Bali, Indonesia (Day 2)
Before we get to what we did on February 27, our second day in Bali, the last episode ended with a promise of Balinese dancers. This was an excellent dance troop, very graceful in executing complicated and subtle dances. The Gamelan orchestra was really good too. You might think their music was just cacophony if you did not pay close attention, but it was actually quite beautiful. The orchestra played a piece and then there were four dances, including a warrior’s dance & a bird dance (can’t remember what the other ones were called).
Our second day was to be dedicated to the master craft studios of the Ubud-Mas area. The local royal family began cultivating artists and artisans in the 1930’s and it became a center for native and foreign artists. It was not until the 1980’s that it began to grow into the large town (about 30,000) known for its arts that is so attractive to foreign visitors today. One could easily spend several days exploring Ubud’s palaces, galleries and museums but we didn’t have that kind of time so we opted to spend our time at several art & craft galleries in the area.
As on the first day, the traffic leaving the port was really bad. Crossing a bridge we had a glimpse of Mt Agung, the volcano that has erupted a couple of times in the last six months. Unfortunately, the picture was taken from the back of a bouncing van, so its pretty unclear, but it’s the only one we have. We also passed people working in their rice fields. The people of Bali give offerings to the Hindu gods pretty much every day. Consisting mostly of fruit and flowers, often in a small tray that is sometimes placed in a small shrine, you see these everywhere. Our driver was no exception.
Our first stop was at a textile gallery. Most of these galleries had people working on the products as well as a showroom for purchases. The textile place specializes in batik. There are three techniques, in order of increasing difficulty (and price): printing on the fabric, hand stamping patterns of color, and using dye and wax to create the entire colored pattern by hand.
A weaver was also working outside the shop. Most of the workers we saw were outside the galleries; cooler presumably, and also good advertising.
Next we visited a silver studio and gallery called Yan Yan. We really have no idea where in the Ubud area each of these galleries was; it often seemed to take quite a bit of driving to get from one to the other. We did not walk the streets of Ubud, but just drove to various galleries. All were interesting though, both to see the craftsmen at work and their finished wares.
Inside, the showroom was extensive including several rooms of jewelry and unusual sculpture.
In the courtyard out front was a statue of Ganesh, the elephant headed Hindu god. There were some lovely flowers as well. Across the street was a house that must belong to a wealthy person.
After Yan Yan, Gede took us to visit what he described as a typical Balinese house. It was more of a compound of one room buildings than a house, surrounded by a wall. It seems doubtful that poor Balinese can afford digs like this, so this must be a typical middle class house. Daytime activity apparently takes place outdoors where it is a little cooler, with sleeping indoors. We were given some of the impossibly thinly sliced pancakes, which were quite good.
In the back of the compound was an area set aside for shrines. But that didn’t mean there weren’t offering trays elsewhere.
Many colorful flowers decorated the family compound.
Several chickens were penned into small woven baskets and a rooster was strutting around near them. A porcupine was nearby. In front of the street gate of the compound sat a stone guard looking very cool with a red flower above each of his ears. I guess he was wishing us a friendly goodbye.
After this we visited a wood carving shop. This may have been the most interesting one of all, chock full of fantastic carvings. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside. But outside we watched some of the craftsmen carving and finishing wood sculptures. Really interesting.
We had lunch at a restaurant called Bebek Joni, which was open on one side to a series of rice paddies. The food was very good (we had duck) & really inexpensive.
As usual in Bali, there were stone sculptures, even in front of the restrooms. In the rice paddy was a very large female goddess (presumably), & the rice paddies were, as always, picturesque.
After lunch we went to our last stop of the day: Semar Kiming painters’ cooperative. No photography was permitted inside the gallery, which was huge with a wide variety of paintings. While we were in the front room talking to the manager we heard a siren & a police car appeared leading a caravan of vans. He indicated we should move along to the next room & we thought maybe it was a visit by a foreign dignitary. It turned out to be a HAL tour!
On our way back to the ship Gede stopped the van to view a really spectacular traffic circle sculpture of an important Hindu story that is the basis for a well known Balinese dance.
And so we came to the end of a two day adventure that was pretty much the top highlight of the voyage to this point. It would have been even cooler if the following picture were real rather than fantasy (although, come to think of it, this might have resulted in chaos), but as it was everyone had a really great time. You may think you have seen this picture earlier, but look at it closely.
