Indo din

This morning, the 4 of us (Aaron and Dee, Jordan and I) woke to the sounds of rushing traffic, roosters crowing, and the very bad recorded noise of the Muslims' "call to prayer". Welcome to Pemuteran Village (Indonesia)!

After being served an unpalatable brekkie, we cut up more of our own fruit and then drove in our rented van to the jetty at Labuhun Lalang (2 hours west of Lovina where we had stayed last night). This place is located in Bali's only National Park, West Bali National Park (aka Taman Nasional Bali Barat). As we drove in, we were greeted by the mellifluous sounds from the countless number of birds and the mischievous wild macaque monkeys - same as the ones we saw in Ubud Monkey Sanctuary on November 26th.

We tried to barter a better price for a snorkelling boat but no deal. All we could get was free masks and fins for Jordan and I (Aaron and Dee had brought their own). So off we went in a wooden longboat with a 40-HP motor to Menjangan Island, aka Deer Island (yes, there were many deer on the Island).

Snorkelling was great, swimming deep down a wall among hundreds of fish. For a 42-second YouTube video, refer to the link at right called "Snorkelling in Bali (with us!)", or click on video link below:

Snorkelling in Bali

Among our many sights was a rare leaf scorpion fish, below...

Can you spot the elusive leaf scorpion fish? (courtesy of Dee)

We saw a lot of first-time-seen fish, good coral, and quite a few razorfish. Just before boarding to return to shore, this amusing clown fish was spotted, flitting in and out a sea anemone, his hiding place.

We can see you! (courtesy of Dee)

This dive spot was at the end of the road for us, so to speak, so after a freshwater shower, we started backtracking. Always a thrilling sight were the rice paddies in their many stages of growth. Some with growing rice sticking out of the water, some with water but no rice visible, and some with no water but just mud.

Rice paddy

Then after a short way, an alternate return route took us up, up, up, winding higher and higher past quaint little villages and verdant scenery. This is also coffee country and when 1 coffee plantation displayed "Civet Cat Coffee" we had to stop and try it.

In case you didn't know, the most expensive coffee known is from the civet cat. This coffee can sell for up to $100 per cup! Now this might sound icky to some, but it is made from beans that come from the poop of the wild civet cats after they have eaten them.

Handlers collect the civet poop that is full of coffee beans that the cat has eaten. When the pooped coffee beans have dried out, they are removed from the poop, cleaned, and processed.

1. Coffee beans in poop 2. Beans removed from poop

We are into recycling, it was a bargain at only $5 per cup, and we are always looking for a story for the blog...so we thought why not. (Jordan was a little reluctant.) The verdict? It had a uniquely exotic bitter taste and in the interest of wanting to try almost anything at least once, we were okay with it. Although once is enough. Another first!

We stopped for the night at Munduk, a sleepy little village perched on a ridge overlooking fields of rice paddies below and distant countryside vistas. Our mountain retreat (Puri Alam Bali Bungalows) not only offered us this same vista but also a 1-hour massage complete with the hot stone treatment. How soothing, especially after trekking down the long steep hill to explore the town of Munduk!

Expansive view

To get to the restaurant from our rooms required walking up about 80 steps to another magnificent view.

Coastal cruising

Aaron and Dee and Jordan and I woke this morning in mellow Lovina (northern Bali, Indonesia). Although the bungalow rooms were very pleasant, the lighting in them was really poor (as we have found in many of our lodgings), too dim for evening reading. Breakfast which was included with the room cost was something new. Japle - 2 pieces of toast with fruit and condensed milk in between. How sweet it is!

Jordan in fabulous carvings of windows and doors

With permission to leave the van at the motel, the 4 of us hired an outrigger for 2 hours of snorkelling.

Judy, Jordan, and Aaron (courtesy of Dee)

We snorkelled in a shallow area and noticed lots of broken coral, probably from tour boats anchoring. We saw yellow needlenose fish and an unusual black and white clown fish, rather than the usual orange and blue colour. Schools of fish were looking for something to eat and would come to us if we held out our hand. Apparently many dolphins hang out in the area but we did not see any. We noticed a very unusual fine red object, swaying in the current, some type of coral??

