January 27, 2004
And just what was the most exciting part of our journey together to Java and Bali in Indonesia? Well, I`m afraid I cannot tell you that but the second most exciting was the illegal tresspassing of the Borobudur premises.
Of course, Ervin was against it all way through but since we were not the only one climbing through the fences he had no choice but to succumb to my stubborness. Our walk in the jungle was getting more annoying by the `nyamuk`(mosquitos) anyway. So we climbed and walked up to the near top of the hill in utter disappointment for we could not see this magnificent Buddhist monument anywhere near where it was supposed to be. The sun had already gone to sleep behind the well groomed lines of the coconut trees only leaving a few colourful lines on the horizon as a reminder. The wind was crazily tossing around the sweet scent of different tropical flowers in the air and constantly drew the dark smokey clouds closer to us. Lightning in the distance made me turn around and ... there it was! I will never forget the excitement of this first sighting, feeling like an explorer in past centuries. (Later reality, in the form of Ervin, dragged me out of the park to reach our guest house before it became so dark that we could not see our noses in the jungle.)
The next day we actually bought the tickets and spent the whole day exploring the different reliefs depicting life scenes of the building era and as the number of climbed stairs grew, together with it the subject of the panels got more refined. The highest level was dedicated entirely to Buddhist matters with occasional funny elements hidden away. Those looking for the sexy dancing girls (in a predominantly Muslim country) may note the fact that most of the carvings at the lowest level have been decently covered up leaving only a few seemingly silicon-like breasts exposed. :)
The most fascinating guru behaviour was seen in the morning when a Sri Chimnoy student looking French woman had her 60 year old smiling body wrapped in white embroidered silk and just been videod by her followers as she sat down to meditate for about 4 seconds among the stupas. What can one do but simply smile as her followers did... :) The surrounding jungle giving off its humidity in the drying sun very much added to the experience!Java did not make herself loved by us in the form of constantly cheating bus drivers and the money hungry admission fees. The ticket to the much smaller Prambanan temple cost the same as the one to Borobudur, the number one attraction of the 220 million-people-country, which by the way lacks any form of restaurants around it. We tried very hard for nearly a whole day to find a local warung with some decent food but with no avail. Amazing... :(
Fortunatelly, we visited Mt Merapi, the currantly most dangerous volcano in indonesia which is regarded as the bodyguard of the Sultan and have caused one of the most serious cathastrophy in recent years. It might have been the one which have covered up the entire Borobudur with volcanic ashes for hundreds of years. On the slopes of Merapi we did not see the imfamous lava flows but had the chance to taste something really nice and local in the form of rice, chicken, vegetables and peanut cauce served in huge banana leafs. As we walked back to town in the pouring tropical rain I had to stop and try the huge waterfall-like puddles on the steep streets. Great fun to immerse yourself!
Ther is a supposedly true story of two black panthers living near Merapi. One day the locals have captured the female and took it to the Zoo in Yogyakarta because all animals living near Merapi belong to the Sultan. A week later the locals have seen the other one pass by their village heading to Yogya and spending the night exhaustedly in a University campus only to be found by students in the next morning. Apparently they were quick enough to call the Zoo which sent a man with sedating guns to bing the male panther. When the two animals were fit to meet they did not fight but sweetly purred and embraced each other in a cat-like way... Nice, ha? :))
On our bemo ride to Merapi we met a very old, lovely lady who gave us some lemon grass to cook with when she saw my mouth watering for the sheer sights of my favourite asian ingredient. In return we gave her some `szaloncukor` (special Hungarian Christmas sweet) which only agrrevated her giving more of her garden product. Finally, to change the subject we enquired her age for which she answered with a wide teethless smile: `20`. Don`t you just love these people!? :))
After the horrible experience of a quite pushy and agressive tour organisor in monopolical position in Mt Bromo we were not so sorry to leave raining Java for the sunny and smiling Bali. (Which by the way had just had an erthquake while we were away.) We happily swaped the sleepy gamelan of the wayang kulit show (special leather puppet thatre) of Java to the much (little too much, maybe?:) more vigorous gamelan music of the Balinese (Kecak, Legong, trance, fire and Barong) dances we saw in Ubud. (So slow is the Javanese indeed, that the players have fallen asleep during the performance! :))
Ubud is the cultural and art center of Bali with endless rows of Batik, woodcarving and furniture shops alternating with expensive restorants and massage salons. Accomodation can be found on a wide scale so we tried the two extremes and the middle, too. The very top-end places have staff who tend to smile much less or not at all and even the brekfast was a lot less nice than the one brought to us by the ever smiling lady of one of the cheapest places. (Still with lush green garden patio, though!) We soon concluded that the swimming pool is not worth paying 10 times more and this excuse coupled with our move to the kind homestay lady gave us the excuse to alternate our dance viewings with hotel window shopping.
