JBR 5 - Gamelan Village of Tihingan, Merta Sari Warung, Taman Gili at Klungkung/Sanur and Kuta 11 - 13 January 2007
Thursday 11 January
After settling up the bill at the Padang Bai Beach Bungalows (Absolute Suba), and no, we hadn't drunk any of the nice bottles of Western Australian wine in the room, we left Padang Bai with Nyoman Oka (Alex). It had been a great 4 days there, very interesting and relaxing, and when I asked Doug later, he said that it was the place that he had enjoyed the most in our trip.
I think what I like about Padang Bai is it's casual seaside atmosphere. Tourists are well catered for with a choice of accommodation as well as two lovely beaches either side of the harbour (Blue Lagoon and White Beach) and snorkelling with colourful fish and coral in nearby Amuk Bay. The harbour activity is always interesting and there are sufficient restaurants and warungs to ensure that you did not need to eat at the same place twice, a few bars (of which I amply sampled! - see JBR 4). The beach sellers are friendly and not overly demanding for a sale, and because the village banjar organise traditional dance performances in the street (which I have been lucky enough to be there by co-incidence at the right time each visit) you are able to absorb some of the cultural aspect of this village.
Bye Padang Bai, I'll be back again one day ....... we drove with Alex onto Kusamba where we stopped at one of my favourite warungs, the Merta Sari, a must when you are in East Bali (it's also one of Janet De Neefe's favourite warungs - she mentions it in her book Fragrant Rice).
Their speciality is spicy fish satays served with a bowl of fish soup and bright red plastic plates of long green beans, noodle mixture, peanuts and fish that had been steamed in banana leaves. To eat the meal you sit on low tables covered in grass matting and a bright red plastic tablecloth in the middle. To one side of the dining area three staff are busy preparing the food, wrapping the fish in banana leaves and moulding the fish mixture from a large bowl onto pieces of bamboo which are stuck in an upside down wicker basket ready to be placed on a long narrow charcoal bbq fueled by coconut husks. In my photo I can count that they cook 30 satay sticks at a time on the little bbq. It's all very fresh and delicious and I love taking first timers there.
It's quite hot when we leave the Merta Sari and we drive on to town of Klungkung where we stopped at the Taman Gili (the only remains of the royal palace of the regency) for Doug to have a look at the kamasan style ceiling paintings in the bales, one of them known as the Bale Kambung, set in the middle of a moat, and the other bale is the Kerta Gosa, the meeting place for the king and his ministers, sometimes referred to as the law courts.
As I wanted to explore the local market I didn't accompany Doug into Taman Gili and unfortunately he interpreted one of the guide's gestures to summons him to have a look in the bales as some type of tactic to attract his attention so he missed seeing the ceiling paintings which is a bit of a shame. The market at Klungkung has a large array of everyday traditional items used by the balinese - offering baskets, ceremonial clothing, materials and jewellery. I bought a nice offering basket and a traditional wedding headpiece (a present for Doug's wife) to match his traditional headpiece.
When I emerged into the market car park where we had parked, one of the ladies selling sarongs (they are quite full on at this car park area from recollections of my past visits to Taman Gili) approaches me indicating that 'my brother would like to buy a shirt' oh yes, I think ... and to my amusement I discover Doug sitting in a corner pinned in by sarong ladies who had plied their wares, mainly batik sarongs and garments, on top of him. His flushed hot face was beaming at me from under the conglomeration of material draped on top of him and I think the telepathy was certainly coming though ... please 'help' me .... Alex was sitting along the bench a metre or so from him trying gallantly not to show his intense amusement at Doug's predicament. Ah, another been there/done that moment when accompanying a bali newbie! Well Doug I said do you want to buy anything? He explained that he did rather like a pair of green batik summer pajamas, saying he had only brought one pair with him and could do with another. Enough said, the ladies now turned their attention to me recognising that I was person they should be bargaining with if they had any chance of securing a sale. As Doug extracted himself I secured a suitable price holding the ladies at bay while he got back in the kijang. At one stage one of the ladies regained Doug's attention with a price of 10,000 rp., a ploy to begin a further sale, but Alex had already started the car engine and with a quick exit planned I secured the sale and we were away. Alex and I make a good team, but also Alex is very astute to be able to 'rescue' you from an awkward situation without causing offence to his fellow balinese. Well, that was an interesting experience for Doug!
