Sign In
Blogs from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 16
Advertisement
June 29th 2010
We just returned to Kuala Lumpur after a week on the beautiful island of Bali, in Indonesia, a place both of us have always wanted to visit. On June 21st, we took a late flight from Singapore Changi Airport (rated #1 in the world-- it WAS nice) to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. If you look at a map, you'll barely make out the island of Bali, sitting there tiny and quiet in between the islands of Java and Lombok. Though it's small, it has two distinct features: one, it's probably the biggest tourist destination in all of Indonesia, and certainly the one you hear about the most as a place to travel to. Secondly, (and this I had to verify on Wikipedia) it has the largest population of Hindus (a religious minority in an ... read more
June 25th 2010
Friday 25th June 2010 At 4.15am Judy's phone woke us from deep slumber but reception was such that we lost the connection. Another call a few minutes later gave the same result causing us to be most concerned as there was no indication who called. A few minutes later we received a message from Judy's mother asking if Judy was trying to contact her. We returned the message that we hadn't and that all was ok. Little more sleep was had after that before our 7.30am breakfast. The mystery was solved later in the morning when Judy contacted her daughter who in turn got in touch with Judy's mother. It appears as if she must have dreamed the whole thing. The trip to Ubud was quite boring with the continual climbing and sharp turns, broken by ... read more
June 19th 2010
Time to detox for a few days after a much needed 5 day beer session in Kuta. Of which drunken antics you don’t need to know of as I mostly can’t remember...or just plain refuse to remember. Time to sample a little Balinese culture, and Ubud just so happens to be one of those places where this can be done. Centrally located Ubud is a big draw and is naturally one of those places that everyone seems to flock to on a trip to Bali, offering a wealth of Balinese history, Hindi temples, dances and local handicrafts. Ubud essentially being a collection of small villages that over the years have merged together to cause a bigger conglomeration of a town bustling with life, but not to the likes of Kuta or Denpassar, things do seem less ... read more
June 17th 2010
Some villages in Indonesia specialize in a form of textile called ikat. Unlike batik, where the patterns are made by waxing and dying sections of cloth, ikat is made by dying threads before they are woven into cloth. Click here to go to the Wikipedia explanations of warp, weft, and double forms of ikat. Very traditional forms of ikat can be traced to specific villages, where a particular patterned sarong might only be used for certain ceremonies. Some very fine examples of ikat might depict a legend or a story, and are used for wall hangings. Threads of Life on Jalan Suweta, has some wonderful examples of high quality ikat, some of which are for sale for high quality prices. However, there are more affordable forms of ikat for sale in Ubud. One particular shop fascinated ... read more
June 12th 2010
The wonderful Javanese style celebration on Thursday was followed by a rest day. After a day of shopping at Kuta, I managed to get my toenail ripped off in our taxi, and spent some time at the local hospital. The large bandage on my toe is explained. On the Saturday of the wedding we were picked up at our hotel for the one hour trip to Ubud in the mountains. ... read more
Advertisement
Rice - or - How I Got Lost in a Rice Paddy and Lived to Tell the Tale
Published: June 12th 2010Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud
June 12th 2010
I’m sure that most of the Balinese I encountered thought I was just a little nuts. (OK, maybe they thought I was more than a little nuts.) But I took a whole lot of pictures of rice paddies while I was there. There was just something about the shifting colors and light and shadows that I found really beautiful. Rice is extremely important to the Balinese. In addition to being a food staple, it is central to their culture and their religion. You will see many women, and some men, with grains of rice pressed into their foreheads, or at the base of their throats. One woman explained it to me like this: “The two things most important and most holy to Bali people are water and rice. Without water there is no life. Rice is ... read more
June 6th 2010
We left for bali because Emil and Melissa (Mel) were getting married and they chose Bali because Mel's folks - Uni and Trevor live there, as do Andrew (Mel's brother) , Nana (his wife) and son Jason. We spent a few days in Ubud with my friend Krys who is also Emil's godmother.... read more
June 2nd 2010
I decided it was time to get out of Ubud and see a bit more of the country. I signed up for the archeological tour with Perama, a big tour and transport company in this part of Indonesia, with a strong presence on the web. Unfortunately, Perama needs a minimum number of people to run a tour. With their main offices in Kuta, the magnet for surf-mad Australians, it is no wonder that the archeology tour didn’t take place. However, as so often happens in Bali, the tour expeditor said to me, “Not to worry, madam. My friend here has transport. He is very good driver, he can give you tour.” I had a chat with the driver. Yes, he had a car. (Sometimes “transport” means the back of a motorbike.) Yes, we could stop at ... read more
May 29th 2010
Several of the restaurants in Ubud offer cooking classes. The weather had been kind of crummy, so I figured what the heck. At least you get to eat everything you cook. There were eleven of us from five different countries who met with Chef Nyoman at the Bumi Bali Restaurant. A genial man, he managed to take us through some of the intricacies of Indonesian cooking without anyone drawing blood. Our first stop was Ubud Pasar, the local market. Ubud Pasar is not for the claustrophobic or easily intimidated. This is a three story building that takes up about half a city block. It is absolutely crammed with tiny stalls selling fruit, meat, fish, laundry detergent, cloth, flowers, spices, oil, jewelry, vegetables, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff. And each of these vendors is ... read more
May 28th 2010
Yesterday I visited the Elephant Safari Park in Taro, just north of Ubud. Yes, it was a little touristy, and yes, it was a little pricey, but how often does a nice girl (well, OK, a reasonably pleasant girl) from the Midwest get to ride an elephant? There are several elephant parks in Bali. I chose this one because of its strong emphasis on breeding and conservation. It also has an elephant “hospital,” where they manage the animals health concerns, including once performing cataract surgery, and a research area. The park is home to 30 rescued Sumatran elephants; three baby elephants were born in the park in 2009. Another point in its favor is that unlike some other attractions with elephants, the Elephant Safari Park pairs each elephant with its own human, or mahout, defined as ... read more
