Northern Bali and first day in Java

Yesterday we hired a driver to take us around northern Bali to see some of the sights and sounds. We visited a couple of temples of course. I thought one temple was particularly beautiful since it incorporated the natural landscape. It had massive statues carved out of the cliffs, along with whimsical rice terraces forming loops and waves around the palm trees, and waterfalls running down the surrounding forested cliffs. It was also nice to see that the temple was well used, with many people making offerings for sale in the community, or making special wedding decorations. It looked like a community effort.

The men in Bali often wear sarongs at the temples and elsewhere. So I purchased one, since the shorts I was wearing were not sufficiently modest for the temples. Catheleen bought one too, and I made sure to purchase one made for men. I don't know what the difference was between the two, but I was assured I had the right one.

Later on we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking a lake next to an active volcano. I don't know when the volcano last erupted, but it was some time long ago. We could see the black lava covering one side of the mountain from the last flow.

One of our last stops was at an agro tourist plantation where we saw cocoa plants, vanilla beans, coffee plants, and the process to make Luwak coffee. The Luwak animal looked like a weasel, and we saw cages of them where they eat the coffee fruit and poop out the coffee beans. Who would have come up with this in the first place? Some brave or foolhardy soul I'm sure. But it's supposed to be the best coffee, so we figured it was worth a try. We saw how they cleaned the beans, dried and removed the husks, and then the beans were roasted and ground. We enjoyed the view over the mountainside while sipping some of this coffee. It was good but it did have that ick factor for me when I thought about it. The kids aren't big coffee drinkers but did enjoy a taste sampler with cocoa, vanilla, and many other teas.

As we waited at the Bali airport for the short flight to Java, I stared out at the surf. The airport runway was built out into the sea on reclaimed land. We're flying on Lion Air. I can't help but recall that two years ago one of these planes didn't make it onto the runway and ended up in the sea. Nobody was killed and it was remembered particularly for the help provided by the locals, who rushed to the scene by boat from the surrounding area to help rescue the passengers. But our flight was without incident and we made it to our next stop near Borobudur Java, a Buddhist temple site we want to see.

Along the way from the airport though the city of Yogyakarta, we saw and heard people playing music on the street using drums and cymbals like Caribbean music with their steel drums. There was also a holiday parade going on. We didn't see the parade, but along the way we passed a couple of jeeps, one with people in combat fatigues carrying machine guns, and another jeep with what looked like a General in back and a large machine gun mounted to the front of the jeep. We were told by the driver that they were not military or militia, but were civilians dressed up for the parade. What a strange thing to see.

The hotel we're staying at is unlike anywhere else we've been. We're up in the mountains with views of the surrounding volcanoes and rice fields. We have our own villa, which looks to have been someone's cottage at one time, with its own private backyard, coy fish pond and even a coop with some fancy pigeons. Looking around the garden, we've spotted banana, orange, and jack fruit trees, and some other fruit we haven't identified. This place is rustic, with no air conditioning or screens on the windows. We have mosquito netting around our beds so we'll see how well we sleep tonight. It's a pleasant temperature up here in the mountains and should actually get cool at night.

On our way to lunch at the hotel restaurant, we passed cages of love birds and other birds. The owner is a French man, and with his wife from Indonesia they seem to love birds. When we had lunch at the hotel restaurant we witnessed and heard a group of about 20 motorcyclists roar past the hotel and then back again, making a lot a noise revving their engines. We asked the hotel owner whether there was a parade or festival going on today, but he wasn't sure. He said the local village would often organize these rallies for different days and times, but he couldn't keep track, since there were so many events.

As the sun started to go own, we heard the Muslim call to prayer, with chanting and singing from the nearby mosques. Being on top of the hill, we could hear the prayers coming loudly from three or four different directions. It was a new experience to be surrounded by it. It was as if the whole land was praying, which I suppose was the case. Elizabeth thought it was somewhat frightening, but I thought it was soothing, especially when the singer was talented. I'm not sure I will find it so relaxing though when I'm woken up tomorrow morning. It must be an effective way of remind all it's time to pray, since it's not something that would be easy to ignore. We are definitely in a strange and exotic land.

Here's a picture of our Luwak coffee experience.