Uluwatu Temple and the Kacek Dancers
It was the last excursion listed on the itinerary — a visit to UluWatu Temple, one scenically perched in Bali on cliffs above the ocean. But the outing included far more. First, a visit to a “coffee plantation” to taste Kopi sewak, a coffee unique to these islands because it is made from beans which […]
The Warison Komodo
The starting point for seeing Komodo Dragons is Labuajan Bajo, a small village/city on Flores Island. We embarked on this leg of the journey aboard the Warisan, described in the literature as follows: “The Warisan Komodo is a 23-meter traditional-style wooden boat built in South Sulawesi by one of the highest ranked Indonesian phinisi boat […]
Dinner with Mr. Dewa
On Tuesday, October 25, we were invited to the home of Mr. Dewa for a lesson in cooking traditional Balinese food and then staying for dinner. Mr. Dewa lives in a village near our hotel, and along with putting us to work chopping vegetables, making chicken dumplings in banana leaves, creating coconut milk from grated […]
Ubud – Oct 24&25 – The Art Scene
The most unusual part of our glimpse of the art scene in Ubud was the workplace of an artist who makes gates out of the roots of lychee trees. The roots themselves are wild with texture and movement and not really wanted by the farmers once the trees are down. An intricate Medusa head, faces […]
Ubud – Oct 22-23
We stopped at the Temple of Puru Ulun on the drive from Pemuteran to Ubud. While it had beautiful grounds, it seemed more designed for tourists than religion; mostly Balinese from other parts of the island were running around taking selfies. But the dragon statutes were quite impressive. As were several of the temples. Then […]
Pemuteran
Pemuteran On the way to Pemuteran in northwestern Bali, we stopped to see a famous statue of the Buddha (an Instagram favorite according to our guide) and passed through rice fields. We stayed in a resort in a national park — real jungle. Ira decided to see what would happen if he directly stared at […]
Dances, Blessings, Funerals and Movies
Dances, Blessings, Funerals and Movies The hotel had a floor show of sorts around dinner time on Monday Oct 17– 3 Balinese dancers, elaborately dressed and masked. The music sounded like bells or gongs – instruments were made of stone and the musicians struck them with something like a hammer. The dances were stylized – […]
The Temples at Borobudur and Prambanan
Sunday, Oct. 16, was “temple day” ie we visited two major temples. Borobudor was our first stop, close to the hotel and the main reason for visiting Central Java. Hearing about the 9thcentury from a Javanese guide and sensing his pride in what was clearly an enormous accomplishment lent an added dimension to all the […]
Magelang and the Ambarawa Railway Tour
Saturday Oct 15 began with a railway tour — the Dutch built railways to connect the major cities in Java. The tour though, was not that long, merely about an hour through rice fields/paddies and a few towns aboard an old diesel train. But this was the first time we really rubbed elbows with the […]
Kalimantan,, Tanjung Puting National Parks
We have left the jungle of Kalimantan behind and are having a needed day of rest at a beautiful property in central Java, a former Dutch coffee plantation, MesaStila. We are in the mountains so it is a bit cooler but still pretty humid. But the national parks in Kalimantan were worth seeing. Kalimantan is […]