Our next stop was after a short picturesque detour off the main road at the craft village of Tihingan known for it's gong makers. We stopped at one of the showrooms out the front of a home compound and they had all types of gamelan instruments for sale as well as large gongs, some of them measuring at least a metre wide. In 2005 I had bought a metallophone gangsa from this village, so this time I was looking for something different, but also I was conscious of the weight of the item to carry on the plane home.
I found a terrific brass bell with a fancy handle incorporating a garuda. There was another beautiful brass bell, very nicely finished but it was very heavy - the lady explained to me that it was the bell used by the priests for special prayer ceremonies. We tried the sounds of different bells until I found one that had a tone that sounded very much like the ones I was accustomed to hearing in temple ceremonies - and we negotiated what I thought was a reasonable price. The lady invited us to have a look at the foundry and it was interesting to see the craftsmen shaping metal for metallophone and gongs, working in shorts, no shirts and bare feet at a red hot furnace.
On the way to Sanur Alex showed us a warehouse that his business colleague has set up for storage, packaging and transportation for exportation, and although he still continues his driving and guiding work, he now has some business clients and able to source and export handicraft items all over the world. I think it is excellent that he is looking ahead into future business opportunities which will hopefully benefit his family.
As we hadn't organised accommodation at Sanur, Alex showed us one place, I don't remember the name but it had nice rooms and pool but it was tucked quite a few kilometres down the southern area of Sanur, and as Doug had never stayed anywhere with a pool bar, which I thought would be something different for him, I said to Alex, let's head back into central Sanur and try the Besakih where I had stayed in 2005 and found it to be comfortable hotel with a large pool (with pool bar) in an excellent location right next to the beach.
After some negotiation with reception, including assurances that I was a return client and that my brother would be very happy to frequent the pool bar regularly (gosh you say anything in negotiations!), and making a promise not to reveal the negotiated room only price (no breakfast included as we preferred to eat breakfast on our morning walks), we secured two rooms on the 1st floor in the wing area for two nights (I was in number 255 and Doug next door).
After cooling off in the pool and sampling the Besakih pool bar, we headed off for an orientation walk along the beach pathway so Doug could familiarise with the Sanur area. We came across a crowd of local people gathered on the beach and saw that a large fish, it was like a large gropher, had just been caught. It would have weighed at least 10 kilo, it was huge. The colourful prahu on the beach caught Doug's interest and I caught up with my regular Sanur sailor, Rony (No. 82 on his helmet) and organised a sailing trip for Doug for the next day.
We had dinner at the Bonzai Cafe, Doug had chicken cashew and I had a nice sirloin steak, it had seemed like a long time between steaks! The beachside atmosphere was very nice and it seemed to be a popular spot with diners.
We finished off the night at the Besakih restaurant as we had spied a piano there, and with Doug being an accomplished pianist, a piano was something we hadn't expected to find in Bali, or at the very least, to find at any accommodation that we might have been staying at on our travels. We politely listened to the balinese piano player who seemed to have a limited repertoire of tunes, and when I indicated to the restaurant girls that Doug also played the piano, they hustled off the resident piano player, insisting that Doug play the piano. Well, Doug played up a storm and really got into the swing of things, playing a variety of honky tonk, classical and popular tunes to the obvious enjoyment of the dinner guests. One guest insisted on buying Doug bintang dingin's and kopi for me (I was still 'getting over' the previous night's indulgences at Padang Bai!) hoping he would continue to play, he was enjoying it so much. It was a terrific night and I'm sure the pianist in residence didn't mind having an extended break.
