Thursday, 17 January 2013

Christmas 2012 in Bali


On Dec. 23, it was exciting for Caitlin and I to meet up with Cara and Clay, then Fred and Joanne (Clay's parents, who flew in on a different flight) at the Bali airport.  We met up quickly with our driver, who luckily came with a large van, and made our way out of the busy city and up the East coast.  It was a beautiful but long three hour drive, especially for the ones who were just off of their 20 hour flight.  It was all worth it when we arrived at the lovely Blue Moon Villas in Amed.  It was a beautiful spot to recover from jet lag, relax and reconnect.  We were high up on a cliff on the ocean with beautiful jungle covered hills behind us. It was a short walk to two great beaches for snorkeling.  The reef was just a few feet off shore and one of the beaches had a Japanese ship wreck to explore. If we weren't snorkeling, we were sitting by the pool, eating (great meals) or playing "Settlers of Catan", my new favourite board game, on our deck.  It didn't seem at all like Christmas but it was lovely.

The views from our deck.

The 3 C's.
Engrossed in Mancala before becoming addicted to "Settlers of Catan"
Fred and Joanne.
The little tree I brought from Jakarta.
Christmas Eve dinner.
"I saw 3 ships come sailing in on Christmas Day on Christmas Day."
Coming back from snorkeling.
Looking down at the snorkeling beach.





















Our driver arrived on Dec. 29 to take us to our next destination, Bali Ecostay.  He parked the van on the sloped driveway and proceeded to load our luggage while we climbed into the van.  Suddenly the van started to roll down the driveway and across the road toward another area of the hotel and the cliff above the ocean.  Caitlin and Fred leaped into action looking for the emergency brake and breaking a rib (Fred) and a toe (Caitlin) in the process.  Almost died but we lived!
Bali Ecostay was not that far in distance but took a long time as the roads are narrow and twisty in that area.  We traveled through small villages and beautiful countryside in the mountains.


A small village.
Rice drying on big tarps.
Lunch stop with a beautiful valley behind us.

A typical store at the side of the road.

















Our accommodation at Bali Ecostay was in separate bungalows, each one nestled in beautiful, tropical foliage and hidden from the other bungalows.  Ours had two bedrooms and a large common area.  The bathroom was built with part of it open to the sky.  It had stone walls with plants growing in pots attached to the wall - very beautiful and exotic.  The buildings all had views of the mountains and the terraced rice paddies.  Below our bungalow was a waterfall and natural pool for swimming.
Our common area.
The rice paddy view from our bungalow.

The waterfall...
and pool below.
A rain storm view from our room.

Our indoor/outdoor shower.


Walking through the rice paddies below Bali Ecostay.




The massage gazebo in the jungle.  Hot stones anyone?

A banana tree blossom.



A typical Balinese home where several generations of the family would live.  This is the grandparents sleeping area. The set back raised areas are beds.


Our guide showing us some medicinal plants.
Dancers on New Year's Eve.
Attaching "wishes" to a paper lantern before releasing it on New Year's Eve.







The entrance to Okawati Hotel, down a small lane off of Monkey Forest Road.
On New Year's Day we left for Ubud, the centre of art and Culture in Bali. We stayed at Okawati Hotel, an older but charming hotel, just off of the main road, Monkey Forest Road. It was wet in Ubud, but it didn't stop us from shopping up and down the main street and going out for some great meals.  Caitlin had to leave for home on our second day there as school and the Northwest Territories were calling.

Teatime on the balcony at Okawati.


















Coffee beans roasting oi the left and Caitlin grinding them on the right.










Taste testing various coffees and teas.




Temple on a lake.

















Hiking in to Twin Falls.





































The rest of us moved on to an area near the airport called Jimbaran to spend the last couple of days of our Bali holiday.  Jimbaran is famous for the best fresh seafood at its beachside restaurants.  You make your choice of seafood from the coolers, then they grill it and serve it with rice and vegetables.  You pay by the weight of the seafood you have chosen.

Jimbaran Beach restaurant at lunch ...





and dinner.
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone and head back to Jakarta instead of "home"  but I'm so happy to have spent Christmas the way we did and grateful that they came all this way.  I hope everyone enjoyed the trip as much as I did!

Saturday, 12 January 2013

Borneo with Caitlin







Selamat Tahun Baru!  Happy New Year!

