Ubud - till we meet again

June 3, Wednesday

Today everyone in the group returns to the US but each on different flights.  Scott and I have the morning to enjoy at the hotel before leaving at 1pm for a 4pm flight from Denpasar to Hong Kong.  The easy part about packing to return home is that you just have to shove it all in.  No worries about folding or finding.  Just cram it in.  So with that done, I went for my final expedition to the spa (ahhhh) to have a foot massage.  In the meantime Scott went to the pool and checked out and we met for a bite to eat before departure. 

It took exactly one hour to get from Ubud to the airport in Denpasar.  Our Cathay Pacific flight took off at 4pm and arrived in Hong Kong at around 8:30.  This gave me just enough time for a return visit to Muji To Go (@ Gate 61 in the international terminal) and a shower and change in the Business Class Lounge.  Our next flight left Hong Kong a bit late due to stormy weather.   We were supposed to take off at midnight but when I woke up we were still on the runway at 2am.  We had a brief layover in Vancouver, confined to a small transfer lounge for about an hour, and then departed for JFK.  We arrived in New York at 7am on Thursday June 4. 

The weather today is cool and rainy – quite a jolt from the warm steamy weather of Bali - and not the transition back home that we’d hoped for.  I've spent most of the day finishing up my Bali journal (aka the blog) because I had considerable difficulty getting internet access the last few days of the trip.  

I'd also like to say a special thanks to Chee Choy of Jalan Jalan Asia (and Barbara Eiswerth) who worked so hard to work out the logistics of our trip and to ensure that our diverse needs were met.   Also thanks go to Ariawan for his tireless driving and unending good humor.  And to Kevin Barnes who, among other virtues, inspired us all to take better photographs.  Lastly, thanks go to Jill Heppenheimer and Barbara Lanning of the Santa Fe Weaving Gallery for cooking up the idea for our textile adventure to Indonesia in the first place.  

Indigo Batik and More Fichot!

June 2, Tuesday

By this morning we were ready to get back into the van and visit our last textile center in the village of Pejeng, run by Pak Tjok Agung Pemayun, known as Pak Tjok.  This center is a more contemporary (in terms of design, not technique) indigo batik studio. 

Before settling in at the hotel for the afternoon I had to return to town quickly to pop into the JF Fichot shop again to check to see if any new deliveries had arrived.  Because it’s almost impossible to get his work in the US, those of us who’d become quite fond of the work simply had to know.  Then I dashed back to the hotel in time for my 1 pm 90 min relaxation massage.  Met Scott at the spa-side pool for a light lunch (how wonderful is this) since we knew we’d have a large farewell dinner this evening.

Our dinner as at the same restaurant we’d been to on the first night – the one with two-for-one mojitos.  Had a bit of excitement because ½ way through our meal all the lights in Ubud went out.  But candles arrived and dinner was even more attractive than before.  C&C had an adventure during dinner.  Choy arrived in a batik shirt from Threads of Life and they decided they had to have one for each of them (I asked them to pick up one for Scott too).  In the middle of their transaction at the very small shop, the electricity went out, as did the credit card machines. 

We’re going to really miss Ubud.  Prolonged our evening with drinks at the hotel bar.  We simply had to enjoy the croaks of the frogs just a little while longer.  This has been an enchanted trip and I truly hate to see it end.

Aaahhh, to be Herbally Pounded

June 1, Monday

Today everyone in the group did different things.  Scott headed in to town to go to the Monkey Forest Preserve.  It is a several acre preserve with forest and a few temples, with a huge population of mainly Macaques monkeys – the friendly, not aggressive sort – well fed by the tourists.  Quite a bit of fun to see the monkeys playing and the families moving about all together. 

