Moore Family Blog |
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Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Kuala Lumpur: Popo in hospitalPopo fell this morning and fractured a vertebrate so we took her to the hospital. She was looking for money to give to us (as she generously does whenever we visit), and she lost her balance as she bent over to look in a box. One of the vertebrates in her spinal column, brittle from osteoporosis, collapsed on impact. Her back hurt too much to walk, so my dad carried her downstairs and Second Uncle drove her to the hospital. The nurses should have sent her home after taking an X-ray, but they instead admitted her for a day.I'm sure Popo is frustrated that she's bed-ridden for a week. She can return to her daily exercise of riding a stationary bike in three weeks. I'm returning to the States in a few days but my parents and sister are traveling in Tibet for the next month with Fifth Aunt. This morning Fifth Aunt took us to buy airplane tickets to Kathmandu, Nepal, from whence they'll depart for Lhasa. We ate Mouse Tail Noodle and chicken rice at a hawker center for lunch. We took some extra food and pastries to the hospital for Popo. Fifth Aunt took Kweilin and me home so that we could pack, since Kweilin is flying to Kathmandu tomorrow. We saran-wrapped the tingklik box and packed our souvenirs for me to take back to San Francisco. We again experienced horrible KL traffic. What should have been a 15-minute drive to the hospital ended up taking an hour and a half. We ate an excellent dinner at a hawker center near the hospital. I love eating at Malaysian and Singaporean hawker centers: the shops offer a wide selection, they prepare food quickly, and they charge little. Auntie De Xia and her son Didi kindly brought over durian at midnight. They had just closed their hardware store and came to say goodbye before my dad and sister left. We ate the durian together. Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Ubud, Kuala Lumpur: morning rice paddies; tingkliks; haircutWe rode our scooters through the rice paddies at sunrise one last time. Early mornings are cool and quiet along the rice paddy road.We stopped at the morning market in downtown on our way home. We bought milk, bananas, and cereal for breakfast. We spent the day with the tingklik man and his family. We recorded some songs and packaged the tingkliks and I got a haircut. The master patiently played song after song while my sister and I taped him with a digital video recorder. He changed into formal concert clothes for the recording and even called over one of his students to play with him. I'm going to learn the songs from the recordings when I return to the States. After the recording, Wayan (first son) and the tingklik man and his wife packaged the two tingkliks that they made for us. They disassembled both tingkliks and wrapped the frame and bamboo in newspaper inside a wooden box that we later checked on the airplane. Wayan took me to get a haircut once the tingkliks were packaged. The barber shop was extremely simple. It was a road-side stand just big enough for a wooden chair, a table, and a pair of mirrors. The barber used a scissors and an old-style razor--nothing electric. The razor scared me: it was sharp, of course, and the barber used the same one on every customer and wiped it on a rag between strokes. The barber did a great job: for 5000 rupiah (50 cents), he gave me a natural-looking haircut and a close shave. Nyoman Sandi drove us to the Denpasar airport this evening and we flew to Kuala Lumpur. My cousin Kam Seng greeted us at my grandmother Popo's apartment and we had a late-night snack with him before sleeping. Monday, June 27, 2005
Lovina, Bedugul, Ubud: Breakfast; tourist traps; policeWe had a hard time finding breakfast in Lovina this morning. The baker tried to sell us yesterday's bread at yesterday's price. The only other shop open was a convenience store where we bought cornflakes and milk. We ate the cereal with bananas and milk.We left the hotel for Ubud after a swim. We rode our scooters up a windy road over a mountain pass. On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a touristy overlook to view rice paddies near a lake. Vendors sold peanuts and bananas, which monkeys ate from tourists' hands. We broke out some Sultana crackers that attracted a monkey. When my dad chased it away, a vendor said, "Please leave the monkey. If you chase it away, I won't sell anything." We stopped at a terrible tourist trap named Bedugul at the lake by the rice paddies. Motorboats pulled parasailers on a lake and vendors sold souvenirs and snacks. Everything looked tacky and commercial. We had bakso (rice noodle soup) near the trap. As we descended the mountain, we passed bus after bus of Balinese tourists climbing to Bedugul. I later learned that many passengers were children on school trips. Police stopped us and demanded our license and registration at a road block outside their station. The officer didn't know what to make of my California driver license but he waved me through after seeing my license and the motorcycle registration. My sister didn't show her license or registration. She drove through the road block, stopped when an officer whistled to her, then inched forward until the officers lost track of her. We asked for directions at almost every major intersection but we still managed to take the long way home. We meant to enter Ubud from the north but we somehow drove around Ubud and entered from the south. We napped upon arriving at Nyoman Sandi's bungalow. This bungalow feels like home since we keep returning to it on this trip. My dad and I rode our scooters through the rice paddies at sunset. We saw a man herding a group of ducks. I didn't know that ducks are amenable to herding. I laughed when I saw them waddling nervously along the road. I downloaded Picasa onto my laptop and spent the evening organizing this trip's photos. We viewed a slideshow of the photos and discussed the trip. Sunday, June 26, 2005
Amed, Lovina: Sunrise; mackerel; cremation; urban LovinaWe watched the sunrise at 6:30 again this morning. The sun shone through the clouds on the horizon as a red orb again.We watched the fishermen return from their sunrise expedition. Each boat revs its motor as it approaches and tries to ride a wave high onto the shore. Fishermen team up to pull the boats higher. We bought a couple mackerel and had a hotel employee fry them. Each foot-long fish cost 2000 rupiah (20 cents) plus a tip to fry it. We had a healthy, tasty, cheap breakfast. We left Amed for Lovina after a swim in the hotel pool. We drove for three hours along the coast. The most scenic portion had rice paddies on the right with the sea behind them and 10,000-foot Mount Agung on the left. We ate bakso (rice noodle soup with meatballs) near a cattle market. A few locals emerged leading 4-5 cattle each along the road. We passed a cremation statue. When a Balinese dies, the family buries the body and then digs it up and lays it in a wooden cremation statue. Usually an entire community pools resources to conduct a mass cremation. I think the ceremony we came upon was for the grandparents of a rich family because the pictures on the statue suggested that it was for one man and one woman, not a whole community. We found Lovina much more urban than Amed. We've seen more tourists and peddlers and cars in our first hours in Lovina than we saw during our entire multi-day stay in Amed. Lovina has a mini version of Bangkok's Khao San Road: a few blocks lined with restaurants, hotels, and bars whose clientele is almost exclusively foreign. Lovina attracts many tourists because it has a beach, it's easy to get to from Ubud, and it offers outings where clients can pet dolphins. We saw dolphins play with our boat in Flores, so we'll give the Lovina dolphins a miss. We took a beach-front room by a swimming pool at the Bali Lovina Hotel for 250,000 rupiah (US$25) a night. Like in Amed, the pool cooled us after our hot scooter ride. We ate lunch and dinner at a Chinese restaurant named Warung Aria next to the hotel. Avocado juice with chocolate was a sweet, tasty mix that Maurice and Jerome introduced to us back in Flores. We enjoyed cap cay (stir-fried vegetables) with chicken and fried fish ball slices. I would have enjoyed walking along the beach more if peddlers had let me walk in peace. I learned to ignore their offers of cheap dolphin trips and beautiful pendants. We read in our room this evening. I finished Sinclair Lewis's "Arrowsmith." (0) comments Saturday, June 25, 2005
Villa Batu Tangga hotel business cardVilla Batu Tangga is a three-bungalow hotel on a small cliff overlooking the sea in Amed. A Dutch man named Hans owns it and lives there. The hotel offers one big, stand-alone bungalow for US$70 a night and two adjoining, smaller bungalows for US$50 each per night. It has a fresh-water swimming pool from which one can watch both sunrise and sunset. The hotel's business card is below.