Bali, Indonesia (Day 1)
We arrived in Benoa, Bali early on the morning of February 26 for a two day visit. Along with our tablemates we had rented a van, complete with driver and guide, for the full two days. This was quite economical compared to the alternatives (there is nothing you can walk to from the pier) and it also allowed us the flexibility to decide for ourselves where to go and when, although for the most part we followed our guide Gede’s excellent advice. This is definitely not a place where you should drive yourself, as the traffic is unbelievable. We were welcomed as we left the ship by a Gamelan orchestra and some Balinese dancers.
Last time we were here we took a day long excursion to several impressive temples and palaces in eastern Bali. You can see that here:
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This time we set out for central Bali. The traffic around the port was horrendous but eventually our excellent driver got us through it and we headed for a monkey forest called Obyek Wisata Sangeh. There are at least five monkey forests in Bali that can be visited and the monkeys in some of them have very bad reputations for stealing items from tourists (like sunglasses or cameras) and even for biting & scratching. In others the monkeys stay away from visitors high in the trees. Ours was in the Goldilocks zone between these extremes, since the monkeys were very friendly and did not bite or steal anything. The forest was of nutmeg trees, very tall and imposing, and there were some sculptures and an old temple near the beginning.
The monkeys looked like the flying monkeys from The Wizard Of Oz, with points of hair on top of their heads. The monkeys appear to be well trained to climb on the backs of visitors, knowing that the fellows who work here will give them something to eat if they do. Still, it was fun and the monkeys made it onto the shoulders of everybody but Mary, who shooed them away.
Even without people, the monkeys were fun to watch.
From the monkey forest we drove on to a Hindu temple called Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. Bali is full of temples, some 10,000 in all according to our guide. And that doesn’t include small shrines in what seems to be just about every house you pass. Built in 1633 on the shore of Lake Bratan, Ulun Danu Bratan is some 3600 feet above sea level & one of the most important temples in Bali. It is dedicated to Dewi Danu, a water and fertility goddess, and is an important pilgrimage site for the Balinese. On the day we visited the weather was chilly & wet with the mountains behind the lake hidden by a thick cloud. You could not go into the temple & its grounds outside were thick with tourists. Despite all that it was quite beautiful.
Outside on the temple grounds there was a bit of a Disneyland atmosphere, with figures of beasts & birds, even Spongebob Squarepants. In the lake you could rent bird shaped pedal boats. Quite incongruous at a religious shrine. As you walked into the grounds there was a sign with rules, one of which seemed pretty offensive to women.
We walked around the temple toward the lake side. There were some small pavilions & some double outrigger boats near the path.
Around the back of the temple on the lake were several islands containing pavilions and sculptures. They looked like they were floating, but we don’t think they really were. One had bamboo surrounded by two dragons and the others had several pavilions and sculptures. They were quite beautiful, even with the mountains behind them invisible because of the low cloud cover.
Bali is filled with flowers, many of which we saw at this temple. So this is a good place for the flora section. Hang on, there are a lot of them!
Stone carvings are very big in Bali; you see them everywhere & often pass stone carving shops when driving around the island. There are many stone carvings at this temple, including a large Buddhist stupa with golden statues of Buddha in it facing in each of the four directions. We came across a Dik-Dik, a small species of antelope, that was penned on the grounds. There was also a large banyan tree dressed up in a skirt.
Given the choice of eating inside the temple grounds or outside we decided to go to a buffet restaurant not far from the temple. As soon as we stepped inside the heavens opened up & it poured rain; the rain stopped shortly before we left. So that seemed like a good omen. The lunch was very good & surprisingly inexpensive.
After lunch Gede took us to a produce market. Quite colorful, but really unnecessary. One fellow there was selling “Rolex” watches for $10 (with a lifetime guarantee!). He had them mounted on a board & when no one bought he lowered the price to $5. Still no one bought, so he went down to $2.00 without any success. As we wandered through the market, Bob encountered him again on another aisle and, apparently not recognizing him, the guy asked for $10. Bob said “What happened to the $2.00,” and that was the last we saw of him.
Next we went to see a landscape of rice terraces that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. As we understand it, these are separate farmers’ fields, each with a storage building, but the Subak water distribution system is operated cooperatively. The water appears to filter down from terrace to terrace. At the top was a water trough with a tiny water wheel, & the water seems to originate from one of the mountain lakes, but we weren’t sure about all that. We were quite sure that this area is very beautiful.