Courtney went back to the spa at 10am for her favorite treatment of all – the one that came to be known as “herbal pounding”.  Having now had the message a more technically correct name would be “herbal kneading”.  The treatment begins with a Swedish-style back massage but soon turns into something quite different.  The therapist heats up herb bundles and first touches them lightly to different parts of the body and then begins the kneading.  The first touch is absolutely scalding but as she moves around touching lightly the temperature of the herb bundle cools quickly.  It’s rather like when someone hands you a hot towel you can barely touch it at first and then in two seconds it’s cold.  She does different zones – arms, legs, back, shoulders, chest, stomach, legs and arms again.  It was absolutely my favorite and I’m so glad I experienced it. 

To continue my day of hedonism I headed to the pool to meet up with Scott.  We were happy to have a few hours to just enjoy the hotel and look out at the trees.  It would have been a shame not to have this time given our glorious surroundings.

Had a quiet dinner at the hotel and early to bed.

Drive North to the Temple of the Lake Goddess

May 31, Sunday

Left at 9 am for a drive due north to visit the town of Bedugul and see the Temple of the Lake Goddess.  The drive was beautiful, through many small villages, and we saw hundreds of rice fields on the way.  Near Bedugul, we climbed a huge volcanic mountain on roads that switched back and traffic was even more treacherous than it usually is due to blind curves.  And of course our driver wasn’t content to stay in his lane, ever, and spent the whole driving in the oppose lane attempting to pass.  I had to close my eyes several times.

The Temple itself was very pretty and had two pagoda towers set in the lake.  The site also contained a Buddhist temple and nearby was a large Mosque.  I very much like the way several religions coexist side-by-side. 

It began to rain lightly while we were at the lake, and by the time we arrived at our lunch destination overlooking a beautiful rice terraces, the rain became monsoon-like.  I think this was the first day since our trip began when I was not boiling hot. 

Returned to the hotel around 4 and Scott and I quickly got ready for our “couples” massage at 5.  To get to the spa at the Maya Ubud Resort you take a golf-cart a long way down the hillside and are dropped off at the top of an elevator platform.  The spa entrance is one level down and nearby is a restaurant and lovely kidney-shaped pool.  Our treatment room was a thatched roofed open-air pavilion and we could hear the sounds of the river and tropical birds outside.  The washbasin in our changing was in the middle of a pebble pool.  We had a traditional Balinese massage that focuses on a combination of pressure point and deep tissue massage.  I think Scott enjoyed it.  He’s not a big fan of massage but when we said he thought the session “was short”, I interpreted this as meaning that he liked it. 

Had a light dinner at the hotel before leaving at 8:30pm to see a traditional shadow puppet performance of the Ramayana.  I didn’t understand a thing that went on but there seemed to be good puppets and evil ones and at some point there was a scene with elephants and camels and all the characters fighting and I am assured that the good guys triumphed in the end.

Fichot Fichot Fichot

May 30, Saturday

Began the day with a completely free (at last) morning.  Scott opted for a day at the hotel doing a sweaty nature walk around the property and then going to the pool (as he puts it, “to dry off”).  I met the usual gang of intrepid shoppers at 12:30 for an appointment we’d made to go to the studio and home of a French jeweler based in Bali named Jean-Francois Fichot.  First we met up with Fifi, his delightful assistant, at the gallery and then she led us to Fichot’s home.  There wasn’t enough room in the van for everyone so Barbara J joined Fifi aboard her scooter.  We headed not very far up the street and stopped at a gate.  Fifi unlocked it and led us down mossy steps to another gate, then down more steps to a bridge that spanned a huge gorge filled with trees and hanging vines.  We crossed the bridge, climbed stone stairs through a bromeliad forest and eventually arrived at a lovely Balinese-style home made up of several pavilions.  One of the pavilions was Fichot’s private showroom. 

Fichot has a very distinct and beautiful style of jewelry making.  He collects bone, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones from around the world, and mounts them into gold and silver settings that unmistakably Asian inspired. 

We were delighted to have the opportunity not only to visit the studio but also to meet Fichot in person.  He greeted us at the gallery and answered questions about his work.  After our complete jewelry orgy we toured Fichot’s home made up of several Balinese open air pavilions filled with objects and exotic tropical wood furniture collected over the past 30 years. 

