1-15-15
- Wonder what the state of tooth filing is in Bali. Heard no mention of
it in the last year like we did 22 years ago. When Kelly arrived here to
join Elin and me, on the way from the (tiny then) airport to Ubud, we went
to the home of our nanny (Clay was one) to witness her tooth filing
ceremony which was a traditional coming of age ceremony. It had become
almost entirely symbolic with what looked like a tiny bit of real and
mainly pretend filing. I think they used to file them down to points.
Ouch. - DC
Here's a brief bit on it There are some pretty extreme pictures
on the Internet, not representative.
1-14-15 -
Amrita Soon sings
Clues - a YouTube video. Clues is the
Title track of Clues EP which you can get on
iTunes and
Spotify.
Most cool.
Photo snagged from her mother's alternative school site -
Learning Beyond Schooling.
That's where Katrinka and I stay when we're in Kuala Lumpur. Her parents,
Vidya and Wai, are engaged Buddhists we met through Alan Senauke. There
are a number of entries over the past year in Saunters about them and
being there where we've passed through on the way to Thailand and Japan
and gone to get renewed visas for Indonesia.- dc
1-13-15 -
Revisiting Margaret Mead’s Bayung Gede - another interesting article
from the Bali Advertiser with a photo of her and Gregory Bateson at home
working away. We're contemplating a visit there.
1-12-15
- Ibu Kat is the Pen name of a long time Bali resident from Canada I think
who writes excellent articles for the Bali Advertiser. Ibu means mother
and can be used for any woman like MS. My mate Katrinka also uses Kat here
so she too is an Ibu Kat but not the one who wrote this piece on
The Smallest Room. - thanks Katrinka
-
posted in
Saunters
I don't think the wrong way from that instructional sign is necessarily
wrong. I did that for years when I was a crazy young Zennie. - DC
1-11-15 - Friend wanted to send us something in Indonesia. I responded:
Hey thanks for that but don't worry about sending us anything here. It
costs more from there. Dr. friend from Boston just got some brownies from
East Coast cost them $150 and he wasn't allowed to receive it unless he
got a permit or something and couldn't get out of filling out forms to not
accept it.
1-10-15 - Ben Hur made a big impression on me as a boy - the Charleston
Heston version. And I read the book. The scene when he goes home and what
was once palatial splendor has fallen to ruin made an impression, one of
many early realizations that everything changes. That's a little bit how I
see the hotel next door. Landlord David speaks nostalgically of the glory
days of Hotel Bali Warma which he called an excellent two star hotel -
filled with amiable Aussie guests, a bustling bar with music, a good place
to go down the street for him and Widya for a beer in the evening. The
rooms smelled fresh. The pool was clear and clean. Now the hollow halls
echo from the emptiness and hint of mold, the bar is usually empty both of
customers and staff. The unconcerned owner says it's too expensive to run
the pool pump so that he's got he only pool I know of on the island that
at times one can't see the bottom. David just threatened to withdraw his
payment for his guests at neighboring Widya homestay to use the pool
because it got so pea soupy only yours truly would enter. Now it's back to
a clearer broth so that Katrinka felt okay about entering. I remarked that
this is the perfect condition for pool and hotel - bad enough to keep
bothersome guests away but good enough so we can enjoy it in dilapidated
privacy.
1-09-15 - It's best not to kiss in public here in Bali. Nobody will do
anything. It's not like India where it's illegal. But they don't do it.
I'm including just a little peck. When Katrinka's son Seth spent the night
climbing Mt. Agung, the guide asked a couple of questions about
Westerners. One was, why do we kiss in public? Everything's so loose here
it's easy to forget but we don't forget anymore.
1-08-15 - Katrinka and I both spent years living on the Pacific Ocean
north of San Francisco and now we've lived near the Indian Ocean in Bali
for over a year (except a few months out) and one thing we've noticed so
far is how mild and short the rains are here compared to there and no
storms yet as we're used to there. No hurricanes or cyclones. There are hard rains but not for so long. I
remember days of hard rains in California, high winds, fierce storms. But we have thunder
and lightning more in Bali.
1-07-15
- This morning I had this weird feeling I get sometimes when I wake up. I
lay there feeling slightly light-headed which is normal these days but
with it this morning came the vibrating. Not unpleasant. So I lay with it
for awhile. It's pretty subtle and total, like mind and body almost
buzzing. Then I heard Katrinka exclaim from the living room as she was
opening the front door. It was the biawak, the monitor lizard. I thought
it was still here. The front wall has a glass door between two large plate
glass windows that run wall to wall. Curtains run the entire length,
dividing at the door. When Katrinka moved the curtain back the biawak was
up on top of the frame and came zipping down the curtain, onto the satee
arm, to a chair, to the floor, and sped to the other side of the room to
go back behind the sink. We decided to call it Waki.
1-06-15 - Medical update - I had a few
normal days around Xmas-time and thought it was all over
then got worse. Something different, not the coughing and sneezing, more
like a flue. Not
debilitating but didn't play tennis, missed some yoga and walking and the
hadn't missed any of that up to then. Now I'm almost feeling normal again.
Bali young (to me) sports doc with a
nearby office, not his main one. I never took him seriously cause he'd
call out to me when I was walking by like the shop keepers. But he saw our
cookbook friend Suzanne at her villa and she liked him and he only charged
her 100,000 - like eight bucks. So I saw him and he was great. Called him
one afternoon and he said he was on his way there. Met him at 3pm, we
talked for a while. Asked where I lived - knew where it was. Told me
he'd come at 7 to give blood test. I said I'd walk back to office. He was
sitting outside (and the inside is almost like outside) in running
shorts and shoes. Muslim woman took some blood while he
and I talked and he said he'd come over at nine and I said I'd walk. I'd
assumed he meant in the morning but he knocked on our door at nine fifteen
at night with results and checked my heart and lungs and said everything is perfect
- white blood cell count, liver, salmonella and more, said maybe my
problem is psychological or maybe physical but it's not bad and it'll go
away. He prescribed nothing. The blood test was a million two hundred
thousand, 100 bucks and for him, 200,000 - sixteen. Nurse practitioner Kim
went over it all and said it was a very thorough blood test and that was a
normal price for it. She said there are no more tests I should do. She
sort of intimated that this sort of thing is sometimes part of living here and
it will pass.
I told her was I inclined to look at things like pricy
Aussie acupuncturist friend that my immune system needed to be
strengthened and toward that goal earlier Nyoman had driven me to to the
old funky shopping district where there are some Chinese herb and drug
stores Bali Bill had mentioned. I'd gone over the language to be used. The
first place put some bottle of vitamins and don't know what else in it on
the counter for me - not Chinese medicine. Asked a few more questions,
wasn't satisfied, went to the place next door. It felt better. Lot of
old wooden and glass cabinets with bottles and whatnot. Busy. Hard to tell
who's an employee and who's a customer. There was a lot going on
peripherally. Everyone seemed Chinese. Like the other
place there were young women behind the counter and one or more people on the floor
to direct. One walked up to me. I told her I'd had low
energy for three months, wanted to make my immune system stronger, and
asked if there was someone who read pulses. That's what I was really
interested in finding. She kept asking for clarification and I said pulses
and pressed on my pulses and finally she
took me to an old man sitting in the back. He looked in his eighties,
overweight, slouching, seemed half awake. Someone else put a chair in
front of him. She spoke into his ear. He barely acknowledged me, took my
right hand and pressed his thumb and fingers in a few places for a short
while. Then he started pressing on my finger joints palm side up and
asking "Pain?" and every time I indicated no - didn't feel good but not
pain. He spoke something I
couldn't hear into her ear and I stood and bowed and thanked him and I
guess there was a response from him. They gave me a bottle of little
Chinese herb pills with Indonesian too on the bottle and a
box of ginseng in royal jelly. I picked up two nifty contactable back scratchers. Total bill 88,000 - a little over seven bucks. Got up early.
