, virtually every other table had a little yippy dog at it.)
Now I arrive in this country not speaking a lick of Indonesian, but they speak fairly good english (it must be all the aussie tourists that come here for the surfing and heat?) But that is ok, because Angie who has been here often (fifth time) speaks about as much Indonesian as I speak Thai which was sort of our arrangement, I lead in Thailand, she in Bali (although with Methet being our guide most of the time, I think i got the better end of that deal). It seems to me that the Balinese, at least the ones i have met so far, and admittedly Kuta is a bit on the tourist trap side of things, speak better english than even the Thai (english is an official language there), so coping with the language barrier has been very easy so far.
The balinese people are very nice, and outgoing, they like to engage in conversation, which I learn in the Lonely Planet book is one of their cultural idiosyncrasies = the need(?) to engage in small talk. I find that if I pause and take the time to converse just a little bit, I get a very pleasant smiling, engaging conversation, and often learn something too. They seem to very much appreciate it as their typical interaction with the Australian tourists seems to be the cold shoulder. Admittedly the initial contact is hey buy this chachi, or can i get you a taxi, "Hey Boss, you need transport?" It just goes to show that a little smile, and some small talk can turn what might be an exhausting exercise in "quit pestering me" into a pleasant little chat.
So I am worried about not hearing from Genevieve to firm up my travel plans, since I am supposed to meet her in about ten days from now. You know you've got good freinds when you put out the call via email to our common friends to see if anyone knows if she is off the ice (left Antartica) or not, and within that day you get the message, that she is. And, as if she heard me calling psychicly that day, here at last is the email from Gen that I have been waiting so impatiently for. It is so nice to hear how happy she is to be free of the instituional life, in fact I will share some of the email with you just so you know how great it is to here it (yo followers in CB, stop by the PO and remind Adele to check out my blog):
Hi Honey!!I'm in christchurch enjoying the warmth, smells, and foods of the real world.I'm traveling with my good pal Jolene to Tonga on the 20th. We have a house on Vava'u until the 26th.We'll then make our way to Hapa'ai. I'll fly back to Auckland early morning on the 4th. That's it for plans. I'm kind of just going day to day enjoying the non-institutionalised life! It sure is grand, isn't it!!! So, let's meet in Hapa'ai around the 28th - give or take a day for Tongan time. Try to get a flight back to Auckland for the 3rd or 4th. We can then go from there. There are a few places on the North Island that I want to go and some friends that I want to see but for the most part, it will be fun renting a car and just exploring. I think I'll be flying out of Christchurch back to Denver around the 19th or 20th, but I'm not sure yet (I have to talk to the Raytheon travel folks today or tomorrow.)Yea!!!! I love New Zealand and want to stay here. I love it, I love it. Depending on how things go, we can visit Nick Frame in Wanaka. Do you remember him?Give Ange a big hug for me and apologize that I'm slow with my responses. And then remember to take deep breaths and have a good time.
It is hot here in Bali. Ange swears it is not hotter than Thailand, but I swear it is. I found out what it is though, in Thailand there was a breeze, or lots of fans, or it rained often. Or if it did not rain, the cloud cover cooled Thailand down. In Kuta, there has been no breeze. Speaking with one of the Balinese who was selling kites on the beach. (By the way it is a lovely beach, wide with soft reddish yellow sand, and the ocean water is quite cool, just the thing for the afternoon swim/cool down.) And remembering that even though I did not want a kite, i talked with him a while... where are you from ... Colorado in the USA ... california, no colorado -- i draw a map of the USA in the sand, pont out california and texas, then the square of Colorado -- Oh in the middle ... yes it is very mountainous and high ... i live at 3000 meters and it is already cold and snowing there ... etc. He is very engaged and seems quite interested in the conversation. That leads to him commenting on how very hot it has been. He thought it was at least 3 or 4 degrees celcius hotter than usual because of the lack of breeze. All i know is that i feel like i am in a sauna, no matter what activity I am engaged in, even if it is just sitting at a table for dinner, or walking down the street, or negotiating for a tour, or whatever. Yes even now in the internet cafe inhaling the second hand smoke from the German guy, with a fan blowing above, my shirt sticks to me like a teenybopper wet t-shirt contest, and sweat stands in large beads on my forehead, occasionally running into my eyes.
