The perils of 'jalan jalan'

Ubud has lots of deep tropical jungle gorges but this is the only bridge I've seen so far. Judging by the number of offerings to the Gods it's considered risky. Apparently evil spirits lurk in the depths of gorges and near rivers.

'Jalan jalan'  is Indonesian for 'walking around having a look at things'. Every day I walk long distances to get places as I have no transport. And every second day, I go for a long walk after I get up exploring the alleyways and sights of Ubud. (The theory is that I go to the gym every second morning and so far so good!).

Despite concerns about all sorts of things going wrong here I think the biggest threat to my safety is managing to negotiate the Ubud footpaths.

Apparently there is some disagreement about who exactly the 'they' is who should be fixing them. So off course nothing happens at all despite the hundreds of tourists who negotiate them daily

The dangers include:
- the up and down nature of the footpaths - as they are over water drains, every time a large water pipe feeds into the drain up they go again!
- the tiles they are made from dislodge to reveal the depths of the water drains. .....not a pretty sight!
- every few metres there are a set of 4 'D' handles presumably to enable easy removal of that section of footpath. The problem is that they stick up and are ready to trip you up when you least expect it.
- metal grates which are difficult to assess as to their stability!

- whilst the offerings placed outside every building to ensure the blessings of the Gods are beautiful, they are also a slipping hazard for the unwary.
- and of course there's always the cars and motorbikes  parked on the footpaths, the mud ,rotting leaves and the piles of building materials all strategically placed on the footpath of course.

Notice the dripping eaves!

This is the lane  leading to my abode - very wet feet by the time I got there!

And then there is the rain: when it rains here it is a deluge, usually only lasting for a few minutes, but enough water to challenge the drainage system  (and to completely drench you if you have been silly enough to venture out without an umbrella!). Consequently the roads and lanes turn into rivers. Once the rain stops they clear very quickly but often after depositing silt and mud everywhere. Oh the joys of the tropics!

BUT by far the biggest danger are the Chinese tourists: I'm not being racist but they pour off the huge tourist buses parked at my local temple (parking fees are a significant source of income for the temple). They create a complete obstruction as they file along the too narrow footpaths completely oblivious to anyone else. Not once do they step off onto the road to make way for anyone else. I've had several conversations with some very tolerant people who live here and they all agree that to the Chinese anyone else doesn't exist. You could say it's arrogance but it seems to be a complete lack of awareness. Very annoying!

I hope you enjoy the photos of the footpaths: I couldn't help but think that the locals must have thought I was mad taking photos of the drains whilst every other tourist is taking photos of the beautiful architecture etc. Here's some nicer photos of some of the sights from my 'jalan jalan'.

Secondary school boys waiting for school to start...in white uniforms with smart  blue blazers

My front gate

The view when you get inside the gate with my bit of the house in the background

your well-exercised  but cautious correspondent

Dianne

5. On my own......

After the gorgeous Erin set off for home last Wednesday I have been adjusting to life on my own in downtown Ubud.
It felt a bit weird to be able to do anything I wanted whenever I wanted...but it's not too hard to get used to very quickly!

The last few days I have:

