Bali III

On our last day in Bali we still had the whole morning to add to our sunburns. But the coral reef and fish in there were too tempting for not to go in for a last glimpse. So did that as our Life in Amed routine, packed up, had lunch at Sails one more time and off we were. As our flight was late night we had time to explore some more on the way back to the airport. Our first stop was at Besakih temple. The driver had warned that it will be very busy because there was a special ceremony going on. And indeed it took us ages to get there but the road was spectacular - again winding up steep hills and some scary looks down into deep gorges, beautiful rice paddies, lush greenery. At one point we had 3 trucks in front of us and were creeping uphill at 5 km/h. But we made it finally. Balinese religion is hinduism but their temples and ceremonies are quite different from the traditional Indian ones. Besakih is considered the mother temple. It sits high up on the hills and the views are spectacular. It is also a bit cooler up there. It was very busy indeed. There were busloads coming down when we went up but still people arriving as well. The parking lots looked like rubbish tips and from there it was a good km uphill walk to get to the temple past people trying to sell us sarongs (you have to wear one to go inside), offering guided tours and motorbike rides uphill. There were people coming down and going up, all prettily dressed in traditional costumes, carrying bamboo boxes with fruit and other foodstuffs on their heads. People coming down still had the boxes, so they probably just have them blessed in a ritual and take back home instead of leaving at the temple as offering. The complex consists of 22 temples and there were thousands of people. Some wanted to take photos with our kids but the boys were too shy. It was quite a drive and quite a walk but so worth it. To see all this hustle and bustle, smell the incense burning, hear the sounds of bells, drums and chanting and enjoy the view down the rooftops of the temple and far away to the horizon was quite an experience.

From there we took a shortcut to one of the volcanoes and the biggest lakes on Bali - lake Batur and a volcano with the same name. We had great views as the road passed the lake high up on the hillsides. Also looked at the volcano from far away, could still see the lava on one side, it blew up last time only ca 40 years ago and apparently you can sometimes see smoke  coming up. None when we were there though, just clouds covering the sides. As the guidebook said the vendors up there were all quite fierce and aggressive, not very nice.

It got more and more busy on the way to town and airport. we wanted to look at some furniture but managed just one shop - probably the most expensive in Bali as the only other visitors apart from us were Russians. In general, just as in Vietnam there were a lot of Russian tourists especially in south Bali's expensive resorts. Didn't see any in Amed (too cheap for them!). Even signs in Russian and heard some indonesian tour guides speaking Russian too.

Bali II

Life in Amed was the total opposite of Hyatt - 8 bungalows by the beach, very laid back and quiet, no phone in the room, not to mention a broadband connection. There was a TV though in one bedroom but as we had warned Karl that there won't be one at all, we didn't exactly show it to him to see how he will cope a few days without his beloved Ben 10 series. Just on the last day a few minutes before we left we suddenly "discovered" the TV. He was not too upset.

The villa was lovely and spacious right by the beach. With open air balinese shower and from the toilet we could admire the coconut and papaya trees of the neighbors. And listen to the sounds of their chicken and pigs! They were all eager to make friends and sell their services of course. So on the first whole day we took a boat trip with Bobo to a neighboring bay to snorkel around an old japanese shipwreck. The trip was lovely and snorkeling very good although the current was a bit too strong for the kids to go on their own. So we took them with us in turns and the boys had life jackets on. There were quite a few divers at the site as well. Raoul was later a bit upset about the divers and kept telling that they are the bad guys and take the fish. In the end we figured out that he associated them with the diver in "Nemo"! So tried to explain that they don't really all take little fish babies and are not bad guys at all. Must have been a fascinating sight for the kids - all that gear and bubbles going up etc.