We returned to the hotel in time to clean up (some of us changed rooms and moved to villas) and meet at the bar for a talk by Jean Howe and William Ingram from Treads of Life.  Jean returned last night from Timor L’Est and had several textiles to show us that she’d brought back.  She spoke about the challenges related to providing incentives to local people to continue their weaving traditions. 

Dinner was a delicious Indonesian meal at Lotus Café in town.  We sat on cushions on the floor with tables arranged around a huge lily pond.  At the end of the pond was a faux temple-front and during our meal we watched dancers perform traditional Balinese dances.  This is a perfect environment for such things because we could enjoy our food, talk, and watch dances in the background.  By the way, it is amazing how Balinese female dancers and curve their fingers back.  In Java we were told by the guide at the palace in Surakarta that people play a game on a wooded board that has many cups in which you place beans.  Young girls, we were told, often press their fingers into these cups to make them curve backward.  

Golden Hour Walk outside Ubud

May 29, 2009, Friday

Left the hotel at 5:30 am to go on a “Golden Hour” walk around the countryside near Ubud.  The purpose of the walk, aside from seeing the Balinese landscape at a beautiful time of day, as to see an unspoiled area and resembles the Bali of 40 years ago.  We began by unlocking the gate at a village temple named Samuan Tiga.  In order to enter the temple we donned sarongs and sashes.  Choy, our leader, brought a hat for the men to wear and I am so fond of it that I hope we can find one for Scott to take home. 

We spent 40 minutes or so walking quietly around and enjoying the temple, its structures and statues of gods and protectors, without anyone else being there except us.  It was absolutely lovely. I forgot to mention and how much moss there is on stones in Bali and small ferns grow out of cracks between rocks.  There’s a kind of musty, rainforest smell that permeates the air at most temples, including this one. 

Then we drove on extremely windy, narrow, one-lane roads and eventually got out to walk around a village called Pejeng.  We saw children going to school, women washing clothes, women carrying huge bundles on their heads, and both men and women working in rice fields.  All of this was taking place at about 7 am.  The Balinese clearly understand the advantages of working during the cooler and less humid hours of the day.  We did several more walks in areas where rice was being grown or harvested and finished up at around 10 am with much-needed coffee and breakfast.

At mid-day we transferred from the beloved Komaneka Bisma Hotel to the Maya Ubud Hotel.  We were sad to leave our home of the past few nights behind but I’m sure we’ll enjoy our new hotel just as much, particularly since it gives us a new set of spa options to choose from.  Once we got settled into our room – which by the way overlooks a 180 degree span of rice fields – we headed into town to explore a few of the shops.

I am here to report that when properly motivated Scott can shop with the best of them.  At a great shop in Ubud called Bamboo he found FIVE beautiful contemporary batik shirts, and probably could have bought more.  It was so much fun looking through all the batik designs and colors.  Please Bamboo – make things for women!

Dinner tonight was at a highly rated French restaurant (yes, I know, French – but after all, how much nusi goreng can we eat?) called Mosaic.  Tables were in beautiful garden and Scott and I opted for the wine paring 7-course dinner.  The cuisine was Asian-inspired French and was one of the very best meals I’ve ever eaten.  

Sarong and Sash Required

May 28, Thursday

Today’s plan was to have a temple morning and then a shopping afternoon.  Our first visit was to the Goa Gajah temple, a sacred cave temple dating from the same era as Borobudur.  When you visit a temple in Bali you must dress in a sarong and sash.  Before leaving the hotel we all got a lesson in how to tie sarongs which is slightly different for men and women.  Despite the heat and humidity we added yet another layer of clothing to descend 100 steps into a ravine to visit a cave. 

