Bali 2008 - December 11

Well, last night was Lace's turn with whatever made me so sick. I had originally thought that the chicken sandwich I had for lunch on Tuesday disagreed with me, but obviously that wasn't it. We got Made to drive us to Murni's for lunch, but Lace didn't feel like eating so she and Jake went back home while Macaela and I visited the ATM and went grocery shopping.

When we got back, the kids did some reading and writing for a couple of hours. Macaela wanted to go swimming and I needed to go online so we went to Melati . . . again. They have a very limited menu, and I think we've had it all.

The tokay that lives in my ceiling has apparently gotten comfortable with me. He's hanging out just above the light bulb on the balcony and he didn't run when I went to get the camera. I appreciate the tokays; they eat their weight in bugs! I just wish I could get a picture of him licking his eyeballs!

Funny Things

Just about everywhere you go, you'll find a man sitting near his car calling out "taxi" to everyone who walks by. One morning, just as I stepped off the sidewalk at my destination, a man sitting there said "Taxi?" "I'm already here," I said. His reply - "You want to go somewhere else?"

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In the states, when you have purchased something, the hopeful vendor will realize that someone else has already made the sale. Here, if you've bought one (or ten) you must want another. People will even look in your bags to see what you've bought so they can try to sell you more.

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The currency has been so devalued here that the individual rupiah is worth next to nothing. However, you still find prices that include something other than zeros on the right hand side. Going to a store, let's say your total is 107,325; you give the cashier 120,000 - you'll get back 12,600 and 3 pieces of candy. So it seems that in Indonesia (or at least Bali), the hard candy is the new 25 rupiah coin.

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When we got here, our refrigerator was dead as a doornail. We try to help out when we can, and things are generally cheap here, so we checked into getting a new fridge. We could get a nice one for under $150. We bought a new handheld shower for less than $5. So when it came to buying a new mattress, we were surprised to find out that the mattress would cost more than the fridge. Go figure!

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Bali 2008 - December 10

I had thought that we might visit Nina and her family today, but I was up sick all night, and still not feeling well this morning, so I slept until 3:30. Lace took this opportunity to get some packing done, the kids did homework, and they all played cards. It rained off and on all day, so it was just as well we weren't going anywhere.

When I did finally wake up, everyone was hungry so we walked to Melati. I took the computer to catch up on things. Lace and the kids ate dinner (I had a boiled egg with butter), then they went home. I stayed behind to stay on the internet. At some point it started raining again. I kept messing around, waiting for it to stop, but it didn't and it was getting late. Finally I packed up and asked to borrow an umbrella. The only one they had was really broken, so the waitress wrapped my backpack in plastic to keep the computer dry. I tromped home in the rain to find everyone on the balcony playing rummy.

Balinese Names

You may have noticed that my story is peppered with Mades and Ketuts. No there are not only two people here. The Balinese name their children in order of their birth - Wayan, Made, Nyoman, and Ketut (#5 starts over at Wayan again) - with I in front for a male and Ni in front for a female. So the Made we stay with, who drives for us and generally makes life easier is I Made Latra, and the Made who makes clothes for us is Ni Made Wenten. Kadek tells me that modern mothers are using Putu, Kadek and Komang to replace Wayan, Made and Nyoman. We had been told previously that these names indicated a different caste.

Another difference is the lack of family names. Made's name is Latra, but his father's name is Londo, and his wife's name is Dewi. You never know who is related to who, and sometimes they won't tell you!

Bali 2008 - December 9

We're scheduled for dinner with another Aussie group this evening at Cat & Fiddle in Sanur, so we start out early to get in some shopping on the way. In Seminyak we found a shop with lots of cute shell jewelry, and their business price was good, so we bought lots!

The dinner had been organized by BuBenny of the Forum, and we knew where (sort of), but not when. We got there shortly after 5:00 and were joined by David and Moira (of Pacung Indah). There was a great discussion amongst the restaurant staff because we asked for a table for 10. They already had a reservation for 10 at 7:00, but none of us knew the person who made it. After a while, with Gemma's help, we determined that we were the 7:00 party, so we moved to that table, causing more discussion about whether we were supposed to be there or not.

Eventually the rest of the group showed up. We were more than 10, so more tables were moved to accomodate us all. The food here was good, but I don't think they were prepared for us. I feel like it took about an hour from ordering for us to get our food. I finally went and told the staff my children were hungry and that seemed to kick things into high gear.

During dinner, we were entertained by a Balinese band playing Irish music. They were pretty good! After the first set, they were joined on stage by some white men, and we were told one of them was the English consul. The kids fell asleep after eating, so I called Made to take us home.

