Bali - Second impressions

We finally got out of our tourist ghetto to see a few things we would be limited to see when the family arrives, the grand and grand grand mother totaling one hundred and sixty five years, one must acknowledge that there are limitations as far as climbing temple stairs goes, so that is exactly the type of activities we are looking for now.
We instructed our driver Wayan (a traditional Balineese name meaning son number one, you can imagine how many Wyans there are here) to take us tu the Gunung Kawi Temple and he suggested to go and see the Tagalalang rice fields. This temple was built in the eleventh century the entrance lays after a set of stairs into the valey in a rock, the only way to enter it is through there. On the way to Gunang Kawi we saw straight away that Bali is a beautiful island, it's richness in greens is beyond imagination, and the variety of fruit trees are amazing, not to mention the rice fields laid out in terraces that seem to bring an architectural structure to the chaos of the vegetation.
The way this temple has been set in Nature is amazing.
Mostly carved out in rock, with a lush vegetation in and arround it, a river and waterfalls, and again ricefields make from this place an amazing sight, and it takes little imagination to picture the ceremonies that have and will take place here. Water seems to be the main element at this temple.
I couldn't help but notice the Asian touch in the rivers with little mounts of plastic bags here and there.
This is one part of Asia that saddens me deeply especially after coming from the pristine places in Australia. Djudju decided not to go to the toilet. A magnificant walk/climb through the rice fields made up for a disappointing waterfall.
The walk was even more memorable thanks to Made (another name that every other woman seems to have) a frail lady in her fifties working on the rice fields of the temple. She showed us how to go to the waterfall talking to us in Balinese all the time. Val and her really struck up a conversation as if there were two old friends telling each other the latest gossip. Val in English, Made in Balinese no one understanding the other yet both persistent in holding up the babble.
 What goes down must go back up so up we went along the three hundred something stairs, passing the stalls filled with coconut and bone carvings, sarongs and clothes and bone jewelry, welcomed by shouts of lookie lookie and please you promised (we did say "maybe later" on our way down).
Finally after buying a few bits and pieces we moved on to Tagalalang.

The terraced rice fields are stunning but what struck me the most is that the Asian elders are very fit.
The job needs done point there doesn't seem to be any second thought about it, nor does it seem to matter who does the job. Young, old or middle aged, wet or dry, muddy or grassy when the job needs doing that is what is happening.

The next morning we instructed Wyan to head towards Besaki, Bali's most powerful place, or the Mother Temple. The feeling here was different. I have had that feeling in a few places the Wailing Wall being one of them and I am not sure whether to file it under powerfully spiritual, or loaded with people energy maybe they are one and the same. one thing is for sure, this is one of those places in the world that have a certain feel of some sort of power being strongly present.

A traditional prayer for health and prosperity for the family made by a female priest a few flowers in our ears and a bit of rice stuck on our head we continued again being followed by young six-ish year old girls wailing people to buy a few postcards adapting to the spoken language of the 'bulè'(everything that is not Balinese) as a chameleon changes color with it's surroundings. On our way out we stopped to marvel (Val took off) at the spiderwebs and the hundreds of spiders on them, big mams they were to.
Speaking of 'bulè' (note I wrote it twice without capital letter 'b'), I was out of money so I asked Wyan to pay for our dinner at the place he brought us to eat. He payed one hundred and eighty thousand Rupia for our meal wich was quoted one hundred thousand per person in the menu.

On our way back I asked Wyan what would happen if he got stopped by the police driving wrong direction in this one way street; his answer was that I would have to pay the police two hundred while he would get off with twenty thousand.
Needless to say after these two days that I a much more excited about Bali then before.
The thing that make me tick the most here is the kindness of people. I have felt no animosity whats however on the contrary everyone seems to welcome you in the largest sense of the word. Another striking thing is that whilst traffic is crazy and scooters, dogs or cars are always just about bumping into each other there seems to be little or no agressivity.
Tomorrow will reveal another facet of the Balinese culture as we have decided to pay a visit to a holy man that is known to be in touch with all kinds of energy's and has visions, and this is not one of the tourist attractions the 'bule' go to, this is one visited in the most cases by the locals.

More will be revealed....... .

Bali first impressions

On the plane from Darwin to Indonesia I couldn't help my self to re-reading a couple of sentences on the custom declaration form.
The first one being the red stamp saying that the sentence on drug trafficking is the death penalty, the second that bringing weapons bla bla and pornographic material is prohibited.
We arrived at the airport and I asked a porter to help me, before knew it eight of them grabbed our six bags, since this happened before customs and since they were all wearing tags I figured we didn't risk much and let them go ahead, a bit for the folklore and mostly to watch Vals reaction, I have been through that before just had forgotten about it.
So here is Val watching the kids and eight porters holding six bags while I am collecting money from the ATM.
More confusion as we hit the outside of the airport. We got to Denpassar four hours early no driver, unsure about the address we're staying at and traffic traffic, I had forgotten about that too, the traffic regulations are not the same in Asia, are there any rules here? Traffic density is times hundred what we are used to in Belgium I payed off the porters after a bit of confusion concerning the amount of zero's behind the one, I did take a million Rupia out of the cash machine, which amounts to a whole 40€, I took the money out under the eyes of one of the porters prying my wallet for it's content.
I got a driver who was convinced all and everything would fit in his car and after pushing shoving re-arranging we all sat in the back with part of the luggage up front. The trafic in Bali is not quite as bad as what I had seen in Manila but. Driving here is a real challenge. It is not the congestion a much as the hundreds if not thousands of scooters and motorcycles.

