Nancy McCoy
My husband & I love to travel to exotic & ancient civilizations. We've traveled throughout SE Asia & our most recent upcoming trip will be to Bali, IndonesiaZendream
Travel Blog Posts
July 11th 2007
One morning in Ubud we visited the Botanical gardens which is celebrating its first anniversary in June of this year. There we met German born Stefan Reisner, botanist and co-owner of the Ubud Botanic Gardens who acquired the land from the Indonesian Government. He stated they didn't think the land was worth much and I guess the locals thought bad spirits dwelled on the 5 hectares. In two short years Stefan and his partner, Faizah, a business woman from Java, have created this most wonderful space. A meditation grotto, Islam garden, pitcher plant area with over 200 pitcher plants of the tropical variety. Most originating from Borneo (Kalimantan), Sumatra and Papua, New Guinea. A stone path winds among different varieties of bamboo and you'll see hundreds of butterflies of every color! The gardens are just ... read more
July 10th 2007
The first night in Ubud we took the shuttle downtown and had dinner at a the Lotus Garden next to the palace which was in front of a temple. My food was good but Mark's was a little dried out. The best part of the evening and a nice surprise, was they had the Barong dance across the lotus pond in front of an ancient temple. We didn't bring any cameras since the batteries were being charged. We had taken many photos on the trip up to Ubud. The Barong dance is taken from an episode from Mahabharata, the epic Sanskrit poem. The costumes were fabulous and set in front of the temple gates. The Barong, like you see in so many of the masks is the good white magic, the king of the jungle, ... read more
July 1st 2007
Our driver picked us up at the Keraton after we said our goodbyes to the ladies that owned the little shops by the Jimbaran bay seafood beach restaurants. Warta drove us up to Ubud, in the center of island. It is a haven for artists. Located over an hour drive from Jimbaran but it took us longer because we wanted to stop in the many villages along the way. There is batik making, wood carving, stone carving, painters, you name it. Artist, Walter Spies, a German born in Moscow in 1895, visited Bali in 1927 & stayed. He was very influential on the Balinese art scene. He encouraged them to go beyond the religious & traditional boundaries of their art and inspired them to paint everyday Balinese life and themes rooted in their Hindu mythology. ... read more
June 29th 2007
One evening we were walking from the bar on the beach and there were all sorts of night noises. Frogs croaking, this little brown toad every night was sitting on a rock next to the koi pond by the breakfast area chirping away. Over by the pool we could hear something large like a cricket or cicada. The next afternoon I looked through the lime tree next to the pool and discovered the biggest grasshopper I'd ever seen. There was also a preying mantis that is smaller than ours. In the photo of grasshopper that's the new suit Mark bought me in Kuta. Most every meal that is served has the plate covered with a cut out round piece of banana leaf. The rice is served in the middle of the plate in a cone ... read more
June 29th 2007
One late afternoon we had Warta drive us to the southern tip in the Bukit Badung area and visit a temple built by the architect-priest Mpu Kuturan around the 11th century. The reformer priest Pedanda Wawu Rauh rebuilt it in its present state in the 16th century. It is atop limestone cliffs that are 250 feet above the ocean. The pounding surf below is a spectacular site as it crashes into the cliffs far below. Dark gray coral stone were used in the construction of this temple where many many monkeys live. This is a wonderful spot to watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean. As people were coming down from the temple they were passing their sticks to people going up. I had Warta take one... to keep the monkeys at bay. We ... read more
June 27th 2007
After traveling 39 hours we arrived at the Keraton Jimbaran which is a beautiful hotel on the beach built like a former Bali Kings palace. Many flowering plants and paths leading to the ocean, ponds with fountains, an open area massage hut set up by the pool. They had musicians playing traditional instruments each morning during breakfast which overlooked the beach & ocean. You could sit and watch the fishermen come in with their colorful boats all loaded down with a nights catch. There was a fantastic seafood night market on Jimbaran beach next to hotel that had several restaurants all in a row. Tables with candlelight set up on the beach where we would watch beautiful sunsets and the waves crashing to shore. One evening they had a band playing at each table. Reminded ... read more
May 24th 2007
Mark & I are spending 2 weeks in Bali for our 20th anniversary. Bali lies in one of the geologically most active regions on earth, part of the Pacific Rim's great "ring of fire". Bali is one in a chain of islands which stretches some 2200 miles from Sumatra to Flores and which marks the point where the Australian tectonic plate is being forced beneath the Eurasian plate at a rate of two inches each year. It is located 8 degrees south of the Equator. The Balinese people believe they have descended from Gods. That there are good and evil spirits that dwell on this Island. The 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia is the 4th largest nation in the world. The largest Muslim nation, but the Island of Bali is still Hindu/Buddhist. We will be ... read more
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