Indonesia 2012, Bali

Bali 2012-7-6

Got up at 5 am and left Surabaya early in the morning. The area near the airport was mainly fish ponds. Large area of mangroves was seen from the air along the coast. We saw two volcanoes as we cross the land sky of Bali. A major construction work was going to enlarge the facilities in Denpasar airport. It wanted to accommodate the large new airplanes. Right now, it was a big mess and the passengers must carry their luggage in long corridors before reaching the drop area for land transport.

We Arrived at noon and waited for Yinfa and his family to join us in the airport. We then had late lunch (2:30 pm) in a large Chinese restaurant. The barbequed duck was Rp140,000 and it was a little dry and the skin was not crispy enough, but it was certainly more delicious than any chicken we had so far. We had frog and another 3 dishes and a soup and the cost was only Rp600,000 for 11 of us. Mei mentioned that it was cheap. Yinfa and his family sit on another table and ordered their foods separately. Mommy asked if they had chef from China, but the reply was none. The foods in general were good.

Surfing at Dreamland beach

We then went to a newly developed beach area own by Suharto son’s Tommy near Ulu Watu. It had 250 hectres, and was leased to various establishments. The beach was a popular spot for the white tourists coming for surfing. It was known as the Dream Land for a long time, and that name was used till now. It had light brown beach and large waves. The beach was packed with visitors, and the majority of them were young local. It was probably coincided with the school holiday. On the road, we started to see white tourists on motorbikes.

Visnu statue in Garuda Wisnu Park

We went to visit the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park on the hill Bukit Peninsula. The major attraction there was a 23 m high Vishnu statue. The park also had many exhibit of Hindu culture, and some Balinese dancing performance. It was heavily commercial and like an amusement park. However, I enjoyed more of the scenery viewed from the balcony and courtyard of a large restaurant in the park. One can see the beach on the west coast of Nusa Dua peninsula.

Jimbaran sea food village

As part of the tour, the driver insisted to take us to Jimbaran, the sea food village. I had been asked before, and were asked again of my opinion of having dinner there. I gave the same answer that it was too early to have dinner due to our late lunch, and the sea food here was much more expensive than in Padang, and the taste was not as good. The majority supported me and we left. We stopped at a small supermarket to buy some foods for dinner, and stopped again in a spare ribs specialty restaurant. Yinfa who had arrived two days earlier mentioned that the spare ribs there were really good. It came in one piece and was one kilo in weight, and could be shared by two. Its cost was Rp110,000. Mommy didn’t want to eat much for dinner, and I ordered only some pieces of fried spare ribs for Rp35,000. It had been marinated in garlic and onion and tasted good. I also ordered French fried while I was waiting. It was very good.

Dining room in Kokonut Suites

We passed many traffic jams and finally arrived in our hotel close to 9pm. We had spacious one bedroom apartment in Kokonut Suites. Half of it was living, dining and kitchen and the other half was bedroom and washroom. It was very comfortable. It was located about 5 km west of Denpasar. I didn’t recognize the roads, and generally I felt that a lot of new building had been added, and the street was more congested.

Bali 2012-7-7

White tourists on motorbikes

We went to Bali Safari and Marine Park after breakfast. It was located near Keramas about 20 km northeast of Denpasar. The traffic was very bad, and it took us an hour and half to get there. On the road, we started to see the young white tourists on motorbike with a specially equipped carrier for surf board. While the native were wearing heavy clothes riding on the motorbike, the white wore T-shirt.

Building a shrine in a shop

Building a new shrine

Cutting volcano rocks

Along the highway nearing the safari, there were many shops making religious sculptors. I decided to visit these shops rather than went with the group to see the park. In Bali, there were a big market for various sizes and shapes of shrines to be installed in the family house and community courtyard. They were made of black volcano rocks. The workers used large chain saws to cut these rocks into small pieces to fit into the shrine that they were building. It was like putting it up in Lego. I didn’t know if there was any Lego model for building shrines. And I wonder if they also did it this way in the old day when chain saw was not yet available. I will pay more attention on this aspect when I visit old temples. Different shops had their own specialty that they had developed through generations. A customer would come to see their samples, and put an order. They would then built the shrine in their shop applying only a temporary adhesive to stick the rocks together. When it was ready to be delivered, it was de-assembled into pieces with proper marking, and the pieces were then transported to the site where it would be re-assembled with a permanent adhesive. The foreign tourists were another major buyers of these religious sculptor, and I supposed that their interests were in the form of human, animals and mystic animals not in shrines. I noticed that some components with elaborate and detail features were made from mold. I was told that some of the shrines used bricks made of ground volcano sands and they were cheaper.