But this is what I wanted, right? escape from the cold at home? On the positive side of the heat, with the heat, my back is so completely relaxed, that i am having very few issues with it. So even while, i find it sweltering beyond belief, that is very big upside.
--- oh dear there goes cigarette number three! Hey i bet Phillip Morris stock is a great buy now with the recent down turn! They will undoubtedly still sell their cigarettes to everyone else in the world even if the US is anti-cigarette nazi world, no longer like the scenes of the Good Night and Good Luck Clooney movie. ---
Last night (thursday) we ate at a restaurant that was run by an aussie coupl. We choose it because it had a lot of people in it, many more so than the comparable restaurants down the street, and we figured, hey its crowded it must be good. And it was good. But unlike Thailand where virtually anywhere you eat it is going to be good, Bali is a hit or miss, mostly miss, kinda place (so far). The one wonderful exception is the great vegetarian restaurant/juice bar (Aromas) where i can get shots of wheat grass and some of the most interesting and delightful fruit juices i have ever tasted. Yum; real, whole food. But i digress: The aussie's restaurant. We noticed that there seemed to be a bunch of people at the other tables looking at stacks and stacks of obviously pirated DVDs, games, CDs or whatever. Then we noticed that the guy who was selling these pirated DVDs is wearing a local police uniform! Is that rich or what? The cops are the ones pushing the stolen goods onto the australian tourists!
I do not really like Kuta, it is a city, it is too hot, too crowded with too many white tourists, and too much traffic, etc. The only good thing has been to relax, read some in the book, hang out in the pool, walk around on the very nice beach, splash in the cool ocean. So it is nice to relax a little, but i can deal with less cigarettes, less deisel fumes, etc. Ange is almost done, so we will be leaving sunday for a couple other places for her buying, and then off to the Gili islands which is supposed to be some of the best snorkeling in the world. It will be nice to get out of the "city" even tho this is nothing like Bangkok which is a mostly modern first world city in the year 2008.
JEEZUS cigarette number five!!! I have to post and sign off.
Until next time,
Newo Out.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
finally, a new post from Thailand!
Well,
We made it to Thailand all fine and dandy. (I am traveling with my friend Angie Booth who is doing some buying for her shop back in the butte.) The drive to Denver was gorgeous, new snow on the mountains and a crystal clear fall day. I have pictures I will try to post to Picasa, but one step at a time, (since this is new and when I go to the blog spot here in thailand, the text on the page is all in thai, which is kinda hard for me to read and figure out which one is the sign-in, but I digress, and obviously, i figured it out.)
The plane ride was fine, and i did sleep most of it, so the jet lag hasnt been too bad (for once). Walking off the plane at the Bangkok airport, there is that instant realization that your not in kansas anymore. For one, it is warm and humid, plus there is that spicy scent in the air. Then, of course, the anouncements are in a foreign language and displays and what not in the airport are in the distinctive curved thai architectural style with thai color schemes versus the cold, crisp lines in a western airport.
(Of course not all the unusual smells are pleasant as the sewer lines are not deep and tend to vent into the sidewalk atmosphere pretty much everywhere in the city.)
We are staying here at Rick and Methet Truscott's fine new house in Pattaya, about an hour and a half south of Bangkok. It is a combination of closed rooms (bedrooms where they can run air conditioning, office, dining room) and open rooms (living room, den) since being in the tropics, it never gets cold here and heating is not an issue. Their old house now serves as the guest house and kitchen and is just a few feet from the beautiful new house. Their three kids, Missah, Qino and Caleb are all doing well and seem the same to me in the two years since I have seen them. We arrived in the early AM, so once we were here it was off to the beach for lunch... nothing like thai food in thailand... and we would have taken a dip in the gulf, but a storm blew in, so no swim. And that is also why this blog has taken so long, and will be so long ... trouble with the internet due to the weather that we have been having here (it is rainy season).