• been to the supermarket with Alison and Jill and managed to buy ironing aid instead of kitchen spray, and orange flavoured milk instead of orange juice!!
• enrolled in Indonesian classes at the library three times a week to prevent the above mistakes happening again! They don't start the class until three people show interest and so far there is only two of us,
• joined the gym.... and been twice, Fortunately it's air conditioned and absolutely freezing otherwise I wouldn't be able to move at all. Walking is the extent of my exercise in the heat and humidity.
• walked a lot! Well over 15,000 steps per day most days for those with fitbits or the like. When I don't go to the gym I head off for a walk early in the morning as it is cooler and there is less traffic then. Downtown Ubud is busy with tourist, buses and motorbikes but not early in the morning. Within a few hundred metres walking in any direction there are expanses of ricefields, deep ravines with lush jungle clinging to the side, bedecked temples large and small and all sorts of fruit trees,
• been invited by Cat to join a choir in Sanur with some of the locals. Will be going on Tuesday night.
• been considering whether my Mah Jong skills are up to being able to join the Mah Jong group although its the socialising not the Mah Jong that seems to be important!
• been to Mingle once per day for lunch/coffee/cocktails/dinner depending on the time of day. I now have my own account! I have managed to find a quieter way to get to Mingle from home but it still takes about 10-15 minutes depending on how many stupid tourists get in the way, Don't get me started on that topic.....!
• found  a local coffee shop that has fantastic single blend local coffee and newspapers.......and - I hate to admit it - air conditioning which is very welcome when I have been tramping around.
• met with a friend of Kim's David and his wife Charmaine who are also interested in mental health issues here in Bali. They are here for a year. The three of us are going to a Rotary meeting tomorrow night to see what they do.
• managed to sort out a few IT issues with the help of my IT support service in Alphington ( ie. Ewan). He had to remind me that the IT support service closed at midnight local time as I had forgotten that the time difference is three hours!
• enjoyed watching a DVD and reading my book IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!! First time ever!

Not a bad effort for 4 days really!!


your working-it-all-out correspondent
Dianne

4. Fish, food, foreigners and a birthday!

For the past few days we have been adjusting to the pace of life on Nusa Penida - few tourists stunning views and very casual -and then transferring to Mushroom Bay at Nusa Lembongan - tourist central for boatloads of Chinese tourists.
Mushroom Bay is a small cove with lots of small hotels and lots of water sports.  We're staying at Mola Mola House, right on the beach, in a traditional bungalow which involves steep stairs up to the bedroom from an open air bathroom downstairs.  (Interesting when you feel the call of nature and it's raining in the middle of the night!).

During the day we have been entertained by the antics of multitudes of Asian tourists who arrive by boat then get decked out in snorkeling gear or jump on various versions of blowup bananas or mattresses to be dragged out to sea.  Much squealing and some very interesting swimwear : which makes ours look very boring! Alison and I were contemplating how we would look in an outfit that consisted of fluorescent orange frills with matching frilly skirt and high heeled thongs with huge flowers....you will be thrilled to hear that we decided it was not for us! 

The trip from the 2 Islands only took about 20 minutes but seemed a lot longer as it was rough and we were bounced around on hard bench seats in a small boat.  I was concerned it might injure my back whereas Alison thought the jarring might fix hers completely! 

Yesterday to celebrate Erins 24th birthday the two of us set off for a few hours snorkeling at Crystal Bay and Mangrove Bay.  Fortunately it was calm and the outriggers on our traditional boat seemed to help stabilise the craft.  When we dropped into the water and took our first look we both got very excited as there were thousands of fish. The water was clear at both Bays so we could see the coral and even the tiniest fish easily.  The only mishap was when I ended up at the wrong boat and couldn't work out where I was. ....Then I heard Erin calling me in the distance. She had been following some guy with blond hair thinking it was me!  (Or that's what she says! )
It was easy to lose track of time as we floated around mesmerised by the activities of the feeding fish and the huge range of colours. We did see a long swordfish and some eels weaving around the coral. 
After we were totally waterlogged we climbed back on board and headed for home feeling happy but exhausted. ......and with sunburnt backs despite sunscreen!

For a celebratory birthday dinner we jumped on a small truck with seats in the back (the only vehicles allowed on the island) and headed for the Sandy Bay Beach Club for cocktails and dinner.  We enjoyed dinner listening to the sound of crashing waves and high winds. Very nautical decor and good food. I ordered a bloody mary and they obviously had no idea about the small amount of Worcestershire sauce required: I had to dilute it with lots more tomato juice for it to be drinkable! 

Erin had a great birthday which would have been perfect if it had included a massage, but none to be found anywhere!  

Today we are heading back to the mainland from which we will farewell Erin back to Australia tomorrow.