Making sate lebit

We then went to Lebih beach just across the road from Bali Safari. There were some stalls along the entrance road selling freshly caught fish. I saw one 3 feet long blue ikan tenggiri (king mackerel) asking for Rp40,000/kg. Some ladies were busy carrying her offering and doing her morning pray at various places. There were a row of restaurant huts on the beach. The sands were volcanic black sand, and there were many outrigger fishing boats lying on the beach. They were all of the same kind and size. The outrigger was made of bamboo, and the beams supporting the outrigger were curvilinear. The guide told me that the restaurant sold sate lebit, which was barbeque fish on stick. I ordered a dozen and watched them made it. They used a pre-mixed fish paste and spices, and wrapped the paste around a wide and flat stick and barbequed it. The texture was similar to the fish balls sold in Chinese grocery store.

A room in Tugu Bali Hotel

 We came back to Denpasar to have lunch in a chicken specialty restaurant, and then went back to our hotel for rest. By 3:30, we were all dressed up to go to Lydia wedding reception at Tugu Bali Hotel on Jalan Pantai Batu Bolong. It had many large and small pavilions with traditional Bali style built on ponds, and was fully decorated with Bali antiques and crafts . The ceremony started not long after our arrival. Senior members of the family were taking turn to be seated in the honourable chairs to receive the kowtow from  Lydia and Rinaldy, and they would present their gift to the bride and groom. All my siblings and their family except Siangfa and Linhua were presented. Inah’s siblings also came. I had met her eldest sister and youngest brother before but not all. Rinaldy’s parents, brother and sister and their family came to attend the reception, but I was too busy with taking photos and didn’t have chances to talk to them.  After this was over, the bride and groom went for the photo session. This was the most important factor in their choice for this hotel for this occasion. It provided the best photogenic setting for taking wedding photos. I followed closely behind the professional photographers like a paparazzi and took some snapshots of the couple. I enjoyed doing it.

Reception on beach

The hotel had a beach front lawn and it had been reserved for this occasion. Tables and chairs had been set up with the red colour linen top, and they were surrounded by islands serving many different kinds of foods and dishes. The whole area had been decorated and brightens with red flags and lanterns.  A white hotel manager had been put in charge of the party, and she told me that a Balinese god or a witch had been invited to ensure for the good weather for this special occasion. They had hired a small band with a female singer, however, I was disappointed that she couldn’t sing one Minang song. The foods were good and we all had a good time.

Bali 2012-7-8

In the courtyard of Art Shop Galuh

Our first stop for today was a visit to Art Shop Galuh in Denpasar. While they were shopping inside, I explored the beautiful courtyard and garden filled with Bali style rock carvings. The façade of some buildings in the courtyard were richly and beautifully carved wood and painted in red and gold.

A woman carrying goods on her head

A drugged monkey refused to let go its grip

On the road to Monkey Forest in Ubut, we saw a road repairing crew in working. They used primitive tools like hammer and shovel to dig the damaged road surface. I didn’t know if this was a common scene in Bali. A woman was riding behind a motorbike, and she was holding three baskets on her head. The roads in Ubud was narrow and the whole area preserved its village atmosphere. Along the road, there were many craft shops and shops making roof with straws. In front of the Monkey Forest, I saw 5 rangers looking up on a tree, and two of them were holding a large stretched plastic bag anticipating to capture something to fall on it. Upon enquiry, I saw a big monkey was desperately holding and hanging with its four limbs on a branch. It was a sick monkey and had been drugged to get treatment, but it refused to be captured. It looked that the monkey was going to win. There were many more monkeys everywhere on the trees, roof top and ground.