So Friday, Methet, Angie and I went into Bangkok and did some shopping. Strange for a mountain boy to say, but it almost felt like coming home driving and walking around in crowded Bangkok, still my favorite city. Methet had to go to the US embassy for Missah's passport re-newal, and Ange and i got our tickets to Bali arranged and tried to go to my favorite spa for some massage and pampering, only to find it torn down! In fact, many things have changed in Bangkok since I was here three years ago, many an old building is gone and many a new shiny skyscraper has sprouted. Many of the old shopping malls on the main shopping street crammed full of tiny stall-like shops where all manner of inexpensive goods could be had are completely gone. they are being replaced with swanky new, modern air-conditioned western style malls... where did all the el-cheapo venders that Blake and Anette used to shop at go? Enough were still around for Ange to find some good stuff tho.
After wandering around in what was left of the crammed vendor "malls" we wandered over to Siam Paragon a new super fancy mall, across the street from what used to be the one fancy mall, Gaysorn, on the shopping mecca street. It is also right next door to Siam Center, which Glo knew back in the day when she was in Bangkok. I doubt Glo would recognize Bangkok today, as Siam Center was THE fancy mall then, it is now the been-remodeled-a-dozen-times-but-still on the low-end side of the "mall" spectrum in a town that has lots of "malls."
We saw a western style rock show out on the new wide plaza on the street at Siam Paragon ( a nice change from the narrow side-walk space for the foot traffic and ever-present street vendors that used to crowd the street). And there was a demonstration of a traditional Thai dance inside the Siam Paragon (see pictures at Picasa). We ate at a nice thai restaurant in Paragon and Methet got some grocercies in the new swank grocery store inside -- think Central Market for you texans or one of the new, big Whole Foods (without the whole). My Thai friend Tony (who is unfortuantely busy working all this week) stopped by while we were there and said hello. It was good to see him, and he said he might be able to come visit us for a few days while we are in Bali. I hope so since a ten minute visit seems far too short.
There are things in Thailand that are just very different from the west. For example, they dont have just a few wires on the poles as in the west; here it seems that if someone needs a new service, they simply put up a new wire. As a result, the concrete (wood wouldnt last very long in the tropical climate) poles dont have five or six lines on them, they have thirty or forty (Angie thinks eighty) wires strung along. And we saw some people instaling yet another wire at one point.
Or the utter lack of enforcement on the highway lends an autobahn type of feel... sort of. For example, they have posted speed limits, but no enforcement, so Rick's driver basically drives as fast as possible all the time... 90 MPH in a 80 KPH zone passing semi's like they are standing still is a typical example. And they have lines on the road just like at home, dashed yellow lines for passing zones, solid yellow lines for do not pass zones, white dashed lines denoting lanes, solid white lines for a shoulder, but that seems to be merely advisory. Many a time (at high speeds,mind you) on a two lane highway we will pass slower vehicles (trucks, busses) in a do not pass zone while there are oncoming vehicles. People just scoot over enough to let us by (whichever way they may be traveling). And no one ever lays on the horn. If there is enough room, drivers take it and go. I tried to memorilaize the practice with some short movies on my camera, but I dont think they worked out too well, very bouncy roads at 140+KPH for one.
Also different from the west (and something I find refreshing) the Thais dont separate their rich and poor people. For example a fancy high rise apartment building in the swankiest neighborhood in town has a corrugated tin shanty right next to it. Also, the streets are always crowded with people. Besides pedestrians, there are street vendors everywhere selling everything from clothing to pirated DVDs to grilled food. This has a way of cluttering up the very limited sidewalk space.
Saturday (11 October) Angie and I went to the Weekend Market -- an open air market -- for more buying, and Ange made some good scores. Methet tells us that it too is about to be no more; the site is slated for high end condo development. So yet another low cost shopping experieince is about to go away. After a hot and sweaty day of that, we came back to the Truscott house for a delightful party. About 18 or so of their friends (with many a kid) came over for dinner, drinking, a little pool playin and otherwise socializing. Mostly foreigners, some with Thai wives ... friends mostly centered around the kids English based international school. As a result there were a number of Brits, a retired American named Dave (with whom I had quite an interesting conversation) a Frenchman from Strausbourg, a Swiss, etc. Dave had extensive international business experience and gave Angie a bunch of really good advice on her business. Leaning quite to the right politically it was interesting to hear him voice his support for Obama in the upcoming election because "Obama is the right guy with the right message for what our country needs right now." It seemed that most of the people who cared about our upcoming election in this small slice of the ex-pat community residing in Pattaya was hopeful for an Obama victory. (Just as the mostly republican American ex-pat community I met in Bangkok four years ago was hopeful for a Kerry victory when i was here in 2004.)
