Travel to Indonesia, Bali, Ubud.

I wake up to the bus conductor yelling where we are. “Ubud! Ubud!” he wails, as the passengers get off the bus. During the early afternoon drive to this bucolic town in the middle of Bali, all image of paradise I had in my mind of this Indonesian island were quickly replaced by grinding traffic and unremarkable city structures, and before I knew it, I was asleep. After yesterday's trip to Mount Bromo, I backtracked in the afternoon to Surabaya, where I took a short flight to Bali, the last leg of my (ill-advised) whirlwind trip.

I had actually scheduled an early morning walking tour that would have taken me across Ubud's rice fields, local villages, and possibly a Balinese dance school. But during my last night in Yogyakarta, a blackout hit the city, which prevented me from using my credit card and forced me to pay the guest house in cash. As a result, I’m now left with only a few thousand rupiahs. I had to cancel the walking tour (because it was payable only in cash), and I was in fact resigned to the idea of spending my last days of the trip just hanging around the beach in Kuta.

But curiosity and Mark Twain’s “you’ll regret more the things you didn’t do” aphorism won over me, and after tweaking my budget, I booked a ride to Ubud. Even if it was the overcrowded site I fear it would be, I thought I could surely find an intimate corner somewhere and claim it as my personal space. I managed to get a discount on a round-trip bus fare that would take me to the town after lunch and return to Kuta in the evening. I also decided to skip dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast to compensate.

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Travel to Indonesia, Java, Yogyakarta.

“The Javanese believe that the placenta is the twin child of a newborn,” Reni Fatmasari says, holding a clay pot delicately while examining its smooth sides. “It is for this reason that when a baby is born, the mother’s placenta is placed in a pot like this, then buried in front of the house for 35 days.”

It’s early Tuesday afternoon and we’re in a roadside stall that sells flower offerings. We’re on our way to the Kasihan Spring just outside the center of Yogyakarta and Reni suggests we stop by the store first to buy flowers we can offer to the spirits that are said to reside in the spring’s premises. While waiting for the woman as she places our purchase in a paper bag, Reni clues me in a little to the traditional Javanese culture. My first lesson: Javanese babies are gods incarnated as humans until they turn 35 days old. That is why parents take a great deal making sure the placenta is okay, because it is of a divine origin.

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Travel to Indonesia, Java, Borobudur.

In the darkness of the minutes before dawn, Arik and I are negotiating the steep stairway up the Borobudur. The only source of light in the enveloping blackness is our flashlights. I quicken my pace on the last few steps. The air is cold and the stars overhead bring a feeling of calmness. A few others have arrived before us and are jealously guarding their spots, there with the same purpose as mine – to wait for the sunrise. There is a collective sense of anticipation.

“We’re lucky,” whispers Arik, my motorbike guide from ViaVia, a Belgian company that, aside from running a restaurant and a guesthouse in Yogyakarta, does a number of really interesting alternative tours across Java. “The sky looks great. It’s going to be a very lovely sunrise.”

With the letdown of the sunrise trip to Angkor Wat last April still on my mind, I just shrug. “Hopefully.”

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Travel to Indonesia, Java, Bandung.

I got the train from Jakarta to Bandung early on Friday. I took the executive class, which was 90,000 rupiah for a single (about 6 quid). The journey was really comfortable, and the scenery in between both cities was really nice, with green grass and rice fields scattered along the way. The journey took around three hours, and I arrived in Bandung at 11.30am. Hunny hostel was less than ten minutes from the station and in a nice part of Bandung. The guy that worked there told me that I’d arrived too late to go to either of the volcanoes, so it was better to simply explore the city of Bandung and go to one of the volcanoes the following day.

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Travel to Indonesia, Sumatra, Bukit Lawang.

Having enjoyed the cool mountain air of the highlands for over a week now, starting from Bukittingi to Toba and Berastagi, it was time to finally head back down to the reality of the infernal heat of the Sumatran lowlands. And so from Berastagi it was a 5h journey to Bukit Lawang, a small village tucked away from the bustle of the provincial capital of Medan, and which has been receiving tourists to its the nearby Leuser National Park and orang-utan rehabilitation centre for the past several decades.

