White Water Rafting in Bali!

If you can imagine, on the LAST day my parents were here we WENT RAFTING!!! (which, as it turns out, is now over a month ago!)

Literally, less than five hours before they took flight for home, we were pulling up to the finish point in our rubber raft on the Ayung River in the central mountains of Bali!

It was a riot, and the thought was that if they got totally tired out, they might actually get to sleep on the plane home... unfortunately I don't think that went quite as planned... although exhaustion and muscle-soreness were definite effects (and not just for those travelling)! Luckily it wasn't the rainy season, and the river was quite calm... although that's not to say there weren't a few hair-raising sections!



But we enjoyed meandering through some of the most beautiful gorges in Bali, and even more-so with the lack of the noise from motor traffic which is hard to escape anywhere else!




And we were treated to kilometers of unique artwork - carvers, with a lack of wood to carve in Bali, took to the rock walls of the river gorges! We even saw one group of stone carvers in action, and praised their work.





We even got in for a *cool, yet refreshing dip, and massage under the waterfall!




I'm pretty sure my parents aren't sixty - at least they don't act like it!

Kalabia Conservation Education Vessel
Raja Ampat, Papua

This is a little pet project I have been working on for the program... and I even figured out how to embed it into my blog! You may be asked to install the Google Earth Plugin in order to see the content. After it loads, you will be transported to Raja Ampat, and guided on a tour with the Kalabia... it takes about five minutes. Let me know what you think! Oops... a few technical errors in SIZE!!! Oh well, I will have to find a different format with which to expose this I guess...


you can see it a little better here... http://kalabiaeducation.blogspot.com
but there still seems to be a problem with the pictures... hmmm... can you tell, I'm no computer programmer???

Bali Bits and Pieces

Well, after putting together several blogs from the month my parents were here, I felt like there were several odds n' sods that didn't fit into earlier posts, and didn't really warrant posts on their own.


We rented this scooter for the last few days of their visit... and actually it's probably a good thing we didn't get it sooner, since we would've missed dad's company most times! He went around the whole island for miles and miles!!!




... this was actually the only time that mom was on it...



Another theme which became ubiquitous with out road-tripping and an attempted photography subject was 'things on bikes'... motorcycles are the method of movement of the masses in Indonesia... but they don't just move people... they move EVERYTHING! Check out my previous post about this in general, as this phenomenon does warrant its own post!




The Tana Lot Trip...

... blew dad's mind away! He said that he was in complete and total shock... when he was here there was only one small warung , and a dirt path to the site!


Now, well... this still isn't high-season, and just look at the hoards:




But it's still beautiful, and you can see why this is considered one of the most holy sites for Balinese Hindu.




Martin was checking out the waves as possible body boarding site...



... and we even saw the 'holy snake', although this ISN'T him!

...Back to the family vacation...

Eastern Loop

Our last trip away from home was to the Eastern-part of Bali... probably the area least-visited on the island.

We definitely took the scenic route on the first day of our trip, winding through the central mountain region, and ended up staying the first night on the road just south of Padang Bai (a major port in Bali) in Mimba Village. Deciding that the homestay listed in the guide book with an addendum* like this was right up our alley, that's where we headed! **'secluded on a black sand beach - if you want real peace and quiet, this is the place to be'!



...and it was! We had a lovely evening, with nice company, and a 'classic' dinner of grilled fresh fish, cap cay (veggie stir-fry) and rice... and of course, lots of sambal (spice)! The rooms themselves were a bit dodgy, but at least the lighting was poor enough that you couldn't really see just how dodgy! At least mom and dad got to experience having a real cold-water 'mandi' (showering with a scoop) at least once!

Getting to said homestay was a bit of an unsure process, and we think ours might have been the only car down the road in quite some time! But we made it.



Another beautiful East-coast Bali beach... this one is actually a little closer to home, and a spot Martin often goes surfing at.




Anyway, our tour carried on up the East Coast via several beautiful sites...

Another Water Garden Temple, whose spring is the source of holy water for the region. We enjoyed the tiered gardens, and the lily pad meditative stepping stones through the fish pond (all I could meditate on was 'holy SHIT, those are some BIG fish!')!






A King's Water Palace at Ujung...




(a beautiful setting for having wedding photos taken, like this couple!)







We ended up in the Amed area, most appropriately, we think, at a set of cottages called Good Karma.




On our rustic little porches we enjoyed fresh young coconut with lemon gin, while watching the millions of ants go about their lives oblivious to our presence, and a Balinese family celebrating their daughter's six month temple celebration.




The small black sand bays of the entire area are filled to over-flowing with small colourful jukung fishing boats.




We came back through the central mountains again, and on our way, passed the scenic high-altitude Lake Batur...