Raining. Cautiously optimistic.
1-04-15 - Katrinka said she heard the biawak,
monitor lizard, this morning behind the sink. Around noon I was sitting on
the setee (featured two days ago) reading a Shunryu Suzuki lecture and
noticed there it was in front of me on the floor carefully walking toward
the wide opening, three feet from freedom. But it must have caught some
movement from me and froze. I used the opportunity to estimate its size
better. I'd say two feet long with the tail which is pretty long. It
continued to freeze. I figured since it had run in when I scared it, run
straight ahead, that it would run out now as it was facing the very close
exit. I slowly moved my hand to grab a cushion and it turned around and
ran back I threw the cushion in it's path to try to scare it back toward
the exit but it just went to the side and skedaddled into our bedroom. I
got up, closed the doors to the bathroom and other bedroom which is like
my closet and storage, went around front and found Wayan cleaning one of
the studios, told him what was up and we made a date. Walked back and sat
in the same place till he came with Ketut. Katrinka was back. She stood by
with her iPhone ready to film. We looked everywhere in the bedroom then
everywhere everywhere else. Maybe it left when I went around to talk to
Wayan but I think it's likely still here somewhere. No matter. They're not
dangerous (if you don't try to grab them and I see Animal planet has a bit
on a man who was killed by his monitor lizard). We're worried about it more
than us. Katrinka put water on the floor for it. The gekkos here seem to
get by on the bugs which aren't that many. Wonder what will happen next if
anything.
1-03-15 -
Palm oil plantation crime drives illegal logging in Indonesia
1-02-15 -
I like what Katrinka calls our setee, like a sofa with a wooden back
and arms - long enough to lie down on and deep enough to sit cross-legged
and work, laptop on top of a cushion. Like the photo but bigger, with a
soft thin mattress and thick rounded arms. I was sitting there the other
day when a small biawak, monitor lizard, walked in. Maybe sixteen inches
long. I yelled at it to go out but that just scared it to run straight
ahead. I guess it's still here. Katrinka says she hears it behind the
kitchen sink cabinet. Ketut, Wayan and I are going to try to shoo it out
on Sunday when they're both working here. They aren't dangerous - the
biawak. See Saunters post of 12-08-14.
1-01-15 - Blew it again. Katrinka and I were
heading off to New Year's Eve dinner, a short walk, when she had to go
back to put on other shoes as she was getting a blister, having walked a
few miles back home earlier. Thank gosh she did cause as soon as we
got back, it started pouring rain. We got our little fold up umbrellas and
walked to the public street a hundred yards away, getting pretty wet. Even
though there was just a little over a block to go we stopped a taxi which
would be about six thousand (fifty cents), got in, told him where we
wanted to go and he turned and said, "Fifty thousand." That made me mad.
He was trying to take advantage of us. I got out in a second in a huff and
Katrinka had to follow. I told her I was thinking of giving him fifty as a
New Years tip but not after he said that. Turns out the rain subsided then
and we got no wetter walking. Later that night with visiting Malay friend
Li Mun on the beach there was a mob of people, lots of foreigners but many
more Indonesians and locals. And there were fireworks going off up and
down the beach - no one in charge, multitudes shooting bright lights way
up that exploded like burning flowers. Shortly before midnight we were
back home and went out on the street with pregnant Bali Rini neighbor to
watch beyond the field the sky lit up not only from above the beach but to
the sides and behind and lots of booms. Terrific. So how did I blow it? We
had walked Li Moon to the street from the beach to send her to her hotel
in a taxi. She inquired how much and he said "fifty thousand." Turned out
that there's a New Year's tradition at least around here, that all taxi
rides start at fifty thousand. I felt bad.
12-31-14 - Poor Nyoman. I did something
inappropriate. He's our nice old driver, drives a beat up old bemo as
they call them, like a Volkswagon van with a sliding door on the side
that's open when he's working, driving up and down the street giving rides
for 5000 (for locals) or 10,000 rupies (about 40 or 80 cents) - like a bus
though he'll go out of his way for someone for more. He drove us to the
immigration office today to get new photos and fingerprints of all ten
fingers. We pay 700,000 each for an agent to extend our visas and that has
to be done every month now. That's about $60, a little less right these
days cause the dollar's high - but we don't think in terms of dollars
anymore. Our landlady Widya is our agent now and she sent us to Ibu Siri,
like Mrs. Siri at the Immigration Office. Unlike many places in the world,
the vibes in this immigration office were pleasant, informal. One local or
at least not Westerner on our side of the counter was yelling jokes at
some office workers who were laughing. When we were through I talked to
Ibu Siri outside and asked her if she'd help me next month so we wouldn't
have to go through an agent. She was most agreeable and told me what to
bring. I think it will cost 250,000 each that way and will be an
interesting and educational experience - and I'm home working too much.
People say don't try it, that they make you come back up to five times,
that agents are worth it. Nyoman scoffs at that. He says that's what
agents want you to think, that lots of bule (foreigners) do it for
themselves. Also, I've found it to be beneficial to have a good connection
with immigration in other countries. So we'll see how this works out. And
oh yes - how I was bad to Nyoman. Later he picked me up walking back from
a friend's a few kilometers from home. I said that since it's a hari raya,
holiday, let me treat us to drinks at Starbucks on the way. They know me
there cause once a month or so I go work there for a few hours for a
change of venue. He didn't want anything, said it was too expensive. I
said no, it's gratis (they use that here too). He said it was too hot for
coffee and I said they have ice coffee. Usually he stays outside but I
urged him to come in with me. I got a super large (venti) tea and a small
ice coffee for him, both with milk, him a little sugar. As the cashier
rang it up I realized something and told Nyoman to avert his eyes. But it
was too late. He saw 63,000 come up. "Mahal!" he exclaimed in horror -
expensive. The cashier and I looked at each other. We knew what he usually
paid for coffee. "Mahal!" Nyoman said after he'd driven me home and we
were standing outside saying goodbye. I said, well it's a treat for a
special occasion and good quality. He said it's no better than what he
pays 2000 for every day across the street from where I live. He likes us
and appreciates our business but I bet he'll always see us as extravagant
and wasteful. Not something I should drag him into.
12-30-14 - Go to YouTube and check out Sasha Stevenson on How to Act
Indonesian - many great skits.
12-29-14
-
The shamanic origins of Christmas - was posted on a young Bali
friend's FaceBook page. I think they're making psychedelic mushrooms here
illegal starting in January. I remember them being sold in shakes to
tourists twenty-two years ago and I hear that still goes on. But no more.
Bad law. Harmful law. Religious persecution law. Not one that applies to
me though. - dc -
posted in
Saunters
12-28-14 - To follow up on yesterday's Saunters post,
Some photos from our trip to the
Jimbaran fish market taken last February. Our landlords, David and
Widya, drove Katrinka and me and two others who were staying in studios
here - Lenli (sp?) and Grahame who took the photos. Katrinka's got some
too. I got one off the web yesterday because Grahame's didn't show the
scale of the place. Katrinka has some deep in her photo files that show
that maybe which if so will add later. This is one of the things to do we
recommend to visitors. - dc
12-27-14 - First piece of advice learned from visiting Malaysian
woman friend. When you go to the open markets, don't buy meat or fish with
no flies as it could mean that they've been doused with formaldehyde.
12-26-14
- On Xmas we joined others for some dragon fruit smoothies and more
sips and nibbles at a lovely villa Suzanne Wilder was staying as a guest.
Check out her website and cookbooks at
Wilder by the Dozen. -
posted in
Saunters
12-25-14 - Please choose appropriate celebratory greeting from the list
below.