Around 11 pm we decided to call it a night, it had been another long day (and night) in Bali. Being in Sanur felt like being in the 'big smoke' again after Padang Bai. Tomorrow night I was going to take Doug over to a BTF get-together at Sammy and Suzie's at Kuta beach, for his first 'real' taste of Kuta, as our brief stop to change money on our first day wasn't really counted.
Friday 12 January
Up a little bit later and race out to take some sunrise photos of the sunrise behind Gunung Agung, it's always a good morning photo to the east at Sanur. As we were a little later they were not the best sunrise shots I have taken there, but they are still really nice shots and at 7 am Doug is happy to pose next to a restaurant sign claiming - 'the coldest beer in Bali'.
We continued our walk along the beach front and then headed inland to the Sanur pasar pagee where I bought 2 satay sticks threaded with little donuts covered with coloured sprinkles like 'hundreds and thousands' from a little food caravan - very intriguing - and packaged in a little cardboard box saying Selemat Menikmati (much better than more plastic!). As usual we ordered our hot black bali kopi served in glasses to wake us up sufficiently for the day ahead.
More photos of the interesting fish, vegetables, fruit and spices and I had a chat with a lovely shop keeper lady I met in March last year. She sells traditional ceremonial cloth and dress makes on the spot, quite often hurriedly sewing a small child's outfit for a ceremony. I listened to her sad tale of being taken for a ride by someone who she had in good faith sent an order to (white umbul umbul flags for a wedding in Australia) without insisting on payment in advance, and they had never put the money into her bank account to pay her. If she had been able to locate the sale details in her order book I would have contacted the people on her behalf to see what had happened to her payment to help her out but she couldn't find it amongst the multitude of dockets in her book, so I just cautioned her that she had to insist on receiving payment first, that people would just have to trust her and not vise versa in future.
I talked Doug into buying some bright umbul umbul flags from her for his garden for when he and his wife have a social bbq and get dressed up in their traditional balinese outfits, and they can decorate their garden too. She didn't have any of the 9 metre size that I needed unfortunately but at least she had a small sale.
When we saw a woman with a wok full of hot oil making up a fresh batch of fried bananas we decided that's what we'd have for a snack, so for 5,000 rp we got quite a number in a brown paper bag, lovely and fresh. We found a street intersection next to the market to sit on a step and people watch while we ate our fried bananas - one of my weight watcher leaders often says 'always sit down to eat - you can't swallow unless your knees are bent!' - meaning don't walk and eat, concentrate on your food - I'm not too sure whether she would have approved of fried bananas for breakfast somehow! I still had my camera ready to go for the still to be achieved shot - five on a motorbike - but must have been concentrating on my food too much to get a photo when one did go past!
Next we decided to catch a bemo south down Jl. Danau Tamblingan to Hardy's Grosir which is a large 3 storey department store, with books, cafes, make up stands on the ground floor, and the other levels have a large array of clothing, balinese paintings and handicraft items and a large jewellery section. They gave us a 15% off docket to use. Their wartel on the top floor wasn't open yet; I think we were the first tourist customers of the day, my docket records shows 8.52 am I bought a silver ring (they said it was a 'stress' ring because the inside section spins around separately from the main part on your finger - quite different in style). Outside in the almost vacant car park was a gathering of staff all standing in lines like a class with the boss and supervisors out the front giving them their motivation talk for the day.
Still searching for a wartel as Doug was keen to ring Australia for his wife's birthday, we found a wartel down a laneway. While he was trying to put through the call I was offered a try on a large gangsa gamelan instrument that was sitting under a patio of an adjoining house by a man who had been reading his morning paper.
Unfortunately Doug couldn't get the call to connect so we walked back to the Besakih Hotel along the beach path and had fruit and kopi for bunch and a swim after Doug successfully put in his call to Australia (we discovered that we had to put in or leave out, can't remember which, one of the digits in the phone number). Doug bought a watch from Charlie Brown (his Singaraja calculator watch died when he had accidentally went swimming the previous day) and I bought a nice green batik shirt for Graeme and a few other things from Rony's wife, Jackie, who has Stall No. 11B at the Sindhu Market. She is very good with her prices as I always usually give Rony business going sailing, and she's happy with that.
