Massage and Crab in Singapore

We left Ubud in the morning and drove to the Airport at Dempasar. We flew Singapore Airlines to Singapore. It was a nice flight and I edited about ½ of my pictures. Kevin has been my inspiration after seeing what he did. He has the identical camera and his pictures look great. It is the photographer, not the camera!

Arriving in Singapore as you go down the escalator to immigration they are scanning you for fever and Swine Flu. Very efficient, you don’t even have to stop.
We cleared customs in record time and headed for our hotel.

After checking in we took the underground into Singapore and went directly for a massage. Cathy loved it, I less so. We then took a cab to Raffles Hotel. This has a feeling of the Raj. It is an old hotel, quite large. I really liked the architecture sort of Raj meets California Mission Style. I of course had to have a Singapore Sling, which was invented at the hotel. Cathy not liking sweet drinks had a wine.
We were screwed by our cab driver in the ride from the massage to Raffles. This is the ONLY time on the trip that we were cheated. No big deal, but it speaks of the difference between Bali and Singapore!

We then took a cab to Jumbo Seafood. There are a whole series of outdoor Chinese seafood restaurants on the water. We planned this to be the highlight of Singapore and it was. It is open on two sides and people are sitting outside eating. I can’t think of an outdoor Chinese Restaurant in LA. At any rate, the whole point is eating Crab. We had two Crab’s Chili Pepper Crab and Black Pepper Crab. We also had mixed seafood fried rice.

The food was great. You eat with your fingers and it is messy but fun. Billy is WRONG! The Chinese food in Asia is better than the Chinese food in LA. This was the best crab we ever had!

Tomorrow we get up for an 8:20am departure to Tokyo and back to the states. It has been a great vacation!

Roasted Suckling Pig

Today was our last full day in Ubud, Bali. We left the hotel and drove to a Pejeng Indigo Batik. This was a quaint factory where they dyed the cloth indigo and then use the batik process to create a design. It is very labor intensive. I purchased a really wonderful piece of textile that I plan to have a shirt made from when we return to Los Angeles. Its motif is from the carvings of the Hindu Temples throughout Bali. The Indigo dyer was himself covered with Indigo Tattoos and looked like he had been Batiked! The owner was wearing a real cool shirt and pants. He designed them himself and doesn’t sell them. What a shame. I would really like to buy them for myself.

We returned to the hotel and then headed out to central Ubud for our last shopping and walking adventures. We decided to have lunch at the most famous Roast Pig restaurant on Bali. Hindus can eat pig, just not beef. Anthony Bourdain proclaimed it one of his favorite restaurants: Warung Ibu Oka’s. We caught the Pig being delivered to the restaurant. You don’t often see a Pig Head Carry in the states.

We returned to the hotel after lunch and packed and rested at our little Villa.
We hoped to have a final Balinese massage but all appointments were booked.
We then went for a Parting Dinner. In the middle of the dinner William showed up from Threads of Life. Choi had been wearing a very nice shirt from the store. I mentioned to William that I liked Choi’s shirt. William replied that the store was open for another 20 minutes. Cathy I left the dinner and took a taxi to the store. I picked out a shirt and went to pay with my credit card. Just as I went to pay ALL of the lights went out in Ubud. They had one candle to light in the store. They tried to run the transaction but couldn’t. We finally left with our shirts and a promise to pay someday!

We returned to the dinner which was being eaten by candle light since the power to the island hadn’t been restored. After dinner we returned to the hotel. As we went through security I noticed the guard had a flower over his ear. Somehow the juxtaposition of a security guard with a flower over his ear spoke to me of Bali.

We had drinks at the hotel and recounted the adventures of the trip with Courtney, Ferris and Scott and then headed back to our Villa. Tomorrow we depart for a day and night in Singapore. We are looking forward to finding the ultimate Chili Crab and Pepper Crab (Singapore’s most famous dish).

From Singapore we head for Tokyo and then home to Los Angeles.

Frogs, Geckos and Fireflies

We left our hotel and went to a Barong & Kris Dance in the morning. These are traditional Balinese dances based once again on the ancient Indian legends of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Our driver informed us that almost all people on the island of Bali would be familiar with these stories. This was a particularly nice presentation. It was staged at one of the many, many old Hindu Temples, outdoors. There was a Gamelon Orchestra and the characters were in costumes.
The story is a battle between the good Gods and the bad Gods. Good Gods win.
We thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.

