bali.
ubud
dull trip to bali. ubud is not backpacking country anymore. fancy hotels, restaurants and well dressed people.
tour day. elephant cave, gunung kawi: nice temple in the woods, tirta empul: nice area with sacred springs, gunung batur, lake batur: great views, cancel hike to the top due to ridiculous prices. back to ubud on a road with endless shops offering furniture and wood carvings. in the evening to the ceremony at the temple pura samuan tiga. very colorful, women carrying food as offering.
excellent balinese kecak dance in the evening.
cooking class. back to the ceremony. a private driver asks for 25.000 r. so i take a bemo for 1000. morons. have fun with some kids at the ceremony. again balinese dance at the palace in the evening with great gamelan music.
bedugul
drive to lovina. stop at bedugul with its exceptional little temple. after the buses are gone i have it all for myself and shoot a whole film. have too much sate and offer it to the great toilet god in the night.
to the temple for sunrise. still not open, only barking dogs. more pictures. continuing to lovina. looking for gede's mother but can't find her on the beach.
lovina
relaxation day: eating, sleeping, reading. bad news about gede's parents. they had an accident. i decide to give them a day rest before i show up. 5am. dolphin watching. nobody out there except me. great sunrise with lightning. after a while we see a single dolphin doing some jumps for me. the tourist packs arrive with the daylight. and the dolphins too. they seem to play with the boats. it's like a hide and seek game. the boats follow them to the right so they turn left,...
visit gede's parents. i guess they were lucky not be more severely injured. we go and see the doctor. surprise: we don't have to pay a ‚tourist bill' and we get the private phone# so we can call anytime. there's hope for the country, there are poeple who are not spoiled from tourist dollars. take the kids out for dinner ‚it's prohibited to order nasi goreng!'. they're good fun. it's good to know that there are still normal people who are not only after your money. trip to the hot springs with gede's brother koman. nice pools in the woods. dear tourist, be aware that the marked water depth is calculated from the edge of the pool not from the water surface. i found out after i jumped in.
spend the rest of the day at the beach and the pool (a very short excerpt from a moment on a balinese beach shows why i escaped to the hotel
taking part: tourist desperately trying to read a book, local salespeople trying to get rid of their stuff
1st approach ‚can i sit here?'
- ‚hi, do you mind if i sit here for a while?'
- ‚no that's fine. it's a free country. i read my book and you sit here'
5 seconds with unbearable silence pass
- ‚need dolphin tour?'
- ‚no thanx, had that already.'
- ‚had that already. mmmh. need tour driver?'
- ‚no thanx, done all my tours.'
- ‚want to buy ...?...special morning/afternoon/evening price only for you!... very bad times, not enough tourists'
- ‚yes, very bad times, too many sales people'
- ‚maybe tomorrow?'
2nd approach ‚education'
- ‚hi, do you want to know about special balinese calendar?'
- ‚don't need a calendar but if you feel like teaching go ahead' (this response is only applicable at the first encounter)
so i learn about the calendar for the first of many other times
- ‚how do you like balinese calendar?'
- ‚very nice but unfortunately i'm broke and really don't need one'
- ‚really handmade'
- ‚yes, very nice'
- ‚want to buy???'
- ‚want to sell???'
- ‚yes! '
- ‚very good! please go and find somebody who still needs souvenirs'
- ‚maybe tomorrow?'
3rd approach ‚the group attacks'
- ‚need sarong?' (girl 1)
- ‚no thanx, have already one'
- ‚need sarong?' (girl 2,..., girl n)
- ‚???????????'...
- ‚maybe tomorrow?'
4th approach ‚indecent offer'
- ‚need woman?'
- a) ‚sure, but how much is she willing to pay for me?' (good mood answer)
- ‚???????'
- b) ‚sorry i'm vegetarian, no meat for me please' (bored mood answer)
- ‚???????'