... and many beautiful rice paddy terraces.

Hash Hurts...

Last Thursday afternoon, I was partaking in my usual Thursday afternoon activity (running through forests and up and down ravines and wading through rivers) when I had a most unfortunate (and really f%&*$#@ painful) occurrence: I sprained my ankle. And here I thought us forest nymphs and sea sprites were immune to such things! As luck would have it, there were only 2 kms left of the 12 km trail, so I proceeded to 'walk it off' for the last bit (the section through the unstable bunds of the rice paddys, of course)!




The first night was the killer, and at one point in the night Martin accidentally brushed it, and I swear I woke up the entire neighbourhood with a blood-curdling scream! Anyway, I am rapidly on the mend, and hope to be all better by the time I have to head to Papa this week!

At least the unfortunate and painful experience wasn't getting bitten by the bright green snake I almost stepped on during a previous run through the forest (which I later found out to be a green pit viper, seriously dangerous, and possibly deadly)! I think he recognized the forest nymph in me, which obviously the loose rock I tripped over the other day did not! Anyway, had he not recognized a kindred spirit, that may have had a different ending...

Bali Bird Park

Last weekend I went with my friend Lisa to the Bali Bird Park. She was checking it out to write an article about it, and asked me to go along as her photographer!

Although I certainly have some misgivings in general about zoos and such, it was an interesting place. The day we were there, the lush grounds were swarming with hundreds of kindergarten kids! It's good to see the exorbitant entrance fee for foreigners is subsidizing the local kids to come and learn about all these incredible birds... because if you've ever been to the bird markets around Indonesia, you know there are few of them left in the wild!


















Although I have been lucky enough to see this beautiful and endangered Bird of Paradise in it's home on Waigeo Island in Raja Amptat!




This Komodo was a little constipated on the day of our visit...



... and this is the team of veterinarians and animal keepers that de-constipated him. I don't think I'd want to be that close to his venemous saliva!

Ubud and Environs...

We spent several days in and around Ubud, the town which is known as the 'cultural center' of Bali, when my parents were here. One of the neatest events during that time was a reunion between my dad and an old friend (and now, Batuan one of the most famous artists in Bali) that he lived with on his first visit to Bali in 1971.




The other truly magical experience, was when we happened into the Ubud palace to find hundreds of kids taking local dance lessons...




This little guy was absolutely incredible... he had all the motions, and facial expressions down to a 't'.




You can see why the Balinese dancing is so refined - because ALL Balinese learn the tradition from the time they can walk! In the evening, we went to a spectacular performance of the traditional Barong dance, by a well-known group which was lead by on of Batuan's sons.






...and the next night were treated to a very well-done fire dance.



On one of our shopping trips, mom bought a set of fabulous red bags which were made 'just for her'!?! They actually read "Jo (heart) Bali"!!! (Ok, it's supposed to read "I"... )


I actually don't think this next picture is from Ubud, however, these ceremonial processions typify a scene from our road trips around Bali.




Ok... I'm sorry there aren't many stories accompanying these pictures... I'm trying to get caught up with it all right now!

Elephant Gallivant

My mom thinks maybe I was on an elephant once when I was a little kid at a Circus or something... but I don't remember it...

A couple weeks ago, we went for an elephant ride with a few friends! We weren't actually planning to go, because we thought we would do a real elephant trek during our trip to Thailand... but we don't know when/if that's going to happen, so we seized this opportunity!

It was a blast! Mostly because of the motley crew that we were... with Sari being our fearless, yet fashion-full leader! When we arrived at her house, she ushered us into her closet to 'dress up' for our elephant experience... she had just arrived home from Jakarta, which meant she had been shopping for elephant-riding outfits - matching, of course! For Martin and I, t-shirts that said "love him forever"// "love her forever"... awwww so cute! And sun-dresses for the three ladies.

Dressed in style, we met our 'rides' for the next couple hours...


... and we were off!



Elephants are not native to the island of Bali. The elephants at this site are orphans which are rescued from dire conditions in Sumatera, and brought here to 'recover'. Without an undercover investigation, I obviously couldn't confirm... but each Mahout (elephant driver/carer) really has a tight bond with 'their' elephant, and they seem happy enough - who wouldn't be happy living in Bali!?!










Luckily our elephants behaved themselves - unlike these poor folks!




The "Elephant Camp" actually also had several other orphans on-site:
A baby bear from Sumatera



And a Javanese Gibbon...




Martin couldn't help but notice the similarity in the size of the elephant dung and a soccer ball!




After our elephant experience, we went back to Sari's palace to play some more! The attempts on the tandem bicycle were ultimately successful...



... and we played in the pool, which was delightfully cool (because of the higher altitude, i guess)...



It was just a fabulous day!