Amazing red...coral?? (courtesy of Dee)

Upon our return to the motel, the owners allowed us to use their extremely basic kitchen to prepare a fruit salad for lunch from our purchased fruit. No rush to check out by 11:00 as in many North American motels!

We spent the afternoon driving west about 1.5 hours. Along this coast, the land is flat from the shore but soon rises abruptly for an impressive backdrop of steep green inland hills. Along the thinly populated coastline, we came to charming Pemuteran Village where we checked into another clean, nice, basic, and inexpensive motel with a woven bamboo ceiling.

Before the sun went down, we strolled the sandy beach which was a nice setting if not for the ever present disgusting garbage, diminishing the pleasantness of the scene.

More touring

After kicking back in Ubud (Island of Bali) in Indonesia and experiencing the rich culture there, we set off for some Island touring in our rented van with Aaron and Dee. Jordan enjoyed the challenge of driving on the left and blending with the maniacal condensed traffic on the Island's narrow roads. What's interesting and immediately evident upon leaving Ubud is how the small town is literally set amongst the area's abundant rice paddies.

Our 1st stop that day was the Elephant Cave. The ancient origins of this site, also known as Goa Gajah, are not known but it has been around since at least the 11th century. The Dutch discovered it in 1923.

Before entering the site, we were all required to respect certain customs and had to don colourful sarongs, supplied with the entrance fee. Another requirement, strange to the modern traveller, was noted by a sign at the entry that women who were menstruating were not allowed in.

After descending a multitude of steps to a lower plateau, all of non-menstruating visitors could obviously see the cave entrance which was through the cavernous mouth of a demonic carved face in the rock. Quizzically, carved fingertips surrounding the mouth hold back other odd carvings.

Aaron at entrance (courtesy of Dee)

The Cave's small interior held diminutive unexplained alcoves. (When no explanation, just think "Probably used for human sacrifices.") The courtyard next to the Cave had 2 bathing temple pools that were not unearthed until 1954. These pools, believed to ward off spirits (or human sacrifices), had 6 carved female figures holding waterspouts that gushed water into the pools.

From the Elephant Cave area, paths and steps invitingly led us to streams and a small river with intermittent falls. Then we spotted an arrow sign pointing further to a jungle path heading down the river. So we thought "Why not?" We hiked the rocky path descending to where we were hugging nooks and crannies of a cliff wall...eek...don't look down! Thankfully the scary areas were only for a couple of metres. We soon came upon a suspended bridge with a wobbly wooden side-rail over a fast moving river.

Brave-hearted Jordan

On the other side of the bridge were ancient niches carved in the stone wall that fell below the river level. There had probably once upon a time been some sort of figures in these niches (or human sacrifices who were probably menstruating).

Then as Willie sang "On the Road Again", we continued on about 20 km from Ubud to another impressive ancient monumental site where the entire area has been nominated for UNESCO recognition. As we descended the steep, 300 stone steps to the river, we bypassed stalls of locals selling their wares, anything from small hair trinkets made from woven reeds to large homemade bed coverings made from small pieces of brightly coloured cloth intricately stitched together on both sides. Just beyond the stalls and sculpted into the hillside, once again we saw the picturesque terraced rice paddies making this a tranquil setting.

The stairway next cut through an embankment of solid rock where you could, if you wished, sprinkle yourself with the local equivalent of holy temple water. Better safe than sorry, so we sprinkled - it was also cooling!

Dee, Judy, and Aaron - 300 steps down

Once at the bottom, we gazed upon 9 of the 10 ancient memorial shrines of the king's concubines and his family. Cut into the sheer cliff face in sheltered alcoves, they stand 8 metres high. Jordan looked miniature in front of them (just to the left of the centre flowers below). The 10th figure is about a kilometre farther through the lush green river valley and rice paddies.

