Indonesian Wrap up

For our final day in Ubud, Alexandra left the itinerary to me, and when visiting a cave is one of the options, there's a pretty good chance that's what I'll pick.

We visited Goa Gajah, a small cave where worshipers first started congregating back in the 11th century, and where Hindus still come to pray. Visitors enter "Elephant Cave" through the mouth of a demon carved into the rock face centuries ago.

No, Alexandra and I haven't suddenly developed an obsession for polyester, scarf belts. Because all of the temples at the sight are considered to be holy, the coverings are required.

Even though we'd already explored a rice field next to our hotel, we heard about an organic restaurant located a mile or two in the middle of another rice field and decided to take a look.

Ubud can be overwhelming with the number of tourists, but by just strolling a couple of blocks off the main drag, we soon found ourselves in the countryside.

It was worth the hike for fresh lemon grass tea, coconut water, vegetables picked from an adjacent garden, and chickens that earlier in the day were probably roaming next to the restaurant.

Yum!

Like many popular tourist areas, Ubud is facing the difficult question of where to draw the line between development and overkill.

On the last day of our trip, I spoke at length with a gentleman involved in the retail industry. When he was a boy, he said kids wandered around town, without any worries, playing in wide-open spaces, enjoying the clean air and water.

Now, he said most land has been gobbled up, parents are afraid to let their children outside unaccompanied because of the excessive traffic racing through the narrow streets, and much of the environment has become polluted.  The business owner said he's worried the day might soon come when the Balinese destroy their own paradise, the very paradise that made the economic boom possible.

Hopefully, that never happens because the island of Bali is a magical place and the people just as enchanting.

Monkey Mugging

Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary - Ubud, Indonesia

It's been a picturesque couple of days in Ubud gazing out our bedroom window at the rice fields and soaking up the ambiance of village life in Pejeng, just outside Ubud. However, there's one minor downside to our intimate encounter with nature.

Cockfighting is a major pastime in Bali, and most roosters I met don't seem to enjoy sleeping in, so we've had a natural alarm clock around 4:30 each morning. Roosters are like dogs in the sense that I have no idea how they exercise their vocal cords for hours at a time without tiring. Still, I'll take it over the sound of traffic and discos.

But, I'd rather not repeat our encounter with a certain troublesome troop in the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary.

The jungle compound contains three sacred temples overrun by approximately 600, aggressive, Balinese macaques.

We heeded all the warnings — don't touch the monkeys; don't feed the monkeys; guard possessions such as cameras, sunglasses, and loose-fitting jewelry; and don't carry any food in bags because the monkeys will find it.

And so we wandered into the scenic jungle to check out our furry friends, all the time watching our backs. Alexandra even covered up her watch, never thinking that a small bottle of water tucked inside her purse would become the monkey equivalent of catnip.

The thing about monkeys or any other wild animals is that they're so darn cute, until they aren't any more.

Half-way through our walk, I heard Alexandra exclaim something in an excited, incomprehensible manner and turned to see a pesky primate clinging to the bottle that was protruding slightly from her purse.

At this point in the story, I'd like to say that I revealed my Superman cape and saved the day, but I was as stunned as she was by what was happening and how our attacker appeared so suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere.

Alexandra kept her composure, as she attempted to swing the monkey off. Later, she realized monkeys fly effortlessly through trees clinging to branches, so swinging her purse probably wasn't the best solution, although I likely would have done the same thing.

Once the monkey captured its liquid prey, it left Alexandra in peace and set its sights on breaking open the bottle.

Imagine this beast strapped to your leg. All in all, we got off pretty lucky. Afterward, Alexandra decided she's done with monkeys — forever.

Back in town, we had a much more pleasant animal encounter, sampling the local Balinese delicacy of suckling pig.

We wrapped up our afternoon at the Ubud Palace, where the local royal family still lives. While waiting for a ride back to our hotel, I crossed paths with a couple at the entrance to the palace who asked us where to buy a ticket.

I told them to walk right in because it's free. They both stopped in their tracks. "Wow!" the man replied, "Finally, something I don't have to pay for in Bali."

Thanks, royal family, and thanks to all of you for your well wishes during our trip.

Our final stop — the underworld.

Indonesian Getaway - Part 2 (Ubud)

Ubud is full of seekers — those trying to recreate the experience of the author of Eat, Pray, Love, although that very novel and movie of the same name led to a flood of tourism that would make such an undertaking impossible; and an equally large contingency of vacationers seeking to max out their Zen and their credit cards. As Alexandra puts it, Ubud is a shopper's, spiritual paradise.

Still, the overabundance of visitors and upscale shops can't diminish Ubud's charm. On the contrary, in some sort of surreal way, it seems to intensify the charm. 

On our way to Ubud,







we stopped at a coffee plantation, where we sampled several varieties, including Kopi Luwak, one of the most expensive coffees in the world. There's a reason why it sells up to $600 a pound in some areas.

