It is a day of batik for B and me. We arrive at Nirvana Batik and are put to work immediately. The first step to pick a pattern and pencil it onto a piece of lightweight cotton. They do not have much choice in premade patterns, as it seems they want you to draw it. That’s not happening, so I choose a two mask piece and B picks a fishscape.
The next step is to practise using a chanting to “draw” the wax lines onto the fabric. When we are proficient enough, we wax our own pieces. This is the part that has a very steep learning curve, but the best part is that the instructor can remove any drips or mistakes.
Dyeing
Dyeing is next. That takes some time as I ponder what colours to use and do not have a sample to draw from. The pieces are placed in the sun to dry, and have fixer painted on them.
Batiks drying in sun
Next is covering the dyed portions with either beeswax or paraffin wax. The paraffin wax is brittle and creates a “crackle” effect. The borders are done this way. Then the works are placed in a blue dye to dye all the areas not painted.
Background dyeing
The wax is removed in boiling water, the pieces dried and ironed, and voila, we are done. It is constant work for about 4.5 hours but we get fed lunch and it is fun to create.
Finished batiks
I learned a few techniques that I will employ in my batiking at home, so I am glad we did the class. Play we had FUN!
It’s 32C and the humidity is 65%. Holy cow it is hot. 32C mid summer in Edmonton is hot but not like this. With the sun directly over head and very little shade on the street I am swimming is sweat. Heat does not bother me too much but still, today every ½ hour or so I have to sit down in the shade on the step of some shop and guzzle a few gulps of water. Coke, my drink of choice is readily available for about 50 Canadian cents. Even on a relatively short morning jaunt I will drink at least one bottle of that. When I get back to the cottage I have to peal my shirt off my back. Debbie is not here to help and it is a bit of a struggle.
Yesterday we were a bit impulsive and bought tickets to a dance performance for this evening. We have been to Ubud before and missed the shadow puppets show and it is something that interests me. When we got back to the hotel we looked up when the puppet show takes place and it is tonight. While Debbie and B are at a class to further their batik skills my task is to see if I could exchange the dance tickets for tomorrow evening and if successful to purchase puppet show tickets for this evening. Thus the long walk in the heat. Partially successful we will attend the shadow puppets tonight and the dance tomorrow. Being every bit accommodating, the fellow at the dance venue exchanged our tickets with a smile. When I went to purchase the tickets to see the puppets I looked into my wallet and had nowhere near enough money. Not used to carrying cash anymore I did not check my wallet when I left this morning. I managed to purchase one and put two on reserve. We will pay for the others this evening. B, Debbie and I will attend the show tonight.
The purchase of one ticket left me in rather a precarious position money wise when it came to lunch. When we were in Sumberkima, the lady at the desk of the hotel told me I must try empal jugung. Corn fritters in English speak. I have been on the look out for them. She mentioned I would not be able to find them in a ‘tourist’ place I would have to go to an Indonesian Warung. Today, being on my own, I thought I might be able to find them. I tried at a couple of traditional warungs, of which there are not many in Ubud, but to no avail. I started to ask at more upscale warungs, the ones that advertised ‘authentic Indonesian food.’ Bingo, about the third one I asked said yes they have them. It cost me 20,000 rupiah for two. I did not check my wallet when I ordered two fritters and a can of Coke. I went to pay and I just have enough cash. All done I had 7000 IDR left, about 70 cents CAD. Luck, sometimes is on your side and today I had some.
Shadow Puppets
I think my expectations were too high. I am glad I went to see the shadow puppets but I am a little disappointed. We got a chance to see some of the puppets before the show. They are hand done and quite beautiful. My disappointment came from the fact that behind the screen as the show went on, the top half of the puppets was in focus but the bottom part was too far away from the screen and was blurred. I thought the entire work of art was worth the vision from the audience’s side. The second thing I found odd was the show did not match the story on the program we were handed when we entered. We thought it was the story of what was going to be presented. The show started and the actions and dialog had absolutely nothing to do with what we had read. From what I could make out it was kind of a comedy/slapstick routine. To bad, because the story is some historical Balinese folklore.
I guess we will see how the dancing goes tomorrow.
Our destination today is the Agung Rai Museum of Art. On the way, we walk past the Monkey Forest entrance and fortunately are not accosted by any of the furry creatures. It is only about 9:00 am and it is smoking hot already.
The museum is mostly the private collection of Agung Rai, his wife and family. The paintings range from traditional to modern in two buildings. The grounds are lush and peaceful. Chickens, guinea fowl and a turkey roam freely. The flowers are delightful and B and I stop often to take photos.