(0) comments Amed: sunrise; morning market; accident; hotelsWe rose at 6:30 and watched the sunrise from the beach. The sun shone through a haze on the horizon as a big red circle. The atmosphere deflected enough of the sun's brightness that I could look straight at it.Fishing boats lined the horizon at sunrise. Later in the morning they disappeared. I think sunrise and sunset are the best times to fish. My mom and sister and I rode our scooters to the morning market in the neighboring town of Jemuluk. Vendors sold vegetables, meat, snacks, and fruit. With a couple exceptions, every vendor was a woman. I discovered a tasty breakfast at the market: green beans in a sweet coconut milk (santan) soup. The green beans look and taste like soya beans. A bowl costs 1000 rupiah (10 cents). We ate other snacks like peanuts and gooey rice discs with coconut shavings ("laklat" in Balinese). We basically ate breakfast in the market. One thousand rupiah (10 cents) seems to be a popular price in the market. Most of our snacks cost 1000 rupiah. I've found that I have to watched a local pay or I have to ask several vendors in order to determine something's true price. A vendor quoted me 5000 rupiah for a bunch of peanuts and I walked 20 steps and found the same peanuts for 1000. We witnessed a minor car accident in the intersection bordering the market. A small pick-up drove into the side of a motorcycle that crossed its path. The motorcycle fell over but the rider freed himself without injury. Neither side got angry. The motorcyclist looked annoyed and the pick-up driver looked embarrassed. I think the pick-up driver had been inching through the intersection, preoccupied with avoiding the vendors who overflowed onto the street. The two drivers talked after the collision but I don't know how they sorted things out. I doubt they had any insurance information to exchange. The bike might need minor repair, so maybe the pick-up driver gave the motorcyclist some money. On our ride home, we saw a field full of women harvesting sweet potato leaves. They sat separating roots from leaves, which someone will later boil and eat. Boiled sweet potato leaves is a staple dish at Masakan Padang restaurants. We rode our scooters along the coast at sunset. We visited a few hotels with good views of the sea. Amed seems quite overbuilt. We saw more hotels than we saw tourists. The hotels we visited were lucky to have even one room occupied. We're the only guests at the Sunshine Hotel. Amed does apparently fill up during the peak tourist season: July, August, and December. Hotel prices increase by 25-50% over low season. But how can these businesses survive on just a few months per year of tourists? My dad got to know Hans, the Dutch owner of Batu Tangga, a scenic, three-bungalow hotel with a pool overlooking the sea. Hans is a retired dentist who lives in Amed most of the year. He says that the local government has no money to build public infrastructure like roads because it has an ineffective or nonexistent tax-collection system. Local kids were walking an hour and a half to get to school for lack of a road, so Hans paid for a road and shortened their commute to 15 minutes. He's now setting up a program at a local hospital to train specialists so that locals can be treated locally instead of making the expensive journey to Denpasar, the capital. We didn't have much for dinner. I only saw two restaurants within walking distance and we didn't want to drive these steep windy roads in the dark. We ate the tomatoes we bought this morning with salt and lime. My dad had potatoes and eggs at an adjacent restaurant and I had a banana lassi (smoothie). (0) comments Friday, June 24, 2005
Ubud, Candidasa, Tirtagangga, Amed: bakery; riding; Sunshine hotelWe bought day-old scones and banana bread at the Bali Buddha bakery this morning before setting out from Ubud. The bakery sells day-old stuff at half price and it tastes great. We were happy to have the bread on the scooter ride and in Amed, a small beach town.We spent a few hours on the scooters today, riding from Ubud to the eastern coast of Bali. Most motorists drove safely and gave us enough room but a few crazy car drivers scared us a bit. One car honked at me to get out of the passing lane as I passed a motorcycle and then he cut off my sister. On a windy road, another driver overtook all three of us in succession and barely squeezed through my dad and an oncoming car. To stay safe, we'll continue checking our mirrors constantly and letting aggressive cars pass. Our first stop of today's trip was Candidasa. I could tell when we neared the town because I started seeing signs in English advertising tourist services like scuba-diving. Candidasa is a relatively small beach town. We slept here seven years ago but this time we just relaxed for an hour and moved on. My mom bought sunglasses for what she thought was a great deal in Candidasa. She thought she paid 20 cents but she actually paid $2. She got confused by the zeros: 2,000 rupiah vs 20,000 rupiah. We saw only a handful of tourists during our break in Candidasa. We saw more shops than tourists. My mom asked a shop owner, "Do you get many tourists here?" "Are you thinking of opening a business here?" he responded. "You'll go bankrupt." Internet access in Candidasa is twice the price of internet access in Ubud: 400 rupiah (4 cents) a minute. The road from Candidasa to Amed has beautiful vistas. Tirtagangga has the most expansive valley of rice paddy terraces that I've ever seen. The beautiful panorma flows from the hills to the sea. Another pretty view was a dam that feeds a river that feeds a lush, green valley and forest. My mom bought some grilled fish in banana leaf for 1000 rupiah (10 cents) from a roadside stand near Amed. It tasted like it was half hot sauce, half fish. I guess they like spicy food here. We're staying in the Sunshine hotel in Amed, a small beach town with several snorkeling and dive shops. We have two air-conditioned rooms, each at 125,000 rupiah per night, including breakfast. The hotel is right on the beach: I can hear the ocean waves crashing as I write this in my room. The fresh water swimming pool is a refreshing antidote tot he heat. Jumping in the pool was our first order of business upon arriving. We spent a lazy afternoon reading and napping by the pool. We took a short walk at sunset to explore neighboring hotels and their gardens. On our walk home, we came across a local man named Ketut who is building a boat. He's been working on it for two months and he's built a wooden hull. It's a 15-foot fishing boat that he'll use himself. He said that he's teaching himself how to build the boat. Ketut carved his own tingklik, which was sitting next to his boat. I surprised him by playing the three songs I learned from the tingklik man in Ubud. We jumped in the pool again to cool off upon returning. The water is the perfect temperature. My dad and I had fish for dinner at the Apa Kabar restaurant nextdoor. A few other tourists had dinner there. It looks like the only place around that has any business. Tourism seems slow in Amed right now, but I'm sure business has improved since the Kuta bombing. Balinese have told us that tourists stayed away after terrorists bombed a night club in the Bali beach town of Kuta. I don't know how these businesses in Amed and Candidasa survived that period. Tomorrow we're going to watch the sunrise, eat breakfast, and explore the area. (0) comments Thursday, June 23, 2005
Ubud: Motorcycle rental infoWe've been happy with the scooters we've rented in Ubud. We're riding two automatics and one manual. The manual one is 30,000 rupiah per day (US$30) and the automatic ones are 35,000 rupiah per day each. I've posted below the business card of the man who rents us the scooters.Kutak Ngurah S Hp. 08123684450 Address: All Stars Shop Monkey Forest Road Ubud - Bali Phone: (+62 361) 971272 Services: Car (with or without driver) Motorbike (automatic or manual, with or without driver) Tiger (big motorbike) Push Bike Rafting (0) comments Ubud, Tegalalang: Paddy ride; tingklik man; Wayan, wife, and daughtersMy dad and I took a ride through the rice paddies near our bungalow this morning. I saw farmers transplanting tufts of rice. They were moving rice "grass" from highly concentrated paddies to more sparse ones to give the rice room to grow.My mom cooked us lunch back at the bungalow. She bought some pork at the market (Bali is Hindu, not Muslim) and mixed it with green beans. We had tomatoes and eggs with rice, too. I spent the afternoon talking and eating and playing music with the tingklik man. The tingklik man was building a tingklik when I arrived. I think it's rare that he builds a tingklik these days, since most of his business is wood statues. He cut open a bamboo pipe and shaved it to the correct pitch. He didn't use an automatic tuner to tell him whether he had the right pitch. He just hit it with a mallet and compared its sound with the sound of the same pipe in the partner tingklik. The tingklik man taught me a new song. I learned the polos (main melody) and part of the sangsih (harmony) of the tune "Made Koci" (ma-day ko-chee). He breaks the song into chapters and patiently plays each chapter until I get it. Usually one person plays polos while a partner plays sangsih, but this afternoon the tingklik man played both by himself at the same time. He held two mallets in his right hand and varied their separation as he played. Seeing him play two melodies at once floored me. The tingklik man learned everything about tingkliks from his father, who is now 105 years old. The father taught the son how to play and build tingkliks and he probably taught the son other stuff about carving too. The 105-year-old grandfather was alive when Dutch colonized Indonesia. He doesn't like them. Wayan, the tingklik man's son, said "They took away everything." The tingklik man introduced me to tahu (ta-hoo): fried tofu with bean sprouts. A street vendor came by selling it and the tingklik man offered me a bowl. It's delicious! Only 2000 rupiah (20 cents) a bowl. 85% of bakso (soup noodle) and tahu street vendors are from Java, says the tingklik man and his son. Balinese people apparently prefer not to sell bakso and tahu. I thought it was weird that the tingklik man spoke Indonesian to the vendor, so I asked him why he didn't use Balinese. "Because he's from Java," he replied. Ranita, the tingklik man's granddaughter, loves bakso. She runs out to the road at 2 pm every day, when the bakso vendor arrives. She spent a long time savoring her bowl while I played tingklik. Actually, Ranita enjoys eating in general. She came out three times from the house to buy stuff to eat while I was playing. She's seven or eight years old. I'm happy I bought a pocket dictionary for Indonesian and English before I visited the tingklik man. It helped me communicate much better than I would have otherwise. Wayan, the tingklik man's oldest son, brought his wife and children to visit our bungalow this evening. I showed them pictures from our trip and he showed me pictures of his family on his handheld PDA. Wayan and his wife, Renas, are 28-30 years old. They have two daughters: Julia, age 2, and Ranita, age 7. I'm surprised that Julia is a Balinese name as well as an English name. Her name is Julia because she's born in the month of "Juli" (joo-lee), Indonesian for "July". Renas