What's that, another orang-utan rehab centre, you say? Didn't I already visit one just last month in Sepilok, Sabah, East Malaysia? Indeed I did. But I'd come to Bukit Lawang for the trekking, much vaunted by LP, and also the hopes of catching a sight of the red-haired creatures in the wild, and not just semi-wild.

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Travel to Indonesia, Bali, Bedugul.

We stayed in a resort right on the shore of Beratan lake, and in the morning I was woken up by a sound of drums. A crowd of people gathered by the shore, at the place with an ancient-looking stone god statue. They sang, played the drums, rang the bells, worshiped the gods of the lake, and many were simply chattering and hanging around. Women were carrying gifts to the gods. A colorful procession with gifts and umbrellas came almost right into the water to place the gifts.
I was told that it was the festival of cleaning the water of the lake.

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Travel to Indonesia, Bali, Tabanan.

Today's agenda was to be a fairly relaxing day as we drove up the hills towards Mt. Batukaru. Our beloved guide picked us up at 9:00 a.m. on the dot and off we went. I have been wanting to visit a silver shop to show Be how the artisans work and design. So Nyoman made a quick stop at Prapen Jewelry just outside of Ubud. Yes, it is a typical tourist spot but I did enjoy watching the creative part of jewelry making. It was very detailed and time consuming to make all the little silver balls and just watching them glue their designs together was fascinating. I kept thinking of my carpal tunnel issue and I know I'd be fired within the first week if I were given the chance to create jewelry! Ha! It takes patience to make jewelry look beautiful and I now have a stronger appreciation of that art.

So, basically, I walked out of there with a few silver baubles and 2 awesome silver and pearl rings! Check!

Next stop? Wait for it.... Bali Butterly Park! I know... I know! Yes, I know it's a "chick thing" but what did you expect? We love
Cocoonsbutterflies and Bali has the prettiest Lepidopteras. You can see huge velvety black ones dancing atop the trees in the gardens. There are blue ones with big bold yellow spots in the center of their wings. I've seen small bright yellow ones dancing in the garden in the early morning light. Ah...Butterflies! So, we stopped for about an hour (poor Nyoman) and walked around their sanctuary and just took in their beauty. There was a hatchery in the center of the garden that we were able to get into. One of the workers placed some of the newly hatched babies on our arms and shoulders. These babies were only born that morning and were waiting for their wings to fully expand and dry before they would be released into the larger garden area. Yes, it was fun and i'll post a picture or two. Get your Butterfly ON in Bali if you can!

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Travel to Indonesia, Java, Borobudur.

Early Monday morning, we boarded our flight from Denpasar to Central Java on Lion Air. Finally. The Borobudur. I could almost touch it. Our flight was fairly short and as we landed in Jogja and stepped into another world again. Java is another world so it seemed to me. With Mount Merapi hovering in the distance, the beautiful Call to Prayer sounding off in the background....Bali seemed so "far away" when we landed in Yogyakarta.

The humidity was extremely high (as usual) so we decided to check into to our hotel and relax the remainder of the afternoon. We stayed at a decent hotel near the Sultan's Palace. The accommodations were good for the price and the staff were extremely friendly. Apparently, there are lots of students in this city and it's apparent with all the activity during the evening hours. Many of the shops and restaurants do not open until dinner time and the streets are filled with pedestrians and motorbikes.

Early the next day, our tour guide picked us up and off we went to my main destination for this trip. Our itinerary was The Borobudur, Prambanan Temple, Sultan's Palace, lunch and finally an artisan village. Our
Our wonderful guide taking the time out to teach us about the temple's meaning.tour guide was short of fabulous. I will upload his information later so if anyone is interested in getting a very good guide - he's yours for the booking! Anyways, our guide gave us the best insight on who built the Borobudur and further information on Buddism and what each level of the temple meant. He took his time explaining the meaning of the symbols and even went so far as showing us the actual translations of some of the temple's drawings. He was thorough and did not rush into just showing us all the "tourist spots" and whatnot. He allowed us time for good photo ops as well as recommending some interesting views while in the temple. I learned a lot about Buddism and what each pose meant from this guide. I learned about the value of numbers in Buddism as well and what they mean in relation to reaching Nirvana.

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