Out of Time

Day 301
It was time for me to head back to Kuta, this was my last day in Indonesia. Once I was packed I checked out and took my scariest motorbike ride yet to the bus station. In no time I was back in Kuta.

I went back to the same hotel I had been to before. After dumping my things I headed to the beach to repeat my days of doing nothing. When I was tired with that I picked up some food and headed to my room to watch bootlegs for the rest of the night. This was not the most interesting way to finish my time in Indonesia, but I had fun doing it!

Temples of Doom

Day 300
The day before I had tried to book a tour to several sites in the area. All they wanted to do was give me a very expensive car tour when I just needed a guy to drive me around on a motorbike. There are tons of guys asking if you need transportation and I asked one of them to take me to the temples. It was just some guy on the street though and I had no idea if he would actually show up. I was surprised when over breakfast he came into the hotel, he was not only there, but early. I got myself together and in no time I was out the door.

The first place we stopped at was Goa Gajah, the elephant cave. This was proberly a buddhist hermatage a few hundred years ago. It's not large, but the carvings on the entrance to the cave are quite good. My driver decided to try and play guide, but he didn't speak much English and I wasn't able to figure out what he was telling me.

Next up was Yeh Pulu. This was a small temple with some interesting carvings on the rock wall. There was an old woman who decided that she wanted to point things out to me and to bless me with holy water from the well. Her top wasn't properly buttoned and she was falling out. She then told me to take a picture of her. Luckily she clasped her hands to her chest and covered herself up. I really didn't want there to be nudity on this blog, although it appears that there is quite a bit of it in Bali. Perhaps she should get together with the naked man from the day before.

Our third stop was Pora Penataran Sahih. This was meant to be a 2000 year old drum. It wasn't that good. In fact, if my driver hadn't pointed it out to me I would have walked right past it. Lonely Planet called my fourth stop, Gunung Kawi, "an astonishing group of stone shrines cut into the cliffs." That person has clearly never been to Petra. It was nice and picturesque, but mostly because it was set in a scenic valley with a lot of rice terraces. There is a mystery about why it was built, but I wouldn't call anything about it astonishing.

The last stop of the day was the best. Tirta Empul is a holy spring and temple complex dating from 926. There were about a dozen people bathing in the holy water. The temple was the most ornate one that I had been to all day.

During the walk back to the parking lot my driver confesed to me that after spending 4 hours with me and all the attention I get he could understand how people constantly asking if you want a transfer could get annoying. Perhaps he will stop doing it then!

When I got back I was famished and pretty gross, it was a really hot and sticky day. I went for lunch though before showering and taking an accidental nap. When I woke up I went to a few internet cafe's and actually managed to upload some pictures. After a while this got boring though so I went for dinner. The heat had snapped all of my energy and I fell asleep sho rtly after returning to my hotel.

Asses of Fire

Day 299

Balinese culture is quite different from the rest of Indonesia. This is mostly due to religion. Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country, however Bali is mostly Hindu. Ubud is the cultural center of Bali. I would have felt like I didn't do it justice if all I did was hang out at the beach.

I was picked up at my hotel at 8 am. Just minutes out of town we stopped at the most picturesque rice terrices that I have seen yet. There were two sides of it, only one having a look out. The family with the lookout used to get all of the money. The family on the otherside covered their fields in foil in protest. In the end the look out family decided to give them some of the money.

Our next stop was breakfast at a place overlooking a volcano. It was spectacular even if it was a bit cloudy. The banana pancakes weren't so bad either. I even liked the crazy looking spiky fruit that I had been putting off tryping.

Next up was a coffee plantation, this wasn't just any coffee though. Kuwak coffee was made here. Kuwaks are housecat sized wildcats that like coffee beans. After the beans pass through their digestive systems they are collected, washed and made into coffee. This is meant to be the best coffee in the world and is very expensive anywhere but here. I don't like coffee much myself, but I felt like it was my duty to try it. It was a bit granular, but other than that it was pretty good.

While at the coffee plantation we also had a fruit tasting. I liked the snakeskin fruit the best. We also learned that cows are kept as life insurance. Selling one can bring in about $9000, the same amount a funeral costs.