Time was now getting short so we went to see another famous temple. We had wanted to see one called Uluwatu, which is perched on a high cliff. But road construction had made the traffic in that area impossible so we went to a temple called Tanah Lot. It is on an island just off the coast and is accessible from the shore only at low tide. It wasn’t low tide when we were there and we aren’t sure that non-Hindus would have been admitted anyway. The sun was getting low in the sky, which made for a beautiful vista.
A small temple called Pura Batu Balong was a short walk up the coast from Tanah Lot. It was on an island connected to the mainland by a natural bridge.
We left Tanah Lot & drove back to the ship after a very full day. There was a Balinese dance performance on the ship, but this episode is already too long so tomorrow’s episode will start with that show.
Freemantle, Australia
We arrived at Freemantle for an overnight stay at 4:00 PM on February 21. Founded in 1829, when Captain Charles Freemantle claimed all of western Australia for England, it is located at the mouth of the Swan River about 12 miles from Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and is one of the main ports in the region. Its population is close to 30,000 today.
Once the ship was cleared by the dock officials we walked out of the harbor and crossed a metal pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. On the dock by the ship was a small band of Australians singing “Waltzing Matilda.”
Walking toward the center of town we passed several old churches.
Freemantle (known locally as “Freo”) is characterized by its many Victorian buildings, some of which we passed on our walk the first afternoon.
In the middle of town we saw the Town Hall, opened in 1887, with its imposing clock tower. The garish asymmetrical yellow stripes at the top were a mystery until later on the second day. Near it was a small platform with plants called the “Tiny Park,” intended as a brief respite from crowds on busy days. It was very tiny, maybe 8 feet in length.
Returning to the ship we had to clear Australian security, which turned out to be absurdly tight. We had to remove everything metal to get through the detector, including Rick’s belt & wallet. Mary had to be wanded because of her titanium knee . . . and the rivets on her blue jeans. It was silly, since the only place you could go afterward was on the ship, which has its own metal detectors that are not quite as tightly wound. So if that was good enough for the ship it seemed it should be good enough for the Australians.
We had thought to spend the second day in Perth. But we were leaving at 4:00 & Perth was a train ride away, and we hadn’t seen much of Freemantle. So we decided to spend the second day in Freemantle and save Perth for another visit. This turned out to be a good choice.
So after breakfast we left the ship and headed to the left this time to find the Freemantle Arts Centre. On the way we passed what looks like a nice cruise ship with large windows in every room. Actually, it is the world’s largest sheep transport ship, which would be taking export sheep to the Middle East. We could almost see the sheep checking into their rooms and unpacking before heading to the buffet for breakfast! In fact the ship was empty at that time, but we were told that when it is full you can smell it before you see it.
The Freemantle Arts Centre was built by convicts in the 1860’s as the Freemantle Lunatic Asylum. The current exhibit was “Museum Of Water” and our friend Robert, who was already there, told us it consisted entirely of jars of water with labels of where they were collected. So we decided we didn’t need to see that. The grounds were lovely, though, with some nice flowers & some birds nearby.
We decided to visit the Freemantle Prison next, but it took a great deal of looking before we found it. The prison was built in the 1850’s by the first group of convicts transported here from England. Before the convict transportation system was shut down in 1886 some 10,000 men had been sent here. It was used as the local prison after that until 1991, when it was closed and opened to the public for visiting. The remains of the eleven convict prisons in Australia are all part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the one in Freemantle is in the best condition (after some restoration).
Our friends Robert & Bill were at the prison when we arrived & we were in the same group for the tour. Our delightful guide, Moira, was full of interesting stories & was a dramatic story teller. We set out to walk through the cell blocks, depressing to say the least.
We visited the prison library and the chapel. Then Moira took us down for a look at the solitary confinement building, where each cell had an inner and outer door & a food slot. Outside was the site for lashings with a cat o’ nine-tails, which Moira deftly demonstrated on one of the hapless visitors.
Headed for the Shipwreck Galleries, we walked past what appeared to be the rugby stadium, the Freemantle Market (built in 1897), only open on weekends, and an odd street sign & some wall art.
