Bali

Over the Christmas holidays Mary and I spent 3.5 weeks in Indonesia, mostly in Bali but also on the Gili Islands just to the east. Good times were had. I've got a load of pictures with only the most cursory organization, so here we go.



Whenever we travel Mary and I always go to museums, and this trip was no different. This museum, the converted house/studio of Spanish turned Balinese Antonio Blanco, was one of the nicest galleries I've ever seen. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside, but this is the front.



Outside were a bunch of different tame birds.



And some friends.





On one of the many bridges in Ubud.



We were here for Christmas dinner at the Jiwa Damai retreat in Mambal, just southwest of Ubud.



On Christmas day we were walking around and I took this photo of a family at their store.



I got the first photo printed out and returned with a few stuffies for the little girls. They were pretty excited.



Just a caterpillar on a bowl of flowers.



He's coming right for us!





One of many big spiders. One of the Balinese guys saw me taking this picture and afterwards came up saying "No poison," as he petted it with his finger. Yikes.



Gunung Kawi was an old Balinese royal court maybe 7 or 9 centuries ago. The way the whole structure was carved out of the rock combined with the surrounding jungle and torrential rain made the whole thing very Indiana Jones.





Goa Gajah, the oddly named elephant temple. Odd because elephants are not native to Bali. Apparently the temple is named for the large river nearby, Elephant River (named because it's a really big river).



This is on the edge of Lake Batur, at the scenic Pura Ulu Danu Batur temple.



Looking the other way from Pura Ulu Danu Batur, you can see another temple with a mosque in the background. You can tell both of these temples are serious business because they have 11 levels. I don't really understand the significance, but temples have 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11 levels, roughly corresponding to the castes of Balinese society.

I wish I understood enough to write a whole post about caste in Bali because it seemed very interesting and quite different from the caste system of India. I believe in Bali it is more of religious and spiritual significance than social or financial, but the main thing I picked up is that it's a complex and multifaceted subject.



Garuda, the bird demigod mount that Vishnu rides to and from the heavens, is featured in the roof of many temples.



Mary and Ibu Wasu (mother of Wasu) in the temple in Apuan we were able to visit with our host family. This family was amazing, really nice people. They really went out of their way to make us feel like part of the family, not just visitors. Their page is here, Apuan Village Homestay.



Some of the many offerings in the aforementioned temple. This was part of a several day long blessing/purification/reopening of the temple after renovations and maintenance.



One of many little shrines overlooking the paddies.



The family altar/meditation room at the home of our host family.



Mary with some children of our host family - from left to right, baby Dia, Dede, Sam, and Nara. I taught Sam and Nara a bit of english by reading the english descriptions on the back of their Pokemon cards.



Us ready to visit the family temple in Apuan.





Mary at Munduk water fall.



I was walking around one of the villages and saw these kids sitting outside a house. The shyest looking little girl walked after me as I walked away, so I asked her if I could take a picture. As I got my camera out, the other 4 came running up too. You can see the 4th girl still running in the back right of this photo.



All of them together, all thanks to learning how to say good afternoon in Indonesian (selamat siang!).



In Petulu, a small village that's part of Ubud, every evening about 15,000 white herons show up to roost. We showed up just as they started arriving and had a beer with one of the locals while we watched from across his rice field. Every one of the white dots in the trees is a heron.



With a couple chicks.





The sunrise from our place in Ubud, Rumah Roda. This was another great homestay with a local family.



Us in front of Mount Batur. The lava flow in the background is from the eruption in 1965.



We had lunch at a restaurant (Indus, in Ubud) overlooking the Wos River Valley, in one of the fancier parts of Ubud. It was raining though, so unfortunately we didn't get to see anyone using their private walled gardens below. Fantastic spot though - $30 for lunch with drinks, mains, coffee, and a wonderful view.



Outside a wood carving gallery in Mas, near Ubud, was this finishing area. People were doing things like final sanding, polishing, and the odd inscription. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures of the inside of the gallery, but it was like an art museum. There are some very talented wood workers over there.

After a couple weeks in Bali we went over to the Gili Islands, a set of 3 tiny desert island type places that are considerd part of Lombok, the next major island to the east in Indonesia's archipelago. We spent our first few days on Gili Trawangan, the busiest of the three doing a SCUBA course, then the next few on the much more laid back Gili Meno, the middle of the 3.



Mary at the library.



We spent the better part of three days like this - a nice change from the busier pace earlier in the holiday.



One of several turtle sanctuaries in the Gilis, where locals have set up a series of tanks for raising turtles from hatchlings until they're big enough to a better shot at surviving.



On the Gili islands they've outlawed dogs entirely, so you don't see any stray dogs whatsoever (unlike Bali, where they're everywhere). Instead, you see stray cats. They're just as dirty, but they're not rabid, and the ones that live around the tourist spots know how to cozy up to you so you'll share a meal. We dubbed this one Footpet, because she was so grubby you should just pet her with your feet. Of course, after a week in tropical heat without a fresh water shower, we weren't much better.



This was the once bustling Bounty Hotel, now abandoned. This was a weird and creepy place, with many roofs collapsing and decks caved in. It even extended into the water, where about 10 years ago the locals decided to sink the Bounty dive platform to make an artificial reef. The platform wasn't being used enough to warrant the cost, so now the remnants of a jetty and a few piles point out off shore where a big platform rests about 15 meters underwater. We got to see the wreck up close during our SCUBA course.



The last sunset of 2011.