Happy Chanukah.
Happy Holidays.
Merry Christmas.
Merry War on Christmas
Selamat Hari Natal
Other.
That next to last one Indonesian. Above photo an Indonesian church.
Christmas is a national holiday in inclusive Indonesia. The beach was
crowded with locals in the water on the sand, shopping, coming, going,
motorbikes parked in packed rows. Searched for an image to show that but
only came up with those with Europeans or near empty ideal beach scenes
reminiscent of car ads with only one car on the road, even if it's in a
city.
12-24-14
-
Time to wrap presents.
12-23-14 - Feelin good these days. The low energy coughing
thing has mostly disappeared since acupuncture and Chinese medicine (see
Saunters 12-09-14). I do not know
if that's why or it was gonna go away anyway. I did appreciate my Aussie
friend's treatment. He said exactly what I thought - that if I go to a
hospital they'll just give me antibiotics which won't do anything but
increase my resistance to them. So that was good but pricey. I knew I had
to find a cheap local source for next time. Bali Bill drew me a map to
where there are a number of Chinese herb shops. He said it always works
for him. Walks in, says "hati" for liver or whatever and a short eighty
year old woman gives him a mix of herbs that costs a few bucks.
12-22-14 -
The heavy hand of religious police in Aceh (The furthest NW province
of Indonesia, quite far from Bali - 3600 Kilometers/ 2200 miles) -
Aljazeera
12-21-14 - Incidentally, about yesterday's post on
horrific trash on the beach here in Bali, that's not where we are in
Sanur, that's over on the west side of the southern peninsula. Not sure
how far the trash extends west. There were little tiny white specs in the
ocean water here recently and I wondered if they were plastic or from
flowers or what and Katrinka went in (we go separately to have someone
with our stuff) and she concluded after closer inspection than I did that
they were fish eggs. She snorkled and said there were also lots of tiny
new fishies in the water.
12-20-14 - Once again ---
The
Wretched Refuse of Your Teeming Shores
Mountains of
Trash Wash Ashore in Kuta in Seasonal Blight on Bali’s Shores
- thanks
Katrinka
12-19-14 -
Fight for New Indonesia- thanks Brian Victoria
12-17-14
- It's Galungan in Bali, a holiday of the victory of dharma over
adharma or not-dharma. I hear it as the victory of good over evil. Things
are quiet. Stores are closed. Katrinka sent Ketut home to be with his
family which he was eager to do, said to skip cleaning etc here today. For
more on Galungan go to
this page on Wikipedia.
Click on the thumbnail to see the penjor lining a road - and notice
that it' a well-maintained road.
Penjor
explained at Indo dot com
12-16-14
- Creating edible yards
Permablitz Bali: Making Circles of Seeds and Friends - article in
The Indonesian Expat
Permablitz Bali - on
Facebook -
and a really nice
YouTube video on Permablitz Bali - with a few of our friends in there.
Good people - orang baik.
12-15-14 - Went to a birthday party for a Javanese friend today
and after we sang my least favorite song, Happy Birthday to You, learned
the beginning of what they sing in Indonesian. Could only remember the
first line when I repeated it to Nyoman driver who sang it for me then
stopped and said he forgot the rest.
Here's a YouTube
video of a rather elaborate group karaoke presentation of two
Indonesian birthday songs (I found a third elsewhere). The first is the
one they sang today - Selamat Ulang tahun - congratulations repeat
year - that's the most common happy birthday greeting, the only one I've
heard except in those two other songs.
12-14-14 - Coconut syrup is heavenly like maple syrup. Me must be strong.
12-13-14 -
Was
making my usual morning black tea with local fresh ginger and vanilla when
I noticed that I'd picked up and started grating something that looked
like ginger but wasn't. It was harder. I realized it was nutmeg. Put it
back and got the ginger. That little bit of nutmeg added another subtle
and pleasant flavor that I've been including since then.
That's vanilla in the photo. We get it without the flower and slice it
finely at an angle to open it up to release the flavor.
12-12-14 -
On medical treatment here in Bali
- a warning post on Lonely Planet from four years ago and our experience
so far.
Have not gone to see the
famous local medicine man in the photo. -dc
12-11-14 - Mailed our War on Xmas presents today to US Xpress with the
postage being roughly twice the cost of the presents. Funky little post
office with crappy art on walls for sale, map of the world, travel niche
in front unmanned with broachers on the floor. A young woman helped me
wrap everything or rather I helped her while a guy behind her watched TV
the whole time laughing occasionally. Had to date the customs forms
11-12-14 rather than the US and don't know who else method of
month-day-year. Ah - what a relief. Katrinka asked me what I'd like for
Xmas and I responded as I always would have had I thought of it, "For it
to be over." --- Just kidding darling.
12-10-14 - Got a couple of mango juices (manga) for Katrinka and me
today to go with the bakso (meat and flour ball soup) at a stall by
the beach. That was our lunch. About two dollars each. Didn't have to pay
the juice lady because a month ago I'd given her a fifty thousand Rupia
bill (about $4) - enough to cover a few drinks. She didn't have change so
I said I'd take it in future drinks. Didn't worry about her forgetting. I
assumed she doesn't read or write much - though I don't run into people
who can't. But I assumed that. A Muslim woman I know who teaches school
said that Indonesians in general only read and write for school or if they
have to for work. Back in the fall of '66 when I was new to the ZC, been
around a couple of months, Silas Hoadley came to visit my little basement
apartment around the corner from Sokoji. I remember he was shocked when in
the middle of our conversation someone came to the door and I sold them
some LSD from my fridge. But what I remember from his visit that relates
to this post came from something he said about memory. He was telling me
that early Buddhism was an oral tradition and that the teachings were
recited at great length and passed down that way. He said that people from
pre literate cultures have better memories. So when I left the fifty with
that juice lady a month ago, I thought of Silas and was pretty sure she
wouldn't forget.
12-09-14 - Got acupuncture and some Chinese Herbs today from an
Aussie tennis partner practitioner of Chinese medicine. In addition he
grilled me for half an hour on my condition which is like some sort of low
level bug tiredness and sporadic coughing for a couple of months. His
conclusion from our talk and his observation of me on the tennis court is
that I have no structural problem, just functional, no dangerous condition
or disease, just a temporarily weakened immune system and a body that's
fighting something that uses up a lot of energy. Said I'm basically
healthy and will slowly get over it which is what seems to have been
happening anyway. But I hope the acupuncture and herbs give a boost as he
predicts. Oh yes - He approved of the meditation, yoga, and diet but was
concerned when I'd told him I still work for many hours every day, what
seems to Katrinka like all the time. Told him I vary postures but at least
half is sitting cross-legged. I know the warnings of "the chair kills." He
told me to get up from sitting every fifteen minutes or so and stretch and
walk around. I think I'll use my phone as a timer to help out with that.
12-08-14 -
Click
on image to enlarge a photo of a nice Xmas gift from these parts.
On a boat ride I saw a really huge lizard crawl from under a house and
slide into a canal in Bangkok and I was shocked at how big it was. I
didn't know such an animal existed. As soon as we got back to the hotel I
found online it was a monitor lizard and that they are all over Southeast
Asia and Indonesia and that they get really large - like up to ten feet
long. And they're related to the Komodo Dragon but unlike the
Komodo Dragon they're not dangerous. I found a video on Youtube of a guy
who had one as a pet, filmed it swimming in his pool and sitting in his
lap. Kim from yesterday's cobra stories and I talked about monitor
lizards. Oh yes she gets them in her yard. They sort of intimidate her but
she knows they aren't supposed to be dangerous. Once long ago when she was
pretty new to Bali she said she was stopped at a police checkpoint and was
talking to the policeman when a huge monitor lizard came out from behind a
bush behind him. She tried to tell him to look behind him but was
stammering or something and he didn't understand at first and when he
finally did look back the lizard had just gone back behind the bush and
he just thought she was crazy.