There was also quite a bit of concern about the turmoils in the economy, and having just arrived from the USA they wanted to know if it was as bad back home as it seems. One of the Brits who worked for GE was quite certain that the market had severly undervalued that Company's stock. But enough politics and business talk. They were a delightful group of people, and it was a great party, even if the electricity did go out twice for extended periods due to the lightening in the area -- party by candlelight in the open air house listening to the frogs chirpping and squeaking made it feel like a camp-out party ala Chateau Angelique.
This morning we woke up for the Sunday morning bowling get together some of these people (and the Truscott's) seem to engage in on a semi(?) regular basis. That was fun. Then the whole truscott clan, Ange and I went into Bangkok. Ange and Methet went back to the weekend market for some more, and I went with Rick and the kids on his errand for a new lense for his camera. It was good to spend time with Rick as I wont have much more time to see him this trip as the work week will eat up a lot of the time remaining during our stay in Thailand. (I'll be back here in November before returning to the USA.) Rick and Methet are such great people and very good friends. They are wonderful hosts, and it is good just hanging with them and the kids.
After picking up the ladies we had a delicious japanese dinner in bangkok, and then back to Pattaya. As we got close to their home, a small village along the way had a bunch of bright lights, and there was a bunch of smoke in the air. Earlier we had been diverted off the main road and thru the town because a movie was being shot, so we thought. "Hey, lets stop and see the shooting." Methet had heard that it was a Johnny Depp movie, and wanted to see. Turns out it was a Claude Van Damme movie, and we watched a few minutes of the shooting with the muscle man himself. What we saw might end up as a few seconds in the final film, but if you see a new Van Damme movie that has a scene or two at the "Eagle's Nest" bar at night, we were there! That was fun.
Anyway. I just needed to catch up on the blog, and let everyone know that I am here, safe and sound, and having a smashing good time. Tomorrow I hope to get to the dental clinic for a cleaning and consultation regarding the other three quarter of my mouth. (replacing the old fillings at a cost savings that provides some justification for the small fortune of the airplane fare cost is the goal -- sorry Dr. Anderson!) Then perhaps a little relaxation will be in order before we head to Bali on Wednesday AM. We've only been here a few days, but it already feels like I've been here forever...again a strange kind of homecoming feeling... the Thai people are in so many ways so very warm and nice....
The flickering lights are making me nervous about the power lasting long enough for me to upload the blog, so until next time
Newo out.
We made it to Thailand all fine and dandy. (I am traveling with my friend Angie Booth who is doing some buying for her shop back in the butte.) The drive to Denver was gorgeous, new snow on the mountains and a crystal clear fall day. I have pictures I will try to post to Picasa, but one step at a time, (since this is new and when I go to the blog spot here in thailand, the text on the page is all in thai, which is kinda hard for me to read and figure out which one is the sign-in, but I digress, and obviously, i figured it out.)
The plane ride was fine, and i did sleep most of it, so the jet lag hasnt been too bad (for once). Walking off the plane at the Bangkok airport, there is that instant realization that your not in kansas anymore. For one, it is warm and humid, plus there is that spicy scent in the air. Then, of course, the anouncements are in a foreign language and displays and what not in the airport are in the distinctive curved thai architectural style with thai color schemes versus the cold, crisp lines in a western airport.
(Of course not all the unusual smells are pleasant as the sewer lines are not deep and tend to vent into the sidewalk atmosphere pretty much everywhere in the city.)