After the cave temple we drove to the Tirta Empul Temple, or the Temple of the Holy Springs.  The temple was teeming with people bathing, praying, chanting, lighting incense, etc.   There were colorful flowers everywhere (yellow, red, white) being offered to the gods.

We headed to the northern part of Bali to see Mt. Batur (1717 meters), a volcano that last erupted in 2000.  The lava flow from the mountain down to Lake Batur is still visible and not much has regrown.  Our next stop was lunch overlooking extremely lush rich terraces. 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon in Ubud looking at textiles and shopping.  Scott enjoyed a late afternoon swim in the hotel’s 33 meter pool. 

Textile Day to Eastern Villages

May 27, Wednesday

Today was a rather long drive due east on very bumpy roads through magnificent scenery to a small pre-Hindu town called Tanganan.  It’s difficult to describe this town but suffice it to say the people of this small village have a very rigid social order rather like the Amish.  They must marry within the village and adhere to strict indoctrination rituals.  Their lives revolve around secret ceremonials and belief systems.  Somehow weaving and the designs in these double ikat weavings are an important part of their beliefs.  Several women in the village demonstrated the technique.  Designs elements included scorpions and mandala-like temples. 

We drove on to the next small village of Sideman where we saw songkets being made using a supplemental weft technique.  Lunch was at ALiLA Manggis and I ate my favorite Balinese dish of Nusi Goreng, a mix of red rice and noodles.  During our drive home we saw Mount Arang, a volcano, the highest peak in Bali.  In the evening we stayed at our lovely hotel and rested. 

Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma and Ariawan

May 26, Tuesday

Before Scott and I even signed up for this trip, we knew we wanted to spend one day exploring on our own.  Today was that day.  Choy arranged for a wonderful driver and guide, named Ariawan, to accompany us.  Ariawan picked us up at 10am, after we’d had breakfast overlooking lovely rice paddies.  Our first stop was the temple, Puseh Desa.  The temple was beautiful and I enjoyed the opportunity to get a bit of a primer on Hindu gods from Ari.  I wanted to understand more about Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma and Ariawan was patient and happy to give me the first-grader (which is all I am able to understand) lesson.  I also learned about Parvati and her alter ego Durgha.  Throughout the trip we had been admiring these Hindu temples and it was great to spend as much time as we wanted there asking questions and finding out the significance of various carvings and temple forms. 

We spent the next few hours driving on small local roads.  We saw many rice and flower fields.  We even saw orchids being grown on coconut shells in a field.  It was a rainy day so we stopped in a few of Ari’s favorite shops.  Lunch was at a spectacular garden view hotel and we ate stir-fried fish. 

The highlight of our day was visiting Ari’s family home.  He lives in a beautiful compound with his two brothers and their families and his parents.  Each family has an individual house in addition to a family temple and a communal kitchen building.  We met Ari’s wife and two children aged 6 ½ and 10 months. 

By this time it was very late afternoon and we returned to the hotel for a swim and met the group for dinner at 6:30.  Dinner was in town at a restaurant called Café Wayan and we sat outside in a lovely setting.  I returned to the hotel early in order to get to the spa for a massage.  This time I chose the “rejuvenating massage” which is described in the brochure as “a 90-minute gentle message treatment to rejuvenate and achieve better harmony of the mind, body and soul.  Using heated massage oil and specific strokes designed to balance the nervous system and restore vital energy flows.”  I am happy to report that this was a completely blissful experience. 

Surprises in Store at the Komaneka Bisma in Ubud

May 25, 2009

In Ubud. It took about 1 hour to get from Denpasar airport to the town of Ubud. I was immediately struck by the difference in appearance between Bali and Java for two reasons: one, Bali is much more oriented toward tourism than Java and two, the difference between the Hindu religion (Bali) and the Muslim religion (in Java). In Bali there are shrines at the entrance to every building, no matter what kind. Often there is some sort of religious statuary “dressed” in black and white cloth. In Java you see nothing of the kind. Just women in headscarves on scooters, whereas in Bali you see almost no headscarves. Java is much more humble and quite; Bali is flashy, relatively speaking, like a tropical version of Miami Beach, but prettier.

