bali and java 2011!

[paulgila]

heres our obligatory tourist shot in front of the holy spring hole.

our guide was happy to take plenty of pix for us,but everytime he'd say:

"ok,ready? 1..2..10."

balinese cuckoo clock.

temple grounds,including--ta da!--plants.

the rare & mysterious(at least to our guide) purple flowered water lily.

[putu enjula]

Nice photo of the stonework... I just love Balinese statues.

[bgl]

Paul,

Thanks for all the great pictures and your unique perspective and commentary!

Bo-Göran

[paulgila]

thanks,bo!

[ixigena]

Paul gila, I got homesick, wnat to fly home. Now, I am in Doha, Qatar. missed the greenery. Gila gila

[paulgila]

kasian! i miss it too.

[putu enjula]

Paul gila, I got homesick, wnat to fly home. Now, I am in Doha, Qatar. missed the greenery. Gila gila

You're from Bandung? I've always wanted to go there. I studied Javanese gamelan music for 10 years, Balinese gamelan for 4 and even got to play some Sunda too. I mostly wanted to go to Bandung for music shopping!

[paulgila]

more from tirtagangga.

those steps are treacherous!

careful,now.

good thing i have a nerve of steel.

[paulgila]

almost fell in again!

yes,it was a lovely day.

the temple as seen thru chinese architectural detail.

arf!

[paulgila]

heres jes & our guide. there is no set fee for what you pay him,he just haggles till he gets what he wants,

& this guy could HAGGLE,lemme tell ya.

there is a hotel & resto affiliated with the garden/temple so we decided to have a bite since we were pretty famished.

this fabric is from the tablecloths at the resto.

this is the view. you can see the ocean in the distance &

the breeze felt wonderful.

plus the food was delicious!

[paulgila]

we both like coconut juice so we ordered it often.its interesting how different places "tart it up."

i liked the cd they were playing at this place--kind of spacey reggae/dub music with gamelan mixed in-- so i bought it from them,right outta the cd player.

thus endeth the book of "our day at tirtagangga."

we headed back to ubud thru candi dasa much the way we came,i'd say about a 3 hour drive.

avenue planting of royals(& a shorter foxtail on the far left) in gianyar.

poster for a tourism industry school in bali.

i love the "interviw with tourists" part!

[paulgila]

the next chapter is called "fun with meilani & nick" (meilani & nick are not a couple,btw).

we started off at nuri's, a little roadside spot that has great grilled ribs & balinese sausages.

nick is ready to party.

meilani(who i met on facebook & met in person in 2010) & myself.

i am hard to miss in that shirt.

after nuri's we went to another bar in central ubud & it didnt take long

for things to get a little gila(crazy).

stock "reaction shot."

[paulgila]

this is classic.

[putu enjula]

It's nice to see that Nick is doing well! Of course I haven't seen him in a while.

[paulgila]

EVERYONE JOINED IN!

then the next night we went out again. things got a little outta hand.

[paulgila]

this weird guy worked at the bar. he was funny.

the band was the same one we had seen at the hookah bar the night before,but they were quite good.

we danced the night away, or at least danced it around the block a few times.

[paulgila]

this guy played some mean blues with the house band. i didnt believe it either!

you meet some strange people in bars.

jes & meilani gettin funky.

[paulgila]

the next day we were all a little "fuzzy."

coconut juice is supposed to help.

they add a little squeeze of lime.its good that way.

after lunch we walked around ubud & did some shopping.

i am fascinated by the gates & what lies beyond them.

kids flying a kite.

[paulgila]

heres a pic that should be in the previous post of jes taking my picture.

heres what cool dewds in bali wear.

another "gate shot."

we found this cool little elvis toy & decided to buy it for some friends.

[paulgila]

sheesh,starbucks is now truly EVERYWHERE,even in ubuds famous lotus pond temple

(this is the next day).

here are the employees,who look like they've worked there for 5 minutes(combined).

starbucks swag.

the view from the back of the shop is about the best i've ever seen,i gotta give em that much.

[paulgila]

we went to the ORIGINAL ibu oka's for lunch & it was WAY better than ibu oka II.

a rare shot of wayan.

hey,they finally paved this parking lot--last year it was only dirt!

[paulgila]

we took a walk in ubud & came across a small bismarckia. gonna be a monster,some day.

and heres something i never thought i'd see--washies in bali!!!

[putu enjula]

Awwww!!!! That's a nice picture of my friend Wayan... of course the last time I saw him was in 2007!

[Kim]

So many enviable sights, tastes and experiences. Trip of a lifetime! More photos?

[paulgila]

there are a few(hundred) more.

[putu enjula]

So many enviable sights, tastes and experiences. Trip of a lifetime! More photos?

LOL for Paul it is one trip of MANY!! Hehehe I'm just jealous.

[Kim]

You obviously miss Bali and Indonesia greatly. Are you planning a trip yourself soon? Travel is such good therapy.

[sur4z]

P.gila- As I mentioned 5(?) pages back, great photos and commentary. Also you have saved me thousands of dollars...I'v seen it all and can scratch that off the list.

[putu enjula]

You obviously miss Bali and Indonesia greatly. Are you planning a trip yourself soon? Travel is such good therapy.

Is it that obvious? Yeah well I guess when playing Indonesian traditional music is your main passion in life, you tend to miss it. I'll have to wait to get therapy.... we're gonna to go straight there after the biennial... that's the plan for the moment anyway...

[MattyB]

LOL for Paul it is one trip of MANY!! Hehehe I'm just jealous.

We can tell by your avatar pic of Paul's yard. That's just weird.

[paulgila]

outside warung enak.

mmmmmmm,temple of chili!

that nite we went to a performance near wayans village.

they had cool bali-style "bleachers."

unfortunately there were more performers than spectators.

[paulgila]

instead of "bla-dow" you should say "ba-rong!" matt.

i think the whole village was in the production. the dancers were my favorite part

they simulated an "old-timey" village & had people just hanging around on the stage dressed in

traditional costumes. also there was a guy on either side of the stage making smoke with a

small fire.i was a little concerned that the whole stage would catch fire since they had

put a lotta dried leaves all over to make it look like the jungle.

then at the end they have a curtain call,just like in the west.

[paulgila]

it was a spectacular nite.

"atmospheric" shot taken while walking back from the performance.

the next day we went to a cooking class at the hotel owned by casa luna.

the grounds were very pleasant.

[bgl]

Paul,

That looks like quite the production! Must have been a spectacular evening. Hopefully a few more spectators than just you and Jes! And Warung enak, what does that mean? Balinese fast food? The sign seems to imply that!

Bo-Göran

[paulgila]

bo there were about 4 other tourists & the village kids as spectators. not exactly a packed house.

"warung enak" means basically "restaurant with good food," & it was very tasty.

[paulgila]

here is the teacher of the class. he was very knowledgable & entertaining. we had a great time!

the 1st part of the class involved showing us what ingredients are used in balinese cooking.

some can be obtained in the US & some not.

jes rocks her official casa luna cooking class apron.

i try & look more distinguished. it didnt work.

the typically awesome balinese garden out back of where the class was held.

[paulgila]

more pix of the area near the class. it was so peaceful there.

the 1st thing we made was "rujak," which is green veggies & fruit in chili sauce.

the ingredients seen here are some kind of cucumber & pineapple,but lots of things will work. the sauce can

be used as a marinade for meats,also.

[MattyB]

It looks like one of those airport statues lost one of it's 'extremidies' on your plate. I am fun you.

[paulgila]

you need adult supervision.

[MattyB]

Will you hold my hand?