studied dance for four years, probably after high school. She hasn't danced since she married Wayan eight years ago. She still recognized the dances that I recorded at a local show. Wayan's kids are extremely quiet and well-behaved. I'm sure Ranita and Julia were bored with the visit this evening but they never bothered their father. It would be great for Ranita to learn to type. My mom thought of it when Wayan commented that he was impressed that I could type without looking at the keyboard. Ranita would probably enjoy learning to type with a typing program like Mavis Beacon. I hope Ranita learns English too. She already speaks Bahasa Indonesia fluently after studying it in school for two years. Balinese children learn Balinese at home first and only study Indonesian when they start school. Each Balinese speaks the local dialect to other locals. They only use Indonesian with Javanese folks or foreigners. (0) comments Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Ubud: Scooter ride to see herons; cock fightingWe took a scooter ride this evening through the rice paddies and through the village where the herons (white birds) fly to nest at sunset. We saw a half-built statue that is probably intended to be cremated in a ceremony. The rice paddies were beautiful, as usual.Groups of men squatted on the side of the road chatting and comparing roosters. Each man held the bird between his legs and stroked the rooster's neck. Every once in a while, they would hold a pair of roosters face to face and watch them ruffle their feathers. Judging from the number of these gatherings, cock fighting is popular in Bali. It looks like a man's pastime. I've never seen a woman holding a fighting rooster. (1) comments Ubud: Nyoman Sandi's mother's funeralWe woke up this morning to a flurry of funeral preparation in Nyoman Sandi's compound, where we're staying. Nyoman Sandi's 80-year-old mother died yesterday and more than 200 people from the community came to prepare for the burial ceremony.Men formed a chicken- and duck-processing assembly line along a path through the compound. One station slaughtered a chicken or duck, the next defeathered it, and the next either roasted it over burning coconut husks or mashed its meat into satay. They used all parts of the chicken and duck. I saw a couple men threading chopped lungs, tongue, and heart onto mini-satay sticks. What fine work! A couple men wove young coconut leaves into a beautiful basket. I think they intended for the basket to hold the food. A group of men grated coconut meat and chopped it into fine specks. Along the road outside the compound, men prepared a bamboo bed on which they later washed and dressed the grandmother. About 100 men took over a lane of the road and sat chopping bamboo to form a platform to hold the grandmother. Men and women worked separately. Men seemed to do the majority of the preparation. A couple women distributed tea and snacks to the men as they worked. Another handful of women rolled rice balls and wrapped them in young coconut leaves. I never saw the food again after watching the people prepare it. I don't know where it all went. I think they offer it to the grandmother or some god and then they eat it. I hope they eat it, after working so hard to make it. I thought that only old people would be interested in preparing for ceremonies like this, but many of the people looked around 30 years old. Balinese tradition is apparently strong even with young people. The people helping prepare for the ceremony were all volunteers from the community, not hired help. They must have skipped work today. The actual funeral started just before 1 pm. Three men chanted as Nyoman Sandi and his family dressed the grandmother on the bamboo platform. She started out with just a cloth draped over her pelvis. Her skin looked wet, so they must have washed her. They dressed her in a sarong, put a ring on her, and sprinkled some flowers and seeds on her face and hair. They put pieces of betelnut in her mouth and poured water over her body. Folks stuffed some 1000 rupiah bills (10 cents) in her clothes and covered her with a banana leaf. Finally they wrapped her entire body in a mat woven from coconut leaf and wrapped her again in white cloth. The whole gathering sat and prayed for the grandmother for an hour and then they carried her off on a bamboo bed to bury her. I'm really impressed that the whole community came together for this event on half a day's notice. Nyoman Sandi and his family are so tired, said Nyoman. They've been hosting the entire community these past two days. Tonight they'll entertain more relatives. (0) comments Ubud: Painter Gede Nama at Batuan Artist CommunityWe met with Gede (pronounced g'day) this afternoon. Gede Nama taught Kweilin and me Balinese painting at the Batuan Artist Community near Ubud seven years ago. We found him at the same artist community today. He showed us a few of his paintings. He took us to buy acrylic paints so that Kweilin can try out painting in her basement during the month before she starts work this fall.Nyoman Batuan's business card is below. Nyoman founded the artist community where Gede lives and works.
(0) comments Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Ubud: Nyoman Sandi's mother passed; gamelan band contestNyoman Sandi's mother died at noon today. Nyoman Sandi is the owner of the bungalow where we're staying. His mother was 80 years old and had been sick for 10 years, he said. The atmosphere at his compound (where we live) seemed festive. We returned from Pondok Pekak this afternoon to find scooters overflowing the garage and people ambling about in traditional hats and sarongs. We thought someone was getting married or having a child, but Nyoman's son told us that his grandmother had died. "Last week?" asked Kweilin. "No, today at noon," the son responded. We were impressed that the community could mobilize itself within hours to prepare for a funeral. Nyoman and his family have been all smiles today, so I think the funeral really is a celebration. He told my dad, "My mother has left on a long journey."Nyoman and his friends and relatives will hold the funeral tomorrow. He said that we can attend and take pictures. We attended a gamelan band contest at the Art Center near Denpasar this evening. The contest consisted of two dueling gamelan bands. The bands sat on opposite sides of the stage and took turns playing songs. Their supporters sat behind them and cheered loudly, even standing up and shouting sometimes. The band members were all boys whose ages probably ranged from 12 to 17. Although they were young, the players had the flair of older, professional players I've seen. The drummers, for example, flipped their left hands in the air in unison to emphasize a beat. All members of the band extended their arms at the opposite side as if to cast a spell on the opposing band. The outdoor theater was beautiful. Dancers emerged from what looked like the front of a temple. Palm trees surrounded the I couldn't believe the crowd that this contest attracted. Every seat in the theater was taken and people were standing in the back. The audience must have been 3000, and 99% were locals. They loved the show. They interrupted the Master of Ceremonies with cheers as she announced the names of songs or dances or people. They cheered during songs and laughed at funny skits. The audience's exuberant response to this traditional art made me think of Peking Opera in its heyday. I was happy to see such young people performing traditional music and dance. The average age of the performers was probably 12. These young people will keep Balinese tradition alive. We found the youngest performer of the evening in the audience. During the dress rehearsal, a three-year-old girl danced to the gamelan music next to her father in the stands. She held her elbows high and flitted her eyes and twitched her fingers. She even responded to the music, dancing with more animation when the music got louder. (0) comments Monday, June 20, 2005
Ikan Terbang, Labuan Bajo, Ubud: Wau fish; dolphins; back to BaliMaurice caught a Wau fish of 1.2 meters and 20-25 kilos this morning. The fish belongs to the Marlin family but it lacks the Marlin's nose spear. It looks like a tuna. Thazard Raye is its French name. The species's max length is 2.35 meters. This fish will feed the crew for several days. They'll eat the tender meat as sushi and they'll cook the rest. The crew is super-excited about such a large catch.The fish started tugging on the line at sunrise and everyone sprang into action. Maurice took the fishing rod and Jerome started reeling in the idle line, so that it wouldn't get tangled with the "live" line. My family jumped out of bed into observation posts. The Indonesians got out of the way of the rods and watched too. The crew was shouting so loudly that I thought that we had lost something overboard and we were scrambling to retrieve it. Maurice followed the fish around a quarter of the boat, reeling in when the fish rested and holding steady when it fought. The fish fought fiercely at first but tired quickly. By the time Maurice brought the fish alongside the boat, it was hardly moving. The net wasn't large enough to hold the fish, so Jerome hooked it with a large meat hook (gaffe in French) and pulled it on board. Then Maurice whacked its head several times with a stick so that it wouldn't flip about on the floor. The bait that attracted the fish was a shiny green tackle. Maurice said that sunrise is the best time to fish because the sun hits the tackle just right, so the tackle dances like a little fish. Maurice said that it's "thanks to you" (my family) that we caught this fish. Jerome emptied the toilet into the sea just before the fish bit, and the fish was probably following the boat because of the trail of sewage. "It wanted to eat American," said Maurice. Only we (the clients) use the toilet. The crew does their toilet business directly overboard, off the side of the boat. Maurice remarked that we humans bring fish from the sea, eat it, and return it to the sea. We started the five-hour journey back to Labuan Bajo at 3:30 this morning. We motored at five nautical miles per hour. A nautical mile is 1482 meters, so our speed was about nine kilometers per hour. The motor has 50 horsepower. A group of 10 dolphins swam with the boat just before we entered the Labuan Bajo port. They jumped out of the water and zipped around, criss-crossing in front of the boat. Jerome said that they're the fastest creatures in the water. They can swim at up to 60 kilometers per hour. Maurice got another bite on his line a few hours after he caught the big Wau fish. Maurice fought with the fish for a minute but the fish broke the line. Maurice said that it felt much larger and stronger than the one he caught. A large tuna is probably swimming around right now with a tackle in its mouth. We arrived in the Labuan Bajo port 4 hours and 45 minutes after we disembarked. We talked and took photos and sang songs for an hour in the boat after we anchored at the port. Darna and Jerome took us to shore in the dingy with our bags. We relaxed at the Gardena restaurant with Jerome and Maurice while we waited for our flight back to Bali. (0) comments Maurice's and Jerome's business cardMaurice and Jerome gave us their business card when we parted ways in Labuan Bajo. I've posted it below.
