BALI

 LOVINA BEACH

We arrived at Lovina Beach on the northern end of Bali on the 18th Sept after an overnight sail from Medana Bay, Lombok. There are all sorts of hazards when sailing at night, but the Indonesians take it to a new height. As if unlit fishing boats, boats with flashing lights of all colours, or with downright incorrect lights is not enough to keep you awake and alert they also have these fish traps that are unlit, dark in colour (so you can’t see them) and drift around permanently attracting fish to shelter under them. Makes finding the fish to catch them so much easier, but it means that we try to avoid sailing at night if we possibly can. Sometimes this is not possible so we then try to sail when there is a decent moon.

INDONESIAN FISH TRAP

There are already quite a few boats from the rally here in Bali, but there are still plenty more to come. We were talking to Dianne and Bernie off First Light II, and Dianne and I both thought that the other looked familiar. So, as you do, you try to find common ground, and we worked our way back to Warragul. Dianne turns out to be Dianne Blackwood, not only did we go to the same school, but we were in the same class all through high school!! Amazing.

Well, once again we hired motorbikes so we could explore Bali. Good thing we practiced in Lombok as the traffic here is far worse. Chris and I (Amulet) and David off Mirage III plus us took off early to find the supermarket. They are rare things indeed in Indonesia so if there is one it needs to be checked out. After that we decided to head up into the mountains to see what we could see. Lots of Hindu temples and shrines along the roads, spectacular views which no camera can do justice, and all the sights and smells of Bali. The air was filled with the aroma of drying cloves, and further up the mountain there was the sweet smell of oranges. The roads are very much better than on Lombok, although we were doing a loop up through the mountains and once on top found the road was closed so we had to come back down the same road. Tomorrow we will head west and see how we go.

BALINESE TEMPLE

On advice from a local it was decided to go up the other side of the loop that we missed out on when we had to turn back. It was an overcast day with the threat of rain constantly over our heads as we headed for the hills. We passed through Monkey Mountain and guess what we saw there? Yes, you got it: monkeys. Just look how cute these are.

 MOHAWK TRIBE

Almost at the top of the mountain we came to a market or Pasar in the local jargon. Have picked up enough to be able to bargain with the best of them, the secret is you must be prepared to walk away if they don’t come down to your price. Lots of fun. The fruit and vegie market was the best we had seen, with very fresh produce. I bought a cauliflower that had just been picked! We all came back down the mountain loaded with stuff, even starting to look like the locals with the way they transport everything by bike. If it not on a bike it is usually on someone’s head, the amounts they move that way is incredible. There were even women carting rocks in baskets on their head. Lovina Beach is a tourist area so there are plenty of restaurants that cater to the western taste, but with Indonesian prices. Main meal, sweets and beer came to $19.00 for the two of us. Sure beats cooking.

Next came the official functions and Gala dinner. The music and dancing in Bali are very different to what we saw in the southern islands. The girls are beautiful, elegant and very graceful, a pleasure to watch. Dinner was served at a local restaurant, and unlike everywhere else there was only one speech to welcome us to Bali.

BALINESE DANCER

Today we went to the bull races. Well they don’t actually race them as we know it; it is not about who is first, but who can control their bulls the best, and who has the best trained bulls. They are all decked out with bells and headdresses, and pull a sled type arrangement. The jockey sits on a thin piece of timber attached to the yoke between the two bulls. When they called for volunteers naturally I off Amulet and myself put our hand up. It was great fun; I won and was interviewed by the local TV station. What a buzz that was! 

AREN'T THEY CUTE!

This afternoon the kids from kindergarten were performing, and what a great job they did. A photo just doesn’t do it justice. Bali has been great, every night there have been cultural shows, but the stage has been set up on the beach, so all the locals and other tourists can come and watch as well.

BALI KINDERGARTEN KIDS

Well all good things must come to an end and Bali has been a very enjoyable stop. Tomorrow we are off to Karimun Jawa, which is 340 nm from here, so that will take 3-4 days.

LOMBOK 2

LOMBOK 2

As we are still in Lombok and there are more adventures to report I thought I would do a second blog on Lombok. Amulet and ourselves have hired a motorbike each for four days. This cost us the princely sum of 200.000 rupiah or AUD$25.00. So now we have wheels and can explore the countryside.