With the entrance ticket, we are treated to an iced tea in the coffee shop, which is a welcome reprieve from the heat. Once we are refreshed, we head back into the melee of the streets of Ubud.
The traffic, both vehicles and scooters is nonstop. We walk single file along the narrow sidewalk or road side, always keeping an ear open for approaching vehicles. The shops are enticing with jewellery, clothing and handicrafts. Ubud has an unusual volume of “wellness centers” or spas. You can get a massage, your nails done, get detoxed, go to yoga, get tattooed and many other pampering practises.
We window shop as we walk back to Jalan Bisma, the street where our hotel is. Bisma is filled with restaurants with prices below what you would pay on the Main Street. We stop at a Japanese/Western/Indonesian place and plunk ourselves in a booth inside in the air conditioning. Sushi rolls for B and me and satay chicken for Murray.
We are now relaxing after our long walk in the heat. After our rest, we will go for a short walk down a market street and find a light supper.
Our driver, Komang, arrives right on time, we pile our bags and wet dive gear into the back of the small SUV and we are off for the four + hour drive to Ubud. It turns out Komang is the son-in-law of Putu, our dive guide for the last five days. Komang wears many hats, he is a driver, snorkel guide, dive guide, hiking guide, farmer, husband and father.
As a farmer, he has two cows which he fattens and then sells and a number of chickens that are sold or used for ceremonies. The eggs are not big enough to eat. There are banana, mango, star fruit, rambutan and coconut trees on his property. He also helps his uncle farm a 400m x 400m plot of rice, which they share 50/50. He is a very busy man as he also has two children.
Here are some of the interesting tidbits from our conversation.
Even though Sumberkima, and nearby Pemuteran, have medical clinics, the nearest hospital is an hour away.
Komang uses his father-in-law’s car to drive guests. He does pay rent to use the car. He makes sure to keep it in very good condition. Very fair.
We pass by an electrical plant. It is coal fired and the coal is from the Indonesian Kalimantan area of Borneo and is shipped directly to the plant, located by the water.
As we chat we drive through Munduk, an area higher in elevation. It is a great growing environment for flowers, cocoa, oranges, cloves and coffee. We make a quick stop at a view point to see the twin lakes of Buyan and Tamblingan.
I read that the temple Ulan Danu Beratan is worth a visit and it happens to be on our way. It costs about $6 Cdn to enter. Right away, I notice the colourful flowers everywhere. The gardens are well cared for. As we walk towards the temple, situated on the water of Lake Beratan, it starts to feel a bit like Disneyland. Over here there are dinosaurs, over there is a giant fish, there are photo op creations everywhere. The visitors are taking selfies and posed photos in front of ceremonial gates, heart shaped trellises, flower arrangements. I recall what we saw in Bruges, Belgium with photo ops…”Look at me! Don’t I look fabulous! And here I am in Indonesia!”. We, of course, did not do any posing.
The temple itself is quite striking, with its thatch roof creating movement and grace. It is majestic and serene.
And then the skies open up. We hide under an awning and when it abates, we make a dash for the car. Half way back we have to find shelter again so as to not get soaked.
Once back in the car, it pours torrential rain on and off for miles. Komang gets off the main road so show us some rice fields. Murray and B hop out to look, but I stay in the car as I do not want to get wet again. B gets a quick lesson on how to grow and harvest rice.
The traffic gets horrendous as we near Ubud, so many scooters. It takes us some time to navigate to Sama’s Cottages where we are staying. And now for three days in Ubud.
We only dove 2 dives on Monday so there was time to do a little exploring. Most of the things we found to do here involved long treks but there were a couple of temples that looked worth a visit, Pura Pulaki and Pura Pabean. They are just across the highway from one another and supposedly adjacent to a beach. They are in Pemuteran and that is too far to walk from Sumberkima so we arranged for a taxi to get us there and then pick us up.
Frankly I don’t think the temples were worth the trouble. They are very colourful with lots of gods, and guardian animals like dragons and tigers, and there is a whole group of generally docile monkeys to see but the temples themselves are rather unspectacular and all of the installations are covered in wire mesh to keep the monkeys at bay. This definitely takes away from the presentation.
As an aside, the monkeys can be seen swimming in the ocean. We presumed to cool off on a very hot day. A couple of the monkeys took offence when I approached the sea wall where they were sitting and moved toward me with bared teeth. So I bared my teeth and loomed large, they stopped their advance. So, some caution is required, they are not all docile.