(0) comments Sunday, June 19, 2005
Ikan Terbang: Maurice's travel stories; quiet bay; climbed mast; pizzaWe talked with Maurice a long time about his travels through Egypt and Israel. He has so many stories! And he finds a way to relate them in simple French, so that Kweilin and I can understand him. We then translate for our parents.We've returned to the same quiet bay each night to sleep. Maurice and the Indonesians fished in the bay this evening. I climbed the main mast on the boat at sunset. I was scared because I was climbing a really tall rope ladder. I wanted to sit in the "crow's nest" but I started back down instead. Jerome baked a delicious pizza from scratch for dinner. He created the dough from flour, salt, and water. He let it rise in a pan for an hour. Then he baked just the dough in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until the surface toasted. He made a puree of fresh tomatoes and spread it as a base over the bread. He added chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, and a few strips of cheese. (0) comments Dive #7: Gili Lawa Laut Light, Komodo, Indonesia
Jerome was laughing at Kweilin and me during our dive. Kweilin was cold so she stopped swimming and had me pull her. Jerome motioned for us to follow him, and Jay sat idly as I towed her by the hand. We saw a lobster just before we ascended. It was hiding in a rock and only its tentacles protruded. A large school of 50 Hunchback Parrot Fish ("Perroquet a Bosse" in French) swam by. The biggest fish in the school were one meter long. (0) comments Dive #8: Castle Rock, Komodo, Indonesia
We returned to Castle Rock for a second dive. It's the best dive we've done, even the second time. I saw a blue-and-yellow eel eat a little fish. He protruded from his hole with his mouth agape and floated around looking for prey. He snapped up a little fish and retreated into his hole. His head looks like some fish I've seen, so maybe his victims think he's a fish. A five-foot shark circled within 15 feet of us. It was exciting, not scary, because I've seen that type of shark before and it's shy. (0) comments Dive #9: Komodo Passage Gili Lawa Laut, Komodo, Indonesia
We came up after just 20 minutes because the current was pushing strongly against us. We held on to some coral for a few minutes and observed the fish. The current was a little weaker low down on the sand. We ascended after a few minutes of hanging on because we couldn't make any progress. When we came up, Jerome explained that the current changed since he checked it. He saw no current when he checked. But in the 10-15 minutes between his check and our dive, the tide built a strong current against us and it was strengthening. If we continued to hang on to the coral, "we would have been like a flag in the wind in a few minutes," said Jerome. We saw a healthy number of fish in spite of the short dive. Schools of 50 fish swam through the channel. (0) comments Saturday, June 18, 2005
Ikan Terbang: slept under stars; Castle Rock; jook; Jerome is cautiousLast night we all moved on deck to sleep at 2 am. The wind died so it was warm enough to sleep under the stars. We laid out our cushions and sheet bags under the main mast.This morning we rose at 6 and we started motoring at 7 toward Castle Rock for our first dive. Castle Rock is supposed to be the best diving on our trip. No current, lots of coral, and many fish. The last set of clients on this boat dove twice at Castle Rock. Maybe we will too. We brought several books on board but we have yet to crack a single one. We're always occupied. When we're motoring we're concentrating on looking at the horizon to stay well in spite of the rocking. Other times we're diving. When we're not diving or motoring, we're eating or talking or singing. Maurice cooked jook for breakfast. My mom told him how to make it last night (soak the rice overnight) and he did a good job. We ate the rice porridge with salty fish. We feel safe diving with Jerome because he's safe and doesn't take risks when we dive. He briefs us thoroughly and checks the current at each dive site before the dive. (0) comments Dive #6: Komodo Passage Gili Lawa Laut, Komodo, Indonesia
We saw a rock fish, which is extremely poisonous. It stays close to a rock. Its bite paralyzes and kills in minutes. We surfaced because it got dark, not because we ran out of air. (0) comments Dive #4: Castle Rock, Komodo, Indonesia
We tried a new way of disembarking today. Instead of standing on the edge of the boat and jumping in, we sat down and tumbled backward. It works better because we don't have to stand with the awkward, heavy equipment. From the surface of this dive, it looked like we were in the open ocean, but we saw the Castle Rock beneath the water as soon as we broke the surface. We descended onto the coral surrounded by schools of fish. Immediately we saw several tuna and sharks. We rested on the rock for ten minutes, admiring the fish. We had to be careful where we put our feet and hands because of the coral and fish. The coral breaks easily and can sting. The lion fish are well-camouflaged and their tentacles inject a painful toxin that would probably make me sick enough to not dive for a few days. (0) comments Dive #5: Crystal Rock, Komodo, Indonesia
We saw eels peering out of holes in rocks. They always have their mouths open. We petted a sea turtle! We spotted it as it surfaced for air. it descended to us and picked at coral with its fins and beak. It wasn't bothered when we surrounded it and even touched its neck, back, belly, and fins. Jerome says that he's seen the same turtle at Crystal Rock many times and that the turtle is used to humans. Kweilin and I got cold toward the end of the dive, partly because it's the longest dive we've done: 63 minutes. Kweilin and I squeeze each other's hands when we want to show each other something. I'll squeeze her hand and point out a turtle, for example, and I'll keep squeezing until she responds. I felt like I was swimming in a huge, amazingly diverse aquarium. I saw beautiful coral and healthy schools of little fish. (0) comments Friday, June 17, 2005
Ikan Terbang: jumping fish; seasick; re-learning french; attentive crewWe took off from the Labuan Bajo port early this morning for our first dive site.My father, my sister, and I did three dives today but my mother stayed in the boat because she has yet to get her PADI license. She's been sleeping and trying to stay well while we're diving. She really wants her PADI license now that she's heard our stories about the beautiful fish and coral that we see on the dives. We've been seeing schools of fish jumping at the surface of the water as if someone had sprinkled fish food on them. Jerome says that they could be tuna. Maybe they're feeding, but I don't know what they're feeding on. We've also seen flying fish jump out of the water. What a sight that is. They really look like little birds zipping along the water. Unlike the fish in a feeding frenzy, the flying fish are actually going somewhere with their jumps, and the whole school is synchronized. The crew fishes while the boat motors. They've caught three little fish so far and they ate two raw. Two Indonesians help Maurice and Jerome on the boat. Depa is the captain, who mans the tiller, and Darna is the machinist, who refills the scuba tanks with the air compressor. My father, mother, and sister have all felt seasick at various points today. My mom made herself vomit several times in attempts to eliminate her nausea. Lying on the hammock helped her get better. We've changed the diving itinerary so that we stay in a calm bay tonight to let us recover. Jerome and Maurice cooked chicken curry and potatoes for lunch. Yummy. Every water faucet on the boat is a foot pump, including the shower and toilet. To shower, for example, I hold the shower head above me and pump with my foot. Only the clients use the shower and toilet, though. The crew pees and poops over the side of the boat and showers on deck with buckets of sea water. Fresh water is like gold on a boat, says Jerome. The crew only uses it for cooking and drinking. They shower, wash clothes, and even wash rice in sea water. This trip is turning out to be an immersion in French for Kweilin and me. Jerome and Maurice speak a little English, but it's often easier for us to converse in French. Jerome and Maurice are patient when we try to express ourselves in painfully slow, broken French, and they choose simple French words when they speak to us. Our French is slowly coming back! Kweilin and I sang songs tonight for an hour. We sang Shi Wu de Yue Liang, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and Beatles. Jerome sang along with Imagine and Sound of Silence. Jerome made us a fresh sirsak juice before dinner. He mixed together some sirsak and ice and sugar in a blender. It tastes kind of like passion fruit. What a treat! Maurice showed me how to eat passion fruit this afternoon. I'd never had one before. A passion fruit is a round fruit about half the size of my fist. It has a kind of crusty, orange outside peel and a soft, white inside peel. I cut it in half and sucked out the insides, which is a bunch of crunchy seeds in a transparent goo. The taste is sweet and citrusy. Jerome and Maurice are amazingly attentive to us. The fresh fruit juice is one example. The passion fruit is another. Maurice eagerly awaits our return from each dive and asks how we liked it. They offer us tea and coffee several times during the day. They let us eat and sleep anywhere: on deck or below. They spread a tarp over the midsection of the boat to provide shade during the day, and they remove it at night so we can see the stars. We ate dinner with Jerome and Maurice on deck. We had sushi! Maurice cut some pieces from a fish he just caught today and we dunked it in soy sauce and wasabi. The entree was green beans and carrots and fried fish. Delicieux. (0) comments Dive #2: Tatawa Besar, Komodo, Indonesia