Image from Wikimedia Commons free media repository

A small animal called an Asian palm civet eats the coffee cherries but they're normally only partially digested. The beans are then collected from, as our guide put it, the animal's "poop." The digestive process supposedly leads to a more flavorful brew, but we couldn't tell much of a difference between the "poop" coffee and regular.

During our tour, the guide assured me the civets run free, but animal rights groups say some plantation owners, in an effort to keep up with the rising demand for Kopi coffee, capture the animals, cage them, and force-feed the civets a diet of coffee cherries, so it's buyer beware.











 Hinduism permeates Ubud's architecture and
 the daily lives of the Balinese.











Here, we came across a procession ...

                                                         

...  whose purpose was to gather holy water for sacred rituals.

Central Ubud can be a bit crazy, so we decided to stay in a villa several miles outside of Ubud, adjacent to a rice field.

I'm still a backpacker at heart, but I could get used to a few luxuries occasionally

and a few decorations on the walls of my indoor/outdoor bathroom.

Although I'm not a shopper, I did enjoy a visit to the John Hardy jewelry production facility. Alexandra tells me the brand is recognized worldwide. The company has made a commitment to eco-friendly practices, such as constructing their showroom from bamboo, and

the company is known for ethical business habits and paying just wages, which isn't always the norm in this part of the world.

We went to the facility, as part of a mission for Alexandra's mom. The tour gave me a much greater appreciation of the amount of work that goes into creating handmade jewelry.







On the following day, I also gained a greater appreciation of something far more serious — the dangers of interacting with wild animals.

Indonesian Getaway - Part 1 (Sanur)

One of the perks of teaching is a generous number of vacation days. One of the even bigger perks of teaching in Singapore is the ability to spend those vacation days in exotic locales a few hours flight away. For my October holiday, my girlfriend Alexandra joined me from America for a week-long journey to Bali, a major tourist draw in Indonesia.

                             

                            We started out at a quiet beach called Sanur, also known as "snore" for the smaller waves compared to other beaches and for the tamer nightlife. It's the kind of place for more middle-aged vacationers, and since I'm 49, it seemed appropriate. I'll always take a good night's sleep over partying at 2 a.m. Plus, neither one of us is a sun worshiper or a surfing aficionado.

Besides swimming in the Indian Ocean, the highlight for me was a romantic dinner at this restaurant on the beach, followed by stumbling across a troop of authentic Balinese dancers performing for local dignitaries.

Passing a couple of lazy afternoons ...


     in the expansive gardens ...


                                          
    of our hotel ...                                       



                                                                             ... didn't hurt either.                                               

                            

I love my job in Singapore, but, at times, the heat, humidity, and smog become overwhelming. Unwinding in Sanur was the perfect antidote.

Indonesia - a collection of more than 18,000 islands - possesses the world's largest Muslim population, but Bali is a Hindu enclave,

Saraswati Temple - Ubud, Indonesia   

which is reflected in the abundance of Hindu temples,

Ganesha 

  bearing depictions of the millions  













                                                     of Hindu gods.

Dragon guarding Saraswati

Hanuman

                    

Many more of those Hindu temples are found in Ubud, the cultural capital of the island of Bali and stop No. 2 on our Indonesian odyssey.

Food Fau Paux

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it still isn't always a duck, or, in my case, a green bean isn't always a green bean.

Part of the thrill of exploring a foreign culture is trying new food. With that in mind, I went to the store determined to pick up an item I'd never had before.

Here's what I found in the frozen food section.

Having grown tired of spinach lately, an unfamiliar Chinese vegetable seemed in order. 

The open package revealed the following:

I wasn't exactly sure what I'd purchased, but it looked similar to green beans I'd eaten countless times back in America.

Regardless, how difficult could it be to cook and consume a Chinese green bean.

A few days later, I popped my beans into the microwave and sampled my new discovery, or, at least, tried to because my Chinese green beans weren't the easiest things to eat. I chewed ... and chewed ... and chewed some more but couldn't seem to completely consume them.

I assumed I cooked them incorrectly.

Perhaps, the package would reveal a clue.

 or maybe not.

I tried again. This time, I stir fried the beans, hoping that would tender them up a bit.

Nope. I still couldn't gnaw my way through my culinary nemesis.

Rather than embarrass myself at work by having to ask some of my Singaporean colleagues how to cook a batch of beans, instead, I asked my girlfriend Alexandra, a self-proclaimed foodie with a refined palate.

She went easy on me, but still chuckled, telling me that my Chinese green beans were actually edamame beans and that the pods aren't supposed to be eaten.

Edamame, soybeans in a shell, is popular throughout Asia as part of a meal or as a healthy snack. In recent years, it's also gained popularity in the United States, which I remembered after my futile attempts to devour the pods.

The pods can be boiled, steamed, or microwaved, so, at least, I got that part right, but the little soy beans inside are all that get ingested. I must admit they're quite tender and quite tasty when eaten correctly.

I guess it could have been worse. I could have bought peanuts.