Can you see Jordan? (courtesy of Aaron)

Jordan and Judy

Travelling further, we next made an impromptu stop at Holy Hot Spring (Batman) called Istana Tampak Siring where the water flows from a sacred spring. The pools were definitely not hot, barely warm. As it's said to have healing powers, many people come and splash themselves from elaborately carved, gargoyle-like, mossy spouts as they work their way along from 1 spout to the next.

http://indonesiatraveling.com/bali/bali-temples/7273-tampaksiring-sebatu-tirta-empul-temple.html

Aaron, Dee, and Jordan with other tourists and locals

Continuing, the road ascended to the high rim of the extinct volcanic Mount Batur. The weather had turned so our view was partially blocked by rain and fog. At the bottom of the mountain is a lake and village which perhaps we can visit in the future when the sun is shining...

Aaron, Jordan, and Judy all bundled up (courtesy of Dee)

As the afternoon drizzled rain, we descended to the north coast and to the small town of Lovina where a local motorcyclist, after spotting us looking at a roadside motel, directed us to a classy looking and inexpensive motel closer to the centre of the cute town. This was a great choice. The bungalow-type rooms' exteriors were classically and ornately crafted and had ample interior. And did we mention very inexpensive?

Legong dance

After our exciting morning and afternoon with monkeys and rain in Ubud (Indonesia), we attended a Balinese form of dance called Legong. This is 1 of 3 types of dance and by some is considered the most complex, graceful, and of most interest. Some types of dance have more dance and others have more drama.

The 1 we saw had lots of dance, drama, and music. We were surprised to see the precise but also jerky movements of body parts, especially wrists, hands, and fingers. They could bend their fingers into impossible-seeming positions! All of these movements were significant to the story being expressed as well as their intricate facial expressions throughout the dance.

We noticed very little contact between the dancers, each moving independently as their movements told the story.

The women wore bright makeup and their costumes consisted of brightly brocaded materials and elaborate headdresses full of flowers, with my favourite flower frangipani being used a lot in costumes and also on the stage. The men's costumes were also of very sophisticated workmanship.

Stage presence (courtesy of Dee)

Music was provided by 4 drummers seated on the stage floor along the ornate back wall of the stage. And along both the sides of the stage were several talented musicians playing gamelan music which has abrupt shifts of tempo and dramatic changes between silence and crashing noise.

This group of dancers consisted of 7 women, 2 duelling men, and 2 young boys. It was a very impressive evening of entertainment.

A few of the performers

Ubud delights

First plan today in Ubud on Bali Island (Indonesia) was to visit the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary (www.monkeyforustubud.com). Here the monkeys (macaques) are fed but run free with no cages.They mostly stay within the forest but occasionally wander into the village and nearby rice fields where they can become pests.

Okay, 2 things about this Sanctuary.

No. 1: You feel like you are in a tropical forest jungle albeit there are concrete stairways to take you to lower levels and to the temples that are very remarkable and ancient looking. These are carved with exquisitely intricate detail. There are also a lot of old picturesque statues situated throughout the Sanctuary.

Dee in front of temple (courtesy of Aaron)

No. 2: The monkeys are absolutely adorable but also very mischievous. At the entryway, you can buy bunches of bananas for the monkeys. And believe me, they know when you have them!!! The monkeys are immediately reaching for them, and jumping on you to get at them. You give a monkey an unpeeled banana, which it quickly peels, and then the banana is gobbled down as he grabs for another one! They can be very determined in their quest, looking quite mean in their persistence, but Jordan simply swatted this 1 away with no harm done.

I want more!! (courtesy of Aaron)

But they can also be very gentle. Occasionally you can fool them with just a banana peel. They will approach you, reach for it, and gently take it from you. Their paw pads are SO soft, like baby skin.

For me?

A sneaky monkey grabbed a piece of paper from a woman which she was unable to retrieve. Each time she tried, the monkey just kept retreating ... "Heh, heh, it's mine now" he must have been thinking. And many moms and pops scurried or sauntered along with a baby lazily hanging on.

Religious shrines on the Monkey Sanctuary grounds have the typical offerings placed in them - bits of food, flowers, burning incense, etc. These are frequented by the monkeys as they steal the edibles from the offerings!

Easy offerings

An older monkey was spotted with unusual eyes...1 brown and 1 blue...the blue being a glass eye indicating the good medical treatment these monkeys must receive.

Unusual eyes (courtesy of Dee)

This young monkey made himself right at home sitting on Jordan's shoulder eating his banana with his other hand resting on Jordan's hat!