A current carried us at a comfortable pace past the coral. We just oriented ourselves and drifted--we didn't have to swim. All four of us held hands and glided by the coral and fish in a line. A turtle swam within three feet of us! I spotted him 30 feet away and watched him glide gracefully between us. He wasn't afraid. (0) comments Dive #3: North Komodo Bay, Komodo, Indonesia
The colors on this dive impressed us less than previous dives but we saw three relatively rare animals. A shark, a huge turtle, and a ray. We're wearing three-millimeter wetsuits with the following weights:
(0) comments Dive #1: Sabayor Besar, Komodo, Indonesia
My dad kept floating up during this dive. Jerome passed him two extra kilograms. I don't know how Jerome stayed down with only two kilograms remaining on his weight belt. Kweilin and I held hands during the dive. I felt more secure attached to her because I knew that I would always be close to the group. Gliding over the coral made me feel like I was flying. I controlled my buoyancy with my breath. I would glide toward a rock, breathe in, pass over the rock, breathe out, and glide on. All four of us (Jerome, my dad, my sister, and me) joined hands for our safety stop. We waited at a depth of 5 meters for three minutes and then ascended in a ring. (0) comments Thursday, June 16, 2005
Labuan Bajo, Rinca, Ikan Terbang: Komodo Dragon hikeWe saw many Komodo Dragons today. The Komodo Dragon is the largest lizard in the world and it only lives on the islands of Komodo, Rinca, and Flores. We took two-hour boat trip to Rinca and hiked around the island.Jerome told us yesterday that one sees more wildlife early in the morning, so we arranged for a boat to pick us up at the hotel at 6 am. The boat cost 250,000 rupiah (US$25) for the back-and-forth journey. I think we probably would have seen the same number of animals even if we'd left later. We're still glad we left when we did because, as hot as our hike was, it probably would have been hotter if we'd started later. We got back to Labuan Bajo at 2:30 pm, so it's really a full-day trip. We had a spacious boat all to ourselves for the journey to Rinca island. We saw a sea turtle and some dolphins on the way over. As soon as we docked, Kweilin and I saw two pretty big dragons. Kweilin pointed to the dragons and asked a local, "Big or small?" "Small," he answered. Indeed, we saw dragons twice as large by the resting hut where we found our guide. A handful of people live in houses near the resting hut and dragons bask in the sun around the houses, just a few feet from where people walk. These dragons were just about the only ones we saw on the two-hour hike. Maybe the locals feed the dragons to keep them where the tourists can see them. We paid a few fees upon arriving at the resting hut. One is required to hike with a guide, so that we don't disturb the animals or get eaten by one. The guide's fee is 40,000 rupiah (US$4) and we tipped him 6,000 rupiah. We paid to carry a camera: 25,000 rupiah. And we paid what was probably a park entrance fee for the boat and ourselves (I forget the amount). We learned on our hike that Rinca has a few hundred or maybe a thousand dragons. Henry, our guide, told us that the largest males we saw were 40-50 years old. Males outnumber females three-to-one for some reason. Males fight for the opportunity to mate in June and July but the rest of the year the dragons live in solitude. It's June now, but we didn't see any fighting or mating. We saw dragons, water buffalo, deer, and monkeys during our hike. That might be the first time I've seen wild water buffalo. I've only seen them ploughing a field until now. The lizards might have crawled out of the sea onto the islands (Henry said they can swim), but how did the deer and water buffalo and monkeys get there? Kweilin suggested that the islands in the archipelago were connected by land before the last Ice Age. The animals might have gotten isolated on the island when the ice melted. We needed more water and snacks for our hike. We had emptied our water bottle and were famished by the time we returned to the resting hut. We'll sleep on Jerome's boat tonight (Ikan Terbang), so that we can leave early tomorrow morning to start our three-day diving trip. We ate dinner at the Gardena restaurant tonight with Jerome and Maurice (his father). We talked about Indonesian culture and some of Jerome's and Maurice's experiences in Indonesia. Maurice built two boats several years ago in Sulawesi, one of which is Ikan Terbang, the one we'll be diving off of. Maurice only meant to build one boat but he inherited another one when a friend of his returned to France. Maurice and Jerome love Indonesian people. Maurice and Jerome have traveled all over the world and have chosen to settle in Indonesia because they feel most comfortable with Indonesians. Maurice and Jerome crossed from Bali to Sulawesi in a terrible storm in August 2003. They fought for their lives for three days and three nights, alone on the boat. Jerome manned the tiller while Maurice fixed the engine. Threesomes of five-meter waves punctuated relatively calm waters. Jerome guided the boat through each wave, descending at a right angle and ascending at a 45-degree angle. Two ferries sank in the same storm and many people died. Jerome almost died during a dive in dangerous currents a couple years ago. He was diving with a couple Belgians in east Flores along a wall. They apparently got too close to the end of the wall where the current changed. A downward current suddenly plunged Jerome and his friends from a depth of 20 meters to a depth of 60 meters. Jerome discarded his weight belt and inflated his BCD to no avail. He was lucky that the current stopped or he would be dead. One experienced diver was less lucky than Jerome and died last year. He was diving at a dangerous spot in Flores and was observing fish swimming in a current. He got too close and got sucked into the current. Tourist boats, local fishing boats, and police searched for the diver for three or four days but couldn't find him. The current might have taken him down so far that he drowned and then got eaten by sharks. On the boat tonight, Kweilin and I sang several songs with the guitar we borrowed from the hotel we stayed at in Labuan Bajo. Jerome sang along to "Homeward Bound." We continued talking with Jerome and Maurice and learned more about them and the boat. Maurice is a champion fisherman. He took seventh place in the World Fishing Championship. The hard part, he said, is reeling in the fish softly and patiently. A fish only bites if you use a thin line that it can't see, so you have to reel it in slowly so that the fish doesn't break the line. The boat is made of teak wood from Sulawesi and it is 20 meters long. Maurice and Jerome gave another length: 14 meters. I'm not sure what that measures. Maurice was a member of the "Pompiers de Paris," which I think means "Paris Firemen." It's a military unit that fights fires as well. He did gymnastics to keep fit while he was a member of the unit. (0) comments Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Labuan Bajo: Signed up for 3-day dive tripBreakfast was waiting outside our room when we arose this morning. We had egg sandwiches and tea.We went into town to talk to two French people who operate a diving boat. A local told us that the French boat was returning from a diving trip today. We found Jerome and his father, the French boat people, in a local dive shop. Jerome was waiting to take Lisa, his scuba-diving client, to the airport. Lisa was a walking advertisement for Jerome's and his father's diving operation. Lisa and her husband have been diving all over the world and they said that Flores is the best. They went on a 10-day trip with Jerome and his father. The diving, food, and service was excellent. Lisa said it was hard to come back to the noisy land life after being at peace on the sea for 10 days. We talked with Jerome about a three-day diving trip for my dad, my sister, and me. My mom has yet to earn a diving license. Jerome mapped out an itinerary for the three days. We'll dive three times each day. They usually charge US$100 per day per diver and US$50 for a non-diver. We arranged to pay US$1000 total for the trip. We felt very comfortable with Jerome and his father after talking with them for an hour. They're from France and they've been working on boats and diving in Indonesia for nine years. They're based in Sulawesi but they sail to various islands in Indonesia for a few months every summer. This is the first year that they've made a base of Labuan Bajo for a month or so. Jerome was a serious amateur cyclist from age 15 to 25 or so. He raced in Category 2 and would have been professional if sponsors had openings. Jerome's father built two boats in Sulawesi: Ikan Terbang (Flying Fish) and Ikan Putih (White Fish). They sailed here in Ikan Terbang, and that's the boat that will take us diving. The father modeled Ikan Terbang on a fast pilot boat in the San Francisco Bay called "Schpoon." Jerome's father explained what pilot boats are. When a big ship enters a bay like the one by San Francisco, the ship needs a local captain to pilot the ship into the bay. The big ship waits offshore as pilot boats race to the ship. The first pilot boat to reach the ship gets the job of guiding it in. We visited Ikan Terbang with Jerome after sorting out the diving itinerary. He showed us the beds, the toilet and shower, the dining table, the kitchen, and the deck. We tried on wetsuits, fins, masks, and BCDs (buoyancy control devices). We couldn't find a place to access the Internet as we walked through town. A few places