So I'm sitting in the beach restaurant watching Erin have a last snorkel and enjoying the beach. 

Your very chiled out correspondent

Dianne

PS Will add photos soon!!

3. Island adventures

Before Erin departs for the classroom next week we thought a taste of island hopping was in order.
Alison has contacts everywhere so firstly it's off to Nusa Penida, a large island to the south for a couple of nights followed by a short boat trip to Nusa Lembongan next door.

To catch the boat we had to be ready at 6.00am in order to reach the coast for the 7.30 am boat.  We arrived to find a number of fellow travelers. We had avoided going the tourist route from Sanur - at inflated prices and - let's face it - full of tourists! Instead we traveled with Balinese of all shapes and sizes.

Erin and I were both contemplating the logistics of fitting the waiting horde onto a small yellow boat when Alison told us it was the boarding pontoon. The real ferry arrived and actually wasn't much bigger!  Erin and I chose to sit up the back risking the spray in favour of fresh air.

In less than thirty minutes of speeding over the calm water we arrived and a narrow ramp was dragged out to decant the travellers and I was first off!!

We met the driver who is a good friend of Made's (he seems to know everyone!) and headed for the Ring Sameton resort .

The resort is close to the beach so we took ourselves off to a cafe called Penida Colada, run by friends of Alison, Wayan and his Australian wife Liza. We had fabulous breakfast - see my artistic granola bowl below!

So for the last couple of days we have enjoyed the peace and quiet and the amazing views across the sea to Bali and Lombok.  We went up into the mountains and visited a weaving village where Erin bought a beautiful red sarong for cushion covers.  The island is unusually green as the had been a lot of rain and the bright green of the lush tropical jungle is dazzling.

The photos speak for themselves as you could take hundreds of beautiful shots as the light changes on the sea or the rainclouds appear and disappear completely covering Bali or Lombok in the distance. Many seaweed farms are dotted along the coast. Erin hasn't been 100% so we haven't been snorkeling yet, but we have eaten some delicious fresh fish! 

Alison and I walked along the beach and met an interesting menagerie - not the usual beach animals we see in Australia! There were lots of dogs none of which I wasted a photo on!  The rest included pigs, cows, chooks and chickens...and of course some gorgeous children!

We spent a quiet day doing very little so Erin could recuperate. It's very easy to do when the views of Mount Agung in Bali and the light across the seas changes constantly. We watched the rainclouds gather and disperse as they moved across the horizon, and enjoyed the lightning shows. 

Island life seems pretty good so far, 

Your relaxed correspondent Dianne 

2, Settling in.......

Now that I have the blog set up I guess I had better report in as to what we have been doing for the last few days. The list includes:

-unpacking and settling in to my new abode. I have put some photos in: the half of a villa is just lovely and perfect for me.

It's basically open air - the only walls that actually create a room are in the bedroom. The bi-fold doors that separate the bedroom and the living and kitchen area are wire mesh to let the air through, not glass.And most importantly there are three big fans to keep me cool. No AC but that's not a problem with this many fans!

 Its close to town and easy walking distance to lots of restaurants or warungs with delicious (and very cheap ) food. The produce market is walking distance too, as is the supermarket. Most importantly it is about 500 metres from the coconut ice cream shop - worth the steps to get there I can tell you! We've already clocked up a large number of steps on our fit-bits so that's good.

The view of the garden from our lounge

- meeting Cat Wheeler, who is my landlord. She has written a couple of books about retiring to Bali and has been very kind in helping us settle in. She knows lots of people and is already lining me up for a few activities. Choir is on the list but I'm not sure my Mah Jong skills are up to a Mah Jong group ( I should have taken lessons with Graz!!). Her garden is lush and gorgeous, and she just popped her head around the kitchen corner to deliver some passionfruit and avocados!  

- drinking cocktails and eating great food at Mingle with Alison and an assortment of locals and expats. I have to report that the espresso martinis were just as good as I remembered them although the Moscow mules were a bit of a hit last night!