At the entrance to both temples are guest info kiosks where you can hire a guide if you so desire. Again, unless you are interested in the details of the Hindu significance of the gods and animals, I don’t really think it would be worth it. You also MUST wear a sarong when you tour the grounds, you get one at the info kiosk but they expect a “donation” once you have been outfitted. We have visited so many temples and churches we normally don’t pay to see one but we had just spent money on a taxi to get to these temples so we were sort of a captive audience.
The adjacent ‘beach’ is definitely not my idea of paradise. There is quite a large seawall between you and the fist sized rocks that hinders access. The only stairs are at the east end and it would require some wading to get to a place where you could place a towel. You would be in for a very hot day. There is absolutely no shade. Again, quite disappointing, we had arranged for the taxi to pick us up in 1.5 hours expecting to spend some time walking along the beach and since it was so dismal we ended up killing 50 minutes just waiting for the cab.
My take is you are better off heading elsewhere or spending your time recovering from your days dives.
Didn’t know what to expect as far as diving in Menjangan. One of the ladies on the Neptune liveaboard dove here many years ago and told us she remembered diving walls. Our first day of diving we indeed dove walls. The walls are cover in coral and there was a goodly amount of fish activity. Unfortunately, the tides had delivered so much garbage, mostly plastic, it made for unpleasant diving.
The remaining days we dove the west side of the island and it was extremely good diving. Sometimes current, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes not. The walls are covered in coral, top to bottom and the entire length of the wall. Great fields of the same type of coral covered large sections of the reef. The wildlife is abundant. Many schools of fish hover in the blue just off the reef or swim buy in long ribbons that seem unending. Some of the outstanding thing we saw are; a green turtle the size of a small human, of course there is a pygmy sea horse or two, orangutan crabs, we did see a transitioning harlequin sweet lips and a few unusual nudi’s. Today we saw a cuddle fish nestled in some soft coral that was so well camouflaged the dive guide had to almost touch it before we realized what he was pointing at.
Menjangan
We dove with the same company that we used a couple of years ago when diving in Lemongan, Blue Corner Diving. We were the only 3 guests all week. Our boat captain, Putu and dive guide, Putu are both excellent. They took care of our gear, helped us don our BCD’s and generally entertained us the entire week.
There are not great hoards of divers here. We only crossed paths with other groups once or twice. There are a lot of boats in the area but 80% of them carry snorkelers. If you find yourself on Bali and looking for somewhere to dive, Menjangan is a good choice and I recommend Blue Corner Diving.
Orangutan Crab
Debbie here. I am also impressed by the great patches of pristine coral. Compared to the Caribbean, this area is Eden. I love huge schools of fish, and we see many on each dive. The unusual critters have to be hunted for, but it’s wonderful when we find one. Overall, diving here is excellent and if you come, stay for a few days to get the full view of the reefs.
We booked the Mangroove Bay Boutique Hostel thinking it was in Pemuteran. It is not really in Pemuteran but in Sumberkima. It is not a popular as Pemuteran but it is close to the dock where we can be picked up for diving. The hostel has 2 “wooden houses” and they are our rooms for 5 nights. We are here to dive the reef that surrounds Menjangan Island.
I went for a long walk yesterday. Sumberkima is a bit upscale from say Sorong. I think it gets its fair share of tourists, at least in July and August. Part of the reason for walking was to scout out possible places to eat. The search was not very successful. There is one place close to the Mangroove that had possibilities, the Krecak Bar and Grill. It is adjacent to the Bangsel Harbour. Boats for divers, snorkelers and other tourists leave from the jetty so the Krecak is easy to get to. We eventually ate there and would recommend it. It is a small place, the food is all cooked when ordered so it is safe for the tourist’s tender stomachs. It is far more affordable than the restaurants attached to the hotels. The owners/workers are very personable. We were engaged in conversation for a ½ hour after our dinner. Always good to chat with local people.
The highway is very busy and not really a pleasant place to walk. It is however lined with all of the businesses in town. If you are in need of car or scooter repair, a hair cut, maybe a new tee shirt or a bottle of Coca-Cola you will need to venture out to the highway. Although the drivers are quite used to pedestrians my advice is to stick to the gravel fringe off the side of the asphalt.
One step away from the highway and you are in a residential area. The house are constructed very well and for the most part are well maintained. The yards are either dirt or hard surface, not landscaped like yards in Europe or North America. High block fences and gates define each property. I am not sure why, Indonesia seems to be a relatively safe place. It must be a legacy hangover from the days of warring kingdoms.