Next up was a bamboo weaving compound. The Balanese live in family compounds. Learning about this is much more interesting than learning about weaving. The Balanese live in an extended family situation. Each family has a walled compound. There are several small buildings inside, these consist of homes, workshops and even a temple. Our guide told us that his family was too poor to pay for education so he left home when he was 14 and went to Java. This was the first time he had been on a bus. He ended up working for a family in the morning and going to school in the afternoons. He had thought he was part of the family, but soon realized that he was little more than a slave. When he was finished highschool he took out a loan and worked at a hotel to pay for college. 17 years after he left Bal i he returned home. He has more brothers that our off studying, but there is no more room in the family compound and they are struggling to find a way to fit everyone in. Interestingly tv didn't come to Bali until 1981!

Besides weaving the family also raised chickens, some for cock fighting, pigs and ducks. The pigs were really cute.

By the time we had reached the compound we were riding bikes. Before our next stop a naked man went streaking across the street and waved to us. Our next stop was a wood working places. This is where all the cheezy tourist gifts are made as well as fake antiques to be sold to dummies. Next up was a temple that happened to be locked. Anyone can visit a temple as long as they are not unclean. Unclean people anyone with a recenlty and not yet burried family member, an open sore, or a woman on her period. The last one is annoying. I want to be culturaly sensitive, but if all I have is one chance to see something I won't let something that no one else can confirm stop me.

After a brief stop at a tree known as the rasta tree for its odd looking roots the ride got a bit hairy. It was almost all downhill and some of it was very downhill. The last part of the ride was optional and it was all incline, I opted to stay in the van. I was the only one at first, but one by one people began to drop out and join me in the van.

Lunch wasn't until almost 3 pm and I was famished. There were all sorts os Balanese foods to try. Duck, chicken, rice, curries and noodles. It was fabulous! The surrounding rice fields weren't too bad to look at either.

The last stop of the day was the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. This place if full of Balanese Macaques. There were about 300 here. People were feeding them bananas but I declined. I didn't want monkeys climbing on me. The other people in my group didn't mind though and I managed to get some good closeups.

After saying good bye and exchangeing info I headed back to my hotel. It was a bit of a walk and I was exhusted and in desperate need of a shower. When this was done I spent a couple of hours uploading photos before heading to the Jazz Cafe. This is apparently the only thing going on in town here. It's a pity I hadn't found it the night before. I spend the evening writing in my journal and listening to live music.

Even though the walk back to my hotel wasn't far it was rather hairy. There were a lot of dogs and they all wanted to bar very loudly at me. I was sure one of them would bite me, but they all kept their distance. I guess their bark was worse than their bite!

Hey, It's my Birthday!

Day 298

I could have continued doing nothing for another week, however my Indonesian visa was ticking away and I knew that there were some things I would be unhappy to miss. It was time to go. My biggest hesitation was that it was my birthday and I was headed to a place with no nightlife. The day time sites won out and at 9 am I was on a bus to Ubud.

Once in Ubud it took me about 5 minutes to find a place to stay. The price was right and was actually just as attractive as it was in the pictures. The only problem was there there wasn't a tv and I had more bootlegs to watch.

I spent the afternoon checking out the town. It was very small but there were loads of temples and a rather dirty fountain. Everything was surronded by rice paddies. There were offerings by the dozens outside each building. I learned later on that these were to keep the local volcano from erupting. Some rather cute monkeys had gotten into some of them. During my wanderings I also managed to book a tour for the next day and get a facial.

For diner that night I had crab cakes and a steak sandwich. It was pretty yummy. The best part of the day was talking to my parents. I've grown used to homesickness and missing everyone in the same way you get used to any daily annoyance. Homesickness is annoying, not the people, just to be clear. The holidays (I consider my birthday a holiday) have been a bit tougher and the emails from friends and chatting with my parents really helped.

After a bit more time on the internet I headed back to my hotel. There wasn't really anywhere else to go. This wasn't the best birthday ever, but it was a hell of a lot better than last years and I'm sure that the next one will be even better!