Wikipedia
on monitor lizard
That photo
from this page.
12-07-14 - At Warung Annapurna (restaurant)
("pay as you feel") last night showed nurse practitioner Kim my red
bump described yesterday and she agreed yes maybe a spider. We got to
talking about things that bite etc. Well, she has a house further inland
with a yard and more fields around and her main concern is cobras in the
garden, on the porch, where the car gets parked, and, yes, in the house.
Once she got out of the car and found herself trapped by a small cobra.
She tried to push it away with some folded newspaper and it didn't like
that and just came right back. She was frozen not knowing what to do when
her son Kris came out of the house, saw her predicament, and told her to
be still which she said there was no problem obeying since she was too
afraid to move. He told her to jump over a hedge that she didn't think she
could clear but she did. Snake disappeared. Kris built a bamboo trellis up
to her bedroom balcony for the bougainvillea. She told him to take it down
right away. To her it was a ladder for cobras, especially when it's wet as
they like to find dry places - like her balcony and bedroom. She took two
little dachshunds in and how they liked to hunt critters in her yard.
After a few close calls with cobras that came to no harm, they both got
hold of one at each end and pulled it in two. She grabbed the dog that had
the head in its mouth, called the other as an afterthought, and drove to a
vet. The one that had been bitten in the mouth received immediate
treatment while the other ran around the office chasing cats and being
mischievous and then started frothing at the mouth. They got it up on the
vets table, it looked at her, took a short breath, and died. It had
obviously been bitten too. The other dog lived.
12-06-14 - Something bit me on the inside of the left elbow. Got an
inch and a half long red bump. Spider I guess. That's what I'd think in
the US when some unexplained and larger than usual reddish sometimes itchy
bump appeared like in John Tarrants' barn where we lived for nine years -
thanks John! Also, Tassajara I bet has more spiders and as many scorpions
and Japan surely has more centipedes. We don't have black widows here and
I used to find them everywhere I've lived in the US. Flys don't bother me
but mosquitoes - I tell them - stay away or risk capital punishment.
Katrinka saw a sea snake snorkling the other day - one of the most
poisonous animals there is. Didn't scare her. It's almost impossible for
them to bite you with their little tiny mouths.
12-05-14 - Walking down a dark street toward the beach the other night as
it's not much longer to go that way home, ritzy area with high walls on
both sides. Katrinka almost tripped on something. Oh - a black snake about
two and a half feet long. It was dead. Maybe a car ran over it. Later she
looked it up, said it was a non poisonous garden snake. Remember? "If it
was a snake it would have bit you!" Well it was a snake and it didn't bite
her. So there.
12-04-14 - It's been a year in Asia now. Hmm. Wonder how much
longer we'll be here. Don't really feel like going anywhere - even around
here.
12-03-14 - From what I gather reading emails from SF Bay area, they and
Sanur have similar weather now - cool and rainy though what's considered
cool here and there aren't the same.
12-02-14 - We both took some worm medicine - two big pills - didn't
notice anything - cause nurse practitioner Kim said it's good to do now
and then in the tropics and she said worms could be at the bottom of my
lingering malaise (which isn't stopping me from working or doing yoga or
playing tennis but is sort of like feeling like I just woke up and am not
getting out so much except got to now cause Internet is down around here
and want to upload so you can read this.
12-01-14 - There's a restaurant we eat at once a month or so at the beach
that hangs Coleman Lanterns on poles stuck in the sand as it's getting
dark, the same type that we put out at Tassajara with the same faint odor
of kerosene smoke reminding me of why I've lobbied for dim, downward
shining electric lights to replace them at Tassajara.
11-30-14 -
Finally some heavy rain now and then for a week or so here in Sanur.
Two powerful rolling thunderclaps woke me out of bed at 12:30 last night
to go sit on the porch and soak up the torrents gushing, deep pooling,
flashings distant and close enough to explode as if on the roof and
shake me in my seat. The SF Bay Area has little of this. Got some in
Texas in recent years. I'd do the same - sit outside and just love it.
Remember a family reunion in Ohio a bunch of us sitting on a back porch
screened in on three sides bombarded for hours by Thor. Driving from the
Bay Area to New Mexico and Texas and back, how often I was gratefully
blessed with thunderstorms within a majestic panorama. Recall putting
the car over to stand on a hill in a vast barren plain witnessing a
lightning show over the ridges and peaks far way on a continuous 360
celestial degrees stage. But it's not
all wham bang here. There have been some lovely drizzles. Stood in one
earlier today while the sun, almost overhead, shone brightly on me.
11-29-14 - An English language usage common here in Bali and elsewhere in
Asia, not everywhere, is the word mister used before the first or given
name and miss in a woman's case - less. So now and then I'm Mr. David. This isn't
something to correct people on. It's widespread accepted usage including
with people who grow up with English as in India. I heard it a little from
Southerners further east than Fort Worth and from older black people when
I was a kid.
Here's a discussion saying it's still done in the South of the US.
11-28-14 - Back on
1-16-14
in Saunters 1 I wrote that back
in 1992 no one would call one year old Clay Clay. They tended to say clack
or clang. I had always said it must be because they had a word for "fight"
that sounded like that. But I wrote then that I couldn't find such a word
and maybe I remembered wrong. But now I've found it. Kelahi means to
fight, quarrel. And that sounds a lot like "Clay." Just wanted to clear
this important point up.
11-27-14 - Thanks! And happy Thanksgiving. Regardless of any
controversy over the origins of
this day's celebration, it ranks at the top of the cuke pantheon of
holidays. The turkeys are thankful that they're hard to eat here in
Bali today due to Bird Flu scare I guess. We hear they're not letting them
be imported at present - the type that are ready to put in the oven. We
heard of some available for about 150 bucks. No thanks.
11-26-14 - Talking to a friendly Muslim woman with hijab at the beach
yesterday watching the Sunrise. She was here for a three day conference on
computer information something. She on the faculty of what she called the
top technical school in Indonesia. At some point I mentioned that I had
not been a supporter of US military policies but had concentrated more on
anti-nuclear weapons activity. "Cinta damai," she said - Love, peace.
11-25-14 - Speaking of
birds, there are wonderful birds here in Bali, especially the ones who
sing in the morning, giving a pleasant treble to the background roosters'
crowing. I've been a bit coughy and coldy and sleeping irregularly. Woke
at three and by four ended corpsus meditation to sit on the porch and
listen to the early birds and course in the wisdom gone beyond. Then
walked to the beach before dawn and they serenaded me from the tree tops.
I don't see a lot of pretty birds like some places - Perth was amazing
with lovely colorful parrots I guess and those dominant ravens and back
swans. But the singing of these guys is sweet and sufficient.
11-22-14 - Sneezing and coughing, reading and writing. Been a little like
this for over a month. Katrinka finally made me take some cough medicine
and antibiotics which she got without prescription. I said it won't help
but I know a doctor in the US would say good to knock out opportunistic
bacteria. Upload and nap.
11-21-14 - There's supposed to be some rain tomorrow morning and
chances every day for over a week. Hope so. The island needs it. I think
it rains less here in the most densely populated south. If so I bet that
would be due to all the cement and asphalt creating a sort of heat shield
that the clouds with rain tend to go around. I remember hearing that had
happened to the Fort Worth Dallas area where I come from. I love rain,
love sitting on the porch reading and working while it comes down around
me. Hope it doesn't tease and depart.