Our sense of things changed a bit when we got to Ubud. This area I’d call Canyon Road with rice paddies. I’ve never seen so many shops and galleries on streets that wind up and down hills. At some point we turned right and drove along a flooded road (between rice fields) and then turned right again and headed down a very steep hill. Our hotel, the Komaneka Bisma, was at the bottom.

We were astonished by the beauty of this hotel and its location, as the building slops down the terraced hillside. The lobby has enormous tables made from one piece of wood. The lobby is located on the fourth floor (the top floor) and you take the elevator down to the second floor to get to our room. We have a large sitting area and flat screen TV; a huge king size bed covered with rose petals, a bedroom sized room just for our luggage, etc etc. Oh yes – and our terrace looks down at cascading rice terraces and an infinity pool!

Went to dinner in town to celebrate Jill’s birthday and returned to the hotel for (you guessed it) a massage! A person comes to your room to pick you up and guide you to the spa which is located way down the hillside, past the infinity pool. In the spa room – there are only three walls. One of the walls is a WATERFALL that creates a beautiful soothing sound throughout. There is water everywhere – flower petals everywhere. Glorious. I will take pictures today to post.

Prambanan Temple in Java

Monday, May 25, 2009

I’m writing now on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Yogyakarta, Java to Denpasar, Bali. I happen to have a window seat and I’m searching to get a glimpse of the volcano that we haven’t been able to see due to clouds and fog during our stay in Java. I had hoped to get a photo but so far nothing. Here is a photo of what I did see as we took off – lovely rectangular plots of greenery, more than likely rice fields and the red roof tiles of houses and shops.

This morning, before heading to the airport, we visited an ancient Hindu temple called Prambanan, located just outside of Yogya. This temple, built in 732 AD was completely destroyed by the huge earthquake that hit Java in 2006. A team of archaeologists have worked for the past two years to rebuild much of the site. But because of the fact that work is very much an ongoing process, we weren’t allow to enter many of the temple structures. I found it interesting that so many Muslim teenagers were at the site visiting. I don’t know what they were, maybe our equivalent of girl and boy scouts, but they clearly understand that this temple is a part of their cultural heritage despite it being a Hindu temple. Down the road just a bit is a huge mosque and around the corner a Buddhist temple complete with a real deer park. We remarked that this is how the world should be; three religions in close proximity, all peacefully coexisting with each other.

While at Prambanan, I took a photo of several girls in headscarves when I saw them posing and hamming it up for photos with their friends. When they saw my interest they came over to me, asked my name, shook my hand and asked if I would pose for a photo with them. I don’t know how old they were but all four came up to my shoulder.

Then we were off to the airport for a 12:55 flight back to Bali. At the airport I saw one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen and it’s really the reason I pulled out my computer on the plane to write. At some point I decided to go to the ladies room. I followed the appropriate signs but as I entered the hallway approaching the toilet I saw that the floor was very wet and there were many men all rolling up their pant legs and scurrying around. I thought that there was some kind of flood going on in the men’s room. I walked a bit further down the hallway and to the right I realized that the men were in fact cleaning their feet and washing hands to prepare for prayer. And next to this washing area was carpeting and there were several men bowing in prayer. All of this occurred in a just a few seconds and I thought to myself I’ve gone to the wrong place – I’ve entered the prayer room by mistake. I sheepishly and apologetically looked around and suddenly realized that I was in the correct place – the entrance to the toilet is precisely opposite the prayer room! It was quite bizarre and I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it before.

Once we land in Bali we will ride an hour or more to get to Ubud. We all say that Ubud is rather like Jaipur, India in that throughout our trip whenever anyone has wanted to buy something we were been told “wait until you get to Jaipur”. This trip it’s “wait until you get to Ubud”. I hope Ubud knows what’s in store for it when we arrive.