Where are Ron and Ellen?
Fall 2003
Bali: Sanur and Padangbai
On the beach in Padangbai - 6 October 2003
Dear family and friends,
We are now in Padangbai, a little beach town on the southeast coast of Bali. It would satisfy everyone's images of Bali: beach and brightly painted wooden boats, lush garden greenery, coconut palms, and excellent seafood. Yesterday we watched as freshly caught shark was moved into the back of a pickup truck for transport to an unknown destination -- the sharks were so large it took about 6 people to hoist them up and into the truck.
Yesterday afternoon we set out to walk over the headland at the west end of the bay, since we had been told there was a beautiful white sand beach there. We missed the tiny sign pointing to the footpath, and followed the tiny paved road instead, ending up at a huge long black sand beach. We walked up the beach and found a fleet of local wooden fishing boats pulled up on the beach. All the boats are brightly painted, and have eyes on the prow; the prow is carved to look like a smiling mouth, so the boats have the appearance of very cheery wooden fish. We thought that instead of walking back on the beach, we would go inland to get back to the little paved road. Not so easy! We ended up wandering along footpaths through an area of small houses and garden plots, seeing pigs, cows (who all watched us curiously), a family plowing (wooden plow pulled by cows) and planting between their coconut trees. They showed us the seeds, but we could not identify them. Eventually we got back to the road and wandered home, and discovered the path we should have taken. The white sand beach has now become today's destination.
We arrived in Sanur in Wednesday and spent Thursday recovering from our flight, putting bikes together, relaxing in the beautiful garden of our hotel, exploring a bit along the busy main street, and generally getting oriented. Friday morning we went to the US Consulate in nearby Denpasar because Ron had no more blank pages in his passport and needed more added, but the proper official was not there, and we were told to come back on Monday. Because we heard it was raining buckets in Ubud where we'd planned to go on Sunday, we decided to stay in Sanur until Monday, and Ron could then get his new passport pages. Rather than fight the traffic out of Sanur and Densapar (the big city in Bali) and the rain in Ubud, we opted to come to Padangbai instead. We thought it would be easier to learn to bike on the left side of the road in a location that doesn't have the major traffic of Bali! We took the easy way out and had the driver from our guest house bring us and our bikes the 78km.
Saturday morning we did at least test out our bikes on the side road that leads to the beach. Ron tried out the local transportation system (bemos, little vans with benches along the sides) and went to Kuta, the big tourist beach destination, in the afternoon. He found it to be a gorgeous white sand beach with lots of surfers (it is a major surfer destination), but the roads were jammed with traffic, and the hawkers were constant and persistent. Ellen stayed in Sanur and enjoyed her afternoon on the quiet beach there, watching the local dogs play with a stick and chase each other for hours. Sunday afternoon we went to the Bali Bird Park (www.balibirdpark.com for those who are interested), which has a spectacular display of tropical birds in huge aviaries. We also had a spectacular ginger-carrot soup for lunch in their restaurant. Ron took a bike ride after we returned from the park, and reports that although the traffic and air pollution were heavy, he felt safer than when riding at home on the road that passes the end of our driveway.
The weather is extremely hot and extremely humid -- our friend George tells us that at home we've had a hard frost.
Our current plan is to head by bike from here towards Ubud in a day or so, and hope that the torrents of rain have ended. The sun is shining in Padangbai, but apparently the weather is changeable, depending on both the moment and the location.
Love to all,
Ron and Ellen
The internet cafe in Tirta Gangga that we had planned on using to send a travel report no longer exists because after the bombing in Kuta a year ago tourism has dropped so much that not enough tourists exist to keep it open. Last night we were the only tourists staying in any of the ~12 small hotels in Tirta Gangga.
Since we are heading for Amed, on the eastern tip of Bali, where phone lines were only put in a year ago, and we are told there is no internet, Ron took a local bus back to the first town behind us that has an internet cafe to send this message.
We just wanted everyone to know that we are fine, and are having a fine time. You probably will not hear from us for about a week, until we get to Singaraja on the north coast. That will be the first place we'll have internet access again. We are keeping notes for a later message. All is well!
Love to all,
Ron and Ellen
Dear family and friends,
We've wandered from Padangbai to Candidasa to Tirta Gangga to Amed by bike, and then from Amed to Ubud by car (with the bikes folded up in the back). Weather conditions have been either extremely hot and humid, or even hotter and more humid -- typical August days in Virginia would be a respite. Hence we decided not to bike up the east coast, the hottest and driest part of Bali.