Bali 2008 - December 8

We all slept a bit late this morning, and woke up to another of Kadek's wonderful breakfasts. We didn't have anything scheduled for today and Made had been hired to drive someone to the airport, so we sat around talking about what we wanted to do until about 12:30. We decided that we would go to Bedugul for lunch at Pacung Indah. We called Nyoman Santra to see if he was available to drive, and by 1:00 we were on the road. We enjoyed the buffet lunch at Pacung while visiting with David, the owner of the restaurant and of the Bali Chat Forum.

Since it was fairly late, we had to hurry to get to the Candi Kuning market before closing time. David made a call to let them know we were coming, and I'm glad he did, as we arrived right at 5:00. We bought Pashminas and looked around for beads, then headed back to Londo for snacks and bedtime. Another late day!

Weekend at Gemma's Part 3

Today Gemma took us to Balangan beach. This beach is north of Dreamland and is much quieter. We took lots of photos and collected shells and coral. Before we left we relaxed for a while in a little warung on the beach, and watched the local men fishing from a nearby cliff cave. One caught an octopus, which he brought to the warung to put on ice. He assured me that there were many and bigger if I wanted to go catch my own. We went back to Gemma's for lunch instead.

The kids and I then went to the Dreamland pool, part of which is still under construction. It has only been open a few months, and is quite beautiful, but it looks like it will be spectacular when complete.

We were scheduled to meet some Aussie friends at Jimbaran beach for dinner, so we went back to the house, showered and changed, and packed our stuff for the trip back to Ubud. At Jimbaran, there is a line of stalls on the beach that sell fresh seafood. You walk through and choose your dinner, then it is grilled and served with rice, vegetables and fruit at a table on the beach. You really can get 12" long prawns here, and lobsters with bodies 6" wide, but we passed on those and got red snapper and jumbo prawns instead (only about 6" long).

Made had been waiting for us for about 2 hours when the party finally broke up around 10:00. We went back to Gemma's to gather our things and say our goodbyes. It was midnight by the time we finally got home.

Weekend at Gemma's Part 2

We visited GWK Cultural Park today. This attraction is being built in a quarry, which their website says was abandoned and unproductive, but stone was being quarried while we were there. Eventually the complex will house a museum and an enormous statue of Vishnu riding Garuda, but for now there are three parts of the statue in three different areas of the park. More information can be found at http://gwk-culturalpark.com/en/about-gwk/

After a quick lunch at the park, we were off to the beach. Dreamland beach is nice, but the surf was a bit rough and full of pieces of seagrass. There were not alot of shells here and the sand is made up of fairly large spherical grains. It cost 50,000 to rent two lounge chairs and an umbrella, and another 50,000 to rent a boogie board, although we were able to get the board for local price of only 25,000. The beach was fairly crowded and there were several women wandering around trying to sell sarongs and massages.

From there we went back to the house for quick showers and then to Ulu Watu to take in the sunset kecak (ke-chak) and fire dance. The "music" for this performance is made by a chorus of 40-100 men (depending on where you go) arranged in a circle. The dancers act out the story in the center of the circle, and various men in the chorus act as narrators. You can look out over the ocean and watch the sun go down and the fishing boats head out for their night's work.

The dance concludes with Hanoman, the monkey king, triumphing over the evil forces that have tried to imprison him in a ring of fire. He dances barefoot through the fire and vanquishes the evil spirits . . . for now.

Weekend at Gemma's or A Smaller Version of Our Stuff

We started the day with breakfast at Melati so that I could catch up on internet stuff before we headed south for the weekend. I had a tomato egg jaffle, which usually has sliced fresh tomato inside, but this one had what tasted like canned stewed tomato instead. Not good.

We got a call from Sama Sama that our clothes were ready, so Lace went to pick them up while the kids went swimming and I played around on the computer checking email and catching up on blog posts. She had asked Sama Sama to have some of her pants ready this morning so she could wear them this weekend. She returned with a package that contained all the clothing we had ordered. We had asked that our scraps be saved so that they could be used for quilting. They saved every tiny piece! Ketut was going to lay them all out so that Lace could see not a piece was missing, but Lace told her that was not necessary.

Around 11:00, we packed up and went back to Londo so the kids could shower and we could finish packing for the weekend. Gemma told us to be there between 2:00 and 3:00, so we left about 12:30. It isn't really that far, but traffic and road conditions make the drive a bit long.