I returned to the hotel and had an hour and half massage. Cathy went shopping.
When she returned we returned to our Villa and Cathy swam in our pool. We were warned that at 6pm they would be fogging for insects. Apparently they do it every Monday night and that is the secret of the lack of insects.

At 6 we left for a massage (my 2nd of the day) and we could watch the clouds of insect fog roll in. The massage is given in a beautiful location, you are totally isolated and in a very luxurious Balinese Style suite of rooms with a view of the River and Jungle. As you know Cathy and I LOVE massage and have plenty. This was a new experience for us. It was called a Herbal Pounding but really is like a Herbal kneading. The have balls of herbs bigger than softballs, that they heat up somehow. When you lying on the table they place a hot ball of herbs on your skin and massage you, sort of like making bread. It is very different and GOOD. Barry take note! We want this at the Raven! They play no music during their massages but you hear the water from the river and birds and jungle insects making all kinds of interesting noise.

Tonight the Frogs were out in force. We really enjoyed them. They were by the pool edge making all kinds of noise, basically sounding like Dick Cheney. We ate at the restaurant and all over the ceiling and walls Gecko lizards were walking about. They are totally harmless and eat insects. They make a loud clicking noise. There are universally loved. After dinner we went for drinks and met Courtney and Scott. A firefly flew in. I hadn’t seen once in over 50 years since I moved from Cleveland. Wish they had fireflies in Los Angeles.

A note about security. Bali’s economy has been devastated as a result of the terrorist bombings here. There are very few American’s tourists here. You see lots of Australians and Germans but American’s are still afraid to come. It is a shame. Our hotel sits on a large piece of property, maybe the size of a golf course or two. When you approach it you are stopped by security and they use mirrors to check under the car or bus looking for bombs. They also open the trunk and use magnetic wands to check for weapons. Only then do they open the gate. It sounds impressive but to us seems for show. We feel totally safe. I would recommend to anyone that the visit Bali.

You can see a clip of the dance here.

The Worlds Strangest Coffee

We drove to a spice farm and saw all kinds of spices and coffee growing: Vanilla, peppers, cardamom, etc. The highlight however was seeing the mongooses in a cage. Wicked animals, very vicious, the kill and eat poisonous snakes. How do they survive eating poisonous snakes you ask? They have built up a natural immunity to poison. Wouldn’t that be great if humans could avail themselves of the mongoose immunity? Well guess what the Balinese do (they are so back to nature)? They keep the mongooses in big cages and collect their poop. They then dry the poop and add to their coffee. So Cliff had a cup of coffee with mongoose poop. So did others. They give away samples of their regular coffee and teas, you have to pay to drink the coffee with the mongoose shit. I don’t think this will be a big seller in the States! The coffee is called Kopi Luwak and you can read more about it by clicking here.

We then continued on a long beautiful drive up into the mountains. The countryside is all terraced with rice patties, surrounded by jungle. The rice harvest is going on and you would see people in the field separating the rice by hand. Every house has a temple portion with beautiful carvings and daily offerings. It is impossible to overstate the beauty of Bali.

When we got to the top of the mountain we realized it was a volcano that had blown its top. The top was now a lake (kind of like Lake Tahoe. We had come to see one of the most sacred Hindu Temples in Bali. Temple of the Lake Goddess. It is two very small temples set in the lake. If the water is low you can actually walk to them. Today it was high and we could only look at them. It is a wonderful setting. After walking around and taking pictures we started to head back and stopped for lunch overlooking hills terraced with rice fields.

It started to rain and it was an extremely hard downpour. It was fun to watch from the shelter of the restaurant. The thatch roof kept the rain out yet the fog actually entered the restaurant because like most Balinese buildings it had no walls, only a roof to keep you drive.

We proceeded to drive down from the mountain and out of the rain, arriving back to the city of Ubud where there was no appreciable rain.

Cathy and I then had a massage (naturally) and then a spa dinner. After dinner we went to a Shadow Puppet Show. The ancient Indian myths of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are known to all the people of Indonesia and incorporated into their dance, music, theater and art. A full Shadow Puppet Show could last over 8 hours thankfully this was only an hour. It was extremely hot and humid in the theater.

The puppets are thin, made of leather. The only light in the theater is a gas fire behind a translucent cloth screen. The puppets are manipulated between the fire and the screen. Music, singing and percussion all live accompany the story.

We eventually returned to the hotel for drinks and bed.

Bali Style

Cathy and I got up and were driven into downtown Ubud and walked around shopping and looking at stores. After lunch we went to Jean Francois Fichot. He is a Frenchman who has been living in Bali for 30 years. He designs and sells jewelry. If his house is not in Architectural Digest it should be.