COOL BIKES

As we didn’t get the bikes until 2 o’clock we decided to take a run into Sengiggi, which apparently was not far. What they didn’t tell us was that being a Sunday and the end of Ramadan AND a holiday, every motorbike in Lombok would be on the same coastal road to Sengiggi! The main hazards to look out for are the roosters and chickens that roam everywhere, the occasional goat or cow and all the other traffic on the road.

OCEAN ROAD TO SENGIGGI

Monday we packed a lunch and headed north. The main road is fairly good, except in the villages and near bridges. The potholes are many and large, the bitumen broken up or non existent. Once off the main road, it deteriorates very quickly. We turned off to head up to Ganggi Waterfalls, riding through agricultural countryside with rice paddies, tobacco fields, corn, lombok chilli peppers, peanuts, vanilla and coconuts. This is very fertile land, and labour is cheap and plentiful; the harvest is packed onto motorbikes and transported into towns for sale.

FARMLAND

The road deteriorated even further, now down to a dirt track; perhaps we should have rented off road bikes. Arriving at a spotlessly clean village, which is a rare sight indeed in rubbish ridden Indonesia, a young chap offered to take us up to the falls. Naturally we are going to have to pay for this, but our guide speaks excellent English and is very knowledgeable about the crops and farming in the area. As we climb up to the waterfalls, he explains that his village is so clean because their Bupatti (village Chief) doesn’t like rubbish so he makes sure that his village is clean and tidy. Whereas nearly everywhere else the chooks, goats and cows roam free, here they are all confined to pens or tethered away from the houses.

GANGGI WATERFALL

Beyond the first waterfall is a second waterfall in the hidden cave. To reach this one has to walk over a rickety little bamboo bridge, but the view is certainly worth the effort.

HOLD ON TIGHT

On the return trip down the mountain, we stopped under a big shady tree for lunch. This turned out to be a very quiet spot as it was right out front of the local cemetery!! By this time our backsides were starting to feel it so we headed back to the marina for dinner and a Bintang.

We did a trip to the local market in Tanjung early one morning, and bargained for cauliflower and bananas. We are getting very good at haggling, and while I am pretty sure we don’t get it at local prices, I don’t think we are too far off. They wanted 9000 for the cauli, and I got them down to 3000; about 35cents.

Wednesday we headed for the mountains, up, up, and up, the roads getting smaller and steeper all the time. Huge ruts, very steep sections of concrete that had caved in on itself and still quite a lot of traffic convinced us that this was far enough. Definitely should have rented off road bikes! Back down the mountain and down to the sea under a shady tree for our picnic lunch. While heading back to the marina we found a Buddhist temple, so stopped for photos and to give our poor butts a rest.

BUDDHIST TEMPLE

Thursday off to lunch in Sengiggi, at a place called The Office. Real hamburgers and chips followed by apple pie and ice-cream!! Yum!! Back to the marina as the official festivities start at 4 o’clock.

WORKING HARD AT THE OFFICE

This was the usual cultural dance, the same but different, and a meal consisting of local dishes (read HOT) the obligatory speeches and fireworks.

MEDANA BAY FESTIVITIES

In a day or two we will move on to Bali, but this has been a delightful stopover for us. We have been here nearly 3 weeks and have enjoyed every minute of it.

LOMBOK 1

MEDANA BAY

We left Gili Lawa Laut early on the 30th of August, destination depending on the amount of wind we encountered. If there was no wind we would stop at the next island about 20 miles away, and if we had wind we would continue on to Gili Banta about 125 miles away. This would mean spending a night at sea and arriving there about midday. Once we decided to press on, naturally the wind died out and we got the current against us. The wind eventually came back and we sailed on through the night.

The moon was bright, there were millions of stars reflected in the sea and enough wind to move us along slowly, what a perfect night. As we approached Gili Banta, the anchorage looked to be exposed to the swell so we decided to do another overnighter and head straight to Medana Bay Marina on Lombok. Being 80 miles this would get us there around 10.30 a.m.

As you can see, Medana Bay is a delightful place. The staff are extremely helpful and speak excellent English. They also serve great meals at around $3.00, so why would you cook?

ENGLISH CLASS

The owner of the marina has organised English lessons once a week for the children from the local village. They are also taught about hygiene and not beg. We attended school, but as it was school holidays only 14 turned up. Class turned into a mutual lesson, they learning English and we learning Indonesian. I had brought along some of the dolls that mum and her group of ladies had knitted, and they just loved them. Even the boys were clamouring to get one. So as they were tested on their knowledge of English and got it correct they were given a doll. Four days later they are still carting them around everywhere.