- c) ‚can she cook?' (very bored mood answer)
- ‚???????'
- d) ‚are you trying to sell your sister?' (angry mood answer)
- ‚no, no just kidding!'
dear co-tourist, never forget to smile! they're just trying to survive. just bad that the women have to pay for it :-(
visit gede's mother made. another trip to a restaurant with the gang. this time there's one more kid with us: a nephew of made. i asked the baby boy for the fun of it if he wants to join and he nods enthusiastically. does a baby understand english? maybe. but he truly understands food. this little baby eats as if there's no tomorrow. need a video.
shopping trip to singaraja. i am invited to a great buffet in the evening by made's family. besakih,
tirtagangga, kuta
5 am start for the besakih temple with kadek, koman and lu. some 'casualties' from all the driving: koman stays in the car. lu drags herself with us. i guess, too many curves.
kherta ghosa is interesting but i'm tired of sight seeing. arrival in tirtagangga. incredible view of mt. agung and the plain with endless rice fields. finally there's a place in bali that looks like paradise.
hike trough the rice fields. great landscape. my guide goes nuts when i do some jump pictures. 'you're like frog'. at a break i forget my camera. so i jog back. lucky me, it's still there. what would a rice farmer do with a camera? according to my guide selling it and taking a few months vacation.
evening hike.
morning hike with great views of mt. agung. should i have gone to the summit? well not for the prices the guides ask for, unfortunately there's no way to make them see that 30% of the demanded price would increase the revenue by 1000%. drive to kuta. this is really a difference compared to gili air: loads of people, noise, shopping malls.
ulu watu, tanah lot
bus trip to tanah lot is cancelled. negotiate with a private driver. too bad for him that i know the prices but we agree finally on the price and the itinerary. ulu watu and tanah lot. finally there's even a traffic jam and heaps of tourists so i can get used to life in europe again.
spend the rest of the day with the old problem: how to get rid of the cash. the solution: eating, eating, eating.
that was it. and again it wasn't that bad, was it?
dull trip to bali. ubud is not backpacking country anymore. fancy hotels, restaurants and well dressed people.
tour day. elephant cave, gunung kawi: nice temple in the woods, tirta empul: nice area with sacred springs, gunung batur, lake batur: great views, cancel hike to the top due to ridiculous prices. back to ubud on a road with endless shops offering furniture and wood carvings. in the evening to the ceremony at the temple pura samuan tiga. very colorful, women carrying food as offering.
excellent balinese kecak dance in the evening.
cooking class. back to the ceremony. a private driver asks for 25.000 r. so i take a bemo for 1000. morons. have fun with some kids at the ceremony. again balinese dance at the palace in the evening with great gamelan music.
bedugul
drive to lovina. stop at bedugul with its exceptional little temple. after the buses are gone i have it all for myself and shoot a whole film. have too much sate and offer it to the great toilet god in the night.
to the temple for sunrise. still not open, only barking dogs. more pictures. continuing to lovina. looking for gede's mother but can't find her on the beach.
lovina
relaxation day: eating, sleeping, reading. bad news about gede's parents. they had an accident. i decide to give them a day rest before i show up. 5am. dolphin watching. nobody out there except me. great sunrise with lightning. after a while we see a single dolphin doing some jumps for me. the tourist packs arrive with the daylight. and the dolphins too. they seem to play with the boats. it's like a hide and seek game. the boats follow them to the right so they turn left,...
visit gede's parents. i guess they were lucky not be more severely injured. we go and see the doctor. surprise: we don't have to pay a ‚tourist bill' and we get the private phone# so we can call anytime. there's hope for the country, there are poeple who are not spoiled from tourist dollars. take the kids out for dinner ‚it's prohibited to order nasi goreng!'. they're good fun. it's good to know that there are still normal people who are not only after your money. trip to the hot springs with gede's brother koman. nice pools in the woods. dear tourist, be aware that the marked water depth is calculated from the edge of the pool not from the water surface. i found out after i jumped in.
spend the rest of the day at the beach and the pool (a very short excerpt from a moment on a balinese beach shows why i escaped to the hotel
taking part: tourist desperately trying to read a book, local salespeople trying to get rid of their stuff
1st approach ‚can i sit here?'