pointed us to a store named Apik, but the store owner said that his Internet Service Provider wasn't working. We rode a minivan taxi back to the New Baju Beach Hotel. It cost 5000 rupiah (50 cents U.S.) for the four of us. Back at the hotel, we swam in the ocean, showered, and read on the beach in shade of an umbrella-like tree. The breeze on the beach feels great on a hot day. We met a computer science professor named Pierre Bonzon from Switzerland on the beach. He's been teaching computer science at a university in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the last year. He failed two thirds of his students in the first semester and ended up teaching a small group of nine or ten dedicated students for teh rest of the year. We had dinner at Borobudur with Jerome and his father and got to know them better. They're anti-materialistic and they're happy to be outside of France. They love the slow, peaceful life on the sea. Jerome's father returns to France every two years and Jerome has only been back once in nine years. They love Indonesia for its people and its climate. They never took Indonesian lessons but they speak the language fluently. We arranged for a boat to take us to the nearby island of Rinja to see the Komodo Dragons tomorrow morning. Komodo Dragons are the largest species of lizard in the world. I think they're about two meters or six feet long. (0) comments Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Ubud, Denpasar, Labuan Bajo: flight; swim; sunset walk; chessWe flew from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo this morning. Nyoman Sandi kindly drove us from Ubud to the Denpasar airport.We passed the Tumbawa volcano during the flight. It erupted in the 1800s and spewed so much ash into the atmosphere that the world fogged over for a few days. The volcano is inactive now but we could make out its cone and crater clearly. Labuan Bajo is a small town on the island of Flores. Flores is an island east of Bali that we've heard has good scuba diving and snorkeling and beaches. The island is much less developed than Bali. The town looked like it has one main street with several dive shops. We have yet to find an internet cafe and a local told us that phone calls are expensive and unreliable. We took a taxi for a dollar (10,000 rupiah) to the New Bajo Beach Hotel, where we're staying for US$12 a night. It's a short drive from the main town, so it's quiet and it has its private beach. All rooms were full last night, but tonight we have the entire hotel to ourselves. In fact, it seems like we have almost the entire island to ourselves. The only tourists we saw were a handful who flew with us on the plane. I'm not sure whether we came at a slow time of the week or whether tourism is generally slow here. We swam in the ocean. The water is warm and clear and the beach is sandy. As we dried off from our swim, some hotel employees gave us coconuts from one of the hotel's trees. We drank the coconut water and then chopped the coconuts open and ate the meat. We walked along the beach at sunset. We saw some fishing boats. One fisherman had a lantern on his boat and was repairing a net. I looked at our room's wobbly ceiling fan more nervously after our discussion of ceiling fans during our walk. A ceiling fan fell on my parents in Mexico. My mom got out of bed just before another one fell on her bed in Malaysia. Both times the victims escaped injury. I hope our room's ceiling fan is lighter than it looks, in case it falls on us tonight. Kweilin prompted my dad and I to exercise in our room. We did sit-ups, push-ups, dips, and squats. My dad played chess with one of the hotel employees tonight. It looks like local evening entertainment is television, newspaper, and chess. My dad said he lost badly. (0) comments Monday, June 13, 2005
Ubud: Market; Flores tickets; hairless dog; ordered tingkliksWe walked to the morning market and bought vegetables and fruits and snacks. The market is active from 7 to 10 am. It has two levels: the street level and a downstairs level. On the street are live chicken, vegetables, porridge, snacks, and souvenirs. Downstairs are meat, satay, more vegetables, spices, and slippers.Kweilin bought a pair of slippers for 20,000 rupiah (US$2) after the vendor opened at 100,000. The vendor said, "I can't sell for 20,000. That's Balinese price." We bought plane tickets to Flores, a nearby island, for US$66 each. We'll fly there tomorrow morning at 8:30. Flores is supposed to be less developed than Ubud. Lonely Planet says that the island has pretty snorkeling and sandy beaches. The Portuguese colonized the island so it's 85% Catholic. From Flores, we'll take a day trip to Komodo Island to see the Komodo Dragons. We drove to the tingklik man and asked him to sell us two tingkliks that I'll take back to the Bay Area. The tingkliks are US$35 each but we'll pay more for the packaging. We asked the maker to build a wooden box that will protect the wooden tingklik frame when we check it on the airplane. I'll carry the bamboo pipes on board. The tingklik maker taught me how to assemble and disassemble the tingklik. I played a few songs with the whole family of the tingklik man. The tingklik maker and I started playing and the rest of the family joined in: one son played a drum, another played a two-note gamelan, the grandson beat on a gong, and some friends played cymbals. I saw a hairless dog on the way to the tingklik man. It wasn't one of those rare dogs that are born hairless. This one lost its hair because it got sick. Dogs are everywhere in Ubud and they're all mangy. (0) comments Sunday, June 12, 2005
Ubud: eels; rain; dance practice; sushi; herons; rice planting; Tiga RumahI watched Nyoman Sandi's wife roast eels on burning coconut husks this morning. She bought the eels from the rice paddy farmers, squeezed them dead, and then threw their writhing bodies onto the burning coconut husks. She grilled them twice, removing their innards between grillings. I tasted one fresh off the grill: it tasted like fish.We experienced rain showers throughout the day. I'm sure the farmers are happy. Those rice paddies need water. Between rain showers, we rode our scooters to Pondok Pekak, the english library, and spent a good part of the afternoon there. We checked e-mail, read books, and watched girls practice traditional Balinese dancing. The girl dancers were between 6 and 13 years old. I recognized some dancers from the performance we saw a few nights ago. The girls danced to recorded music as their teacher corrected their arm position and posture. The girls got a lunch break between lessons. They crowded around the teacher with money to buy the best snacks. Today's most popular snack was kutupat (rice boiled in coconut leaf) with curry sauce. We ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant named Ryoshi's. The sushi tasted great. The set menu (miso soup, daikon, chicken skewer, and sushi) was 35,000 rupiah or US$3.50. At sunset, we took an evening scooter ride to a nearby village to see herons fly in to nest for the night. These white birds have colonized a few trees in this village: just about every branch had a bird on it. One tree was so full that arriving birds had to fly around several times before finding a perch. A young man asked us to pay to see the birds when we entered the village. He couldn't force us to pay though, since we were driving on a public road, so we just continued on. I bet lots of tourists think one must pay to enter. On the way to see the herons, we stopped to watch farmers planting rice. What a back-breaking job! They stand almost knee-deep in water and mud, shuffling backward as they bend at the waist to plant tufts of rice, one tuft at a time. As we drove on, I looked at the beautiful rice terraces and realized that every tuft of rice in all those paddies was planted by a human. We need visors on our helmets to shield us from bugs. I had to squint so much during the drive home at dusk that I could hardly see. My dad said that his glasses didn't help. We stumbled on a beautiful house for rent on our way home. It's called Tiga Rumah. It's surrounded by rice paddies and a brook. An American who lives in an adjacent house says that it's peaceful and that the mosquitos only come out when the farmers flood the surrounding rice paddies. The house has two storeys, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. It's super-spacious and has an unbeatable view from the second floor. Jay deems the house "awesome possum." It costs US$500 a month or $150 a week. Below is a card advertising the house. Houses for rent in Ubud http://tigarumah.tripod.com 2 storey house, 2-3 bedrooms, big master bedroom with ensuite marble bathroom (hotwater) fully furnished, open air dining area with lotus pond, equipped kitched, laundry room / washing machine, wide veranda with uninterrupted view of rice paddy; garage/carport (if required) Bright and very peaceful Contact: Agus HP.: 081.753.2710 Home (0341) 569301 E-mail: "gusmo" followed by "@telkom.net" Location: Sriwedari Str. (on one corner "Lippo Bank") Off Ubud main road, 3 km north till end of street, near Junjungan Village (Banjar Junjungan) (0) comments Saturday, June 11, 2005
