Bali - 12 to
28 September
Bali is the holiday island for Australia and hence is a
well-developed tourist island. It is mainly a Hindu island with about 20m
people living on the island. We were staying on the north side which is the
less developed side of Bali – the main resorts are all in the South.
Amed 12 – 13
September
One of the better marked FADS |
Amed was our first stop as it was just a day sail from
Lombok and we could only sail during daylight
- there are lots of fish attracting devices (FADS) along the north shore and it
is not safe to sail at night. We anchored off the beach and we received a vhf
call from the other two boats in the anchorage who were enjoying a beer around
the pool in one of the resorts.
We had dinner on the beach and for the first time it felt
like a holiday. There were quite a few tourists staying in the town although it
is described as an alternative backpackers place for hippies. I cannot say that
I would have described it as such, there was not much alternative about the
people we met – just normal tourists. A very pleasant evening even if the food
was not that good but the setting made up for that.
Lovina 13 – 16
September
As soon as we anchored in Lovina,.we took all our forms into
the local agent for the visa renewal and were told that we would have our
fingerprints and photos taken by immigration two days later, on Thursday.
Immigration offices are only open Monday to Wednesday so that was never going
to happen! But then nothing happens here
when it is expected and we were not that surprised
Band playing on the beach |
We spent our time sorting out a trip to Sideman Valley (the
traditional Bali) and looking at the options for getting to Borobudur on Java.
Finding out the options is something that Catherine has more patience with than
me and helped by Pepe and Bear who were going with us.
Sideman Valley 16 –
19 September
Sideman Valley |
The journey was to be 4 hours and the driver suggested some
stops along the way.
Stopped for a Coffee
On the way we stopped at a Coffee plantation since we had
never seen one. The guide was very
Luwak Coffee |
Coffee beans growing |
Catherine sampling the coffee |
We are not going to
the Temple
Impressive temple |
We all agreed we did not want to go to the Hindu Temple (the
largest in Bali) as we had heard people are scammed for money. We agreed with
the driver we would just drive past it so we could see it but not stop. However
we found that you have to pay the entry fee even just to drive past it so
having paid we decided to go in.
Our tickets were collected at a booth on the walk to the
temple. We had gone about 100m before we were asked for our tickets again and
told we would have to pay as we did not have them. We explained to no vail so
we just carried on walking past them while they shouted at us. Not a 100m
further on we were told we could not go in without a guide (more money) but we
had been advised of this scam by some other tourists we had met on the way. So
again we kept walking while being chased by some angry guides. And we were
approached by another two people with the same story but less vehemently as we
were getting more than a little annoyed by this time. The temple was large and the advice “that it is not worth the hassle you will
get” was well founded.
Three Nights in
Sideman
Our "villa" |
The two villas in the place we stayed were rustic but
comfortable and nestled among the paddy fields and the mountains. It was much
cooler in the mountains and the pool was a welcome relief in the heat of the
afternoon.
The village of Sideman is small with a few restaurants and
some other villas, but is mainly a farming area – rice, chilli, peanuts and
beans. The two aspects sit side by side: the small number of expensive villas
and restaurants alongside the subsistence farming. The locals welcome the small
tourist places as somewhere they can earn money away from the farm (often
combining both jobs) and the tourism is very small compared to the more
developed parts of Bali.
The first day we explored the village, about a ten minute
walk away, and it did not take long to walk all the way through the village –
it is very small. After a very pleasant salad for lunch (something that we have
missed since leaving Australia – salad that is), we relaxed in the pool before
going out for dinner.
We chose the restaurant on the basis that it served
cocktails (not normally a good criteria) as a change from Bintang (the local
beer). However the food turned out to be excellent in an attractive setting and
it made for a very relaxing evening.
The next day we hired some scooters to explore the area with
Bear taking one (while Pepe relaxed by the pool) and Catherine and I on the
other. Our first stop was in the village to go on a guided tour of the paddy
fields, something we were all keen to do since we did not understand much about
rice growing.