For lunch we decided to explore the village. It turned out to be probably the most remote and rural place we've ever been to. Apart from our hotel there were only fishermen's huts, a bike repair shop, a little shop that sold water and sweets and a schoolhouse. And lots of friendly people greeting and smiling. A few minutes walk outside the village we discovered a very nice restaurant on to of the hill - "Sails". Looked very mediterranean - whitewashed, very simple straight lines, kitchen behind a big window, nice breeze and fantastic views over the bay. And the food was great and cheap - the most expensive dish on the menu - beef tenderloin - cost just as much as an orange juice in Hyatt! Also they had great Sumatran coffee. So we went there for every lunch because we enjoyed it so much. Grilled mahi-mahi in banana leave - yummi! Didn't quite dare to take the walk with kids in the darkness though with many motorbikes on the curvy road. 

Next day we decided to try the snorkeling in our bay and it turned out to be the best of all! Just had to swim out 10 - 20 meters and there was the coral reef with amazing fish life. A bit further out we found fantastic coral forests of huge structures and all kinds of shapes. Saw a lot of different kinds of butterfly fish, parrotfish, some squid, boxfish and many many others that we couldn't quite identify in the book. Beatrice did proper snorkeling, boys swam out with Robert using their goggles. Just had to watch out for the fishing boats when they returned. Sea was calm and quiet and I could have stayed there for the whole day. I find it totally amazing that there can be something like that under the sea surface! Lift your head and there is just water, stick your head under and a different world. Just the sun got very hot and we managed to get the "snorkeling sun burn" on the back of legs! So had to seek shade for a while. Kids splashed in the hotel pool for a change and it was all very relaxing. In the afternoon the brother of a hotel receptionist took us to the neighboring village to his restaurant and shop. There was a bit more civilization in that village - dive shop, internet cafe, more restaurants and shops in general. And black volcanic sand. Boys went for a swim with some little local boys while Robert enjoyed a massage. Then while the kids had dinner I had a massage. It was quite interesting to talk to the lady as well. It turned out to be a great family business of brothers and cousins - one has the shop, one has the restaurant, all extended family lives and works there together. Both she and her husband and his brother were called Made. And our driver on the way back as well. It has something to do with being the second child but then I don't quite understand how could two brothers both be considered second children and called by the same name. 

Bali

We have been back from Bali for a few days already but so far no time to sit down and write it all down in peace and quiet. Now a lazy Sunday afternoon - Robert in the gym, Raoul napping, Beatrice and Karl at the playground, so I'd better take the chance.

It was a great trip and I am happy about the way we put it together - using recommendations of two very different neighbor families. Stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua (South Bali) for the first two nights - a huge luxury resort of 600 + rooms, like a town in itself with 5 or 6 restaurants and pools and a long sandy beach. There was a spa, night market, shops etc. In the room Raoul discovered a "sauna" - a walk in closet with a bamboo suitcase shelf! We just relaxed and enjoyed the facilities there, mostly the water slide and river-like pool with an occasional plunge into the "penguin pool" with 12-14 C water when the nordic genes kicked in! In spite of the resort being huge apart from breakfast we never saw lots of people. Kids spent an hour in the kids club and were the only ones there while we had the huge nice gym just to ourselves at the same time. No idea where everyone else was (probably still digesting their buffet breakfast). In the evening headed for Jimbaran beach for a famous seafood dinner with sunset. Great food and views and dance performances.

Then the next day we travelled to other parts of Bali to see the real life. Like anywhere in SE Asia traveling time is long even for small distances - to get the 50 km to Ubud, the art capital, took us nearly 2 hours. So had to start canceling other potential stops! Roads are busy or very narrow and curvy. Lucky we had hired a car with a driver. If self driving we would still be lost somewhere. Ubud is very famous as an artists colony. There are palaces and temples and museums. All colorful and pretty. We had lunch at the Lotus cafe that is next to a pond (full of lotus plants) and a temple. Very pretty setting. All in all though I found it a bit too touristy with lots of selling and pushing going on. Couldn't take two steps without offers for taxi rides or something to buy. 