Caitlin and I were met in the small Pangkalan Bun airport by our guide, Uli and driven directly to the small town where our river boat home was waiting for us.  The boat is a traditional wooden boat called a Klotok.  It is 12 meters by 2 1/2 meters with a wooden roof that forms the upper deck.  We had the upper deck all to ourselves and for the next four days it was our our dining room, bedroom and living area. There were lounge chairs to sit and watch the jungle going by, a kitchen table for our meals and every evening the crew set up a large mattress with a mosquito net around it and bedding.  There were awnings that could be pulled down if it rained, otherwise it was left open.  Tt was kind of like camping with someone else doing all the work.  There was a crew of three, Uli, Sabri, the cook and Imbra the captain.

Our riverboat home.
We were moving by about 10:30 and heading for the smaller Skonyer River, that goes through Tanjung Puting National Park.  The water was murky, as there is a goldmine up the river that pollutes the water, making it undrinkable and unsafe even to bathe in.  Even it was clean, there would be no swimming because of the crocodiles!  (Once we were past the goldmine area on the second day, the water cleared to a dark tea colour and then it was safe for showering). We sat on the deck drinking coffee and watching for wildlife. Uli pointed out a monitor lizard and Caitlin spotted a black water snake.  We saw three groups of probicus monkeys, the ones with the long noses.  By the afternoon, we were at the first camp and set off through the jungle to the orangutan feeding station.  The sky opened up while we were walking and we were glad to have ponchos and umbrellas. The ranger came with a huge backpack of bananas, dumped them on a platform and then we waited.  Apparently sometimes in bad weather, the orangutans don't show up, but we soon saw branches start to sway high up in the palm trees. Gradually, they started to come in closer by using their body weight to sway the branches and by swinging Tarzan style on vines from tree to tree.  Ten orangutans in all plus three babies clinging to their mothers and Yanni, the king, eventually came to eat.  Yanni is 30 years old and very big.  The males are much larger than the females and have a huge flange of skin around their face.  The orangutans live alone but the babies stay with their mother until they are about seven years old and form a very close bond. The adolescents stay in small groups until they are mature.  The male orangutan is given a wide birth by the others and he would sometimes swat at the others when they got too close.  The orangutans would swing down to the platform, stuff their mouth full of whole bananas then hold as many as they could in their hand before swinging back up into a tree.  It was hilarious to see them hanging by one arm and one leg between two trees and eating their fill.  We watched them for about an hour until they wandered back into the jungle.
Yanni, "The King".

Over the next three days we  watched the same thing in different camps with different groups of orangutans. At Camp Leaky, we were early for the feeding so went for a walk with Uli and he spotted a female, Akmel. with her seven year old, Atlas and her new baby.  They gradually moved in closer to us and we were able to feed Atlas some bananas and touch him, too.  Atlas spotted a termite nest, broke off a piece of it and scampered up a tree to noisily slurp up the treat. They stayed with us for about 20  minutes before wandering away in the jungle. I think that experience was the highlight of the trip for me.
Caitlin and Atlas.
"Are ya coming?"


Mom and baby.

At Camp Leaky, which was opened by Dr. Birute Galdikas to study orangutans, there is a museum with lots of information about her work.  We learned that orangutans are very intelligent and have the closest mother/child bond of all the primates other than humans.   One orangutan at the camp learned to paddle a canoe to cross the river. When they sank the canoe to stop him from taking it, he learned to pull it up and empty out the water.  Another one learned how to use a key to get into the food storage building.  Caitlin and I saw one using a large leaf as an umbrella at the first rainy feeding.  Unfortunately, we also learned that the orangutans will likely be extinct within the next ten years as there is not enough food to sustain them in their disappearing habitat.  Much of their habitat is being turned into palm oil farms.  If you want to read more about it you can go to www.orangutan.org
The entrance to Camp Leaky.
Caitlin and Uli heading for the feeding station.


I like those yoga moves.

During the trip, we also saw macaque monkeys, wild boars, giant ants and one crocodile. One day travelling down the river to our last camp, we were startled when a macaque monkey high in the trees above us, suddenly dropped into the river in front of our boat.  We heard another one drop behind us. Uli explained that when they want to cross the river, they wait until a boat comes because they know the boat will scare away the crocodiles!
On our last night, we had our own private Christmas light show - thousands of fireflies in the palms where we had stopped for the night - magical! It was a fabulous trip.



Probiscus monkey high up in a tree.


Where the river clears and narrows.
Caitlin and I with the crew.
Rolling down the river.
"Tom" at the feeding station.

Caitlin and Tom.


Ready for a game of Mancala.