I didn't find the market ladies on the pathway close to the Sindhu Market as intense in trying to make sales as previous years, maybe I had become used to their sales approaches and were able to shake them off easily, not sure why. I bought a larger colourful bali bag as I was leaving a bit more with Alex this time (it's handy to have a bag already in bali containing snorkels, beach towels, first aid kit, mossie spray, shampoos etc. it now has my gold sandals and bright red croc sandals in it as well!)
While Doug went for a sail with Rony (No. 82 on the beach outside the Besakih Hotel) in the afternoon, I headed over to the Beauty/Hairdressing Salon across the road from Besakih to have the works - manicure, pedicure complete with pretty flowers, a fabulous facial and hair cream bath and come out feeling very refreshed. It was quite amazing that for the wet season in January there had hardly been any rain, so there wasn't the oppressive humidity I had experienced in January 2003.
After rendezvousing Doug and I caught a taxi over to Kuta to Sammy & Suzie's, where we met up with Whoopee, Anniswan (and kids), Chris and Bali Bob and Smudge from the Bali Travel Forum. Doug had a fake tattoo of an anchor applied to his leg while we sunk a few Bintangs (of course best enjoyed with friends). Sammy and Suzie were well and very hospitable as usual and it was a happy get together, one I always look forward to when in Bali. There was a nice boat kite flying in the wind at the beach that caught Doug's eye so he bought another kite to take home.
As I wanted to catch up with some more Kuta people I knew, I walked Doug along Jl. Melasti and all the way down Jl. Legian to Bakungsari Street and he got his first real taste of Kuta, which I think blew him away a bit as he had mainly seen rural areas over the past two weeks. Doug spied some very 'colourfully worded' stickers to buy as gifts - quite unique, I think it could be quite hard to find the same in Australia, and I was interested to see that even in the last 10 months, new shops had sprung up in Jl. Legian.
At the memorial in Jl Legian we briefly stopped, remembering the horrific events of October 2002 that had touched the lives of so many people in the world and the balinese community. It appeared to me that there were substantially more tourists now in Kuta than I had seen on previous trips in the past four years, so maybe the recovery process is happening at long last.
It felt so different walking around Kuta, with lots of fancy neon lighting and shops, bars and restaurants everywhere, usually in Kuta I mainly do my walking around during the day (I consider Kuta to be risky broken ankle territory at nighttime) so I felt I was experiencing something new myself. I think that Doug found it all a bit of a contrast to the different areas of Bali we had been to over the past two weeks.
Finally we got to Bukingsari Street and stopped in at one of my favourite haunts from 2003, the Bali Aget Bar and Restaurant. Ayu was still there waitressing and also Spike making up his jugs of cocktails, so we had shrimp cocktails for tea. They are always interested to see my enlargements of photos I had taken of our travels and it was great to catch up with them again. A reunion photo at the bar with Spike's interesting bali wooden statue (you have to go there to see what I mean!) and we headed down to Kuta Square and caught a taxi back to Sanur.
A couple of nightcap drinks in the Besakih restaurant and Doug got another opportunity to tinkle the ivories again for a large group of elderly Dutch tourists (there were about 80 of them who had booked in - they apparently come to Bali together each year for 6 weeks, spending two weeks in 3 hotels along the Sanur strip) before packing our bags again as we were moving onto to Kuta for our last day tomorrow and turned in for bed.
Saturday 13 January
Our last day in Bali - how time has flown! The bali bag I'm leaving with Nyoman Oka (Alex) is chock a block full of items that will be useful of my next visits to Bali, and my purple travel bag (that Doug likens to a semi trailer truck with two rear wheels) is getting pretty full too but still feels as though it weighs under 20 kg. - ah, maybe some more shopping can still be done!