We headed further east for what seemed like hours passing pretty sights and landscapes and more temples and stopped at an original balinese village at Tenganan. Apparently a lot of people who live on Bali today are actually from Java, so just a few areas of the "natives". That was more rural and quiet. Just a few visitors although the village these days seems to make a living of tourists - selling the cloth that they weave there and more souvenirs. Their Ikat cloth patterns are quite interesting - reminded us actually of finno-ugric patterns. One cloth that I looked at had white snowflakes on blue background! The shop lady could not understand when I tried to explain that it looks like snow. Obviously. Quite sobering after 5 star luxury to see how real balinese live - cattle and chickens and dogs all around. We saw a lot of colorful cocks in cages waiting for their turn in fights and saw an actual cock fight as well. Some of them have dyed feathers - pretty in pink. Kids ran after chick, made friends with a puppy and a monkey. Then after another long drive through more rural areas and dramatic landscapes with roads winding up the hillsides with hundreds of meters of steap drops, rice paddies, sea views we finally reached the east coast and Amed already in darkness. 

To be continued ...

Have been caught in serious tropical thunderstorms two days in a row now, really silly not to learn. The weather is getting hotter and that brings quite extreme afternoon rains. Yesterday with kids while waiting for taxi and today on my own on Orchard Road after yoga class - I was so soaked as if I had jumped into the pool.

Beatrice has school holidays now for nearly 3 weeks, boys are at school. Today she went to friends house and tomorrow another friend is coming over. Easter will not be a big deal as Robert will still be working every day until the 15th. Then on 16th we will head to Bali for a short break. He will probably collapse after having had to get up 5.30 every morning since months with no day off. In fact last Monday he never even came home because they had to run tests on the rig until 5.30 am! Then had a short nap onboard and a new meeting at 7.

We have already had an Easter party with Beatrice's class and parents and siblings and that was very nice - on two classmates' condo with pool and BBQ and great egg hunt, face painting, egg painting etc. Karl was very good at egg hunt and highly motivated after he saw a boy draw a Ben 10 toy from the gift emporium. Unfortunately he didn't get anything Ben 10 related and was very upset about it for a while.  It was way after dark that we got home, so missed the earth hour at 8.30 completely.

The kids have been going to the pool a lot more now that it is warmer and all have improved so much. (In fact they are in the pool now and I am sitting here with the laptop - wifi reaches just far enough!) Karl can swim the whole length now unaided and Raoul is nearly there as well. All locals are amazed because their kids all have to take swimming lessons. But then they don't come down when it is "too cold", someone has a runny nose, too windy, too sunny or anything else really ...

I had a new experience last week - Beatrice's friend's mum is setting up a Reiki practice and she did a session on me. I had never experienced it before and it was quite strange. I started seeing all sorts of colors with closed eyes and in the end drifted off into half sleep with lots of dreams going on. Funnily when she reached my throat area she said there is a very strong voice of a women's rights activist on the right side. She didn't know anything much about my background or political involvements in the past. She claims the voice is still there although it has been very quiet for the last 10 years... at least publicly. It is a bit like psychotherapy except that she doesn't tell much and all issues that someone has come up from inside and start to shift. It left me very deeply relaxed and kind of in a protective bubble for a few days. I guess in the daily life we are so preoccupied with the reality that we don't even take time off to reflect on it not to mention the bigger picture. So have a go if you get a chance!

