Saya jalan-jalan.

Selemat Sore!
So I, um...bought a digital camera. And I have a cell phone. A pink one. And a motorbike.
It took going to the other side of our beautiful planet to get these items, but I'll admit they're handy! I've been on foot until this point, which usually meant leaving my place early to walk the 3km into Ubud to get there before the sun got too intense, then hiding out in a series of cafes and such during the heat of the day, to walk back home in the late afternoon or evening.

But it's a gorgous walk and a lovely place. I've spent most of my time in Singakerta, near Ubud. I've gone up to Pemuteran once, where I'll return in a few weeks to get dive certified with Kacy and help out on a rather experimental coral reef restoration project (http://www.biorock.net/).

This morning I got up at 2:30 AM to hike a volcano. It was a 1 hour drive and we started going up about 4AM, to get to a viewpoint for sunrise. We were done by 9:30AM and I've spent the rest of the day getting home through a series of stops at fruit stands, bookstores, and food stalls.

I also hope to visit/work on a farm in the mountains that I get cacao from. I'm going to try and get there this week.


On the walk to Ubud, I pass this bridge demon every day. There are four of them, guarding at each corner. They're a common image on bridges, but I haven't found a specific name for this character yet.


Here he is with a series of offerings. These offerings, made of a leaf box (usually banana), a flower, a dab of rice, a sprinkle of water, a stick of insence, and other things depending on availability and the day are everywhere. They are placed at every doorway, intersection, statue, strange-looking tree, on motorbikes, cars, temples, gutters, water taps, etc. at least twice daily. As soon as they are placed, they are forgotten about. Luckily they're biodegradable because the gutters are absolutely full of them. The stray dogs and chickens eat the rice.



My friends Made and Jepun took Felice and I to Made's family temple, at the foot of Gunung Agung (Bali's biggest mountain). Jepun is a painter and they own a gallery and a guesthouse in Ubud. They are building this house in their family village (2.5 hour drive away) brick by brick, as they can afford it.







Felice and I went to the Bali Bird Park very close to my place; it has sevaral aviaries and a beautiful array of birds from around the tropical world. This one may have thought I was out to poach its eggs becaus eits red eyes never left me.




When I heard a deep, throaty, "Hello," I turned to find this Myna bird hopping about in its small cage. It made "whoop"ing noises and occasionally snorted at me.





Jepun and Felice, at Jepun's house near Mt. Agung.








Jepun and Made let us enter their village temple, without sarongs, which is pretty tabboo I think. Each village temple (often there are several per village...they're everywhere!) has three courtyards for different purposes. This was a very modest one.


You know...new camera=flower shots.








This is Pura Pasar Agung, one of the two temples on Mt. Agung. On the southern slope, one drives a very steep hill (we had to pause to enjoy the view...and let the car cool down), then climbs these 297 stairs (by my count). This temple is one of the biggest and highest in Bali.
Mt. Agung is the focal point of Bali; according to Balinese Hindus, it's where Shiva was born and lives. However, Shiva is apparently on vacation right now because it's okay to hike up to the summit of Agung. Next month the God comes back and it's off limits.


Inside the gates of the temple on Agung are the three courtyards of all temples, though huge. We were inside of a cloud at this point, and the peak above us was grey and the stairs below us faded into mist.
These three pillars are for Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu.



These guys are my favorite characters so far. Their names are Malem (left) and Merdah (right, with the bigger nose). They appear in shadow puppet plays as bumbling old men who serve as servants to the good and bad guys. Since these plays are often recited in high language which nobody speaks, they speak the common language and translate while acting as comic relief.


Merdah. They are seen depicted in stone form outside many gates to homes, temples, shops, etc. Their hands are often like this, in a sign of welcome.




Malem. Aren't they just the most adorable dimwited gatekeepers ever?






Outside the villa in the rain. We're surrounded by rice paddies on all sides; the rice comes right up to this wall.





At the Bird Park; this was a bird show and these two macaws wouldn't come back to the trainer. They looped us a few times and then took off over the distant fields for about ten minutes.
Eventually they returned, but one perched upside down in a tree and they cancelled the rest of the show (raptors were next and macaws could have looked like a meal).


Every house compound has a small temple, often a single small structure. This is the one at the villa, in the very corner of the property (the distance from your house to your temple is determined by your foot...some number of lengthwise steps plus one sideways step, to be determined by a priest).








There's cacao here! I've been grinding it and making my own chocolate; it's gritty since I can't get the proper stone roller for it here, but delicious. This was my first sheet of it. Since then I've been making fudge and cakes.




I don't know this one's story, but it's all over, often above entrances.








A seven-foot carving of a komodo dragon, complete with a fresh offering atop its nose.








Each temple has its own unique guards. Some are animals, some demons, some miscellaneous characters like this one. They always come in pairs.

You can't go 1o feet without coming across another statue or carving of some kind.



Bali has dogs everywhere. Most are white. They're not aggressive (though I'm told rabies is present in the south). They are simply everywhere, including the summit of Mt. Kintamani, the beaches of Kuta and Pemuteran, restaurants, internet cafes, rice paddies, gravel pits...everywhere. Most have no owners; many are mangy, some are mangled; but nobody intentionally harms them. They are respected and many live on the dabs of rice available in every offering in Bali.




This is Boomer, a 17-year-old Green Turtle in Pemuteran in the NW. He was part of a captive breeding program, where babies are hatched and released to help boost turtle populations. he kept returning to the beach with every release, so eventually they kept him. He's been there ever since and loves having his shell scratched.


One of the amazing fishing boats in the north, constructed of a wooden hull and bamboo outriggings. They're a piece of simple genious.






Under a restaurant table. Black dogs are less common.












This station on the Pemuteran beach is part of the BioRock project. Metal grids of various shapes and sized (domes, stars, boxes, etc.) have been dropped just offshore and have electricity running to them. The low voltage stimulates limestone growth and pieces of coral are anchored to them. Then, the coral grows! A 5-minute snorkel from the beach.


Sunrise in Pemuteran.







It's a flower.







Bruce and Felice, whith whom I'm living in Singakerta.








The back of the villa.












This is the Bale (buh-LAY) in our backyard. This is used in most family complexes (just about everyone has one) for socializing, eating, etc.





This is Made (mah-DAY). Most people in Bali are named Wayan, Made, Nyoman, or Ketut. It depends on birth order; if you're a first son or daughter, your name is Wayan, etc.
Very confusing sometimes, but great when I forget a name! ("Oooh, I forget your name...was it Nyoman? Oh, Ketut! I was close.")

That's all for now! I hope life is grand. Selamat jalan--

--Trav--