We are staying here at Rick and Methet Truscott's fine new house in Pattaya, about an hour and a half south of Bangkok. It is a combination of closed rooms (bedrooms where they can run air conditioning, office, dining room) and open rooms (living room, den) since being in the tropics, it never gets cold here and heating is not an issue. Their old house now serves as the guest house and kitchen and is just a few feet from the beautiful new house. Their three kids, Missah, Qino and Caleb are all doing well and seem the same to me in the two years since I have seen them. We arrived in the early AM, so once we were here it was off to the beach for lunch... nothing like thai food in thailand... and we would have taken a dip in the gulf, but a storm blew in, so no swim. And that is also why this blog has taken so long, and will be so long ... trouble with the internet due to the weather that we have been having here (it is rainy season).
So Friday, Methet, Angie and I went into Bangkok and did some shopping. Strange for a mountain boy to say, but it almost felt like coming home driving and walking around in crowded Bangkok, still my favorite city. Methet had to go to the US embassy for Missah's passport re-newal, and Ange and i got our tickets to Bali arranged and tried to go to my favorite spa for some massage and pampering, only to find it torn down! In fact, many things have changed in Bangkok since I was here three years ago, many an old building is gone and many a new shiny skyscraper has sprouted. Many of the old shopping malls on the main shopping street crammed full of tiny stall-like shops where all manner of inexpensive goods could be had are completely gone. they are being replaced with swanky new, modern air-conditioned western style malls... where did all the el-cheapo venders that Blake and Anette used to shop at go? Enough were still around for Ange to find some good stuff tho.
After wandering around in what was left of the crammed vendor "malls" we wandered over to Siam Paragon a new super fancy mall, across the street from what used to be the one fancy mall, Gaysorn, on the shopping mecca street. It is also right next door to Siam Center, which Glo knew back in the day when she was in Bangkok. I doubt Glo would recognize Bangkok today, as Siam Center was THE fancy mall then, it is now the been-remodeled-a-dozen-times-but-still on the low-end side of the "mall" spectrum in a town that has lots of "malls."
We saw a western style rock show out on the new wide plaza on the street at Siam Paragon ( a nice change from the narrow side-walk space for the foot traffic and ever-present street vendors that used to crowd the street). And there was a demonstration of a traditional Thai dance inside the Siam Paragon (see pictures at Picasa). We ate at a nice thai restaurant in Paragon and Methet got some grocercies in the new swank grocery store inside -- think Central Market for you texans or one of the new, big Whole Foods (without the whole). My Thai friend Tony (who is unfortuantely busy working all this week) stopped by while we were there and said hello. It was good to see him, and he said he might be able to come visit us for a few days while we are in Bali. I hope so since a ten minute visit seems far too short.
There are things in Thailand that are just very different from the west. For example, they dont have just a few wires on the poles as in the west; here it seems that if someone needs a new service, they simply put up a new wire. As a result, the concrete (wood wouldnt last very long in the tropical climate) poles dont have five or six lines on them, they have thirty or forty (Angie thinks eighty) wires strung along. And we saw some people instaling yet another wire at one point.
Or the utter lack of enforcement on the highway lends an autobahn type of feel... sort of. For example, they have posted speed limits, but no enforcement, so Rick's driver basically drives as fast as possible all the time... 90 MPH in a 80 KPH zone passing semi's like they are standing still is a typical example. And they have lines on the road just like at home, dashed yellow lines for passing zones, solid yellow lines for do not pass zones, white dashed lines denoting lanes, solid white lines for a shoulder, but that seems to be merely advisory. Many a time (at high speeds,mind you) on a two lane highway we will pass slower vehicles (trucks, busses) in a do not pass zone while there are oncoming vehicles. People just scoot over enough to let us by (whichever way they may be traveling). And no one ever lays on the horn. If there is enough room, drivers take it and go. I tried to memorilaize the practice with some short movies on my camera, but I dont think they worked out too well, very bouncy roads at 140+KPH for one.
Also different from the west (and something I find refreshing) the Thais dont separate their rich and poor people. For example a fancy high rise apartment building in the swankiest neighborhood in town has a corrugated tin shanty right next to it. Also, the streets are always crowded with people. Besides pedestrians, there are street vendors everywhere selling everything from clothing to pirated DVDs to grilled food. This has a way of cluttering up the very limited sidewalk space.