Dark side of sunny Singapore

This place still has some surprises left, it appears. Only yesterday I learned from a newspaper that Singapore doesn't use caning only in prisons as I had assumed until now but also in schools! In the news about criminal cases I have read that one part of the punishment quite often is caning -  a few strokes, I think maximum I have seen probably 6. Yesterday there was a letter in the paper about caning in a primary school. It happened in year 6, so the kid was about 11 years old. His offence - had chased and hit another boy who didn't want to give him his password for an online game. The caning took place in front of the whole class apparently with the consent of the offenders parents. To make matters worse the schools "discipline master" went into detail to describe the canes used in Jakarta prison stating that those were 4 times as thick as the one he was using at this school. Robert has talked to a former cane-master (turned taxi driver) who elaborated that most people who get this punishment choose the thinnest cane which is a mistake because it hurts a lot more than the thick one. I am almost speechless after this. I knew that the local schools value discipline highly and inquiring minds are not encouraged. The kids are loaded with mechanical homework and are not expected to ask too many questions. But this kind of physical punishment in the 21st century in a place like Singapore that looks so modern and western is quite unbelievable. And there they go wondering why their excellent school system doesn't produce creative spirits and sharp minds.

To keep it cultural - on Sunday we went to a theatre performance with the kids which was great fun. Together with Leenu and Ingrid. The play was in the old parliament which is a beautiful building from the colonial times. The chamber is just like it used to be, set up like the British parliament, so we sat in big leather armchairs facing each other with actors sort of in the middle. The chairs even had the names of the ministers of a former Singaporean government written on them. The play was by a group from Vancouver about trolls who were retelling and re-enacting some stories of HC Andersen. The trolls were huge and were wearing scary masks (Raoul probably had nightmares that night) but the play was very good - very interactive and involved the audience. One of the trolls while playing prince grabbed Beatrice and they danced around, Leenu was picked to be the "mechanical nightingale" with a costume and everything. The girls really enjoyed it and the boys had fun as well.

Then as if Saturday wasn't enough we went back to the Art museum so that Ingrid and Leenu could also see the Korean exhibition. The rest of the day was a play day for the girls at Leenu's. Boys had a good afternoon devoted to Lego and were incredibly well behaved for a very long time - proving the point of Ingrid's husband that 3 kids is easy-peasy!

On Monday we had another theatre performance with the boys in the morning. Went together with a neighbor - probably the part the boys enjoyed most - driving a big jeep. The play was nice but more for a bit younger kids, quite short, no text at all, lots of gadgets and lights. A bit like teletubby humor. 

All these theatre and museum visits gave me a bad cold that I have been fighting the whole week. On Tuesday the boys went to play at their Korean friends house and I went to yoga hoping that would help me with the cold but it only got worse. However we were so lucky as Yeo Yoo's mum treated us to a great Korean lunch and being as generous and kind as Korean friends always, packed for us doggy bags with bulgogi and chapche that Robert enjoyed so much the next day.

Cultural weekend

We started off very culturally on Saturday - there was a Korean modern art exhibition in the Art Museum with a special event on that day. The kids joined the arts competition, tried on Korean national dress. There was a music performance and various displays that we enjoyed. To my big surprise however the actual exhibition turned out to be the biggest hit - not really an obvious combination - kids and modern art. But there were so many interesting pieces in that exhibition that we all really enjoyed it. Of course comments like - is that art? it is just a square!? One artist had 4 real size people portraits that looked like paintings from far away but turned out to be negative reliefs - which meant that when walking past them, it looks like the people in the pictures are moving with the viewer. Really cool - and we walked at least 10 times. Also quite fascinating were the digital pictures by another artist - he used traditional Korean landscape or bamboo motives on LCD screens that changed all the time. The weather, time of the day, even time long term. One of them looked like the skyline of Hong Kong with mountains in the background and boats in the front and then after a while from the fog appeared skyscrapers lit up in the night. The picture next to it was similar but with a small island and a temple on it. This one also changed so that all of a sudden there appeared a city of high rise buildings behind the mountains. Also the small fishing boats sailed from one picture into the other. Really fantastic! Then there was a whole big wall of colorful tiles with all sorts of object stuck to them, toys among them, so it was great for the kids to look for different objects that they recognized. Another great work was a glass floor with thousands of small people holding it up while standing very close to each other. We liked it so much and as it was the last weekend of the exhibition, sent messages to many friends and urged them to go and see it.

After the exhibition there was Korean food as well. And to complete the very Korean day boys had taekwondo class straight after!