Ubud: Scooter ride through rice paddies; tingklik man's familyWe rode our scooters through some beautiful rice paddy fields this morning. The farmers were just starting to plough and weed the fields. The terraces filled with water are a sight. It takes a lot of farming to keep them so pretty.We visited the Amandari resort on our ride. The Amandari is something like a Four Seasons resort. It's built on one side of a steep valley and looks out on beautiful rice paddy terraces. We took some pictures by the immaculate, overflowing outdoor pool. Ayu showed us the Valley Suite, which costs $800 a night. We watched a woman painting a batik cloth. The batik makers outline the design in pencil on a white cloth, then they paint, and then they smudge the paint with water to create lighter shades. The woman we saw was at the smudging stage. We bought some bakso (soup noodle), chicken sate with kutupat (a type of rice), bread, and fruits at the market in downtown Ubud. We brought the groceries back to our bungalow and had lunch. We spent the afternoon at the tingklik man's place. He re-taught me the "polos" (melody) and "sangsih" (harmony) to two songs that I learned seven years ago. He also taught me to play a simple song on the angklung. It looks kind of like a mini-gamelan. We might buy a couple tingkliks to take home. They cost US$35 each. We took a set home seven years ago but the bamboo changed pitch in the relatively dry SF Bay Area climate. We'll ask the tingklik man how we can protect the bamboo from a dry climate. The tingklik man's sons, Wayan and Made, showed my dad and me the rice paddy that the family farms. They own four terraces among many. They just burned the dry remnants of the last crop of rice and they're planting a new crop that they'll harvest in six months. We spent an hour or so on Wayan's computer, looking at photos and videos. I uploaded yesterday's photos of the family onto computer. Wayan showed us a video of his seven-year-old daughter performing a traditional Balinese dance. The tingklik maker was playing in the musical ensemble. It seems like learning to dance or play an instrument is part of growing up in Bali. The girls tend to dance while the boys tend to play instruments. The tingklik man's business card is below: Prawan Wood Carver and Special Bambu Musik Made to Order Wayan Betra and Son Owner Address: Br. Bilukan, Sebatu, Tegallalang, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia Telp. (0361) 901137 Hp. 081 657 4606, 081 657 5567 E-mail: "prawanshop" followed by "@telkom.net" We had masakan padang for dinner back in Ubud and then used the internet for an hour or two. Internet access in Ubud costs 200 rupiah (about five cents) a minute. (0) comments Friday, June 10, 2005
Ubud: Lazy morning; Tingklik man; Japanese dinner; police; rainDaddy and Mommy took a ride through the rice paddy fields surrounding our bungalow this morning. The green terraces look beautiful, especially in the morning sun.Jay and I spent a lazy morning in the bungalow. Jay finished "The Da Vinci Code" and Mommy made us soup noodle from fishballs and noodles she bought in the market this morning. Daddy and I looked over pictures from our Kenya trip and this trip. We rode our scooters to the tingklik man in the afternoon. Seven years ago the tingklik man taught Jay and me to play the tingklik, a traditional Balinese instrument that looks like a bamboo xylophone. The tingklik man's family hasn't changed much in seven years, except that the newborn grandchildren are now seven years old. The sons and wives look the same. We took lots of pictures of the family so that we can give them the pictures tomorrow on a CD. We played a tingklik song with Made, the second son, but I think Made was more interested in playing guitar and drums. He remembered that Jay and I played "Tears in Heaven" for him seven years ago! He showed me his studio where he has a drum set, two electric guitars, a bass, and a microphone. He showed me a video of his band. The tingklik man's family's main business now seems to be making Native American wood sculptures that they ship to Alaska. Made showed us how he carves American Indian heads topped with feathers and an eagle. The family carves about four a day and I think they get US$10 for each. The heads probably sell in Alaska for US$200. Daddy and I ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant. We had nabeyaki udon, soba, capuccino ice cream, beer, and eda mame for US$12. That's about five times the price of two masakan padang dinners. The food was tasty. The noodles could have passed for entrees at a Japanese restaurant in the States. On our way home, the police stopped Daddy and me and asked for our driver licenses. I was sure that they would ask for a bribe but they didn't. One officer asked my dad for his license and another asked for mine. I told the officer who approached me that my license was at Nyoman Sandi's bungalow. In the meantime, Daddy showed his license to the "boss" officer and the boss waved us both through. We'll carry our licenses tomorrow. I'm sure the locals are loving the rain that's falling right now. Ubud has had a drought recently and it shows in the rice paddy fields. Many that we've passed are brown or light green instead of the healthy deep green. A couple locals have said that this is the first rain in two or three months. We're paying US$20 a night for our private bungalow at Nyoman Sandi's. We get two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen in the middle of rice paddy fields. (0) comments Thursday, June 09, 2005
Ubud: Nyoman Sandi; Pondok Pekak; Three Monkeys; Legong danceNyoman Sandi's wife kindly bought us fruit and bread for breakfast. She went to the market for us because she knew that we didn't yet have scooters.Nyoman Sandi and his family have been extremely hospitable. They've given us food a couple times already and they've told us about a festival. It seems like they genuinely want us to have a memorable stay. We walked to the market and looked at fruits and souvenirs. Mommy found that a vendor's first price is often three times the price at which they're comfortable selling. We walked to Pondok Pekak and visited Lori, Kai, Nyoman, Made, and the rest of the family. Lori and Made are married and Kai is their son. Lori is from Montana and she's lived in Ubud for the past 20 years. We got to know the people at Pondok Pekak when we visited seven or eight years ago. The Balinese people don't seem to age! Nyoman and Made look much the same as last time. Only Kai has grown visibly. Nyoman is married and has a four-year-old son now. He and Made have a clothing store. Jay and I practiced tingklik(a bamboo xylophone) at Pondok Pekak. Nyoman and Kai re-taught us a song that we learned seven years ago. Two tingkliks playing harmony sound great. Nyoman helped us find three scooters to rent. We paid 80,000 rupiah ($8) per bike for two and a half days. Daddy tried out the bikes to make sure that the brakes and gears work. Mommy will ride with him, and Jay and I will have our own bikes. We had masakan padang for lunch. It's kind of the Balinese equivalent of Malaysian economy rice: one covers a plate of rice with a selection of pre-made dishes like egg, beef or fish or chicken curry, and vegetables. We visited Denise at her restaurant. Denise is a Chinese doctor who used to work with Daddy in Seattle. Denise now runs the Three Monkeys restaurant in Ubud. Her husband, an architect, designed the restaurant beautifully. It's set in lush rice paddy fields and has lots of shade. Gas is cheap here: about $1 a gallon. We filled up our scooters on our way home. We loved the traditional Balinese dance that we saw this evening. The Pondok Pekak put on the Legong dance and others. The dancers were children ranging in age from 7 to 13. They are talented! I thoroughly enjoyed their eye-flitting, shoulder-shaking, finger-twitching, stamping, and twirling. I loved the music, too. I especially liked it when the dancer's movements matched the music. The female dancers sometimes shook their hips in time with the clang of the gamelan. The male warrior dancer danced with increased urgency as the music got louder. (0) comments Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Kuala Lumpur, Denpasar, Ubud: Fly to BaliI played guitar and sang this morning in Popo's apartment. I'm happy that Kam Seng keeps a guitar in the house. Jay and I sang "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall" and "Help" and I sang "Wild World" and a few others.Auntie De Xia took us to eat Ipoh chicken rice for lunch. Jay said it was her best meal on the trip so far. The rice and chicken was indeed excellent. I ate some chicken liver and gizzard, too. The chicken rice store is famous in KL, so we were curious as to how many chickens the store sells in a day. The owner was reluctant to tell Daddy, though. The owner probably thinks that the Malaysian IRS will make him pay more income tax if they find out how many chickens he really sells. We flew Air Asia to Denpasar, Bali in the afternoon. Air Asia's seating is first-come first-served, so we had to scramble when the announcers opened the gate. We were lucky: we sat together and Daddy found a seat where he could stretch his legs. The 45-minute taxi ride from the Denpasar airport to Ubud cost 100,000 rupiah, which is about $10. Mommy walked out to the airport parking lot to bargain for that price. We probably could have gotten a similar price from the taxi drivers at the baggage claim. We're staying in a spacious, secluded bungalow about a kilometer from the center of Ubud. The owner's name is Nyoman Sandi. He and his wife and 27-year-old son welcomed us with fruits and cake. The bungalow has a kitchen and two bedrooms, each with their own bathrooms. (0) comments Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Kuala Lumpur: Third Uncle, Aunt; traffic; Popo's appetiteWe met Auntie De Xia and Third Uncle this morning for breakfast. Auntie De Xia brought us to another great food place. We had laksa, other soup noodle, and "economy rice." Economy rice is a self-serve dish where the customer gets a plate of rice and covers it with whatever dishes he wants. This morning's restaurant had a large selection.Auntie De Xia and Third Uncle own a hardware store and lighting store. The hardware store has knick-knacks like electrical adapters and converters and flashlights. The lighting store sells lamps and chandeliers. Auntie and Uncle work seven days a week. Daddy and Mommy and Jay tried to sort where they'll go in July, after I leave. They'd like to travel somewhere cool (not hot), like Tibet. They asked a travel agent in the Sungei Wang Mall about tickets to Tibet. They're expensive. Jay and I walked around the Mid Valley Megamall this afternoon. We got some ice cream, drinks, desserts, and clothes at Carrefour. Everywhere you turn is a traffic jam in KL. The time of day doesn't matter. I've sat in a long line of slow-moving cars in every car ride I've taken in KL this trip, starting with the bus ride in from Singapore. I wonder what the city planners can do about it. Popo has a super healthy appetite even though she's 82 years old and thin. She seems to eat whatever I offer her! After a meal of rice and beef, she ate four pieces of durian and a few pieces of asian pear. I'm watching Shaolin Soccer as I write this. Its content and humor resembles that of Kung Fu Hustle, another movie by Stephen Chow. I laughed when Stephen Chow and his fellow Shaolin expert sang Shaolin's virtues in a rock band. (0) comments Monday, June 06, 2005