- we have been out and about swimming in glamourous pools and pretending to be the idle rich, at Komune and a new place called the Padma Resort which has an 89 metre curved infinity pool overlooking a huge deep jungle gorge. Stunning! On both days however we seemed to have a rather disastrous effect on the weather: the clouds gathered and we had to dash to escape the heavy downpours.

- We are now living with a menagerie that includes:

• Two dogs- Hamish and Tikka - who are very well-behaved and seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that they aren't allowed in!
• a turtle who has yet to make an appearance
• a very bald cockatoo that lost all  of his feathers from a virus and looks very odd, although screeches just like a cockatoo and apparently talks as well!
• an assortment of geckos, tokays and other noisy lizards who crawl the walls.They make clicking sounds which can be quite tuneful.
• lots of frogs: outside the gate the other night their appeared to be a frog brothel as there was a lot of copulation going on so we were careful not to stand on any mating pairs!
• plenty of bird life - at 6.00am Erin threatened to get up and shoot a specific bird with a very persistent call that woke her up.    

However the saddest story so far is that of a tiny 'batlet' that Erin murdered....or was it a case of batslaughter not manslaughter as Alison suggests?! Erin was opening the bi-fold doors and saw what she thought was a leaf until it started making squealing noises and she worked out that it was a tiny baby bat, barely big enough to cover the palm of your hand. Fortunately Cat does a lot of animal rescue so she went into action giving the bat some Reiki, and feeding it milk and honey. She used some of the narrow tubing and a syringe that I use for my insulin pump and it worked perfectly. Unfortunately it died this morning: apparently cows milk is not good for bats. So Kat buried it in a beautiful yellow flower. I just have to make sure that Erin doesn't continue to eradicate the wild life !   

So that's some of the fun we've had so far: we're off to have dinner at a place called Warung Schnitzel (which is a complete clash of cultures let's face it).

Tomorrow we head off with Alison for a few days on a couple of islands before we farewell Erin back to Melbourne (and all of those small children!) next Wednesday.

Your hot but settled in correspondent 

Dianne 

What am I doing exactly?

Having left the joys of working behind me at the end of last year I have now retired....resigned from work...begun an extended holiday......commenced an experiment in living in Bali........or simply joined the ranks of the great unemployed (as Ewan so kindly puts it!), I'm not sure what to call it!

The facts are that I am living in Bali for the next two months, sharing the first nine days with the gorgeous Erin (who fortunately is in the ranks of the great employed!).

Not for me the bogans of Kuta, the masses of tourists, the overpriced shops  and the nightclubs of the beach resorts. I am renting a delightful villa in Ubud. My frequent trips to Ubud over the last couple of years to visit my friend Alison have whetted my appetite to explore the many offerings of this lovely town in the mountains of Bali.

The villa I have rented belongs to another Di - a friend of Alison's- and is half of a house belonging to Cat Wheeler who has written a couple of entertaining and informative books about retiring to Bali. She has already, in the space of a couple of days, provided lots of information and fascinating discussion about the joys and woes of Bali. 

Lots of my friends and family are keen to hear how i am getting on, and given the plethora of communication devices that shouldn't be hard....in theory. In practice I don't want to spend my life updating the messenger users, contacting the SKYPE users, emailing the rest and then trying to post photos on Facebook for the Facebook addicts!

So I have come to the conclusion that writing the occasional blog will achieve a few goals:

1. Julia Cameron, who teaches creativity, suggests that when you get up every morning you should write three pages of anything you like....but I am usually off for a walk as soon as I am awake so that's not quite going to work. I'm hoping that writing the occasional blog will unleash some creativity at least!

2. It will give those of you who are interested a chance to find out what I am up to at your leisure.

3. I am hoping that family members may print it off for those members of the family without internet access - ie. Yvonne and Ken, my 90 year old parents.

So we'll see what happens!