Like anywhere in Bali, scooters rule the road (highway) in Sumberkima. They are much less expensive than a car. The weather is conducive to an open-air vehicle all year round and a family of four can be transported with a little cuddling up. You can transport anything, full height ladders, several bunches of bananas, 10 or 12 full sizes watermelons, crates with live chickens, whatever ½ ton truck drivers can fit in the box of their truck can be carried on scooter. They get you to where you are going faster than a car. When car traffic stops for whatever reason scooters squeeze by on either side, slide between the stopped vehicles to switch from the curb side to the centerline and then drive into oncoming traffic. By the time a car or truck reaches what was the cause of the traffic jam the scooter is so far down the road it will not be seen again. Helmets are a legal requirement in Bali when on a scooter and in Denpasar the vast majority of scooter people wear a helmet. In the hinterland however I don’t think the rule is very tightly enforced. I am not sure I saw even one helmet in 2+hours of walking along the highway.
Gas stations come in a few sizes and types. There are your everyday variety. Pertamina is the brand name and they are pretty much like any station anywhere in the world. Then there is the old fashioned pumps that take over ½ of the storefront of the corner store. The budding entrepreneur can set up a stand on the side of the road and decant gas from a jerry can into 1 litre plastic water bottles then sell gas to passing scooter drivers a litre at a time. Convenience is the name of the game here.
The people are so friendly. Almost everyone I passed adult or child had a hello or salamat siang, and all with a wide smile. Smile back and a connection is made.
Even though Bali is predominantly Hindu, Indonesia is a Muslim country. And there are a fair number of Muslims in the Sumberkima area. That being the case there is a 5am alarm every morning. Muslim or not you are welcomed to the new day with the call to prayer. The hotel is in the midst of several different Mosques and each Muezzin has a different idea as to when 5am is. The more call is supposed to be at sunrise but my experience in other countries is 5am is standard. Because each Mosque call the faithful at a different time we are serenaded from close to 5am to about 6.30am. Just in case you missed the first call. The word chanted are basically God is good and there is only one god which is God but in the morning there is often a line “Prayer is better than sleep.” A bit of humour to break the early morning groggies.
All in all an OK place to hang for a couple of days especially since the diving is so good.
We are headed to a new place in Bali. To the NW corner of the island we go. We have hooked up a ride through the hotel and are therefore sheltered from the bargaining with the plethora of taxi touts waiting at the arrivals gate. A bit of hunting around and me meet our fellow, to the parking garage and we are off.
It is a long way to Pemuteran, 4+ hours if things are perfect. Of course the passage through Denpasar is tedious. It takes well over an hour just to clear the city limits. Then we move along quite well. About 2 hours in the driver almost insists we stop at a warung, (after listening to the driver I believe it is pronounced, war-ung) Billy’s 69 for a bite to eat and a pee. We were not hungry but amused him anyway and ordered a pizza between the three of us. Maybe he gets a kickback from this particular place. It is definitely a tourist restaurant in the middle of nowhere, tourist prices and a 17% tax and service charge, so it must depend on drivers stopping there for their revenue.
We check in and hit the sack. I was out fast and slept well.
Yesterday was a 16 hour slog from the Neptune One, in Sorong to the Mangroove Boutique Hostel, in Sumberkima. Two flights and a four hour car ride has us arriving at the Mangroove at 9:00 pm exhausted. We quickly unpack our dive gear as we are diving in the morning.
Menjangan (which means deer) Island is a marine park, part of the West Bali National Park. Endemic deer inhabit the island and are also protected. There happens to be Hindu Temples on the island. Today is a sacred day for blessing etc so there is boat traffic to the island not just for diving.
Our first dive is good, with healthy soft and hard corals and schools of fish. As we get shallow, we see a constant stream of plastic garbage floating in the water. Our dive guide and Murray grab what floats by them, but they can’t get it all. It is quite disturbing as I have never seen so much garbage in the water before. We have a few more days of diving at Menjangan so I hope the garbage isn’t a usual thing in this area.
The next day, we dive the Dream Wall. And it is a dream. The corals, both soft and hard, are exquisite and abundant. We see Blue Spot Sting Rays, flatworms, a green turtle and what looks like a grandpa pufferfish. I could dive that site again.
The diving has redeemed itself from that first dive and I am now looking forward to the next three days.
Raja Ampat is one of those places that every diver should go to. I could write about the health of the corals and the abundance of fish, but I will show you photos instead. Enjoy!