Irrigation System |
Planting out the rice |
Ploughing the rice fields before planting |
Fully grown rice |
Rice takes about 4 months to grow and the crops have to be
alternated with other crops such as peanuts, chilli and beans to allow the soil
to dry out and recover before the fields are once again flooded for the next
crop of rice. The system of irrigation is interesting in itself, with canals
cascading the water down from the top of the valley through all the fields,
with the ability to control the water
supply to any one field.Peanuts freshly picked |
We sampled many crops along the way including eating raw
peanuts directly picked from the ground. Surprisingly tasty even before they
have been dried out in the sun for 11 hours before being roasted.
Our bike trip continued up the mountain to go to the temple
at the top. As the roads got steeper and steeper we passed a group of young
boys who had stopped their bikes and they shouted to us as we passed, making
thumbs up gestures which we did not understand. Two hundred metres further on
we ground to a halt as the bikes could not make it up the increasingly steep
slope and we were passed by the group of boys on foot who clearly knew that it
was not possible to ride a bike up that hill. They were very friendly as they
passed, taking the obligatory photos of us as they walked past.
Back to Lovina 19 –
22 September
A few days back in Lovina to get our visas completed,
explore the town some more and stock up on a few essentials including bread
from the bakers – the first since we arrived in Indonesia.
Java 23 – 26
September
We flew to Yogjakarta on Java to see the famous Buddhist
temple at Borobudur and the Hindu temple in Yogjakarta itself. The hotel was in
the grounds of the Buddhist temple and we planned to get up at 4am to see the
sunrise over the temple which was a short 20 minutes’ walk. However, that night
the monsoon rains started and was quite spectacular, if a little wet. We did
get up at 4am and immediately went back to bed on looking out of the window.
Buddhist temple in Borobudur |
The school photo |
The temple was built in 800AD and is a magnificent building,
built on three levels on top of a hill. Each level has a series of carved
pictures on each side of the walls and the idea was that the pilgrims would
study the stories that these told as they walked around, spending weeks on each
level before they were ready to progress to the next level. The highest level
was achieved when they had achieved Nirvana but that could take a lifetime.
People from all over SE Asia would travel to the temple and it was famous until
it was forgotten and left undiscovered until the mid-19th Century.
One of the stories carved into the walls |
It was four hours well spent, helped by the documentary we
had seen in the hotel the night before which explained some of the stories
contained in the pictures. It was fascinating to find the pictures and have
some understanding of their significance.
We strolled into town to find somewhere to eat and it did
not seem well set up for tourists given it is right next to the 2nd most
visited site in Indonesia after Bali.
The Hindu Temple
The Hindu temple still being restored |
Armed with a newly bought umbrella we set off in the
afternoon to explore Jogjakarta, a major town. On the way we stopped at a
traditional restaurant (a must do according to the Lonely Planet) and
experienced the local delicacy – fried cow skin along with a range of other
foods we did not recognise. Will not be eating that again!
In the Town, we were struck by the sheer number of people,
cars and the upmarket shops sitting alongside traditional markets on a huge
scale. As the rain started once again we made our way to a bar to sit out the
latest deluge. There are many restaurants and bars in Yogjakarta, catering for
tourists from all over the world.
A little downpour |
The local transport |
With the rain showing no signs of stopping, we took the
local
transport back to our hotel – a type of rickshaw with some poor and very
wet person peddling the bike while we sat under the plastic sheeting at the
front.
Catherine had picked out a Mediterranean restaurant to visit
that night and once again we were forced to take the local transport to keep
dry. The restaurant would not have been out of place Europe with its western
type menu and décor and it made a very pleasant change from eating in the normal local restaurants.
Back to Lovina 26 –
28 September
We had planned to leave the next day but I had succumbed to
the local food from Yogjakarta. I was
convinced I was about to die but Catherine assured me I would be fine, just
drink water and not eat which I did. She turned out to be right and we set off
for Borneo a few days later.
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