Indonesia 2010

Tuesday19October

Before leaving Lovina, we get up at dawn to sail amidst the dolphins.

I hope it will be as good as facing the whale in Argentina! Especially since we will be on the fishermen's jukungs at sunrise.

Alas, it will be quite the opposite...   About fifty boats are there to approach the dolphins. What am I saying? Approach? No! Chase!!! A priori, no regulation governs these sea outings, and the dolphin, usually curious, keeps diving and diving again to flee the inquisitive engines of the pirogues...
Let's hope that in the near future, all this will calm down and that fishermen will come to their senses to organize more peaceful and respectful approaches to cetaceans...

Anyway, that being said, we didn't know what awaited us and were still able to enjoy the sunrise...
And the dolphins in all this? We only saw their dorsal fins fleetingly...  

Christelle skimming the water above the sea of Bali!  

Last little tour in our Lovina hotel...

Magnificent heliconia pendula surround us (more precisely heliconia rostrata or parrot's beak).

The hotel offerings that morning  

Here we are in Bedugul where there are few places to stay cheaply.
For want of anything better, we put our bags in this "losmen" run by the reassuring "Indian Joe" as we will nickname him (cf. Tom Sawyer...)  

Losmen are former family residences converted into guesthouses.

Jo the Indian... 

Calabashes

A few minutes walk away, on the edge of Lake Bratan, is the Hindu/Buddhist temple Pura Ulun Danu Bratan.

In Bali, you can't miss a ceremony! Often organized according to the lunar calendar, they are the occasion to celebrate a God, an ancestor, a family event... in short, everything is a pretext for a party, and this in respect of traditions.

So here we cross a whole procession of men, women and children in traditional costumes.

The umbrella, symbol of protection.

This temple is dedicated to the water goddess Dewi Danu, one of the most important Balinese deities.

Typical. These temples are called "meru" with their roofs stacking up like Matryoshka dolls.
On this one, bamboo scaffolding has been set up for work.

Eagle, panther, fish... Hindu meaning or a friend of Takashi Murakami and Jeff Koons who passed by???  

A Stupa, Buddhist touch of this Hindu temple...

Lunch break in the local "bistro"...  

the local "garage"...  

Baby-sitter or Grandpa-sitter? In Bali, surely both at the same time!

Kebun Raya Eka Karya, the city's botanical garden.

Nearly 155 ha and thousands of plant species.

Here, we are in the area reserved for large ferns

On the right, a young sprout in a fiddlehead of at least 1 meter in height.

On the right, a young sprout in a fiddlehead of at least 1 meter in height.

End of the day in the streets of Bedugul

Wednesday20October

This morning, we leave Bedugul and Jo the Indian's two dogs!  

We arrive in Ubud, Bali's so-called artistic city. We will stay there for 4 days.
After finding a hotel (with a pool, we can't do without it anymore!), we have lunch in this small restaurant with its small stilt terrace and its rice field view. No mistake, we are indeed in Bali, the postcard landscapes are truly here... 

Right in the middle of the city, an entire forest of monkeys (macaques).

For the monkeys' personal amusement, humans are introduced into their immediate environment. It's a success! Although...  

A cemetery is reserved for them...

Like those in the Lovina region, these are long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis).

The forest is somewhat developed, notably with these two stone monitor lizards.

The wise monkeys: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

In the Hindu religion, the Monkey has its God: Hanuman.

We leave the Monkey Forest for the streets of Ubud, taking care to avoid the offerings placed here and there (well, it's inevitable, sometimes you step on them  )

The Balai Banjar Kelod, a theater where Balinese dance performances take place.

Balinese dance, we couldn't escape it! To move away from the traditional Hindu-inspired dance, we chose a "Kecak" performance where one of the actors is fire!

The Kecak (pronounced "Ketchak") is a Balinese vocal percussion choir originally accompanying trances during rituals. [...] For this, they continuously chant the distinctive "chak-a-chak-a-chak" and make synchronized movements around the various protagonists.[...] The rhythm is provided by one of the choir singers.
© Wikipedia

The ritual is concluded by one of the dancers extinguishing the fire with his feet! 

An excerpt from the Kecak. Don't watch until the end! It lasts 10 minutes like that!!!

Thursday21October

Breakfast on the room's balcony while downstairs, a Balinese woman scatters petals and offerings along the pool. Thank you!  

A few scooters to remind me of the two-wheeler traffic jams in Hanoi!  

We stumble upon this restaurant in one of the alleys. We will be royally received. Normal, there's only one table!!! 

Dish preparation right next door.

Rice, tomatoes, pork. Excellent!!!

360° while eating........ Well, why not!!??

It's not because I don't talk about it that it's not there! And yes, the gecko is never far away

Just a few steps outside the streets and you'll find yourself in a magnificent rice field landscape!

The meticulous work of the cultivators. Stalk by stalk, the rice plants are pushed into the flooded earth.

This wide-brimmed saturno suits you perfectly, sir! 

On the way, Christelle, badminton player  , drags us by chance into a gymnasium where a small local badminton tournament is being played! That's good, badminton is a national sport in Indonesia!

Back in town. The distant sound of an orchestra leads us through the door of a music school

It is a "gamelan", a traditional Indonesian instrumental ensemble.

A little further on, we come across a large procession where different groups follow one another.
Music, parasols, offerings, everything unfolds in good spirits!

Puri Saren Agung, the palace of the royal family of Ubud! This "house" belongs to the descendants of the last king of the city Tjokorda Gede Agung Sukawati (1910-1978).

Friday22October

Today, we're heading to the start of our next mountain bike ride!

On the way, this magnificent amphitheater of terraced rice fields 

We stop at an orchard that also roasts coffee.

Bamboo crane

Wood-fired roasting.

Some exotic animals are kept here. On the left, two giant bats hidden in their palm leaf cage...

And off we go for about thirty kilometers between Buahan in the north and Tusan in the south.
Barely started, the rain arrives and forces us to put on the traditional tourist costume for a walk ..... Fortunately, it will be short-lived!!! 

The ride is very pleasant and allows us to cross villages far from the hustle and bustle of big cities

It's noon and the schoolchildren are going home.

At the foot of the revered tree, this man asks for protection by placing offerings.

A "snake fruit" yes "fruit of the serpent"...

A cyclist photographer! It's an unexpected opportunity to make funny faces in front of his camera!  

The bike ride finished, we return by car towards Ubud... That was without counting on a flat tire... The bike patches won't be enough...

Fortunately, everything is planned, the restaurant is just 100 meters further... 

We will spend the afternoon strolling in Ubud, cut short by the island's heavy daily rains...

In the evening, we meet our lizard and gecko friends in a city restaurant.
Moreover, giant cockroaches (yes, really) will also invite themselves... 
To my greatest despair, not only do they move at the speed of light but they also fly! (I fainted 3 times just writing these lines...)  The waitress may run everywhere in the restaurant with her broom, nothing will help, the cockroach is a thousand times superior to humans in the art of evasion... 

A typical Indonesian dish: satay, chicken skewers served with peanut sauce.

Saturday23October

For this last day in Ubud, it's rafting! We treat ourselves to a bit of bumping around in one of the island's rivers. Between the "Boom boom" and the "forward forward" from the zodiac leader, we brilliantly avoid the (very small) rocks!  

A short trip to the market in a small town a few kilometers from Ubud.

Chess players, very numerous in Bali.

Express making of a small palm leaf basket...

The market after a light rain.

Tomorrow, we pack our bags to reach the coastal town of Amed not far from the gigantic Agung volcano!