Saturday October 12

Tim underwater

The Reef

We started the day at a water sports centre near our Villa.  I had bought an underwater camera before the trip so I was keen to try it out.  I signed up for the sea walker adventure and off we went.  I put on a wet suit and they put an old diving bell over my head and down the ladder I went.  They had given me dire warning about ear pressure and panic so it was a slow descent to 5 m underwater.  A scuba diver was my guide and I walked along the ocean floor amongst the coral and fish.  Because we fed the fish they were all over.  My underwater camera worked, I got my fish pictures and I was a happy camper at the end of my walk.                   

Caroline

My daughter Caroline and partner Ali were supposed to join us on Friday night for the weekend in Bali.  Unfortunately they were bumped from the flight but they did get a flight the next day and showed up around 2 PM.  To celebrate being all together in Bali we went to a beachfront bar, drank cocktails and watched the sun set over the Indian  Ocean.           
    
    
   
   
                                                                                                       

Friday October 11

We started the day with a trip to the local theatre.  We watched a traditional Balanese dance of good versus evil.  It went on much too long, but the costumes were good.  Then we went shopping.  I got 2 universal power plugs and Joan got a silver bracelet.  We went to a silversmith shop located in the silver village of Celuk  The prices seem reasonable but not great.  Of course the price drops if you buy 2.  So, Joan and Barb bought 1 each and we got a discount. 

Restaurant overlooking Volcano

            For lunch we drove to the top of a mountain and ate overlooking a volcano that last erupted in 1972.  There seems to be a business in picking up volcanic ash in Indonesia. The trucks were carting the rocks and ash away to make bricks for temples.  In the distance we could see the clouds coming towards us but our view remained clear until we finished eating.  It was a very memorial meal.  

Thursday October 10

    

The Kings Temple

        We flew from Jogyakarta to Bali early in the morning.  After checking in we had our last cup of coffee on Java.  The flight was entertaining. We flew over a perfect round Volcano and Joan had the window seat.  The huge waves around Bali were visible from the air.  We met our driver at the airport, he took us for breakfast and we took our first pictures on the beachfront.  While I fumbled with the camera Joan and Barb posed in front on the big breakers.  As they were standing ankle deep in the water a big wave knocked both for a loop.  It’s a good thing they had a change of clothes in the taxi.

            We headed towards the middle of Bali where they grow the rice.  Along the way we stopped at the Royal Temple and then a coffee grower.  They let us try the 7 coffees for free but we had to pay to taste the Luwak coffee.  This coffee has passed through the bowels of a civet cat/fox.  The civet eats only the finest beans and the strong acids in his stomach cause the beans too mellow.  The coffee was indeed mellow.

            The rice fields have been cultivated for centuries and sit on the hillsides in terraces.  There is a reservoir

Rice Terraces in Bali

at the top of the hill and the water runs from the reservoir to all the fields below.  The terraces are mud walls planted with grass and some of them are quite slippery.  By the time I had finished picture taking my sandals were too slippery to get back up the steep parts.  I had to use my tripod as a cane.

Wednesday October 9

     We are at the Manohara Hotel in Borobudur.  It is a resort complex that borders on Borobudur so we have free access to the temple at all times.   I made another early morning visit (6 AM) to Borbudur and took pictures for the last time. There are several visitors to the temple at this hour, but it is still a quiet place.  Everybody is polite and all talk in hushed voices.

Recovered from a destroyed Village

                     

Removing the lava stones and dust

            We had arranged for a taxi driver to drive us all day.  The plan was to drive to Prambanan and then return to Jogjakarta.  We detoured on the way to visit     Mount Merapi.  This volcano erupts every 3 or 4 years and it last erupted in 2010.  It killed 300 people and did major damage to the area around it.  Work is underway to repair some of the damage.  There is a local industry to show tourists the sights and see the devastation.   We took a Jeep ride into the worst area and visited a small museum where they had melted television sets and frames of motor scooters that had been cremated by the lava flow.  The Jeep driver was slow and careful, but is still seemed like a circus ride as we careened around the makeshift roads.    

Joan and Barb on a Lava tour

                                          

            We did make it to Prambanan for a late afternoon visit.  It is a Hindu temple site but it also suffered damage during a 2006 earthquake.  Most of the site is open but some areas required a hard hat to enter.  We are now south of the equator.  The sun rises at 5:30 and sets at 5:30 so we are having trouble adjusting to the early evening and rapid sunsets.  However we did get some sunset shots of Prambanan.

Tuesday October 8; Borobudur

Borobudur Temple entrance

View from top top

AdMaking ceramics with a toe driven turntable

I have a new travel phone with a new Indonesian SIM card.  I set the alarm for 05:30 so I could be at the temple for 6:00 AM.  When my alarm went off I got up and got dressed and started eating a banana. I made too much noise and Joan woke up.  When she checked her watch, she told me it was 1:30 not 5:30.  When I checked the phone I realised I had received a text message and no alarm had gone off.    Stupid phone.

Borobudur was as good as advertised.  At 05:59 the sun began to shine and at 06:00 I was inside taking my first picture.  Borobudur is a large temple.  It was built between 600 and 700 AD. The crowds were few and the photography was easy for the first hour.  The visitors were from all over the world, but the Indonesian school children were the most fun.  They asked questions and wanted to take a picture with me.  In return I asked to take a picture of them.  They obliged happily.

            In the afternoon we rented a car and driver and toured the surrounding countryside. We visited small communities and went inside people’s homes to watch them making tofu, ceramics and producing tobacco.  Whole families were involved in the production.  It looks like the kids that go to school are the lucky ones.

Monday October 7, Borobudur

We flew from Singapore to Yogjakarta today.  The sights and sounds of Asia are a lot more intense in Indonesia than in Singapore.  The people are poorer, the goods are cheaper and the barganing is necessary.

  We changed plans at the last minute and we are ensconced in a luxury hotel at the gates of Borobudur.  The taxi driver taking us into Yogyakarta made us a great offer so we pulled a u-turn and headed for Borobudur instead of the city.  We are in a small town, where supper cost $1.50 and everybody drives a motorscooter.  We wandered the town to eat and watch the families of 4 ride by on their bikes.  

We have seen the temple from a distance and it looks enormous.  We will be up early tomorrow to check it out.

Saturday Oct 5: Mount Faber and Southern Ridges:

We took a taxi to the top of Mount Faber and walked back down through various paths and parks.  Singapore has tried hard to preserve the rainforests, and they have several parks in the city where there is still the original ground covering.  The southern ridges are a series of parks that are linked by walks and bridges.  At times we were 20 meters off the ground and still in the trees.  Other times we went through flower gardens.   Again the weather was hot and humid, so after our walk we retired to Caroline’s place for the pool and hot tub.

            We went to the Night Zoo after sunset.  Having just been at the day Zoo 2 days earlier we were less than impressed with the Night Zoo.  The introductory tram ride lulled us to sleep.