It turned out to be a great idea later because this way we found a bird which could confuse Ervin with her perfect way of imitating human speech and any other sounds including ekho! We also found probably the nicest street with the kindest people in Bali. Best massage (very interesting one for Ervin, after which everyone was smiling at him twice as much in the street:), excellent food at reasonable price and children running away from the Barong (huge doglike animal animated by two person wearing a mask - the protector of children from evil whitches) and the parents peacefully looking at them for the ten days of the biggest festival of the year in Bali: Galungan.
Yes, we were so lucky to see the colourfully dressed crowds going to the temples and performing their annual rituals. We also had the chance to sample some 15 kinds of Balinese food with explanation about local customs. One of the most fascinating is the name giving method. The children of a family always bear the same name; number 1, 2, 3 and 4 if translated and it starts again with the 5th child. So, if you have 12 kids the only difference may be the differentiation of the sexes and the addition of big, small or young. This way, your name may be ?small girl number 2? for example! :) The Balinese have carefully structured houses and gates positioned by their priests (whom we saw sneeking out for a kretek (clove cigarettes) during a ceremony :)) The function of the double gate is to stop evil spirits entering their home by a simple trick of the eye. Lovely, isn`t it?Ubud is not like the dirty Kuta where you feel suffocated by the motorbikes, shops and the amount of rubbish in the sea. (At least 10 big pieces of plastic in 1 m3 water touching your skin. You must be a serious surfer on a very low budget to bear it!) The very opposite of the Kuta beach was shown to us by our two day guide and driver when we tried to discover the tourist spots of Bali in the nearly constant rainfall. We were the only people on a whitesanded beach which had some tantalazing waves. I specialized in bargaining for Manggis (mangosteen) and Mangga (mango -my second favourite) on the way to the Salak (snake fruit) producing village. Everybody have to try Manggis but strictly in season and where it is grown. Otherwise it easily becomes a dissapointment. Sadly the Manggis season is just coming to an end right now... :(
In Ubud we have met for the 3rd time with our funny but very well informed japo friend whom we really got to like for his way of laughing. He seemed to know everything and told all of it in adorably simple English. He bought an entire Balinese ceremonial dress for himself in Denpasar and gave a few good tips to us but by that time I have already purchased my wooden dancer and the two dragons, which alone met with the strong opposition of my boyfriend who had to take them home on board with his 3rd luggage. Hm... Still, I was tempted to get traditional baskets, trays made of coconut, paintings and only God knows what else... (Here talking only of the pictures in traditional style not the modern ones which are much less precise and detailed as the ones I saw in Thailand, where they can really make you belive that the oil painting you are looking at is actually a picture of the tiger on the tree!)
The smiles of our villagelike little street in Ubud is hard to forget. It will stay with us for a long time, I can feel it! Even though I am many kilometers away already in Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi trying to make sense of the traffic, the confusing street signs, children spending their time in the cheapest and fastest internet places after school playing Japanese games and the huge busy market which is grown around the supermarkets so closely that you haven`t a clue where to find the entrance. The constant `Hello Missterr, whatsyourrname` followed by a loud whistle does not help much eighter if it is heard in every two seconds. :) (I feel like the only `bulee` (meaning white in a not nice way) in the city for years! Please white girls of the world come here if you have any problem with your self-confidence!)
I am looking forward to going to Tana Toraja with my new half Torajan half Chinese friend who kindly took me to Ujung Pandang from the airport, showed me some wonderful seafood yestarday and will take me to her home town near Toraja. She works in Bali and came home for the coming Chinese New Year, though she is admittedly Christian. (In Makassar, the startegic point of the Dutch spice trade - about which you can find an excellently written witty book `Nathaniel?s Nutmeg` by Giles Milton, you can find mainly Muslim people but there is a considerably large Chinese trader community and Christians as well as a little Buddhist group. All of which has naturally has been mixed with the previous animist beliefs of the internationally famous seafearing locals. Truly fascinating.)
My love to you all in that cold country so far away, people here only know about its football from the Puskas era. I go and eat my Alpocat (Avocado) and Manggis now after my cooling mandi (special form of bathing here - definately not known by tourists staying in upmarket places only. ;)Don`t hate me too much for this please,instead go and see brown skinned Erwin and ask for a Durian chewing gum! ;D
Take care!
Tiglis