11-20-14 -
Earth Dance - Bali as seen through the lives of four generations of
Bali women. This book made me realize how little I see and know about what
goes on around here. I had seen Bali Hindu caste system as Margaret Mead
had as "caste light." Reminds me of asking driver friend Ketut if there
were really four different levels of politeness in Balinese language. We
speak Indonesian which doesn't have that, at least not what we speak. He
said yes there are different levels for people with different caste
staetus. I asked him if he used all those levels in his Balinese, "Tentu
saja (of course)," he replied. He only speaks about Hinduism to me in
terms of obligations ceremonial and financial. But they do hold together
as a culture and a people. You don't hear people talking about wanting to
get out, go to America, Australia, etc like elsewhere. I asked a Java
friend if he was considered a bule (foreigner) like me. "Yes yes," he said
laughing.
11-19-14 - Had some Jackfruit in KL that was sumptuous. Wai
Leng said you've got to get it at just the right stage. Want to look for
it here. But an interesting note for those afar is that of all the fruit
available here, when it comes to juice, we often opt for good old
watermelon.
11-18-14 - Somewhere deep in crowded Denpasar, got Katrinka and me
a humble 24" flat screen TV for her birthday in addition to other
offerings. Also got an HDMI cable so we could connect our computers. My PC
has an HDMI out, but naturally the superior Mac needs an expensive
adaptor. Nyoman drove on us past so many more big buildings, shops, signs,
on streets small and large, past the shiny new mixed with the old, past
statues and rubble to park in a lot on a busy street opposite a Mac store.
I'd been there before to get that creature out of her Macbook Pro (stuck
DVD disc). Katrinka looked at the two way flood of vehicles and decided to
wait with Nyoman for me to cross the busy undivided street. On returning
with the expensive adaptor which she said was a third of what it would
have cost in the US, remarked on how cooperative the drivers of the cars,
trucks, busses, and many motorbikes were. I was an accepted part of that
mess. No one was honking or angry, they slowed to let me dash past. Thanks
people.
11-17-14 - Happy birthday Katrinka McKay, my love! - DC -
More here
If the dioxins don't get you then the microbes will. Chatting with
Dr. Gene today at the beach about this and that, naturally hit on trash
and pollution in the water which he said must be the principal cause of
all the cancer and genealogical and other medical problems they have here.
I mentioned how I've had a low level bug, virus, cough for over a month.
He said, "Well Bali is paradise, paradise for microbes.
11-16-14
- Just came back with Katrinka from an evening at the
Community Learning Center. Went a
long way past lots of metro south Bali with Ben from Anapurna who catered
and his Belgian mate Doani who's spent a lot of her life here. Reuben
Rosenberg from Italy who has also been here a long time debated the
Center's founder on whether religion was harmful or helpful. Reuben took
the former and French/Balinese David took the helpful, It was a science vs
religion spirit argument between friends. We'd not have gone if it were in
San Rafael but this sort of thing is a rarity here, it's neat to get out
and meet people, and we had a good thought-provoking time and loved the
food.
11-15-14
- Sari Hati School
for children and adults with mental disabilities fundraiser in Ubud on
November 28th. Sari is essence and hati is heart. If
you're in Indonesia, drop by.
Click on image to read poster.
11-14-14 - Thirty years ago when Aussie Kim was newly married to her Bali
husband, the women in her house had her fold her sarong in the wrong
direction so that other women at the temple would laugh and point at her.
Outsider. They can be equally hard on a woman who has married out of caste
either up or down. Kim says they won't let anyone starve but don't like
them to get too high either.
11-13-14 - Ibu Kat is the pen name of a woman who writes a weekly column
in the Bali Advertiser.
Here's last year's article on water. Ibu means mother and is used for
any woman and Katrinka also uses Kat here.
11-12-14 -
How Dry We Are
Bali Governor Orders Water Utility (PDAM)
to Remedy Severe Water Shortage in South Bali
Bali’s governor Made Mangku Pastika has called on the management of the
Public Water Board (PDAM) in Denpasar and the Badung
Regency to quickly overcome a severe shortage of piped drinking
water in South Bali.
As
reported by the State News Agency Antara, Pastika
blamed the water crisis on the lack of water supply from PDAM.
The Governor called on PDAM to
quickly complete the installation of piping connecting Denpasar and Badung
regency with the water supply at Petanu in Gianyar.
Three water pumps at Petanu are intended to deliver water to Denpasar,
Badung and Gianyar.
Each of the three pumps has the potential to provide a water source of 100
liters per second. At the present time, however, only 90-100 liters per
second is being channeled through the Petanu facility.
Pastika told the press that the Central Government and the Province of
Bali contributed Rp. 70 billion (US$6.1 million) and Rp. 125 billion
(US$10.9 million), respectively, to establish the Petanu pumping
facility.
Due to a protracted and drier-than-normal dry season, South Bali is
suffering a severe shortage of water. In some parts of South Bali local
residents are compelled to purchase fresh water from roving trucks to meet
their daily household water needs.
Water supplies to hotels in South Bali, howver, remain largely unaffected
and no water rationing programs are in operation at this time.
Tourism industry responsible for water crisis in Bali: Expert
(That's no secret - DC)
11-11-14 - Before Katrinka got hooked up with Aussie Kim nurse
practitioner, local Bali doctor told her they don't normally prescribe
blood pressure medicine for people over sixty, but since she's a foreigner
he'll make an exception. She just wanted more of the same mild dose she's
been taking for years. Not the first time we've heard about people of such
age being thought of us as too old to worry about. An old man going blind
got his eyes fixed by a European eye doc with a team doing a lot of quick
operations on people here. The old man's son wasn't doing anything about
it, thought that's what happens to old people.
11-10-14
- The Farmer's Yard
Permaculture Hostel in Canggu, Bali (YouTube Video)- An excellent
homemade video of some really good stuff happening in Bali got from bud
Kris's Facebook page - he's involved. At the end his brother Ben gives a
quick plug for our favorite and nearby restaurant, Anapurna. They are both
born and raised here by Bali father (excellent guitarist) and Aussie mom
(Katrinka's nurse practitioner). We are fortunate to know these folks and
their friends.
DC
11-09-14 -
Here's an article link which sent by Wai Leng in KL to Katrinka via
Facebook by a Catholic priest about Japan's us and them mindset and how
they're somewhat doomed to fall behind the world of growth and progress
because their birth rate is negative and they are not open to immigration.
My view on this is the opposite. We can't continue to have a world economy
based on non stop growth - and survive or have any good quality of life.
Unrestricted development in Bali is sure not pretty. Is it anywhere? Short
term profit rules over long term goals. I say cheer the Japanese on and
join them in zero population growth and let's figure out how to live on
this earth in more of a steady state way or some way that is sustainable.
Many knowledgeable observers think that's impossible and that we're
doomed. Just look at almost everything said by any politician or economist
or pundit on TV and it's growth good, no growth bad, more growth better.
To me that's insane. I think we're basically a psycho planet, and that's
the dangerous type of homicidal psycho. But I love us and I am grateful to
have had this visit. - dc
- also posted in
Engaged
Buddhism/Current Events
11-08-14 - Terebess wrote: I spent my
holidays in Bali in 2004 with my wife and our two sons. At that time I
wrote some Hungarian haiku, a Canadian poet
translated them
into English.
11-07-14
- Interview with Kartika Soekarno [Sukarno], daughter of the
founder of the modern Indonesian state. Here's the site for the
Kartika Soekarno
Foundation, mainly involved with children's issues. She's also
concerned with trash. Her foundation has sponsored the film or maybe just
showings of the film, Trashed, narrated by Jeremy Irons who got
quite involved in the issue. Here's the film's
Facebook page. Here's
the film's web page. One can
find images of horrific Bali trash on beaches on the Internet and we've
seen that happen when the currents bring it in from Java and Sumatra in
January, but the photos above are more representative.