We headed down the beach pathway and stop at the Inna Sindhu Beach Hotel and have breakfast at one of the tables on the beach - a nice place to have our last breakfast in Bali, and I treat myself to nasi goreng for my last breakfast on the trip - just as a take a photo of my nasi goreng complete with fried egg on top, a fly lands on the side of my plate and so makes an interesting focus point in the photo!
After breakfast we went our separate ways - Doug for a walk and I went to find the beach ladies to see if I could get my hair braided - a last minute decision. It's too early for the usual ladies outside the Besakih Hotel, but I find another lady who wants 400,000 rp. for hair braiding - mahal (expensive) I tell her, and she won't come down any lower than 300,000 rp, so feeling a bit peeved as my hair is a collar length bob I walk off and cool down by having a swim in the pool and then get ready for Alex to pick us up as we are heading over to Kuta for our last day and will be using the deposit I paid at the Suji Bungalows for day use of a room and pool. For the first time I'm ready before Doug as he came rushing back to the hotel, thinking he was late for our pick up time. Sing can can I tell him, not a problem, Alex is not here yet. I think he wanted to have a quick shower but the room staff had followed him to his room and before he knew it his bags had been brought down to reception!
When Alex arrives he tells us about a nice warung that has terrific nasi camphur that we must try, and even though I'm still full from my ample breakfast we can't really refuse his offer to stop for lunch on the way from Sanur to Kuta to experience a new warung. We stop at the Warung Nasi - Merta Sari, Simpang Siur Kuta. It's opposite the large roundabout with the huge ornate statue. It's a positive oasis, very relaxing, with a lovely leafy garden and very delicious food, you make a choice of what you would like from their modern kitchen and then take your plate to one of the garden tables.
Arriving at Suji Bungalows, around the corner from Poppies 1, http://www.sujibglw.com we have bungalow no. 20 which is a twin, fairly close to reception, and there is an indoor and outdoor bathroom. I stayed at Suji last year in March, the rooms were clean, staff friendly and I liked the large pool. It has a nice quiet atmosphere and you didn't feel 'closed' in like some other hotels in the Poppies Lane area.
We headed off down Poppies 1 to the photo place on the corner of Jl. Pantai Kuta (the beach road) to get our photos put onto CDs and I wanted to get some more photo enlargements ordered.
Doug wanted to see if he could buy some spare DVDs for his video camera; we were advised the best place in Kuta to find them would be the new shopping centre down in Tuban. Realising that time was quickly racing along on this our last afternoon I thought well, we are up the beach end of Poppies 1, we need to get to Tuban and it's too hot to quickly walk down there, the traffic is going one way and it'll take ages to get around going one-way in a taxi... what's the quickest .... yep, find a couple of motorbike riders to take us. So while Doug was still in the photo shop, I negotiated two motorbike riders to take us the minute he emerged from the shop ...... stuffing 15,000 rp in Doug's hand for his ride and telling him it would take us way too long to go in a taxi, he obligingly hopped onto the back of his ride, with me following with my motor bike rider behind him.
Down we zipped and zig-zagged through the little gangs (laneways) to Tuban, some of the gangs were so narrow that we only had a couple of inches each side of our knees, dodging people, dogs and other motorbikes coming the other way. Doug was doing the 'boy' thing and holding onto the back of his bike seat but I was hanging on tight around my rider's waist so I didn't lean the wrong way on the bike or fall off).
When we got there Doug appeared to be quite shaken, and said 'that was the scariest thing I've done in Bali' and I think he needed a bintang to recover. I suppose I just have a lot of confidence in the skill the local bike riders have and as they know all the nooks and crannies of Kuta it can be the quickest and easiest way to get around sometimes.