We booked a tour of southern Lombok. Neil and Margaret off Bluestone, Chris and Nancy off Amulet (americans, but we won’t hold that against them) and Tony and myself were going. When it came time to go Tony wasn’t feeling well enough (yep, Bali belly strikes again) so the five of us plus driver plus guide took off at 07.30a.m.

MONKEY MOUNTAIN

First stop Monkey Mountain. Feed the monkeys peanuts, they really are quite cute and very friendly.

Next stop a traditional village with traditional weaving. Once again different patterns and colours, and the village is indeed traditional. This one is a little different as it is set up as a commune and all the weaving gets sold in the community shop and the income shared around.

Then off to the local pottery where they make: yes you guessed it pottery. Bought a lovely bowl that consists of a pottery base and woven sides. Very effective.

WATER PALACE

Next stop the Water Palace. As a young man the king had to make a pilgrimage to Mount Rinjani every year to make offerings at the temple there and to prove his worthiness as a king. Even now it is a hard slog to visit the lake in the crater of the volcano. As the king got older he found it more and more difficult to climb the mountain so he built a replica of the temple and built pools to represent the three lakes. The largest represented the big lake, and the 2 smaller ones represented the pools at the temple. One was for himself and his wife, one for his Harem and one for the soldiers. There is also a spring which is said that if you bring offerings and then drink the water you will stay young. When we asked where the king was now, the reply was “he is dead” so we figured it didn’t work too well. Then we found out he died at the ripe old age of 115 so I guess it did him some good after all.

Yesterday, the 9th September was the last day of Ramadan, where the Muslims fast from sunup to sunset for 30 days. To mark the end of Ramadan all the local villages make floats with religious themes and then have a parade. There are prizes for the best float etc. and a lot of work goes into them. The staff from the marina were going so took six of us along with them.

There was a large crowd and quite a few floats, each one representing a local town. Our town, Medana had a big Koran on the back of a big Ute with flashing lights and music blaring out. Other floats were much more impressive although at the end of the day we think our village should get the prize for the most spectacular performance. While they were waiting for their turn to present to the judges the Ute caught fire. Well, nobody had a fire extinguisher, and even though there were fireworks going off all over the place there was no fire brigade present. Luckily it was a diesel and it didn’t explode, but it did burn out. So now the local Bupati (chief) has no Ute as I am sure there would have been no insurance.

BLAZING UTE

NDO'O AND SABU

 NDO'O SUNSET

We left Ba'a on Rote on the 8th of august with the intention of sailing to an island called Ndao, but found the anchorage very deep and rolly. Since we don't do rolly we decided to check out the nearby island of Ndo'o. What a delightful little island, uninhabited, white sandy beach, clear clear water and very peaceful. Definitely no rolling! And the sunsets were just spectacular. Spent two nights here and then off to our next stop which is the town of Seba on the island of Sabu.

SABU

SEBA HARBOUR

We arrived early in the morning after sailing all night. There are 8 boats travelling together at present and as we had all been up all night, we were pretty tired and looking forward to a sleep before the festivities that evening. Well we should know better by now, everything here is island time. As we had arrived early they put on a welcoming ceremony on the beach at 10 o'clock!! We were taken to a beach by ute, yes; we were all in the back of the ute on the floor. As usual communication came late as we were supposed to land on the beach in our dinghies where Captain Cook also landed. In the traditional village that we visited there was a rock carving of Captain Cook's ship.

WELCOME BOAT

There was welcome dancing and singing, and then a little boat made out of palm leaves was launched to wish a safe journey in the future. Once again we were presented with an “ikat' or scarf made by the local weavers. Quite a fascinating process.

The island is very poor and dirty; rubbish is just thrown on the ground and eventually ends up in the sea. It doesn't have much to offer in the way of tourism, which is what they are trying to promote. No modern buildings, the ships are still unloaded by hand, and very little produce available for export. All very sad really. One thing worries me though, every island we visit we are assured that the army and navy are looking after us and we are safe. Is this because we need protecting or is it because we are important guests and all VIPS get this treatment?

This is the only place where we encountered thieves. Some young men were trying to load one of the dinghies onto a truck, and when told the police would be called they just laughed, until someone proceeded to take their photos. The police were able to I.D. them, and when confronted swore they were only trying to help put the dinghy in the water. After that there were guards constantly looking after our dinghies.

To us, our dinghies are our transport. They are the equivalent of your car if you live out in the country. No car, no go. With us, if we have no dinghy we have no way of getting ashore.