The Shipwreck Galleries are housed in a building built by convicts in the 1850’s as a government warehouse. It houses artifacts & displays relating to . . . shipwrecks in western Australia. Its prize display is of part of the hull of the Dutch ship Batavia, which sank in 1829 on its way to Batavia (now Jakarta). Among other things, it was carrying stones intended to complete the gates of the city of Batavia, which have now been assembled in the museum. The full story of the Batavia sinking is a lurid one, and the museum also presents the story of its recovery in 1972.
We stopped for a delicious lunch of fish & chips at a nearby restaurant called Char Char then headed over to the Round House. The Round House (actually an octagon) was built in 1831 to serve as the local jail and is the oldest remaining building in Western Australia. It is built on the spot where Captain Freemantle claimed western Australia for the crown. It had 8 cells opening onto a central courtyard. A tunnel was built below it to enable whalers to transfer their catch directly from the water into the town.
Meanwhile, remember those garish yellow stripes on the top of the Town Hall? It turns out that they are part of a temporary art installation that can only be seen properly from the steps of the Round House. From there it looks like a large tunnel made of yellow semicircles stretching down the street to the Town Hall. From below it doesn’t.
Back on the ship for the sail away, we could see Perth in the distance (about 12 miles away) & the sheep ship being loaded. A huge solid body Japanese ship was nearby unloading Toyotas. And there was a yacht that the Captain told us cost 200 million US dollars (10 years earlier the Amsterdam hand cost only $50 million more than that).
As we sailed away we had one last view of Freemantle in the sunny afternoon, then as we left the port we passed a forest of yacht masts. This was our last glimpse of Australia as we headed into the Indian Ocean toward Indonesia.
Albany, Australia
After two fairly rough days at sea crossing the Australian bight we reached Albany on the morning of February 20.
Founded in 1826 by a group sent out from Sydney, Albany was a home to whalers until 1978 & was an important stop on the shipping route from Britain to Sydney. Until 1897 it was the only deep water port in Western Australia. Situated on Princess Royal Harbor inside the much larger King George Sound, Its population is about 34,000.
The coast in this region can be quite dramatic & our excursion set out early in the morning to see some of it. We visited Torndirrup National Park to see two formations in the coastal rocks that are within walking distance of each other. The first is called “The Gap,” an inlet into the rocky shore where the tides rush in. A walkway has been built part of the way over the gap to give a better view.
Not far away is the Natural Bridge. You can walk near, but not over, the Bridge.
This rocky and inhospitable area had quite a few flowers & also some unusual plants whose trunks stretched far over the rocks, looking dead but supporting greenery at the end.
Driving back from the National Park we passed a field with a horse feeding while wild kangaroos breakfasted in the field behind him.
We returned to Albany & drove up Mt Clarence. Near the top is a monument to the ANZAC troops who fought in Palestine during World War I (ANZAC is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp). This monument was originally erected in Port Said, Egypt, in 1932 but was destroyed during the Suez crisis in 1956. The base & plinth were sent back to Australia but the sculpture had been irreparably destroyed. A new version of the monument was created and the whole thing was erected here in 1964. The sculpture shows a mounted Australian and a dismounted New Zealand soldier in action.
Albany is a center for ANZAC remembrance because it was from this harbor that the more than 40,000 ANZAC volunteers set sail in two convoys to fight in World War I. The first convoy left on November 1, 1914. Many of those troops fought in the battle of Gallipoli in Turkey, an unsuccessful amphibious campaign designed to take Turkey out of the war early. One of the famous battles there was for “One Pine Hill,” so named because a single pine tree was at the top. Near the monument here is the Lone Pine memorial, consisting of a pine tree planted in 1974 from a pine cone collected by some soldiers from the top of One Pine Hill, after the original pine tree had been destroyed in the battle.
At the top of the mountain above these memorials is the Mt Clarence Lookout, with fabulous views over Albany and King George Sound. Ships have to come through the narrow passage in the foreground to enter Princess Royal Harbor and the Albany dock. This passage is called Ataturk Entrance, apparently named after Kemal Ataturk, the first president of modern Turkey and also a general who fought against the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli.
Next we toured the nearby National Anzac Centre, a museum dedicated to the ANZAC troops of World War I. It was very interesting with cutting edge interactive technology, although a little light on artifacts. The focus was on individuals who were part of the Anzac force. Each visitor receives a card describing one Anzac member, then you can follow their personal experiences as you proceed through the museum, reading about the battles & the people who fought in them. The museum opened on November 1, 2014, the 100th anniversary of the departure of the first convoy of troops. It is very evocative.