Kuala Lumpur: mouse tail noodle; SS2 night market; tsunamiWe ate Mouse Tail Noodle in downtown. The restaurant has been around for 58 years and is famous in KL. The noodles look like tails of little mice: an inch long, fat at one end and thin at the other. I liked the noodles and meatballs, but I've also liked almost all the food I've had so far in Singapore and Malaysia.We took the Light Rail Transit home. The trains drive themselves automatically--no drivers. On the way up to Popo's condominium, we walked through an afternoon market that sells fruit, meat, and snacks. We had some peanut-filled pancakes and bought some longan, rambutan, and mangostine. We visited the weekly SS2 night market. That place is hopping on Monday nights! Stalls line the street around a square whose sides are two city blocks. The market is so crowded that it's hard to walk and one has to guard one's pockets and bags. Vendors sell vegetables, fruits, hotpot items, desserts, fish, clothes, clocks, and lots of other stuff. The first vendor we saw sold frogs. He had a cage of 100 live frogs next to a dish of 10 skinned frogs. The skinned frogs were still twitching! My aunt, Oongie, introduced me to some weird food at a hotpot stall. We dunked skewers of food into boiling pots and ate them with sauces. Oongie had me eat pig's ear, pig's intestines, and duck's liver and foot wrapped in intestines. The pig's ear was crunchy and the duck's sauce made it tasty. Uncle Allan told us about his experience in the tsunami tonight when we stayed at his place. When he was tumbling underwater, he thought, "I don't want to die like this." It was hard for Oongie and him to watch the news coverage of the tsunami when they returned to KL. (0) comments Sunday, June 05, 2005
Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh: Aunt Judy; food treatsWe visited my aunt Judy today. She's schizophrenic and she lives in a lunatic asylum near Ipoh, which is two hours from Kuala Lumpur. Oongie and Popo and my family sat with Judy for three hours. It was the longest time that we've sat with her. We sang songs and talked about our family and watched her get up and shower every hour. We discovered that Judy loves to sing and listen to songs. Oongie sang some Chinese songs and Judy joined in. Jay and I sang some Beatles songs with her like "Let It Be" and "Can't Buy Me Love." Oongie and I started singing "Mrs. Robinson" but Judy hushed us with "Bad song, bad song." We also found that Judy remembers some Shakespeare from 40 years ago. I started reciting "All the world's a stage," and she continued with "... and all the men and women merely players. Each man in his time plays many parts." Judy showers about 10 times a day. She showered three times during our visit. She would suddenly walk off to the bathroom and a few minutes later we would hear her pour buckets of water over herself. She seems obsessed with cleanliness. Oongie acted as our food guide today. She showed us a few hidden food treasures that only locals know about. In Ipoh, we ate soup noodles and peanut-covered gooey rice flour. Back in KL we ate chicken rice. (0) comments Saturday, June 04, 2005
Singapore, Kuala Lumpur: bus; Popo; tsunami; SS2We took a bus this morning from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. We'll take the train next time. Traffic in KL turned what should have been a three-hour bus ride into a five-hour trip. We inched along through bumper-to-bumper traffic for a few hours and then the congestion disappeared with no evidence of why traffic was backed up in the first place. In the congested area, four lanes formed where there should have been two: cars clogged the left and right shoulders. I don't know what an ambulance or police car would have done to get through. We arrived at my grandmother Popo's apartment and spent the evening with her, my aunt Oongie, my cousin Sook Yin, and Popo's maid Annie. Popo suffered a mild stroke since I last saw her but she's generally healthy. She slurs her speech a bit and is more confused than before but she walks on her own and laughs and eats healthily and gets regular visitors. She gave each of us red packets. Whenever Popo sees Mommy, Popo always says that it might be the last time they'll see each other and she asks Mommy to administer a lethal injection if she becomes a vegetable. Mommy always makes light of it. I'm happy that I can communicate on a basic level with Popo in Mandarin. I asked her about her grandchildren. She still remembers everyone and knows whether they're married or have girlfriends or boyfriends. Oongie told us about her tsunami experience. She and Uncle Allan were on the beach in Phuket when the wave hit. They got swept over lawn chairs, trees, and roads in the first wave. They were lucky that some Europeans pulled them from the water before the second wave hit. Oongie and Uncle Allan climbed through windows and jumped over gaps and generally scrambled to get to higher ground when they heard that a second wave was coming. Oongie thought of the people she met during the trip who might have died in the second wave: the people who rented her the lawn chairs, the Europeans who were pulling people from the water, and the people who were eating breakfast on the first floor of a hotel, oblivious to what was happening. Oongie drove us to the SS2 hawker center to eat dinner. We had chee cheung fun, ice kacang, mango sticky rice, laksa, sugar cane juice, and soya milk. (0) comments Friday, June 03, 2005
Singapore: Jinsi's kids; TakashimayaMy cousin Jinsi brought over his cute children this morning. They make believe I'm "Uncle Anakin" from Star Wars. The daughter Tansy mocked me by patting her brother's head (like I do) and calling him "Padmay." Tansy is currently studying for an important exam--maybe the one that comes between primary and secondary school. She's 12 years old, I think. Her brothers Tian En and Tian Yi are 6 and 9. Tian En (6) is pretty good with computers. He hopped on to the computer as soon as they arrived at the condo and started playing a web-based game. We talked with Sui Jau for a few hours over dim sum. Sui Jau is a financial researcher. He seems to know a lot about Asian economies. We toured the Takashimaya food court after lunch. It's an indoor food court with lots of food stalls that offer samples. Daddy and Jay and I had ice kacang on our way home. We walked part of the way, stopped at a hawker center, and took a free shuttle home. The shuttle is meant for shoppers, but it worked for us too because Auntie Y.S.'s condo is next to Great World City mall. (0) comments Thursday, June 02, 2005
Singapore: "Millionaire Nextdoor"; SzeyaoAuntie Y.S. took us to eat breakfast just a few blocks from the condominium. We ate Malaysian food at a restaurant and then ordered ice kacang for dessert at a hawker center nextdoor.I started reading "The Millionaire Nextdoor". The book is a light read that describes lessons learned from a survey of self-made millionaires. The main point so far seems to be "live below your means." Auntie Y.S.'s condominium complex has good-quality exercise machines and a well-kept swimming pool. Daddy and Jay and I ran on the treadmill and elliptical machines and then relaxed in the pool. Szeyao, one of my best friends from Stanford, visited me in the evening. I saw him a couple years ago just after he finished his military service. Now he's been working in the Ministry of Defense for a couple years. He writes foreign policy articles about stuff like who's who in India politics and whether Singapore should train its troops in Taiwan. A bunch of us (Tansy, Sook Yin, Mimi, Auntie Y.S., Mommy, Jay, and I) took a walk along the canal that runs through Singapore. Jay and I slept in the living room under the fan, again, but this time we got attacked by mosquitos. We'll sleep in our parents' air-conditioned room tomorrow night. (0) comments Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Singapore: Arrived from U.S.Daddy and I arrived on the same flight into Singapore and Auntie Y.S., Mommy and Jay picked us up. Leaving the airport, we saw the longest line of taxis we've ever seen. It stretched for miles. Each driver was waiting to take passengers from the airport to the city. It's a sign that the Singapore economy isn't doing well. Daddy and Mommy and Jay and I talked in the living room of Auntie Y.S.'s apartment for a couple hours and then slept. Daddy and I took sleeping pills. Jay and Mommy are already adjusted to the local time zone because they came from Thailand. Jay and I slept on cushions in the living room with a fan to keep us cool. It's hot and humid in Singapore, even at night. (0) comments |