Dreamland is a new neighborhood/housing development on the Bukit Peninsula. I've never seen anything like it in Bali, but apparently it's the wave of the future. I'm reminded of the American 50's (not that I was there), when developers cleared acres of land and plopped down row after row of identical houses. (The houses in Dreamland are not identical, but the feeling is there.) How long before the traditional villages and way of life are gone?

After settling in and meeting everyone, we drove in to Kuta to meet several Aussie friends from the Bali Chat Forum at Rama Garden Hotel. Once all the introductions and hugs had gone around, and everyone was there, we trooped down the street to Bali Bagus, a tiny restaurant where our group took up half the tables. The food was good and the service was great. I think they had karaoke, but we didn't go there. When everyone had finished dinner and a round or two of drinks, the music was cranked up so loud you couldn't hear yourself think, so we left. (They've never heard of Jimmy Buffett here!)

Bali 2008 - December 4

Breakfast this morning was black rice pudding. This is not actually a pudding at all, but more like a sweet soup. It is made with black rice, which has to be soaked overnight, coconut, banana, and sweetened condensed milk. It is a lovely shade of purple, and one of those things I could eat every day.

Once we had finished licking our bowls, we met Made for the drive to Batubulan. Batubulan is the stone carving village, but also where one of the better barong performances is held. We took loads of photos, and I tried shooting video, but my card filled up early in the performance. The funny thing about extra camera cards is that they don't work so well when you leave them at home! The performace is still very good and the kids really got into the story. Jake enjoyed it so much that we ended up buying him a barong mask later in the market.

From there we headed to Sukawati, a nearby village with a much larger market than the one in Ubud. This is where we've been told we can find many of the items we're looking for, and at a cheaper price. Unfortunately, it was very hot and we were all hungry, so we didn't explore as much as we might have. We did make a few purchases, but then we left for Ubud to get lunch.

We went to Bumbu Bali again. I had mentioned before that we couldn't get our favorite refreshing beverage, and again today there was no lemon sorbet. We settled for iced lemon tea, and the kids and I each ordered a pizza. We were very disappointed to find that they are now using pre-made pizza crusts, which are thick and not very good. My pizza was a "super supreme" which was supposed to have ham, onion, tomato, mushroom, peppers, eggplant, olives, anchovies, and cheese. I ordered it without olives and anchovies, and they also left off the mushrooms and peppers. I wonder if they have a microwave, because the thing looked as if it hat not seen the inside of an oven. The cheese was barely melted, and the tomatoes were raw. To top it all off, they didn't have Lace's favorite Chocolate Caramel Peanut Pie. Another one off the list.

At the end of the day, Lace and the kids went to bed and I took the laptop over to Melati to catch up on some blogging. As soon as I got there, they lost power. It was back on quickly, so I continued to set up. A few minutes later it went out again. I was surprised to hear my phone ring at this point - no one calls me at night! It was Made asking if I was still at Melati. Still? I've barely been here 10 minutes. Well, yes, I said.

"We need you to come back. There is a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"Very big problem. Come back right away."

So, thinking that the power outage had affected Londo as well, and that one of the kids had fallen down the steps in the dark, I quickly threw the laptop back in the bag, packed up all my stuff, and rushed back to Londo in a panic. Turns out, the really big problem was that my surprise birthday party was waiting for me to get home. Kadek had ordered a beautiful chocolate cherry birthday cake and they had number candles on top. Of course, we didn't get any pictures because I had the camera cards with me. Oh well! It was a wonderful surprise.

Bali 2008 - December 3

This is our lazy day, when we will stay home and chill. HA! First we went to Sari Bamboo for breakfast, then we walked down the road to look at beaded bags. Along the way, we passed a beauty parlor where a girl was standing out front trying to drum up customers. I asked about a pedicure and was told they were too busy (1 customer in shop), and could I come back at 1:00? Sure, no problem. On to the bead shop.

In the shop, we were impressed with the quality and variety of designs, so I chose a small item and asked how much.

"75,000."

"Business price?"

"Yah, OK, 10% discount."

Well, I had already purchased a similar item for 1/3 the price, and the rule of thumb for bargaining is not to go below 1/2 the starting price, so we left the shop. Coming back up the road, we stopped at the shop where I had purchased the item cheaper. "Any more like this?" I asked. Wait one moment.

Out the door she went. After a few moments, I looked out in the direction she had gone, just in time to see her coming out of the shop we had just come from. Sure enough, in she walks with handfuls of the items I had just been told I could buy for 67,500. She brought them in and spread them out. How much? 25,000. I bought them all.

At 1:00, Macaela and I went back to the beauty parlor for my pedicure.