I was amazed at Discovery Shopping Mall - it was just like back in Australia! I'd never been anywhere like it in Bali before. The only different thing was that there was a nice terrace with the sea at one end. I priced some croc sandals out of interest and found them to be the same price as back home. I found a little alcove where three ladies were set up to do hair braiding and I negotiated a fair price and said I only had 25 minutes. They did up nice braids (they put foil on the bottom of each braid, much better than rubber bands, and two beads each braid). With my beads swinging around my head I met Doug at the appointed meeting time and he showed me the shop where he had got some computer CDs (Two Stars - Softcomp) so I bought a couple of DVD's.
I was quite willing to walk back (Doug was certainly happy to walk after the Kuta motorbike experience) so I pointed out the Ramayana Hotel where I had stayed in 2003 on a 10 day package - I've come a long way from those days now, and we stopped to visit Ketut Wirata, the first balinese person I had met in 2003 when I was game enough to cross the road from the Ramayana Hotel! Ketut has shop no. 152, at the Kuta Art Market. He's opposite the tourist police office at the Art Market - we always drop in to see him and buy our tee shirts/shorts from him whenever we are in Kuta. There is no negotiating required on the purchases, he gives a fair price and there's always a cold drink offered and a seat in the shade, plus usually a tourist policeman hanging around who likes to practice their English with you. So we crossed the bintang tee shirt off Doug's still to buy list.
Walking back to Suji Bungalows we went through Kuta Square and then cut through to Poppies 1, Doug was amazed that Poppies 1 started out so narrow at the Jl. Legian end. I bought some handy crochet drink bottle holders and then we stopped at the Secret Garden to have a cold drink as the afternoon was pretty hot. A spur of the moment decision, shall I buy one of Alvin's famous cornish pastie's? Yes, I'll take it on the plane and eat half of it for breakfast before we land in Australia as I won't be allowed to get it through customs - one of the few television shows I do watch is Border Patrol - I didn't want to have to be explaining why I was attempting to smuggle one of Alvin's pastie's into Australia.
Back at Suji Bungalows we had a quick refreshing dip in the pool and Made, their lovely massage lady was there in her usual spot at the bale near the pool. I felt a little bit conscious that I wasn't having a massage with her as by this stage we were really on a time count-down and as much as I would have loved to have a last massage we couldn't afford the time as I wanted Doug to have a further unique only in Bali experience.
Picking up some the photo enlargements we grabbed a taxi along the beach road to Papa's Cafe. After satisfying their door security by showing our bags we selected a table in their outside area and relaxed with a cold drink to watch (and photograph) our last short, but spectacular Bali sunset and ordered a couple of volcano pizzas, a unique dish served at Papa's.
The staff were happy to take us to the kitchen area to show us the chef finishing them off, putting a dough cover over the top of the prepared pizza base and pumping it up tight as a drum so it looked like a large dome, then placing it in the wood fired oven to cook. In no time at all the waiter brought out our pizzas, poured some liquor over the top and lit them, just like a volcano (I think mine was called Kintamani and Doug's was called Agung) - a great photo opportunity as last time I was there with teen son Sam I'd accidentally deleted the photos I had taken on the night from my memory card. I think Doug was certainly impressed by their ingenuity, an interesting last meal in Bali. I showed Doug a party trick with our napkins that had been demonstrated to me last time there by one of the waiters - Madonna's bra (I'll leave that one to your imagination).
Another taxi as we were starting to run out of time again, Alex was going to arrive shortly to pick us up to take us to the airport. The taxi appeared to crawl along Jl Legian but eventually dropped us off at the entrance of Poppies 1 - on the way down I spied a shop I hadn't seen before - the BigBoy & Football Shop - going to have to go in there and find something for hubbie - he's a fanatical Collingwood fan, and he would probably like something footy orientated from Bali - Doug presses on ahead to Suji Bungalows while I race through the shop with only minutes to select something - thank goodness it appears to be reasonable prices - haven't got time to negotiate now! A pair of boardies, one trouser leg white and the other black with a genuine Collingwood emblem - he'll love em - that'll do, a quick hello to Alvin who has suddenly appeared at the doorway, see you next time in Bali, off I raced off down Poppies 1 fending off the stall keepers, no no sorry, can't stop and look in your shop, next time when I am in Bali, have a plane to catch dammit! goodbye they all sing out, see you next time.