- ‚hi, do you mind if i sit here for a while?'
- ‚no that's fine. it's a free country. i read my book and you sit here'
5 seconds with unbearable silence pass
- ‚need dolphin tour?'
- ‚no thanx, had that already.'
- ‚had that already. mmmh. need tour driver?'
- ‚no thanx, done all my tours.'
- ‚want to buy ...?...special morning/afternoon/evening price only for you!... very bad times, not enough tourists'
- ‚yes, very bad times, too many sales people'
- ‚maybe tomorrow?'
2nd approach ‚education'
- ‚hi, do you want to know about special balinese calendar?'
- ‚don't need a calendar but if you feel like teaching go ahead' (this response is only applicable at the first encounter)
so i learn about the calendar for the first of many other times
- ‚how do you like balinese calendar?'
- ‚very nice but unfortunately i'm broke and really don't need one'
- ‚really handmade'
- ‚yes, very nice'
- ‚want to buy???'
- ‚want to sell???'
- ‚yes! '
- ‚very good! please go and find somebody who still needs souvenirs'
- ‚maybe tomorrow?'
3rd approach ‚the group attacks'
- ‚need sarong?' (girl 1)
- ‚no thanx, have already one'
- ‚need sarong?' (girl 2,..., girl n)
- ‚???????????'...
- ‚maybe tomorrow?'
4th approach ‚indecent offer'
- ‚need woman?'
- a) ‚sure, but how much is she willing to pay for me?' (good mood answer)
- ‚???????'
- b) ‚sorry i'm vegetarian, no meat for me please' (bored mood answer)
- ‚???????'
- c) ‚can she cook?' (very bored mood answer)
- ‚???????'
- d) ‚are you trying to sell your sister?' (angry mood answer)
- ‚no, no just kidding!'
dear co-tourist, never forget to smile! they're just trying to survive. just bad that the women have to pay for it :-(
visit gede's mother made. another trip to a restaurant with the gang. this time there's one more kid with us: a nephew of made. i asked the baby boy for the fun of it if he wants to join and he nods enthusiastically. does a baby understand english? maybe. but he truly understands food. this little baby eats as if there's no tomorrow. need a video.
shopping trip to singaraja. i am invited to a great buffet in the evening by made's family. besakih,
tirtagangga, kuta
5 am start for the besakih temple with kadek, koman and lu. some 'casualties' from all the driving: koman stays in the car. lu drags herself with us. i guess, too many curves.
kherta ghosa is interesting but i'm tired of sight seeing. arrival in tirtagangga. incredible view of mt. agung and the plain with endless rice fields. finally there's a place in bali that looks like paradise.
hike trough the rice fields. great landscape. my guide goes nuts when i do some jump pictures. 'you're like frog'. at a break i forget my camera. so i jog back. lucky me, it's still there. what would a rice farmer do with a camera? according to my guide selling it and taking a few months vacation.
evening hike.
morning hike with great views of mt. agung. should i have gone to the summit? well not for the prices the guides ask for, unfortunately there's no way to make them see that 30% of the demanded price would increase the revenue by 1000%. drive to kuta. this is really a difference compared to gili air: loads of people, noise, shopping malls.
ulu watu, tanah lot
bus trip to tanah lot is cancelled. negotiate with a private driver. too bad for him that i know the prices but we agree finally on the price and the itinerary. ulu watu and tanah lot. finally there's even a traffic jam and heaps of tourists so i can get used to life in europe again.
spend the rest of the day with the old problem: how to get rid of the cash. the solution: eating, eating, eating.
that was it. and again it wasn't that bad, was it?