A few things that stood out for us are the Budhist Gods statues standing tall a s a five story building.
The beauty of the kids. The stench of the city. No or very little sidewalks, making it very hard if not nearly impossible to walk around, the scooters, getting there seems so much more important then self preservation. Having said that I haven't seen one accident yet. The one thing that takes number one on my account is this, imagine a small scooter dad driving, a two year old in the middle, mum in the back (in the best of cases, mum in the back), everyone safely wearing the by law compulsory helmet but the child.

We visited the touristic area of Seminyak and surroundings and apart from 'the Potatohead' a bar restaurant, with an architectural specificity being that the outside wall has been constructed in coloseum form using only old wooden blinds, we were everything but impressed and are wondering what everyone likes so much about this place.
We keep an open mind and know that we haven't see anything yet.
Ah yes we did treat the kids to the local waterpark, one comment on that one, it is the cleanest highly attended public water park I've ever been too, lots of fun too.

We took a speedboat to Gilly Trawangan where we were supposed to stay for six nights. On the way made a brief stop in Lombok. Both are islands Lombok being the largest and greenest, Gilly being only seven kilometer in circumference. Now I must say we arrived on Gilly after the rain and taking into account that the only means of transportation are pushbike, feet or horse and cart, you can imagine the mud all around.

A step of the boat into the crystal clear water and on our cart we jumped.
I liked the place from the start. It has those remains of how I viewed the world before the big hurricane tore my eyes out and a pair of new ones were needed to live on.
Gilly has this laid back relax, smoke a spliff and be happy kind of feel. I could have wallowed in that ambiance for weeks.
Val on the other hand had a dip. I recognized it because it is exactly what happened to me on Fraser.
I call it the mental shits (not to mention the Balli belly we are all affected by).
One of the key rules we established in the US is that if either of us doesn't feel right somewhere, we move on.
 Gilly got cut down to two nights even though Val started getting out of her negative spiral on the second night we decided to move on.
Back in Bali, we are staying in a little peace haven in the middle of this busy aunts nest.

Deciding to come back turned out to be a good idea, the skies opened up and it nearly hasn't stopped raining since a couple of days. Now there is something to be said about that. At times it rains so hard that you litteraly feel someone is chucking out buckets and buckets of water from up above. The sewers cannot handle it all in the city so everything slows down, but nothing stops. You still see the scooters the car the people walking driving in streams of water. I suppose it is a good time to rephrase De Niro in Taxi Driver, the rain does clean out the shit of the city, only here it might take a few days before the water actually disappears. Before going to bed we did the same we had done in Gilly the night before we left, we looked at the lightning, counted to see how far away the thunder was and looked at the rain poring down. Our shower is open so taking a hot shower in the poring rain was a new concept for me!
It was raining so hard this morning the noise of the falling water woke me up.
I am looking forward to see the family in a few days, I am happy to re-taste Asia, I had forgotten and was shocked again how the money god has power here, and I am again overwhelmed by the kindness of people.
Oh by the way, did I already mentioned chlorinated hair?

The Australian conclusion

I was thinking about our stay here in Oz as I was getting back from fetching some take away Thai and I fell kind of mixed up.
I shared that over the meal with Val and the kids and we started reflecting back on what we actually did here and we realized a few things.

We have traveled here on the East Australian Coast on a slow pace and at a less adventurous pace then in the US. That allowed us to take more time to enjoy each place, more time to spend apart and together and more time to reflect. As a result the wow effect we got in the States was less strong or should I say less continuous here, however some of the things we have done here were so unique and special that it is difficult to say if one was better then the other. What is sure is that it was different and that there is no need for better or worse, it is just a different country with a different feel so evidently we feel different about Australia then North America.
Certainly one of the most unique events here was seeing the Leather back turtle lay her eggs, or waking up every day to the noise of the parrots, or the tuquoise of the water or the silica of whitehaven, the lighthouses, or tree houses, the spiders and crocks, the Grand Canyon Trail, or the laughing kookaburras in the morning,  to name but a few.
One of the events we had anticipated had it's start in Australia too.

