Hello Bali

Friday 20th March – Hello Bali

After lunch at Darwin airport, Jetstar decided to feed us on the flight to Bali, so we had supper as well. The link between Jetstar and Qantas seems to be inconsistent. However we took off into the sunset and landed at Denpassar inthe dark.

We discovered that the landing time given in our schedule was actually an hour later than when we arrived and there was an anxious time when no-one met us. Luckily I had the telephone number of the hotel and although my mobile again claimed the number was unrecognised ( it only seems to work about every third call), the information desk at the airport rang through and soon the welcome sight of my name on a placard held by an apologetic driver appeared.

The drive to Ubud was interesting after the soporific traffic of Australia. Motorbikes, scooters, cars and vans all vied with the occasional dog and pedestrian for possession of the road. Many of the roads were one way for cars but two way for motorbikes which was confusing. Mostly it didn't seem to matter which (if any) side of the road you drove on, as long as oncoming traffic could pass on the right

The hotel, Alam Indah, is charming. Perched on the side of a jungle filled ravine, it consists of a series of traditional Balinese dwellings terraced into the hillside. There are only 12 rooms with deeply carved doors, stone facades and private terraces. The buildings are up to three storeys high beneath a thatched roof. Set well back from the road, it is tranquil place with shrines to various gods at every corner. Offerings of flowers and incense in small woven palm leaf baskets are placed in the shrines daily, and also scattered on the ground to propitiate evil spirits.

Saturday 21st March

After a delightful breakfast, spent the morning around the swimming pool. The temperature must be in the 30s, and the stone edged pool is beautifully cool. Within the stone walls surrounding the terraces are carved animal reflecting the animist nature of the Hindu religion here.

Walked through the nearby Monkey Forest Sanctuary to Ubud village. The Monkey Forest teems with grey macaques which tried to steal my water bottle, and by the litter around had obviously had previous success with both water bottles and cameras. The temples in the forest could be part of an Indiana Jones movie set. As we explored one temple, a huge reptile well over a metre long splashed its way along the adjacent stream bed and darted out of sight between some rocks. We were assured that despite its appearance it wasn't a crocodile, just a large monitor lizard. I can see why the people here believe in dragons.

We reached the centre of the village past rows of art galleries, clothing shops and restaurants. The market was open and there were throngs of people. After a local beer, we asked the restaurant to phone the hotel who sent a driver to take us back. The Alam Indah has a complimentary on-demand shuttle service to and from the village running until 22:00.

Back for afternoon tea on the terrace and a rest, then shuttle back to the centre of Ubud to the Royal Palace for a performance of a traditional Balinese Legong dance. With night haven fallen and the temperature now about 25, the courtyard of the palace fills with people around a stage set in front of a magnificent entrance with gold doors and oil lights on the tiers of carved stonework above. Either side, the musicians in uniform costume beat out the rhythms on highly decorated xylophone like instruments with what look like geological hammers. Add a couple of wooden flutes, several drummers and some impressively large bronze gongs and you can produce an amazing amount of sound without any need for electronic amplification.

The dance lasted without interruption for an hour and a half, performed by slight Balinese ladies in traditional costume, a handsome prince and a masked ogre. The ladies kept an impassive face whilst they danced, but their eyes darted from side to side to express emotion. Each dancer, or group of dancers, would appear at the entrance, descend the steps in a stilted fashion, perform a dance and then retire in similar manner. There was a story to it, but as everything was so stylised it was better to ignore it and just enjoy the spectacle.

We ate at a posh restaurant, the Cafe Lotus where the tables looked out over a lily pond to a temple entrance and the massive bill came to just over 300,000 rupiah (about £18.60) .

Sunday 22nd March

Decided to centre ourselves at Sanur for the remainder of the stay and the hotel let us use their internet connection to book a hotel and arranged a car to take us.

Walked to Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA), an art gallery spread over several buildings in a compound. There were traditional as well as modern paintings, including some striking surrealist perspectives by Walter Spies. A cup of tea was included in the admission price which was welcome as it was hot, even in the tea pavilion.

Walked back to the hotel for a light lunch and a swim. In the evening the hotel minibus took us to the performance of three dances at the Padang Tengal dance stage, a roughly tarmacked arena in front of a temple.

The Kekac dance consisted of an extract from the Ramayana with the musical accompaniment provided by about 150 men wearing only black and white checked skirts. They sat on the ground in a circle, three or four deep, around a central candelabra like structure of oil lamps, waving their hands and chanting “chak chak chak chak” rhythmically in time with calls and yelps. Traditionally dressed Balinese dance girls moved angularly in the centre, with appearances of masked characters from the temple behind and the story sung in Indonesian by a narrator during gaps in the chanting. The effect was often hilarious and both performers and spectators were obviously having a good time.

The second dance was a trance dance performed by two young girls with a chorus of ladies squatting on the ground behind, flanked by some of the men from the previous dance. The girls danced with their eyes shut then symbolically collapsed to the ground. Finally a shaman sprinkled them with holy water and the dance ended. The mood of this dance was more sombre, apparently it is a ritual to rid the village of evil spirits.

The third dance was preceded by removing the oil lamps and tipping a heap of dried coconut shells in the centre of the arena. These were then soaked in kerosene and set on fire. A dancer with a Balinese version of a hobby horse pranced around, kicking the blazing embers towards the encircled audience amidst smoke, spectacular showers of sparks and general consternation. Western health and safety officials would have loved it. I had to repeatedly kick burning coconut shells away from where they came to rest against my plastic chair leg. Men with brooms then brushed the embers back into the centre so the scattering could be repeated several times.

In all the dances lasted about an hour and a half and we ended the evening with probably the best presented meal of the trip so far at the Ibu Rai restaurant on Monkey Forest Road.



Monday 23rd March

Left Ubud and were driven to the coast at Sanur, to the Sanur Beach Hotel. It is an enormous rambling 1980s affair, somewhat haphazard in design and construction, half a dozen separate buildings surrounding palm shaded gardens and swimming pools adjacent to the beach. What it lacks in charm is, however, outweighed by the friendliness of the staff and the painstaking attention to maintenance and service of what is a comfortable but somewhat tired establishment.

The beach is sandy, gently sloping and the water very quiet as the bay is protected by a barrier reef where the waves constantly break with a faint roar.

We tried snorkelling but the water was very shallow and filled with long sea grass. Amidst the grass we saw large starfish, a few small fish and some long green worm shaped segmented creatures with tentacles at one end which were scraping algae from the surface of the grass and eating it. They were up to a metre long. The grass had small stinging creatures in it though which caused a short lived rash.

Went shopping, returning along the sea front to enjoy a beer at sunset.