"Sorry, we're too busy right now (no visible customers), maybe 2:00?"

"No, I have an appointment for 1:00."

"Maybe tomorrow?"

Nope, I think not. There's too much competition for that kind of runaround.

Heading back to the bungalow, we found another salon that was not busy at all. We each got a pedicure, complete with exfoliating scrub and massage of the feet and lower legs for 50,000 (less than $5) each. We were happy and another Balinese made a bit of money.

In the end, the kids did get homework done and we did get work done, but we sure were busy for a lazy day.

Bali 2008 - December 2

Our umbrellas for our patio tables were looking kind of rough, so we pulled off the fabric parts and brought them to Bali to have new ones made. We bought new heavy-duty canvas for about $1.33 per meter and took the whole kit & kaboodle over to Sama Sama along with the fabric for our clothes. I don't remember what the quote was for sewing the umbrellas. More on that later.

Today was the day for silver shopping in Celuk. This is a lengthy process! Made and the kids settled in for a long wait outside in the shade, while Lace and I wandered through the silversmith's shop trying to decide what we thought people would like. Unfortunately, the price of silver is fluctuating too much right now so the only chains we could get were machine made. We decided to pass on those. Wayan's daughter suggested we try some of the large silver shops in Kuta, so we'll try to fit that in later.

None of us really felt like dinner, so we decided to hang out at the bungalow and maybe go to bed early. Kadek came down with the baby for some girl talk, and Made took Jake and Putu out for some fun. I always enjoy talking with Kadek. This is the time we get to ask each other questions about cultural differences, I get to learn a few new words, and just generally gossip. I think Kadek enjoys being able to talk to other women who aren't relatives and don't live in her village.

After a couple of hours, Made brought Jake back. They had gone to a small local market on the motorbike and brought back snacks for everyone. There was pisang goreng (battered and fried bananas), tempe chips, and grilled sandwiches filled with strawberry and pineapple jam. Yum!

Bali 2008 - December 1

Today we ventured into Denpasar, the capitol city of Bali. Denpasar is hot, crowded and dirty, but this is the place to go for fabric. Sukawati Street is the fabric district, and there is shop after shop crammed with all variety of cloth. This is where the buyers go to order custom designs and to buy fabric for their made-to-order clothing lines. Many shops are "guarded" by people who offer to take you inside to help you shop. Don't do it! These people are not the shop owners or employees. You'll get your fabric, but you'll pay more for it so that your "helper" will get a kickback . . . oh, that's right, it's called a commission.

While in Denpasar, we shopped for glasses. On our last visit, we bought new glasses for Made, and the exam, frames and lenses cost about $60 and they were ready in one hour. Turns out that because we all wanted lenses that darken in sunlight, we'd be looking at about $500 per pair and a one week turnaround. Never mind!

Bali 2008 - November 30

I think the flight and the time change is catching up to us. Everyone is tired this morning, and having a hard time getting going. After breakfast, I headed out with my camera to photograph plants and flowers. By the time I got back, the kids were hungry, so we went to Ibu Putu's for lunch again. It is close by (about a 2 minute walk), cheap (about $10 or less for all of us to stuff ourselves), and the food and service are always great.

Afterwards, we walked down the steps (great for the abs!) and a short way down the road to Sama Sama Shop. The ground floor has the usual tourist items - postcards, t-shirts, cigarettes, beer & water - but if you go up to the top floor, you find the office, where you can order almost anything made from fabric. I had brought a dress I wanted them to copy, and Lace brought a pair of pants. They didn't have fabric we liked, but told us to come back with fabric, and the charge to make our clothes would be 50,000 per piece - less than $5 each.

We decided to go to the market again, and along the way Jake announced he needed a bathroom. We stopped at Bumbu Bali, another of our favorite restaurants. They have nice restrooms, and a delicious lemon-lime float called Lemon Heaven, and as we were all hot from our walk, this seemed like the best thing to do. We were quite disappointed to learn that they did not have the "lemon sorbet" (lime sherbet) that goes in the float, so we each got a Mickey Mouse (Coke float) instead, then continued to the market.

We like to hit the market around 4:00 or later, because it closes at 5:00 and there are great deals to be had if you venture deep inside where most tourists don't go. Some of the stalls in the upper floor and in the back don't get any customers for days, so you can usually get "morning price" at closing time. Morning price usually only applies to the first sale of the day, and is pretty much the cheapest price you can get. Sometimes the shopkeeper doesn't say anything about it, but you know it is their first sale when they take your money and touch items in the shop with it. This is supposed to bring them luck and more sales, and it's a sad thing to see at closing time.