You walk down a typical Bali street and there is a small gate. You then walk down approximately 100 stairs. At the bottom of the stairs there is a foot bridge crossing high above a flowing stream. Everywhere you look are green jungle plants. The walking bridge has a gate and once you cross the gate there are stairs leading up to the compound. His house is in the Balinese style you always see but it is filled with art objects beautifully placed. It is all open on the sides with walkways from his kitchen to his various other rooms including his temple.

The pool area is gorgeous. It is an amazing place to live! He wears a lot of his own creations. Cathy picked up a few choice items, as did the rest of the group.

We then drove to town and went to Bamboo, a Balinese men’s shirt shop. It was my chance to increase my wardrobe.

The hotel moved us to private villas. We have our own pool and outdoor shower. It is very secluded and nice.

Before dinner we had drinks at the hotel and William and his wife Jean, from Threads of Life joined us. She had just returned from East Timur and spoke about textiles that she had found there.

For dinner we went to a restaurant situated in an old temple. A traditional Gamelon Orchestra played while dancers preformed classical dances. The outdoor setting was beautiful. I don’t think there are any closed air-conditioned restaurants in Bali.

Did I mention it was hot and humid? Cathy took a shower before dinner. We left our villa and within 20 steps she was soaked again!

Behind The Mask

We checked out of our hotel and moved to our new hotel in Ubud, The Maya Ubud hotel. It is located on a very large property in Ubud. The grounds are magnificent.

We then left the hotel and went to a master mask maker: Ida Bagus Anom. He is the third generation of mask makers in his family. Masks are very important in Balinese culture and are worn by dancers for both religious and secular dances. He carves them from wood and has apprentices learning from him. They are then painted with many layers of paint. He is also a dancer and believes that you must understand dance, music and the story to be able to carve a mask and let it come to life. He is a very warm and funny person as he explains how the masks are made.

He then brought in men to perform some Kecak singing. This is the Monkey music we have heard before. But this time he explained how the harmony works. Basically one person or group is singing a single note repeatedly. Another group is singing 2 notes, a 3 group 5 notes and another group 6 notes. They are all making different sounds at different intervals but when sung properly the harmony is amazing. His demonstration really put the music in perspective.

We purchased two masks one of Durga (Kali) the other of Indra who has thousands of eyes. It looked great on Cathy but will really wind up on our wall.
From there we went to see the work of a wood carver. No one bought anything, but the compound the extended family lived in was beautiful. The Balinese live in extended families in compounds. There are many individual small buildings in the compound, but there is always a temple that can be small or elaborate, a public space and a kitchen.

We returned to the hotel, I had a massage and then we headed out to a very fancy restaurant for a delicious French inspired dinner of all things. The setting outdoors was beautiful in the lush garden. It is also hot and humid late at night.

A Day at The Temples

We spent the morning visiting Hindu Temples. We first went to the Gunung Kawi Temple (the Elephant Temple). It is a very old temple. It features a cave that is very spooky. We went into it to see the ancient alters.

We then drove to the Tirta Empul -Temple of the Holy Springs. Here people come to give offerings to the Gods and take purification baths. It is a very beautiful setting.

We then drove up into the mountains to Kintamani volcano. It last blew-up in the 60’s. The black in the picture is where the lava flowed destroying people and houses. The sides of the mountains in many places are terraced into rice patties.
It is very scenic. We had lunch overlooking a particularly pretty terraced rice field.

It appears that there is a shrine with offerings of food or flowers at every house. The religion is deeply felt here.

We returned to town for shopping and a massage. Once we descended from the mountain it was very hot and humid. We are used to it. At least our skin likes it!

We started packing because we are moving to a different hotel but still staying in Ubud.

Bali Village Life

We drove to East Bali up into the mountains. We visited several remote villages where they do weaving. In Sidemen we walked through the village and went into peoples homes (which are really family compounds). There are offerings to the Gods everywhere, chicken, ducks, geese and the occasional cow walk around freely. It is very green and beautiful.

The ride itself is a delight. The vistas are incredible of rice patties, jungles and mountains. In the background is the mighty volcano which last blew up in 1964 killing many. We wonder how anything gets done here because the people seem to spend half their time takes flowers and offerings to the shrines that are everywhere.

We had lunch at a very fancy resort overlooking the water. We ate outside in the hot humid weather. The bathrooms however were air-conditioned and everyone made many trips to the bathroom just to cool off!