As Soekarno mentions in her interview, trash is a big deal in Indonesia
but they're framing it as a global problem which they think will be more
effective and which is true. It seems to me that locals here mostly don't
see it. We live on a private street with nice homes with beautiful
landscaping inside the walls and trash mixed with the scenery outside.
Where we come from in the States, people would be just as concerned about
the appearance beyond their property. I don't think that in Bali or
Indonesia there's either good governance or education about trash, litter,
pollution. The Sanur festival in the field across the way left a big mess
over a wide area. They got the big stuff but left it much messier than it
was before. If that happened where I come from we'd complain to the city,
to the police, to local media, sue them, demonstrate, collect a bunch and
dump it in their office. The way I deal with it here is to try my best to
be like them, to accept it as part of the environment, not to bother them
with my views - but I can only go so far - it can't be something I
couldn't care less about.
11-06-14 -
Love my morning tea which stretches into the afternoon, the first cups
made with dashes of local ginger and vanilla. A large wasp hovers in front
of the open door and I send it a message to please not enter as it might
get stuck and I'll have to get up to help it out.
11-05-14 - Kids and babies do so many things the same though they're from
very different cultures - especially notice the sounds - laughing, crying,
complaining, urging, enjoying and think, 'That could be a kid anywhere.'
And same with adults but less. Essentially we're all the same it seems.
Mooji says that all beings have the same basic thought: I am.
That's ancient wisdom and like the perennial core wisdom from the ancients
to us, it's not derived from speculation, rumination, cogitation, or
objective observation, but from alonely empirical inquiry deep into the root of
being and non being. Also - can't be proven except by tapping that core.
Can't prove that either. - dc
Only that which
involves what isn't fundamentally real can be proven by the scientific
method. - Kabumpkan
- also posted in
dc misc 4
11-04-14
- Cheng Hoon Teng Buddhist temple in Melaka (Malacca). Amazing how
many people walk around with smart phones talking, listening, taking
pictures, doing selfies. Walking into this longest running Buddhist temple
in Malaysia, not large, with some fine artwork and interesting design. was
struck by how few people were actually looking at it directly. Most were
looking at their phones. And the selfies with those extension poles are
everywhere happening. On a boat ride a man with family kept lining up
shots behind himself, sometimes sticking the phone on extender in front of
us. Something new. We didn't complain. We played with his kid and he
joined in.
11-03-14 - Katrinka memory from Kuala Lumpur outdoor market - At
a poultry stall a woman chooses a live chicken that's taken to the back.
Later passing by, the woman receives the chicken dressed and ready to
cook.
DC mall moment of discovery - Buying new glasses, readers, as had right
earpiece break on two pair, learn that the stronger they are, the closer
one has to hold reading material. I'd thought that the ones I had were too
weak. Nope, too strong. Man told me to stick with the 2.75s.
11-02-14 - On
Progress East and West and Why and What - Jeff Broadbent comments
quite intelligently on DC's speculations posted 10-30 on Saunters
- but now am posting this response on
Comments and linking from here,
What's New and
Engaged Buddhism
and on Jeff's cuke page.
Back at what we think of as home and now next door to the two bedroom
apartment we had to vacate for three months because sad, sweet drunken
blind Phillip and his pregnant Bali wife Rini had dibs. Over the phone
from London he begged landlady Widya to let Rini stay as the place she was
going fell through but Widya held true. Good old Nyoman picked up Katrinka
and me at friend Alice's where we spent the night after landing. He took
us to get some essentials for the larder, helped us reload the new place
with our stuff. We walked to the beach, rows of parked motorbikes, bought
a loaf of excellent whole wheat and a mango tart at Luhtus, went to eat at
Sand on sand. The sun had descended, Mount Agung floated in pint light
above a cloud bank. The high tide water and shore were full of locals,
more than most Sundays.
Before my mix juice arrived I stripped to underwear, joined them. The
water was slightly warm. The moon up top waxing gibbous. Later in shorts
and shirt at the table, a high huge black kite danced beneath clouds
illuminated by the hidden moon.
11-01-14
- Flew back to Denpasar today after a most interesting nine days in
Malaysia. Our hosts there, as I've mentioned, are Malay Chinese, engaged
Buddhists whom we met through Alan Senauke of the Berkeley Zen Center and
the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. I've mentioned the mix of people and how
friendly and easy to be with they are, and how neat the dress of the
Muslem and Hindu women is - like having paintings floating around. Haven't
mentioned before the growing conservatism of the Muslim government. The
original people there, the Malay, are mostly Muslim. Others experience
some discrimination such as in job opportunity in the public sector and
education costs and placement for scholarships at home and in foreign
universities. We read articles about women and their employers being fined
if the women aren't wearing the hijab over their heads and girls in school
are under pressure to do so. The name Allah was recently declared only to
be used by Muslims. If you're born Muslim here, you can't quit and you're
expected to pray five times a day - and people are watching. These sort of
restrictions and rules were not followed so strictly decades ago, hijabs
were optional. One Malay friend told me that even though Indonesia has a
much higher percentage of Muslims, that it's more open and tolerant there.
She said that the saddest thing is the high degree of support for
obligatory religious practices that she's heard from well-educated
Muslims. We've experienced none of this, nothing but good vibes from
Muslims in Malaysia and anywhere we've been in Asia. These are things
we've heard from others and read in the papers. I wonder how strictly
enforced the various rules are and if they'll keep getting stricter. Some
people fear a gradual slide into a dark age. But I doubt it could become
like less diverse Mid East countries. Remember meeting an Iranian woman in
Kerala who talked about how much she loved Iran and how she'd love to go
back. "But I can't because I don't want to be a Muslim anymore and they'd
kill me."
10-31-14 - The Malaysian flag has a moon, sun or star, and red and white
stripes, the latter resembling the flag of the US which makes me do
occasional double-takes and then go oh yeah. Must look that up. A rickshaw
driver who drove us around an area of Melaka (Malacca) - small enough for
us to have walked but still we enjoyed his guidance and banter - took us
to a Melaka (sp?) tree that he said the city and state was/were named
after. He said that Malaysia comes from Malay and Asia. Took a boat ride
on the river in the center of town and saw a small crocodile. At our small
hotel in the historic district, a hundred years ago a Chinese home, the
receptionist showed us a map of where to go in the area. The first thing
he circled was the Hard Rock Cafe. I said that that is the last place we'd
want to go. Actually it was. We had great salads there so big we just ate
the leftovers for lunch on the train on the way back to KL And the to-go
containers are so good we're bringing them back to Bali. Taking the
commuter train at the KL station had to make sure not to board a pink car
- for women only.
10-30-14 - Talking with Wai Leng, our hostess in KL of Chinese ancestry,
she agreed with my layman's take on the progress in SE Asia coming mainly
from the Chinese due to their Confusion culture and that's why Japan
excels as well. The emphasis on education, merit, progress, manners. There
were other conservative forces holding them back until the West ignited
the spark in the 2nd half of he 1800s. I suppose in the West it was some
chemistry of the Abrahamic tradition (Judism/Christian/Islam) and the
Greco-Roman getting things going till we had all these labor saving
devices and so forth leading to the massive transfer of carbon in the
ground to carbon in the air and our possible demise after untold
millennium of stability. It's sure been fun though feeling so superior and
getting to drive and fly around. Bet I can get some more educated comments
from some of our buds. I'll try. - DC
10-29-14 - Kuala Lumpur such a mix of people. A Philippine served us
dinner at a Japanese stall last night, a guy from Nepal rang us out at the
grocery store, a Mexican gave us directions near the Indonesian Embassy
where we met two Swedish women. Locals 61 % Muslim - the women in hijab
and soft material, colors blending differently than the rainbow Indian
Tamil sari both flowing to the floor, Chinese in tee shirts and pants
randomly selected - vibes closest to us slob Americans.