Monkey pal (courtesy of Dee)

Hangin' out...

Aaron snapping photo of teeny tiny baby (courtesy of Dee)...

Check out my Mohawk! (courtesy of Aaron)...

Family pose (courtesy of Aaron)...

Motherly love (courtesy of Dee)...

At 13:30, shortly after leaving the Sanctuary, we were treated to a torrential downpour! Along with several storekeepers standing in their doorways, we all watched as the streets flooded and the water tried to run downhill. The immense amount created deep flowing rivers in curb crevices which tried to rip my thongs off my feet as I walked through it crossing the street.

Jordan walking down a passageway

A quick lunch as we dried off and then - Balinese massage!

On to Bali

With everything ready, we dropped the mooring line at Labuanbajo (Indonesia) on November 22nd for our destination of Bali. Did you know that Bali is an island and not a city? We always thought Bali was a city on an island!

It was of course very calm with no wind, so once again we motored for most of the way. Occasionally we motor-sailed and very rarely sailed. We experienced some problems with our digital charts with several computer crash dumps. The computer kept wanting to install a new driver for our GPS system (our "hockey puck") but we have no internet out at sea which is needed to install any new driver. Hopefully we can solve this problem at Bali.

As backup, we printed digital screen shots of our route and also our computer waypoints just in case the computer refused to restart.

On our 2nd evening, we ran into choppy seas and a countercurrent which slowed us down to only 1 nautical mile in 1 hour. Sea Turtle should be averaging around 5 nautical miles per hour so we tacked.

We saw dolphins a couple of times, and as we finally approached the mountainous island of Bali, we suddenly noticed literally hundreds of fishboats with sails and NO lights! They were obviously avoiding us as we could barely see them till the sun came up a bit more. Apparently they leave Bali shores to fish every morning with their bright coloured sails flying.

Watch out!

We picked up a Royal Bali Yacht Club mooring ball at S08°43.157' E115°14.442' on November 25th at 11:00. We moored at small Serangan Island, a 15-second dinghy ride from main Bali Island.

With a message from Jordan's son and our daughter-in-law (Aaron and Dee), we quickly found a local man's van to rent for cheap at $20/day and headed out to meet them, leaving behind Serangan (aka Turtle Island). What an amazing drive!

We passed temple after temple, yards filled with religious-offering structures, shops filled with wood carvings or stone carvings or glass carvings...exquisite carvings far and wide. It was non-stop, everywhere you looked, you couldn't take it all in.

Traffic was unbelievable and moved urgently. Hundreds of motor scooters zipped in and out of 4-wheeled traffic. The lanes were ignored as several scooters were in each lane with a car or truck - no such thing as 1 vehicle per lane as back home! Being in a van, it was difficult to pass but the scooters moved much quicker with their size.

We checked into the same bungalows as Aaron and Dee in a charming town named Ubud (pronounced Oo bood), and as the rain came down in buckets, we had dreams of sights to see tomorrow...

Our Warsa Bungalow

Departures and arrivals

Our visitors Aaron and Dee (Jordan's son and his wife) wanted 1 last snorkel before flying to other parts of Flores Island, Indonesia. So after booking their flights on the 19th, we quickly motored over to a nearby small island (S08°29.001' E119°50.399') only an hour away where we had been previously. It was a dreary day with rain and choppy seas. Snorkelling was not as good as the water was a bit murky this time because of the onslaught of rain.

We left the island early the next morning, returning to Labuanbajo, and said our temporary goodbyes as Aaron and Dee hopped on a bus for the airport. After touring around, they will meet us in Bali in 4 or 5 days.

Jordan and I tried to fill our propane tank but this was impossible in Labuanbajo. We should have enough in our other until we reach Bali where they should be able to be filled. We noticed a sailboat anchored off in the distance and we discovered that it was 1 we know - Merilelu. We arranged to meet them for dinner and caught up on stories.

Merilelu had travelled a different route through Indonesia than we had (they took the northern route and we took the southern route). Unfortunately they had encountered a lot of thunderstorms and non-stop rain and were rather discouraged with Indonesia. We have had pretty much constant hot sun until the last couple of days even though it is now the rainy season here.