Saturday (11 October) Angie and I went to the Weekend Market -- an open air market -- for more buying, and Ange made some good scores. Methet tells us that it too is about to be no more; the site is slated for high end condo development. So yet another low cost shopping experieince is about to go away. After a hot and sweaty day of that, we came back to the Truscott house for a delightful party. About 18 or so of their friends (with many a kid) came over for dinner, drinking, a little pool playin and otherwise socializing. Mostly foreigners, some with Thai wives ... friends mostly centered around the kids English based international school. As a result there were a number of Brits, a retired American named Dave (with whom I had quite an interesting conversation) a Frenchman from Strausbourg, a Swiss, etc. Dave had extensive international business experience and gave Angie a bunch of really good advice on her business. Leaning quite to the right politically it was interesting to hear him voice his support for Obama in the upcoming election because "Obama is the right guy with the right message for what our country needs right now." It seemed that most of the people who cared about our upcoming election in this small slice of the ex-pat community residing in Pattaya was hopeful for an Obama victory. (Just as the mostly republican American ex-pat community I met in Bangkok four years ago was hopeful for a Kerry victory when i was here in 2004.)
There was also quite a bit of concern about the turmoils in the economy, and having just arrived from the USA they wanted to know if it was as bad back home as it seems. One of the Brits who worked for GE was quite certain that the market had severly undervalued that Company's stock. But enough politics and business talk. They were a delightful group of people, and it was a great party, even if the electricity did go out twice for extended periods due to the lightening in the area -- party by candlelight in the open air house listening to the frogs chirpping and squeaking made it feel like a camp-out party ala Chateau Angelique.
This morning we woke up for the Sunday morning bowling get together some of these people (and the Truscott's) seem to engage in on a semi(?) regular basis. That was fun. Then the whole truscott clan, Ange and I went into Bangkok. Ange and Methet went back to the weekend market for some more, and I went with Rick and the kids on his errand for a new lense for his camera. It was good to spend time with Rick as I wont have much more time to see him this trip as the work week will eat up a lot of the time remaining during our stay in Thailand. (I'll be back here in November before returning to the USA.) Rick and Methet are such great people and very good friends. They are wonderful hosts, and it is good just hanging with them and the kids.
After picking up the ladies we had a delicious japanese dinner in bangkok, and then back to Pattaya. As we got close to their home, a small village along the way had a bunch of bright lights, and there was a bunch of smoke in the air. Earlier we had been diverted off the main road and thru the town because a movie was being shot, so we thought. "Hey, lets stop and see the shooting." Methet had heard that it was a Johnny Depp movie, and wanted to see. Turns out it was a Claude Van Damme movie, and we watched a few minutes of the shooting with the muscle man himself. What we saw might end up as a few seconds in the final film, but if you see a new Van Damme movie that has a scene or two at the "Eagle's Nest" bar at night, we were there! That was fun.
Anyway. I just needed to catch up on the blog, and let everyone know that I am here, safe and sound, and having a smashing good time. Tomorrow I hope to get to the dental clinic for a cleaning and consultation regarding the other three quarter of my mouth. (replacing the old fillings at a cost savings that provides some justification for the small fortune of the airplane fare cost is the goal -- sorry Dr. Anderson!) Then perhaps a little relaxation will be in order before we head to Bali on Wednesday AM. We've only been here a few days, but it already feels like I've been here forever...again a strange kind of homecoming feeling... the Thai people are in so many ways so very warm and nice....
The flickering lights are making me nervous about the power lasting long enough for me to upload the blog, so until next time
Newo out.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Welcome
this is my real first posting. Thanks to Dan Jones who is the greatest of ever. He got this blog for me in 19 minutes.
It is raining today in CB where it is cold, cold, cold. Soon I will be in the warm tropics of Thailand, Bali and Tonga!
Thanks dan,
Ne-wo out.
It is raining today in CB where it is cold, cold, cold. Soon I will be in the warm tropics of Thailand, Bali and Tonga!
Thanks dan,
Ne-wo out.
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