10-28-14 - Couldn't get into the Indonesian Embassy today because I
had shorts on. Two European women with shorts on got in last time. Maybe
the sign wasn't up. A cab driver had baggy pants in his trunk he tried to
sell me for 20 ringgits. No way. Anyway, also no problem. Katrinka got
both our passports with the visas we wanted so we don't have to leave Bali
for six months which means I'll be able to plug away on all this nonsense
with fewer interruptions. Meanwhile, four more nights in Malaysia, two of
them in historic Malacca. Tonight spent some time with two little girls
feeding live crickets to the schools sugar glider.
10-27-14 - There seems to be an endless variety of Chinese food here in
Malaysia. Dinner tonight several firsts in a neighborhood place we
walked to. Must get Katrinka to describe it. Wai says that in America she
gets them to give her real Chinese food, not what they serve most people.
She says that two menu approach is common abroad. I was sort of out of it
from a cold treated with capsules of Chinese herbs from Wai's mom's garden
and the drive back on the toll road through verdant rain forest and
thought maybe couldn't eat much but ate a lot and drank many little cups
of smoky Bole (sp?) tea. And like the old jokes about how you're hungry an
hour later, I never feel too full or heavy after a Chinese meal here. And
the price was good - about seven bucks each.
10-26-14 - Rode with Wai and kids a couple of hours north of KL to Ipoh,
Malaysia, where her mom lives and which she says is one of the top ten
cities in the world for US expats. All the way a divided four lane freeway
that goes from Singapore into Thailand - through lush greenery and
approaching Ipoh beautiful mountains jutting up with sheer cliffs and
caves. At lunch Wai said there's the best tofu in the world here - it's
the water - and her young son taught me thank you in Cantonese. Just say,
"Door chair" he advised, and drop the Rs. Now at another mall - chair by
outside glass wall, storm approaching, matcha latte, high winds. Love
monsoon season.
10-25-14 - Dim Sum lunch at a fairly funky old place
- so many varied yummy - before
venturing to the new mall here way on the outskirts of massive KL. Got
some reading glasses and am sitting at a Starbucks doing vital cuke work
and waiting for Katrinka. The only ATM in the mall is out of order and the
Starbucks couldn't read my cards the woman said because there's no smart
chip on them. I said that's okay I'll just sit here and work and wait for
my wife. A moment later I was brought the orange juice I couldn't buy and
was told that the person in line behind me had bought it for me - young
Chinese local. People here are so nice. I noticed it with the staff at the
Dim Sum place - not officially, formally friendly and obsequious as staff
in some Asian countries I won't mention that lost WWII but really friendly
and nice. Yesterday a woman on the train went so out of her way to help us
find the Indonesian Embassy making phone calls, walking with us, asking
people on the street. I had to tell her she could go on and we'd find it from
there, really it's okay. And
then a man I asked did a Google Maps search and said we were looking for
the wrong address, that they've got two addresses on their site, and he
stopped a cab and told him where to take us. Come to think of it Japanese
will do that too, they can be very out of their way helpful. My first
experience in Kyoto in 88 was a guy buying my bus ticket and riding with
me thirty minutes all the way to where I was going and then heading back
to where we'd come from. Memories too many to mention or even count are
coming up. And come to think of it even more, whenever I've told people in
Japan or elsewhere how helpful and generous people there are, they tell me
how helpful and generous Americans or Europeans were to them and then I
hear good things about Africans and Mid-easterners as in Saudi Arabia and I
remember Trungpa's talking about people's basic goodness and I know that
holds true in the big picture even for the guy on a motorbike in Seminyak
that months ago snatched the handbag of the woman I was talking to at the
embassy yesterday and the suicide bomber who killed dozens in Baghdad.
10-24-14 - Went to the Indonesian Embassy in KL this morning and
applied for six month visas. Then walked to the
Petronas Twin
Towers and hung around that area till late, getting back to the school
where we stay twelve hours after we left. Walked in the park in front, had
tea and food, visited the aquarium with a tunnel surrounded by ocean life
- mantra rays and sharks overhead and to the sides. Saw a movie -
multiplex just like the states and everything at least that clean. Light
show with the fountains in the pond at night, locals crowded around to
enjoy it. An interesting mix of Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Daoists, and
Christians and a colorful mix of women's wear. The scene reminded me of a
2/3 scale of Dubai at night in front of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest
building in the world. The Twin Towers were that until 2004. I walked
around them that year and things are much more built up, modernized,
malled and towered and posh now - the old neighborhood is gone. In fact, a
great deal of what we experience in KL is extensive malls with everything
American, European, Chinese, Japanese, Malay - anything to buy eat one
could want including great cheap local food. A little different from
Lembongan, the island we just came from, where I couldn't buy a pair of
reading glasses to replace either of the two pair that happened to break
there. Motorbikes for taxis and not that many of them. One extreme to the
other.
10-23-14 - Katrinka got a DVD stuck in her Mac which made it sound all
the time like a little animal was trying to get out. We were on that
island and couldn't do anything about it but returned yesterday, went to
the Mac shop a long way across busy Denpasar and they got the little
animal out and I guess kept it as a pet. Then we flew to Kuala Lumpur to
get new visas for Indonesia. Tomorrow morning to the embassy which will be
closed in the afternoon I'm led to understand as it's Friday and that's a
Muslim holy day. And we're tired. Nighty-night.
10-22-14 - Ran into a fellow Texan today in Lembongan when Katrinka and
I were packing to leave. He has lived on the tiny island of Ceningan
that's between Lembongan and Nusa Penida. There's a little bridge that
goes over there that's so narrow that when motorbikes come by one has to
press against the side and pray. Anyway, he co-founded the
Aquatic Alliance - check it out.
And here's an article on him and and his co-founder Helen Mitchell and it
in the Indonesian Expat called
Aquatic Alliance: Research & Conservation of Manta Rays in Nusa Lembongan
- but they're concerned with a wider sphere than just Manta Rays. He
mentioned that the shark population is way down and listed some types he
used to see more when diving - I forget the names but I remember he said
they weren't the type that bite. - posted in -
Engaged
Buddhism/Current Events as well
10-21-14 - Fixed the bad link to the
Memorial Page - try
to check all the links when post but connection on this island so poor can
barely upload to begin with at times - at others it's fine. Yesterday
Katrinka and I walked to the village on the narrow, sandy, bumpy road past
thatch shanties, people carrying goods in baskets at the end of poles
balanced on their shoulders. Often looks like Baja California with cactus.
It's fairly dry here. Went forty minutes all the way to Warung 99 (Warung
is restaurant) where many of the boats from the big island of Bali come
in. Barefoot men and women wading through the water unloading boats. The
big stuff is tackled by groups of women - took eight to bring the large
coils of cable up the cement steps to load on the back of a truck. Tried
the one ATM and it was broken.
10-20-14 - Prof. John Nelson of USF
report and photos of a major cremation in Bali around this time last
year.
and posted on
John Nelson's cuke page created
today.
10-19-14 -
We're staying at the end of the road to the Mangroves by
the reef in Lembongan. Met a scuba diving teacher named Alberto from
Mexico who's friends with Adi who runs this place,
LOA, with his family.
Alberto said he's tried to get property down here but they don't want
any foreigners moving in. It's really low key. Sunday. Asked Katrinka to
take photos at the back with the falling in old thatch and other
makeshift huts, locals hanging out by some motor bikes banter kids
laughing one youngster naps. Electricity is out for a few quiet hours a
day. Sometimes when it's on staff/family/kids watching soaps or cartoons
on communal flat screen that was probably installed by owners with
guests in mind. That's the norm. Hey - they read my mind. It's off.
Wrong - electricity went off again. Now it's back - with Sponge Bob in
Indonesian.