Manta rays

This morning, we took the dinghy around the point from Sea Turtle at Komodo Island (Indonesia) as we were told that is where the official Pink Beach is located. We wanted to check this out after finding the other amazing pink beach yesterday. The official Pink Beach was NOT as pink, in our opinion, and the red coral was mixed with golden coloured sand rather than white sand like the other beach.

There was good snorkelling but the current was really fast and strong; the water was just a tad cooler. We saw very large trevally fish and a few turtles. This 1 looked a bit grumpy.

Back off dude...

Another turtle was very interested in the coral and at 1 point he even had a piece in his mouth. He kept pushing his nose deep into the coral digging around for something.

I can see you...

We also found another fish with scales that resembled camouflage. Swimming over the soft corals, he just seemed to blend right in. We have seen several but do not know their official name. One day we will see it in a book somewhere!

Back at Sea Turtle, we went in search of the world's largest ray, manta rays. Anchoring at S08°33.356' E119°37.917', we spread out in the water to start looking. Before we got more than a few feet apart, Aaron (Jordan's son) yelled out "I see them!" Jordan, Dee (Aaron's wife), and I joined Aaron and we all looked down at 1 of the largest manta rays we have ever swum with!

Dee approaching the manta ray

He gracefully flapped his muscular "wings" that extended out from his body; mantas can be up to 4.8 m (16 feet) from tip to tip. This 1 was about 3 metres. We snorkelled down and swam over him, towards him, behind him. He did not seem to mind at all and did not move away. I had been practicing deep diving so even I was able to swim down near them.

Jordan and me getting close

At 1 point, we were joined by 2 other smaller mantas but they did not stay around as long and would come and go...

Manta rays have skeletons of cartilage, not bone as most fish do, and they have a diet of plankton. We won't be on their menu so no need to fear these large gentle creatures.

Jordan swam off and found a huge moray eel emerging from his lair in a coral reef crevice but the 3 of us were not yet ready to leave the mantas. Then a dive boat appeared and asked us not to anchor in the area as we were unknowingly in a National Park area, so we graciously boarded Sea Turtle and moved off. As the dive boat's motor also scared off the manta rays, we probably would have left even if we had not been asked to.

We motored (yes, we are still motoring as so seldom is there any wind) and anchored in front of a resort. We planned to go ashore for cocktails and/or a meal later. After being anchored for about 2 hours, the resort officials asked us to move to a mooring ball around the corner. It was almost 19:00 and getting dark. We could not find any mooring balls so decided to just head back to Labuanbajo. We had our track to follow on digital charts so were not too worried about moving in the dark. We tied up to our same mooring ball at 22:00, safe and secure for the night.

Wow - what a great day!

Dragons and pink beaches

We weighed anchor early this morning at 06:00 as the tide was getting too low for Sea Turtle (only 2 metres). Looking back, we saw 3 deer on shore where we had had our bonfire the night before. Seems weird to see deer way over here in Indonesia near Rinca Island.

Today was the day for the 4 of us to see the Komodo dragons, the world's biggest monitor lizard, and found only on the 2 islands of Rinca and Komodo. But first we had to find the bay where we could anchor. The guidebooks and charts had it marked wrong but we found it at S08°39.180' E119°48.872' and went ashore.

Komodo National Park (guide, Aaron, Dee, Judy)

Our 1st sight ashore was of monkeys around the camp. These monkeys are sometimes caught by the Komodo dragons for food but not too often as they are thankfully too fast for the dragons. The dragons can spring short distances, lifting their tails as they run. They also hunt goat, deer, boar, miniature wild ponies, and even water buffalo.

Too cute to eat

You must have a guide as the dragons can be dangerous. One climbed the stairs into the office and bit a volunteer who had to be rushed to hospital by speedboat for antibiotics as the dragon's saliva quickly induces blood poisoning. When motionless, they can be hard to spot in the dry scrub.

Speak with forked tongue?

