Been very busy lately so it's two weeks scince part 1 (6/3/05), any way to continue, this is our jbr from last september/october.
Friday oct 1st;
Had breakfast early, then went to Bali Bird Park, well, it's an amazing place, Indonesians/Balinese should be proud of what they have acheived there. It is an incredible display of bird life, Bali starlings, Macaws, Cockatoos, Cranes, Pelicans, Flamingos, Parrots, Cassowaries, Hornbills (quite prehistoric), Fruit Bats, Birds of Paradise etc plus Komodo Dragons all set in wonderful surroundings,the walk in rain-forset aviary with all the birds flying around is fantastic. The color here has to be seen to be believed it's breathtaking. They have a good conservation programme too, this is a must to see in Bali. As you can tell we loved it, spent nearly three hours there.
Went back to Santi Mandala for the afternoon and spent it lazing in and around the pool. Went into Ubud to eat that evening, went to Bumbu Bali Restaurant opposite Puri Saren Palace, had a realy good meal there, will eat there again. See they run a cooking School there, think I might try that before we go home.
Sat 2nd;
Ketut's day off so we go to his house near Sangeh and meet his family, meet his wife(just found out that she is pregnant for the 2nd time) mother and father,brother & 9yr old son. They live in small house with one for his parents and his brother too surrounded by forest, very quiet.
After kopi and talk we go on to Sangeh Monkey Forest, not as big as Ubud's , not as many monkeys either. The trees here seem to grow right up to the sky, so tall.
We then stopped at Pura Bukit Sari by the lake, very peaceful there, there was a ceremony in progress but we were allowed to go up to the walled area and look in on the ceremony and allowed to take pictures.We then went onto Pura Taman Ayun, this is a large temple with a wall surround, we had been there before so did not spend to long there but had a lovely walk along the river. They to were in the middle of a week long ceremony so there were many people coming and going as you would expect.
We stopped off in Sangeh at a suckling pig warung for a midday eat, very tasty !!.
Back to Santi then for afternoon kopi , then in to Ubud as usual for evening food. Ate at Cafe Exiles in Jl Pengosekan Kaja, very good meal liked it so much even bought the t-shirt !!. Live bands perform there most evenings. Wandered around Ubud as evening turned into night and popped into Yanvan Jewelry in Jl Monkey Forest , were amazed to see what we thought were silver and leather rings and bracelets (for men/women) similar to some we had bought back in 2003, turned out firstly that this was shop opened by designer of the same and that in fact the leather was a very refined rubber !. As they were about to close up we decided to return tomorrow for longer look.Also today picked up Jakarta Post, always enjoy that paper.
Sun 3rd;
After breakfast spent some time by the pool and met Michelle and Dan from USA, as usual when on vacation had a good talk about our respective countries and Bali.
Popped back to Yanvan's and bought necklace and bracelet and met Yan Van Schaik the designer, so after our usual talk time and being served by Suryani we returned to Santi to get ready to go in to Denpasar to the night market with Ketut.
Were able to park quite close to the market, this is another of Bali's sights. It spreads over quite a large area with the river between, I am always stunned by the vast quantities of produce, fowl, fish, meat etc that is on display in these markets.Again you are presented with such wonderful bright colors everywhere, the fruit etc looks amazing, how on earth they manage to sell it all before it goes off I don't know. The way the meat/fish/fowl are jointed and displayed would give the health depts in the UK grey hair !!, but to each country they have their own way.
We then walked around the shops in the surrounding streets, popped into a music store bought some Balinese gemelan cd's, met the two girls Eka & Koman working there , talked a bit before we left.
Then walked down the streets by the side of the market where all the produce was being packed for export , mainly to Australia and Switzerland. Finally we returned back to Santi and bed.
Mon 4th;
Most mornings around 6.30 - 7.00am we kept hearing a large splash sound from the water by our villa but could not see what it was, asked and were told that it was probably a Alu (large lizard)must try and capture it on film.
Went into Ubud to pick up bracelet that was being enlarged and bought ring as well for me to wear on my wedding ring finger, needed a new one as one of our horses had wrenched my finger a few months ago and had bruised my knuckle so it had swelled and I had to move ring to other hand.
Then went up to Kintamani, you seem to climb forever past so many shops selling everything before you finally get to Kintamani, lovely views of Lake Batur and Mt Agung. On the east side of Lake Batur is the Bali Age village of Trunyan, it's said they are not to keen on outsiders, one of their age old customs is to wrap up their dead and lay them on the exposed roots of one of the oldest (if not the oldest) Banyan trees to decompose, they say that the bodies do not smell as the Banyan tree absorbs any smell. This is a place I must try to see sometime. But Kintamani is so touristy it's not good, so many coaches etc, but like so many countries around the world it's tourism that provides the revenue the people so desperately need so it shouldn't be knocked so the best thing is to move on.
We returned to Ubud by way of Bangli stopped off for a wander around and bought a Balinese ceremonial dress shirt for me as we are to go into Denpasar to the big ceremony tomorrow. We returned to Ubud and found someone in the market who made Liz a traditional Balinese blouse for her for the ceremony, downloaded pictures to cd and then back to Santi to eat drink and bed.
more to come.