10-18-14 - We went by fast boat with two outboard motors at 8am this
morning to snorkel
with really big Manta Rays off the coast of Nusa Penida, the big island
next to Lembongan. I read they get up to 22 ft. across but these looked
more like six to ten. Water was a little rough but surfer Adi whose family
runs the place we're staying led the way pointing at dark figures
approaching. They ride near the top, big mouths open for plankton. One
brushed gently by me. Awesome. Recalled Jake Fishman telling me once south
of Acapulco having one unexpectedly swoop right over him. Then to Crystal
Bay with colorful fish and huge colorful coral varied coral clusters. A
reverent sense of the vast majesty of life and the nameless wonder it
reflects.
Starting Saunters 2 today and moving posts previous to this month to
Saunters 1. The file got too big.
10-17-14 - Went out this morning at six in the kayak for floating
zazen. Hours at the Zenbook. Now later afternoon. Ocean breeze, kelapa
muda - young coconut - as is - drinking with straws from the severed top.
Just tried it with a bit of lemon first time. Good. Dogs here are nice,
playful, romp in the tidepools, sit at our feet - nothing to protect, no
walls, almost no doors. Local color - the staff, five, all family, watch
Indonesian TV - outnumbering the guests now just Katrinka and me as the
day guests have left to catch their boats. Little rat that lives under the
deck just grabbed a paper napkin and darted back in.
10-16-14 - Had to get a motorbike ride into the village to upload. I
guess this is a village. Welcome to Bali Edo Deli. Didn't realize at first
that we've got the only guest cabin at LOA. Their main business is people
who come around to the mangrove area of Lembongan for a look, to have a
drink or a meal. That's how we came the first time. Our boat arrived at
ten in the morning and before it left at 3pm, we had a driver take us
around on the bumpy roads to see the seaweed farms and views. We stopped
here in the Mangroves for lunch, walked around, and found this place - the
only place here to stay we know of other than a homestay down a ways
across the road. Yesterday and today a group of about twenty Japanese
followed a guide down the beach to somewhere. Way off in the distance we
can see Bali's highest Mt. Agung beyond the snorkel boats and deep blue
water.
10-15-14 - Son Kelly's mom Daya Goldschlag used to kayak around the SF
Bay all the time. Katrinka's son Seth left us the inflatable kayak he
brought and today for the first time kayaked. Went out to where the boats
bring folks to snorkle and scuba and a skipper of one little rig, Maxi,
suggested we trade for a while. Climbed into his boat and he into mine. A
nice interlude talking with a Spaniard and a Jakartan who loaned me his
mask and snorkle so I could inspect the brightly colored fish below.
Paddling back came upon a snorkler the back of whose head, posterior, and
heels reminded me of Katrinka. It was she. Had wadded and swum out. Tried
to tow her back in but it was too hard so had to leave her out there with
the coral and starfish.
10-14-14 - Rode over in an outboard powered catamaran with boxes of
tile and a few other fureigners taking twice as long as the fast boats.
The Bay of Bali was fairly calm but after a wave of dizzy hit when I wrote
a note, put the pad away and stared at the sea ahead. Lembongan, an island
that's part of the Province of Bali. We're staying at
Loa Beach House Mangroves -
owned by Japanese which right now is all can get on that site - look at
the photos.
The Internet here is okay. This is more like the image one gets thinking
of Bali - especially if can get a break from the Indonesian soaps coming
from the TV in the Kitchen next door. Walked out a couple hundred yards in
shallow warm sea in aqua shoes careful not to step on any coral or
starfish.
10-13-14 - Got everything packed up today for our landlords to store
down the street at the home while we're away for 18 days. Nice old Nyoman
was to come at five to truck it down but he arrived four hours early with
more boxes and was a great help getting everything ready - fitted stuff in
containers, taped boxes and wrote our names on them, and a lot more.
Tomorrow morning he'll drive us and other stuff to the 10am boat for
Lembongan. Have to wade into the water to get on it. I've watched people
boarding the early one when I've walked down there in the morning to have
tea at a little stand on the beach. Katrinka gave Nyoman some cheese and
homemade sambul which is what they call their salsa - but this is her
Mexicanish version.
Got a bunch of Suzuki lecture early edits to get together
before going to sleep - 85 or so of them the only edited versions we've
got. Now there are only the verbatim versions of these posted on
shunryusuzuki.com. Soon the
early edits will be there as well. And will feature them one by one here
on cuke when the Wind Bell lecture series is finished in a couple of
months.
Oh yes - the Internet might not be so good where we're
going for the next eight days. Hope I can upload. - dc -
posted in
Saunters
- dc
10-12-14 - Bule, or foreigners, sometimes warn that you can't trust
locals in biz deals but Widya, our landlady has twice returned a goodly
sum of loot that she said we'd overpaid for rent. She and her hubby David
are very responsive as in having ceiling fans installed when we asked and
storing all our stuff in an interim while we're gone for 18 days before
returning with social and cultural visas and moving back in next door.
Then for six months we won't have to leave. I promised Katrinka while
we're gone I wouldn't work over eight hours in a day. I think she's got an
exaggerated idea about that.
10-11-14 - Gasoline here in Indonesia is subsidized and is about half
that in the US which is half that in Europe and in Indonesia it went up by
44% last year and is getting ready to go up by at least that much again
early next year. Taxis are pretty cheap now but transport and food prices
will rise. People will not be happy about that. Maybe mass transit will
improve and the plethora of vehicles will diminish, their sizes shrink.
Sunset time - outside it's glowing pink.
10-10-14 - Katrinka has found that hanging some charred bamboo helps
with the smell of things as it absorbs odors caused by dampness or making
bathrooms without the proper
traps to
create a barrier to noxious odors which are common here in Asia including
Japan.
10-09-14 -
Earliest
example of human art found in Indonesia - I guess the
word "human" is extra but it sounds better to me with it - dc- posted in
Saunters because it's
what's happening in these parts.
10-08-14 - Just getting ready to watch the rising of a full moon in
full eclipse.
Here's
a page for it for Denpasar. Lots of ceremonies going on. Fantastic
music and processions on the beach, one with a row of at least 100 women
dressed in beautiful traditional garb balancing tall baskets of offerings
on their heads followed by men in white playing dreamy gamelan music. They
came down the street to the beach onto the sand then down it the back up
to some temple.
Here's a photo got
from this page (which has many more great such photos) that looks
pretty much like that procession just described.
10-07-14 - Some drizzles this morning. First precipitation in a couple
of months as I recall.
10-05-14 - A
Gamelan medley
10-04-14 - For the 2nd day in a row, there was several hours of
traditional Indonesian gamelan music coming from the school next door.
Here's a few minutes
of simple gamelan music with explanatory notes. What was coming from
the school was more complicated and varied with occasional vocals.
LIghthouse folks
10-10-03-14
- Photo of folks at The
Lighthouse Bali, a substance abuse program center Katrinka has been
involved with. Photo by Scott who's on top middle. Alice to the right is
the founding director.
10-02-14 - USF John Nelson eight month Far West Passage Blog -
Bali page.
And be sure to see the post with other links about his new book,
Experimental Buddhism: Innovation and Activism in Contemporary Japan,
at 9-29-14 on the What's New page.
10-01-14 - Some Bali
observations
Humming kites, humming and whistling bamboo poles stuck in
rocks or sand at the windy beach.
Admiring a thatch roof. A bird lands and takes a piece of straw
for its nest.
Watching ants on a path stopping to greet each one that
comes from the other direction. One is screwed up wandering in circles.
Waiter sleeping on a bench near where we are eating lunch.
The Asian, not just here, use of "too" to mean very as in,
"Good day for business. Too many people."
Sometimes the whole island seems to have run out of ink -
trying to make out the figures on a receipt from a machine that badly
needs a ribbon change.