A woman police with a fancy uniform

After shopping in the art stalls along the road, we went to a fancy Balinese restaurant in Ubut. After lunch, we visit Devi silver shop in Celuk. There were many similar shops in this village, and the street was filled with large mansions. In front of a building in the courtyard of this shop, I saw two rock sculptures of an old couple. They were probably the ancestors of the owner. The facial expressions on these sculptures were like a living being. In the shop, we saw the workers working on some intricate works of silver jewelry. A new wing was under construction, and I saw the woven bamboo mat was used as the first layer in the roof construction. I had seen this practice in many buildings and it was a proof that it was still being used. On the road returning to town, we saw two female traffic polices at the intersection of Jalan Ngurah Rai By Pass and Jalan Hang Tuah. They were wearing fancy and modern uniform decorated with badges, red tie, and completed with a red cowboy hat.

Watching the release of baby turtles on Kuta beach

Our next stop was Kuta Beach. I still recognized the busy shopping street along the beach. The car turned into a small lane leading to a parking lot on the beach. The lane was wide enough for one car only, and the display of merchandises made it even much narrower. There was no one controlling the traffic, and it was a chaos when two cars wanted to come in and get out at the same time. Kuta beach had not changed much. People were sitting under the shade chatting, massaging and soliciting. The new addition was the number of people offering to do tattoo. Their customers included all races and genders and mostly youth. Hundreds of people gathered on the beach forming a U-shape fence with its opening toward the sea. We strolled on the soft beach toward the large crowd. They were watching the release of baby turtles struggling and racing toward the sea. The spectators patiently moved with them and watched them reaching the water. I knew that they all prayed that the baby turtles would come back when they became adult. I saw many kites when we were on the road, and we could see them clearer here without the obstacles of tall buildings and trees. They came in  different shapes: birds, sailboats and others. The sunset was beautiful but not spectacular. The clouds were too thick and heavy and covered the whole sky.

Watching sunset in Kuta beach

Vera and Didi were in Jakarta attending her brother wedding on the same day that Lydia and Rinaldy  had their reception. They arrived today to join us. Since they could not get a room in Kokonut Suites where we stayed, Vera moved us to another hotel Swiss-belhotel Segara  in Nusa Dua which was closer to the speedboat terminal to Lombok. Yinfa and his family would not go with us, and Vera decided, without consultation to Yinfa, to let them stayed in Kokonut Suites. This created some unhappy misunderstanding.

We stopped at a famous bakery shop to buy a cake and then proceeded to a famous steakhouse Arena Pub and Restaurant to meet Didi and Vera and to have dinner together. Today was Vera’s birthday, and we all went to her room in our new hotel to celebrate it. We were just having a big dinner, and the small cake was enough for all of us to get a piece of it. Didi commented that if all their customers in Padang bought such a small birthday cake, the bakery could not survive.

Bali 2012-7-9

Preparing order in a babi guling restaurant

This hotel was new and had two huge swimming pools. We had free time this morning. Ching went to do some exercises in the gym, and I tried to test the water in the pool. It was too cool in the early morning, and I decided not to swim. We went out to try babi guling at a restaurant on Jalan Teuku Umar for lunch. It was a barbequed pork cut into pieces and was a Balinese specialty. I had tried it before and didn’t like it. I was told that the restaurant we were going to was very famous in Bali. I found it not much different than what I had before. The barbequed pork sold in Chinese restaurants tasted much better, and the skin was crispy and not hard to chew.

Tanah Lot

On the way to Tanah Lot, we passed the Kerobakan prison on Jalan Sigilita, and we were told that it was the only prison in the island. We went to Tanah Lot to see the famous shrine built on a small rocky island near the shore. The parking lot was full, and there were many Asian foreign visitors. It was low tide and we could wade to the island. And the waves were breaking at the rocky base of the island like a beautiful lace. This was my third visit to the place, but for the first time, I walked to the park on the other side, and from the high hill one could have a better view of the shrine. Furthermore, this was the only place where  one could also see the big rock with a hole sticking out to the sea. Walking back to the entrance, I saw many tourists having tattoo, and two young monks buying souvenirs in front of a stall. Some of us bought many Balinese paintings in the shop. We saw many beautiful paddy fields on the road.

We were hungry, but were not certain where to have our dinner. We ended up going back to the Chinese restaurant where we had our first meal when we arrived in Bali.


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