Doug has got the bags ready and Nyoman Oka (Alex) arrived, do you like my braids Alex I asked, last minute decision, oh yes, he says, you look very fresh (love the words he finds sometimes!). I can't believe we are in the car heading for the airport, this last day has just flown.
A big goodbye hug for Alex, he's so pleased that Doug has had a great time and seen so much of Bali, especially on his first trip and we've really enjoyed Alex's company while he has taken us all around the island over the past two weeks.
If anyone would like to contact him to arrange a trip, as there is so much of Bali that we have travelled together over the years, and he can guide you to a range of places depending on your particular interests, whether it be particular warungs, temples, scenery or sourcing shopping needs, please feel free to contact him by email on okaalexs@hotmail.com and mention my name, Anne from Melbourne. His mobile phone number in Bali is 081 2395 1081. I have no hesitation in recommending him to solo women travellers also, he is completely trustworthy family man.
My purple semi trailer of a bag is quite manageable, no need for porters, and we checked in the two bags together, and we weren't overweight with our kgs, but just in case decided not to make an enquiry with the check in person. The mortar and pestle in my carry on bag feels a bit heavy, back home I weighed it - 3.2 kg as well as Alvin's pastie!.
There is the usual flurry of paperwork at the various stages of the process of getting out of Bali and Doug manages this quite well considering that you end up juggling your passport plus other paperwork, and your departure tax 100,000 rp along with your hand luggage. We were held up at one point when going through immigrasi on the way out for what appeared to be longer than normal - what is the problem I say, ah they say, when you came in they put your wrong date of birth on the visa information - so what was wrong with it? I inquire. They recorded your year of birth as 2005, well, thank goodness I looked a bit older than one! So after consulting with another official it is rectified and finally we are trapped in what I call 'no man's land' - you feel like you are no longer in Bali, but you are not anywhere else either.
This is the time I head off to the airport bookshops - I know they are a bit more expensive than somewhere else, but it's one of my consolation treats once I have had my luggage weighed in - a parting present for myself - this time a lavishly detailed book entitled 'Balinese Dance, Drama and Music' by I Wayan Dibia and Rucina Ballinger (2004) ISBN 962-593-195-3 I'm sure I will spend many hours curled up on my couch in wintertime recalling the various dances and gamelan I have seen in my Bali travels. And also a pleasant novel 'To Hold the Mountain' A story of love and intrigue set in Bali written by Fabia Claridge (2004) ISBN 979-9375-01-6
After being body frisked before entering the departure lounge (and a discussion with security about whether my mortar and pestle was considered to be a weapon risk in my hand luggage) our Jetstar direct flight to Melbourne departed Denpasar airport after a short delay caused by a recalcitrant passenger, who had held up the plane by their late boarding - no doubt they didn't want to leave Bali either. The lights of Bali twinkled below us and disappeared from sight as the plane slipped into the night leaving the Isles of Smiles behind us.
I'd like to say terima kasih to my brother Doug, who was such an accommodating traveller, and so easy to get along with. Being a Bali newbie he certainly passed with flying colours, I know that he will treasure the memories of this holiday for a long time to come and I'd like to thank his wonderful wife Dot for encouraging him to come to Bali with me.
Well, that's all from me for now, I hope you have enjoyed my JBR's, if you have any questions I can help with please feel free to email me or post any questions - sing can can - no problem!
List of JBR's posted on Bali Travel Forum in case you want to find them.
JBR Here's the beginning of my long JBR's Melbourne - Pemuteran/MenjanganIsland posted 2 February 2007
JBR 2 - Anturan/Lovina posted 3 February 2007
JBR 3 - Opps. JBR 3 - Ubud - think I may have ... posted 18 February 2007
JBR 4 - Kintamani, Besakih, Sideman, P.Bai ... posted 15 February 2007
JBR 5 - Gamelan Village of Tihingan etc. .... posted 27 February 2007