 SABU DANCERS

The dancing here is quite different, they wear little woven boxes on their feet, these contain rice and dried beans so that they rattle at the slightest movement. All the emphasis is on feet movement, and the sounds they make. these girls are competing against other groups for the honour of being able to perform on Independence Day.

Our next stop is Sumba, 110 n.m. from here, so that will be another overnighter.

WAINGAPU, SUMBA

Well here we are on Sumba. This is a large island compared to the others, covering 7000 sq. km. Population approx. 360,000. Sumba is certainly more prosperous than its neighbours. Big rivers flow throughout supplying water for irrigation of rice paddies and vegetable gardens. The town of Waingapu is the most modern we have seen to date, although there are still many poor areas. And like every other pace we have been to in Indonesia there is rubbish everywhere. There is no rubbish collection so it is either burnt or dumped. Most places are clean, but they just move the rubbish off their bit of land onto next door or out into the street.

Not only the streets are littered with rubbish, so is the harbour. Bags of rubbish come up on our anchors, and we were unfortunate enough to snag a gigantic admiralty or fishermans anchor on our first attempt to anchor. Reckon it could have been the original one from Captain Cook it was that big. Two of the others came over to help, and it took them nearly an hour to clear it. It is now sitting on the bottom waiting to snare some other poor bugger.

Once again the hospitality here is overwhelming. Because we were here early we were invited to the celebrations for Indonesian Independence Day. Apparently on the 17th august 1945 they declared their independence. It took another two years before the Dutch left.

There was a military flag raising ceremony in the morning, followed by very serious competitions of tug-of-war and another where the kids try to climb a bamboo pole covered in grease. There are all sorts of kitchen utensils tied to the top on a wheel, but the big prize is the Indonesian flag on top. It is worth 1 million rupiah for the person who manages to get it. That equates to about $133.00 which is two months wages here.

FLAG RAISING CEREMONY

We were very much honored guests. We were escorted to the front row alongside the big brass from Navy, Army, Police, Swat teams, and Special Service police. Behind us were the civil servants upper echelon, all wondering where we fit into the picture. We were even supplied with a morning tea snack, along with copious amounts of water.

CLIMBING THE POLE

We returned to our boats for the rest of the day, and presented ourselves on the wharf at 7.00 pm for the gala dinner. Lots of speeches in Indonesian, then dinner which is buffet style. Don't get between an Indonesian and a free feed let me tell you. The chickens here are very scrawny, but must have long necks as that seems to be a favourite: all bone and no meat. And HOT. Those little lombok (chilies ) are dynamite and used in nearly everything.

TRADITIONAL VILLAGE

On friday there was a bus tour to Pau, a traditional village where the ikat are woven. Everywhere we went we were mobbed by ladies trying to sell us their ikats. Gets very tiring after the first couple. And if you buy one that only seems to encourage the others to hassle you. It was very interesting to see how they are made, it is a very slow and painstaking process, first hand spinning the cotton, then tie-dieing the yarn and then weaving it thread by thread.

WEAVING THE IKAT

Then it was off to another village with gravestones. The last king died 3 years ago and is buried here. While most are Christian with a small percentage of Muslims, up in these villages many still hold firmly to the old religion called Marapu in their daily lives.

Traditionally when a king dies his body is kept until his grave is ready. This can take a few years as monolithic stones must be manually hauled from outside the village to be used as a tombstone. Once the tomb is ready, then the sacrificing begins. Horses and buffalo are offered up, and implements are sent with the person for use in the next life.

But here is where it gets interesting. The king has slaves and some of them must accompany him on his journey. Yep!! You got it. The slave or slaves are sacrificed as well. They get a little round stone for their gravestone. When we asked about the custom they readily agreed that that is the way it used to be. When we said that of course that didn't happen when the last king died 3 years ago they just looked at us and said nothing. Would not answer the question. Very sobering thought.

A KINGS TOMB

Then it was off to another village for a welcome dance, and the offering of betel nut. This is a sign that you are welcome in their village. Betel nut chewing is very big here. It is terrible. It is a mind altering drug, obviously gives them a high, stains their teeth red so they rot away and then they spit everywhere. At least it is stained red so you can avoid stepping in it.

A SUMBANESE DANCER

ANOTHER DANCER

Well that was Sumba, very generous and helpful but we have been here a week so time to move on. Next report from Rindja and Komodo where the dragons are.