Our guide filled us in with information about the lizards as we went on a hike. They can measure over 3 metres (10 feet) long. They have a muscular tail, huge claws, fearsome teeth, and a long yellow forked tongue. They kill their prey with their tail or by biting. When bit, their victim will slowly die and the Komodo just lies back and waits. They only eat about once a month. Surprisingly, they are also cannibalistic.

Komodos hanging out

The 1st 5 years of their lives are spent living in trees for safety, until they are about 1 metre in length. Approximately 1,100 Komodo live on Rinca and 1,300 on Komodo Island.

Enjoying the sun

Now finished with Komodos, it was time to snorkel to cool off so we moved Sea Turtle to Padar Island (S08°38.038' E119°35.169'). Do not get in the water at Rinca as crocodiles are there!

Once again we had a successful viewing of the creatures and coral in the ocean. This large clam had shades of brown and was about a foot across in size (the 1 that I saw when I was snorkelling while the others were diving was even bigger!)

Large clam

As well as black starfish and purplish-blue starfish, this bumpy orange starfish lying on the sandy bottom surrounded by seagrass was discovered...

Dee found a few lion fish hiding in the rocks and hailed everyone over. We cautioned Aaron and Dee on the venomous nature of these dangerous and spiky fish. There was also a large moray eel trying to stay out of sight.

Dangerous lion fish

We dinghied ashore and were stunned to see the colour of the sand - a very bright reddish pink! This beach was being created by the breaking up of red coral as it washed ashore and broke down into finer pieces, mixing with the white sand.

PINKEST beach we have ever seen

Red coral found on shore

We motored the short distance to Komodo Island (S08°35.805' E119°31.142') where we were asked by a longboater if we were interested in buying any souvenirs from his family. We bought a couple of trinkets as we like to support the locals whenever possible.

Under a full moon, we then had another bonfire on shore and watched as later in the evening the rising tide doused it and washed the wood out to sea. Easiest way yet to put out a bonfire!

Near Rinca Island

Another hot day at Labuanbajo (Indonesia) so another day of snorkelling. We motored to a small island (S08°35.964' E119°42.372') near Rinca where Jordan and I and family Aaron and Dee were all alone with no other boats around.

We swam with schools of fish - safety in numbers - they were everywhere! Fish in schools make it harder for their predators to pick them out of the crowd. We also watched fish flitting in and out of the coral heads, hiding as we approached. If you didn't see them go in the coral, you would think there were no fish there, till they peeked out to see if it was safe.

The very cute clown fish live and hide among the tentacles of sea anemones on coral reefs. There are 27 different species of clown fish, each with its own distinguishing pattern of brightly coloured bands. It's always fun to watch as they try to hide from us in the anemones.

We saw some unusual sea creatures this time. This sea snake, 1 of many varieties, had a jointed body and a tentacled head and must have been 3 metres long...

Then there were these clear, see-through, tiny orange fish keeping acquaintance with black and white striped fish...

Another that we don't know the name of, perhaps a "spaghetti worm"? Whatever it is, it's not fishing line or spaghetti! You can see on the left what looks like a "mouth" where the tentacles all seem to originate from as they stretch out and wrap around corals. Very interesting...

We had just read about the unusual razorfish earlier in the morning in a National Geographic magazine when, lo and behold, eagle-eyed Dee spotted 4 swimming in a line!! We watched them swim upside down (their head points toward the sea bottom) flapping their little wing-like fins. Razorfish have big eyes and their long "noses" are pinkish coloured. They are small and very skinny; the ones we saw were only about 7.5 cm (3 inches) long.

Trumpet fish have elongated bodies and long tubular snouts with minute teeth. They have dorsal fins near the tail fin and inflexible bodies...

An Indonesian fishboat arrived attempting to retrieve fish baskets that it had left on the ocean floor. Jordan dove down to help locate and lift them onto the fishboat, making the fishermen very happy as they didn't need to get in the water!

Helping hand

After an exciting day of exploring the wonders of the ocean, we went in search of the anchorage to the Komodo dragon park off Rinca Island before he sun set. However, we had erroneous directions from a couple of sources and couldn't locate it. So we dropped the hook at a nice quiet spot - Goats Island - (S08°37.781' E119°42.294') where we enjoyed a bonfire on the lonely beach.