We took a walk along the dark, rocky beach. We watched the fishing boats, that appeared as distant insects, cruise lazily on the horizon. We stopped into a beachside warung for the local Indonesian beer Bintang. As we were relaxing, we got our first taste of the “child beach peddlers”. As we walked into the beach there was a sign warning us not to buy from the children peddling on the beach. The sign let us know that this would teach them to be lazy. It also informed us that school is free in Indonesia and that they should be there. It seems that a young child (4-10 years) approaches with a bag from which they pull a tiny woven jewelry box and begins the sales pitch. Often they seem to know some English, enough to try and engage in conversation, like “where are you from”. They were undeterred by a “no, thank you”, “ti duk (Indonesian for no)”, dismissive look, or even a frank ignoring shift of our body. What did work was a stern bark “NO” from Miss Mary (not something that she is known for, but something she has learned from the dog whisperer and her many encounters with unknown canine), seems to work with peddler children too. However we must admit that although we hated being hounded by these children, we also felt very bad that they had to experience so much rejection from so many adults at such a young age.

Amed

After lunch we drove two more hours toward our beach town of Amed where we were to stay for four nights that turned quickly into two nights. Amed is a very small collection hotels and warungs. It is a popular diving and snorkeling site. The sand is black and difficult to walk upon and the coastline is quite rocky. Made had a friend with a hotel called the Amed Café, so we booked a rather lovely room for a very reasonable price and set about exploring Amed. Our room had a terrific balcony that had a couch and even a four-poster bed in it! It overlooked the road and one could hear the crashing of the waves from the porch. One could also hear the teenagers making music across the street, it seems that the teenage population has little to do in this coastline community. It was funny to hear these young Indonesian teens learning to play American songs on guitars and djembe drums.

Our friend the bat in motion

Lunch in the Rice Paddies

From the temple we then drove to the rice paddies where we ate lunch high upon a hill overlooking geometric fields of rice. The restaurant had a resident bat living on a perch near the front entrance. This bat was the largest bat we had ever encountered close up (not to say that we have closely encountered that many bats). The bat captivated tourists by stretching his huge waxy wings open revealing his oddly orange furry body. He even reached out and grabbed the camera of German tourist much to her surprise!

Amed: Trip to the Coast of Bali

Although we were entirely happy and content at this point in our trip to stay put at our villa in Puri Asri, we were advised that a scenic trip to the coast would be a valuable venture for us. Our trusty guide, Made, planned to take us on a temple tour along the way. Made drove us up through windy steep mountain roads toward the temple, where we donned our sarongs and ventured in. We paid the small entrance fee and were advised that we needed a guide, which really frustrated us. This guide concept was one that we battled in Morrocco as well. It’s not that we have a problem with having a guide, it’s just that in these locations it’s forced upon tourists and often times it actually detracts from the overall experience. So we got a guide and he led us up the many steps toward the expansive temple complex. We were told that it would take two hours to tour around the many temples on the site. We were guided through a prayer in Indonesian style because as we were told “everyone is a Hindu when they enter the temple”. The largest temple was also the highest on the mountain and one could see all of the way down to the ocean from the temple steps. Our guide told us that once a year, the Balinese make a pilgrimage from the temple to the sea, which takes an entire day of walking through the thick brush and rice fields.

Gusti the drummer

One of the treasures here in Ubud is a drummer who is known as Gusti, from the warrior caste, therefore he has a different given name than the sequence of names that we mentioned before in the blog. Gusti manages the Drum Factory and instrument stores in downtown Ubud. Gusti was the contact that recommended our wonderful villa Puri Asri and we are ever grateful to him for this! We have visited Gusti many times in his biggest shop on Monkey Forest road. There we have jammed on a great variety of fun instruments. Gusti also runs drum circles here and works with disabled people on the island. He has a big heart that matches his big smile.

Dance Class in Ubud with Barbara Minz

After looking at community message boards and local activity books we stumbled upon an American dance teacher who has lived here in Ubud for twenty years. She has studied both the gamelan and traditional Balinese dance, as well as many other dance forms including Indian, modern and bellydance. We managed to find her open air studio, which is located off a tiny side street in town over looking rice paddies. We had our usual difficulty with Ubud directions and arrived late for our 9:30 class, luckily we were not the only late ones, Bali time is relaxed time. The class we attended is called Shakti and is Barbara’s own blend of belly dance, pilates, Indian and modern dance. We were guided through floor exercises with an emphasis on “swinging” of momemtum, which we both found fascinating. Later we took the same principals to more traditional upright belly dance moves. It was a great work out for two stiff and tired travelers. We set up a traditional Balinese dance class for next week. Barbara gave us information on a well known musician who plays an very old style of gamelan (which is the name for the metal and gong orchestra in Bali) and recommended that we see him during our time in Tingalon, the old traditional city.