We then went to the village of Tenganan and saw more weaving. Once again the weavings were displayed in the home of the weaving family and we got a glimpse of how the Balinese people live.

We then drove back to the Hotel and went our for an excellent dinner. One of the interesting customs of the people is that at puberty both boys and girls have a rite of initiation called: tooth filing. They actually file the bottoms of their 6 front upper teeth flat. It looks good. Guess there are not a lot of orthodontists in Bali.

Textiles in Ubud

We got up a drove the short distance into the middle of Ubud. The street was blocked at one point and the locals had gathered for a celebration. Women were dressed up in costume and there was a marching band, etc. It was a nice thing to stumble upon.

We then went to Threads of Life. It is run by an amazing couple. It is both a business and a foundation. The foundation works with villagers to reclaim the traditional methods of weaving and dying. It is a very scholarly pursuit. The business side then sells the weavings. The villagers receive much more money because textiles done with natural dyes and traditional designs fetch far more money. The head of the foundation spent hours with us taking through the history of Indonesian textiles showing us many examples. It was extremely educational. The designs are different from island to island, tribe to tribe. We purchased a very nice wall hanging.

The group then went to lunch. I skipped out and went for a 45 minute foot massage! After lunch we went to the conservatory / research center of the Threads of Life Foundation. More textiles / more explanations. We then went to a few more shops.

We returned to the hotel and had a drink. On to dinner. One of the things we were wondering about at dinner was that we are in the middle of a jungle, it is very damp and humid and there are very few mosquitoes or bugs. You eat and drink outside in Bali. The owner explained that she plants lemon grass and other plants that keep the bugs away naturally.

Ubud, Bali (or Paradise Found)

We checked out of our hotel in Java and headed for the airport. We made one very interesting stop first. We visited the Pramanan Temple. This is a complex of Hindu Temples that were built between the 9th and 10th centuries. No one knows why they were abandoned.

They Temple complex is quite large with beautiful gardens. Java suffered a major earthquake in 2006 that killed hundreds and severely damaged the temple complex. Many of the temples can’t be entered, others you can go into. They are restoring the entire complex. It is very interesting to visit a Hindu complex set on a current day Muslim island. The Muslims respect the Hindu traditions and have incorporated the Ramayana and Mahabharata legends into their life. There once was a huge powerful Hindu nation based in Java - ruling today what would be all of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It has been reduced to the island of Bali.

We left Java and flew back to Bali and drove to the city of Ubud where we will spend the next 9 days. It is amazing leaving the Muslim island where most of the women cover their hair and to in less than an hour to fly to an island with almost no Muslim presence. As we drove to Ubud we passed Hindu Temple after Hindu Temple and statures to the gods dressed with cloth. We are driving into the mountains where all you see is green jungle or rice patties terraced on the hillside. This is the Bali that everyone dreams about. It is gorgeous. Ubud is like Carmel dropped into the middle of the jungle. It is full of shops and restaurants and massage parlors. Everything is nice nothing tacky here!

Our hotel: Komaneka at Bisma is beyond belief. I made a movie of it and if you click the link you can get an idea. It is straight of Architectural Digest. Brand new, all clean lines, has its own rice patties, and an unbelievable pool. The staff can’t do enough. After dinner Cathy and I had a massage. The massage room in Bali style is surrounded by water falls which combined with the sounds of the jungle make for a fabulous backdrop for the massage.

Solo

Our hotel room has a feature that I have never seen before, but must be common in Muslim Countries. On the ceiling is a marker pointing the direction to Mecca so that the people staying in the room can perform their prayers in the correct direction. The direction to Mecca is called Kiblat.

We drove to Solo which is also called Surakarta. When we got there we visited the palace of Mangkunegaran. The Crown Prince and the other princes still live in the palace. The palace is comprised of different buildings within the courtyard. They are all single story, however some of them are quite large and tall. They are built in the Java style with no walls just a high peaked roof to keep the rain off. The gardens are very green.

It is easy to have a beautiful garden if it is a tropical climate with high humid and very warm temperatures. We viewed the many Royal collections. They collect many things, guns, spears, rings and chastity belts. The chastity belts are for both men and women. Ouch!

We then drove to the market in the center of Solo. Huge covered market. It has poor ventilation. It appeared to have hundreds of stalls, selling mostly clothes. There were very few no Java people in the market and I am sure it is for the locals.

We returned to Yogyakarta, and Cathy and I had wine, then a massage, dinner and packed for our flight back to Bali and on to Ubud. We will be staying in Ubud for several days and checking out the surrounding areas.