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!