We were confronted with a bunch of truths proper to our nature that after reflection didn't turn out to be so true after all. Being together, close to each other not only on a physical level but on a mental and spiritual level has allowed us to get to know each other and to function together in a way that still amazes me today. We have evolved as a family some values are different here then they are at home, some values at home have no reason to be here while we are traveling.
I feel Val and I have transcended what we thought to be core values to us and this realization took place almost simultaneously. The relativity of time also dawned on us.
As far as I am concerned the moments of self encounter are privileged ones and although they were known to come sooner or later and I was looking forward to them with some apprehension I am again reinforced in my belief that we are taken care of as long as we do what needs to done, as long as we put in the footwork and show up for life everyday again, this belief has changed my apprehension into a welcoming and open mind to further encounters with myself.
Just to finnish the Australian chapter with a story I may have written before.
We were awoken, again, one very early morning by the parrots at sunrise, Val and I just started laughing and came up with the following theory about the noise the birds make here.
It is just this one parrot who wakes up loudly, every morning, and all his neighbours are shouting and shreeking back at him to be quiet. This little anecdote kept us awake and laughing for at least an hour at three thirty in the morning.
Oh yes and for those who never heard a kookaburra here is a nice link for you.

Port Douglas

There isn't really much to say about the last week. We are staying in a resort we are glad we settled down for a few days. Nothing much apart from Jungle surfing, that's hanging from a few wires on the rainforest canopy and feeding five meter crocks, I mean you're average day to day routine. Matts ease being suspended at twenty two meters was stunning and Djudju was careful but quickly got the hang of it. The next day we went to a croc farm...mean animals they are, on top of the food chain with a jaw pressure of two hundred kilo per square centimeter, we were all very impressed.
Anyway more pics then words for this entry.

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The Whitsunday Isles (Part 2 End)

We woke up, early, the clouds dissipated made place for bright sunlight emphasized by the white silica of whitehaven.
The next few days were a continuity of visiting islands alternating with diving amongst fish and coral.
Julian mastered the art of snorkeling the hard way, if the ice is melting causing the sea levels to rise Djudju made sure whils mastering this skill that they stay level!
In some spots the fish are so tame that they follow the dingy and when we jump in the water they just come to see us up close. It made me wonder who is looking at who.
On one occasion we had brought a few cereals which lured the fish close to us, Julian jumped when the fish were ticking on his mask because of the food floating around.
For my part I partly overcame my fear of Jaws and didn't here the 'tum tum tum' but ocasionally.
Some bright green and deep blue shells provided us with a spectacle each time Matt or I dove towards them by retracting as we came close and reappearing as soon as we were gone.
Every day was a blessing.
A reality check slipped in with a few problems from the home front but nothing could change the beauty of these few days.
Our skipper managed to drop us in and take us out so we were never surrounded by masses of people.
As I have said before the conversations we had were inspiring and filled with truth and wisdom.
It is interesting how some people touch you in a way, how some people have a way of relating to life in a simplicity that is so obvious to them and make you realize that life is only as complicated as you make it!
Val and I are leaving this vessel wondering what was better, the visiting of the Whitsundays or the conversation we had on board or was it the millions of stars in the sky or the near full moon with Venus on it's left, or the turquoise of the ocean or the waves rocking us to sleep maybe it was the reef and it's fish or the fish Julian caught and we ate or the wall of bait fish that split in two as we swam towards it or maybe life revealed one of it's better facets by combining it all and allowing us to be open enough to see, smell, feel and taste it!

I wish I could fill these pictures with the feelings that came along so you could experience it too.

The Whitsunday Isles (Part1)

 

Back on the planet after a small week on a Yaminda, a 1160 Seawind Catamaran.

The Whitsundays are a group of seventy four islands of the coast of Cental  Queensland.
They are a jewel when it comes to white beaches and turquoise seas and are know as Yacht heaven.
We arrived in the late afternoon to board Yaminda for a first sleepover before setting sail the next morning. Peter our skipper arrived around seven and after a coffee and a short talk we set off to Whitehaven.
I've never really experienced anything else but waterskiing and Channel crossing from Belgium to England so this was all new to me.

The kids where psyched and not long after we left Matthew was holding the wheel and fiddling with the cats GPS, as far as Julian is concerned he waited his turn and asked to hold the wheel, which he did proudly.
Three rooms a lounge and a deck is where we were to spend the next few days.
The weather was half and half and the sea breeze was a welcoming change to the humidity and heat, not that we are complaining on the contrary.

A three hour trip to Whitehaven gave Peter and I a chance to get to talk to each other and a few of his answers surprised me pleasantly. Out of respect I will not go into specifics but as it turned out over the days spent on the cat Val and I have found we had met a man with an approach to life that was inspiring.
We arrived to Whitehaven and my first judgment was one of, just another beach, nothing special.
The sky was greyish but as soon as the sun pierced through you could see how bright the sand reflected it. As we set foot on the isles, Peter had taken us over with a dingy after anchoring, we picked us some sand. The sand here is like powder, it is sticky when wet and light as powder when dry.
There is something about Whitehaven Beach that is very difficult to describe, but it 'feels' different then any other beach I've been to.
The kids where trotting along on this five kilometer stretch of silica the clouds were providing us with dramatic designs in the sky and the crabs had left arty sand sculptures on the sand. This whole topped by a dark turquoise sea to make memorable pictures on camera and in our minds.




An evening BBQ on the boat and a good night rest rocked by the gentle waves.