We loved Padangbai and spent almost a week there, each evening deciding to stay "one more day". There was a wonderful little white sand beach, a perfect crescent between two rocky outcroppings, with rolling waves and several tiny restaurants under the palm trees serving fresh grilled fish. Another little lagoon was a great snorkeling spot, and we spent a morning there looking at brightly colored fish and coral. We biked to Tenganan, a traditional Bali Aga village, with layout and building design quite different from other villages we've passed; the Bali Aga were the original residents of Bali before the Majapahit arrival in the 1300s.
Just when we thought we were ready to move on, we learned that there would be a big full moon festival in the temple in Padangbai, so we stayed on for that. Non-Hindus are welcome to enter the temple and watch, as long as they are dressed properly: sarongs and sashes for both men and women. We'd already bought sarongs for the beach and handwoven sashes at the Bali Aga village, so we were all set.
Late in the afternoon of the first day of the ceremony, there was a steady procession of women bringing offerings, beautifully arranged stacks of fruit, flowers, cakes, cookies, cooked chickens, all on ornate platters, and most carried on top of the head (no hands!). People gathered in their festival finery. Members of a very large gamelan orchestra had set up instruments under a pavilion. At some signal unrecognized by us, the orchestra began to play, and a group of people went out through the temple gates to the beach just a few meters away to meet a boat bringing people carrying sacred objects, prayer umbrellas, incense, etc. There were processions into the temple, then a huge procession out of the temple and around the town (with some of the more portable instruments from the orchestra going along) and back, more offerings piled up outside the temple, and the sprinkling of holy water to bless those offerings and the waiting people when the procession returned. Then there was some traditional Balinese dancing by a group of young girls (~10-12 years old), and then everything ended -- took about 3 hours in all. On the second day, there was cockfighting in the temple courtyard in the afternoon, and traditional dancing by various different groups of children and young adults. It was certainly unlike anything we've ever experienced before!
Sunday we finally left Padangbai and biked to Candidasa, where we spent the night in an exceedingly posh place: lovely gardens, huge air-conditioned room, private garden with little fountain and rock pool, gigantic bathroom with inside garden and with roof partially open to the sun -- all for $20 US.
Monday we biked uphill and uphill and uphill, all the way to Tirta Gangga, where a rajah built a water palace high on a ridge. The palace had extensive water gardens with fountains, statues, pools, and beautiful plantings around them. This was the place where the Internet cafe had closed because there were so few tourists. Although in some other places they have told us that tourists are beginning to came back again after the bombing a year ago, our hotel owner in Tirta Gangga said he doesn't see any improvement yet. All over Bali we've seen stickers saying things like "Don't let the terrorists win -- come back to Bali", and have met several people who have come specifically because they want to support the Balinese.
On Tuesday morning we biked from Tirta Gangga to Amed -- we'd expected to have at least some uphill, but it turned out to be mostly level for the first part, with some beautiful rice paddy views, then an absolutely gigantic downhill to the hot and dry eastern coast. Amed is a very undeveloped area of Bali, with just a few hotels spread out along about 15 km of the coast. We stayed in a place owned by an Austrian, with an excellent restaurant, and snorkeling right off the beach (but not as good as in Padangbai). The beaches in the Amed area are black sand and rock, so not conducive to lounging about -- and very hot on the bottoms of the feet! Our hotel room was beautiful, and had a huge wrap-around porch with hammock and day bed outside the bedroom.
After 3 days, we'd had enough of the extreme heat, and opted to come to Ubud, which is definitely cooler than Amed (although still quite warm). And at the moment it isn't raining here as it was a couple of weeks ago when we had first planned to come.
This morning we went for a long walk through the rice paddies. It was beautiful, with the running water in little irrigation channels along the path, and lush vegetation (bananas, coconuts, and lots of things we don't recognize) along the edges of the channels. There is a rushing river in a very deep ravine, which we couldn't see, but could hear, and the ravine is filled with ferns and other shade and moisture loving plants. We saw rice in various stages of growth, and watched several groups of people harvesting rice.
The place where we are staying has some guest houses in a family compound. The head of the household is part of the chorus that accompanies a type of traditional dance, and he took us with him to a performance last night. The story is one from the Ramayana, and one of his nieces was one of the main female dancers. There is a lot of activity going on in the family compound as about 20 family members prepare for a festival in the family temple next Tuesday. They are preparing beautifully woven ornaments from palm fronds, small sculptures made from rice, and a variety of other things which we assume will be offerings.
Tonight we plan to go to another dance performance, in a temple where we have watched children receiving instruction in traditional Balinese dance.
The food here has been some of the best we've had.
We expect to stay here for a few days, since there are lots of interesting walks, lots of traditional music and dance, nice people, and good food.
Love to all,
Ellen and Ron
Back to Fall 2003 indexForward: More on UbudBack to the Main Index| cfw.com |
| Questions? Send email to Ellen, ebouton | 
|
| operamail.com |
| While we're traveling, reach us at bikepacker |
|
Last updated: 30 November 2003