We drove back into town & the bus dropped us off on York Street, the main street in town. Albany has no stoplights, only roundabouts at the intersections. We walked up the street, lined with old Victorian buildings. Among other things, we passed the Town Hall, erected in 1888, which was also the place to catch the shuttle back to the ship. There was also an interesting statue of Mokare, an elder of the Noongar Aboriginal people who was instrumental in establishing good relations with the British settlers in 1826. Monuments to Aboriginal people seem to be pretty rare in our limited experience. A plaque explained that this was a “reconciliation project.” Near the Town Hall was a large poster depicting the head of this statue.
We stopped for lunch at the Albany Hotel, built in 1835. Among the best fish & chips we have ever had, along with some tasty local brew.
The public library was under renovation so it didn’t look like much from the outside. But it was still in operation inside, although a two week closure was imminent.
We saw more flora after our return from the National Park in the morning. So here is what some of it looked like.
Last but not least we walked up to visit the Dog Rock. It looks very much like a dog’s head, especially since someone has painted a collar around the dog’s neck. We have read that the Noongar Aborginal people called this “Boondie Yokine” before the Europeans came, which translates as “Dog Rock.”
Back on the ship, we had nice views of the port and of the wind farm on the opposite side of the harbor. Some 18 huge windmills sit atop a ridge. We were told that there are only 7 days a year when there is insufficient wind to turn the turbines (the day we were there was certainly not one of them) and that the wind farm supplies about 80% of all the local electricity. Solar panels provide most of the rest.
We pulled away from the dock and headed out through Ataturk Entrance. On the island to our right was a flock of Cormorants.
A lot of locals had parked their cars on the mountain beside Albany to watch us sail out.
As evening fell we sailed out into King George Sound and thence into the Southern Ocean.
Adelaide, Australia
We spent February 17 in Adelaide, having docked during the night after the very short sail from Penneshaw (less than 10 miles). Adelaide was first settled by Europeans in 1836, displacing the Aboriginal Kaurna people whose culture was destroyed within a couple of decades. It was named for Queen Adelaide of England, the wife of William IV. It is the only state capital in Australia that was settled and built by free settlers rather than convicts, and it has been known from the beginning as a pioneer in civil and religious liberty. Adelaide is a sizable city, with a population in excess of 1.3 million.
The port is a good way from the city, so we had to take a train into town. The train runs between the port and the city center and it was $10 for an all day pass (but really, it was only useful for two trips: into and out of town). At the railway station we met our friends Robert & Bill, with whom we spent the day. Leaving the downtown train station we walked down the street past a number of sculptures & monuments, most notably the War Memorial.
We visited the State Library, which had a gorgeous old part & a snazzy new one full of glass. We were puzzled by all the old books in the original library, which didn’t seem to have any clear scheme for organizing all of its old books. Rick suggested maybe it was in order of acquisition, which would be particularly useless. In front of the library was a statue of Robert Burns, who seems to have been very popular in the Antipodes.
We spent some time in the South Australia Museum, which includes the largest collection of Aboriginal artifacts in the world & a very extensive natural history exhibit.
We walked down the part of Rundle Street that is a pedestrian mall. It is lined with shops & large stores and has street performers and sculptures, including one called Silver Balls. We also saw signs for the Adelaide Fringe Festival, a three week arts festival that was in progress. In one of the large stores we found the Adelaide City Library, but it was on the top floor and the escalators didn’t go that high. Puzzled, we walked around and found the entrance in what looked like an alley behind the store.
The city library was very nice inside, with a board game area & all the modern conveniences, including a usb charging station.
After this it was time to eat. But that wasn’t so easy. It was Saturday and a lot of stores & restaurants were closed, though we aren’t sure why. Anyway we did a LOT of walking looking for a pub & eventually settled for what turned out to be a very good pizza restaurant. It was the first pizza with pumpkin we have had & it turned out to be surprisingly good. We then walked a long way to a couple of stores we had read about, but they were closed. So we walked all the way across town to some other stores, which were very expensive and a bit disappointing.
We were all tired by this time so we headed back to the ship, where we heard that a passenger had been removed by police in handcuffs. We don’t know why, but suspect it was drugs. Anyway, that’s it for Adelaide, a pleasant but unspectacular city based on our short experience.
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