Categotry Archives: Thursday Thirteen
Hike up Tjampuhan Hill
Tjampuhan Hill is a popular walk that runs from the farmland on the outskirts of Ubud right into the city. It’s a fairly long but not particularly strenuous walk with some great scenery. Many locals as well as tourists frequent sections of the path. We started off in one of those typical Indonesian rural settings – a few houses and businesses interspersed by rice paddies. At this point the walk was pretty flat. I didn’t clock us, but I think […]
Coffee Plantation
We stopped off at a place that was known to grow and sell coffee. They did quite a bit more than that. For instance, the ginger plant above grew in the couple dozen yards between the parking area and the tasting area. So did a lot of other spices.
Trunyan Village and the Bali Aga Cemetery
We split the group in two, and took two boats across Lake Batur, which is a crater left from an old volcanic explosion. That means the lake is roughly circular with a very steep lip. There isn’t a lot of room between the water and the top. Trunyan Village is wedged into that little space. The houses extend right onto the water and the rice fields are terraced into steep slopes.
The Kintamani Volcano Area
There’s a town on the other side of Lake Batur whose name escapes me. It’s set up on a ridge. The ridge is so narrow that only the road down the middle fits. The buildings on either side spill down the sides. We stopped there for lunch.
On the Move
Shortly after our visit to the Imperial Palace the winds shifted and we were able to fly from Java to Bali. What a world of difference! Here are some photos I took on the way to our hotel that night. Of course, that was quite the ride as we went from the airport in Denpasar to Ubud, which is in the center of town. The airport gave us a good preview of what to expect – lots of grand statuary. […]
The Imperial Palace
The buildings that had been used by the emperor for many generations have mostly been converted to a museum housing the various items that were used by royalty over the years. They range from portraits to oven mitts. 1. Guardian statue at the entry way.
On the Way to the Airport
The next morning we were supposed to leave Java and fly off to Bali. Like most best-laid-plans this one went awry. The airport in Bali suffered from drifting volcanic ash off and on the whole trip. It happened to be closed when we were supposed to take off, so the travel company arranged a later flight for us. That left all morning with nothing to do. Our guide quickly made alternative arrangements to keep us entertained. She lined up bikchas […]
Rice Cracker Factory
Horse drawn carriages took us to a rice cracker factory where we participated in rice cracker production.
Borobudur Temple part 2
I mentioned before that the walls all tell the story of enlightenment. Did I mention that they tended to be a bit tall? Much of the time we couldn’t see just how high up we’d gotten.
Borobudur Temple part 1
Mostly I just want to show off my pictures. 🙂 Borobudur is one of the largest Buddhist monuments in the world. It’s a pyramid with a 150,000 square foot base and six tiers. It’s made entirely of volcanic rock. The advantage of volcanic rock is that it is relatively light weight due to the gas bubbles inside, and easier to carve than sedimentary stone. There are pieces of it as large as a small car included in the temple. We […]
Indonesian Veterans
There was a dictator named Suharto. He ruled Indonesia as president from 1967 to 1998. We went to visit with Indonesian veterans in his house and went through the adjoining museum dedicated to him while we were there. Suharto’s home isn’t normally open to random visitors like us. We were allowed in as a special treat offered by the brother of the house’s current owner. They had two lines of chairs facing one another in a long, otherwise empty room. […]
Phantom Volcano
We’re up to Day 6 of my trip to Indonesia. Sorry it’s taking me so long to get to everything. It was quite the packed vacation. This morning we were supposed to go on a hike around the sloped of Mount Merapi. Supposedly we could see this volcano from our hotel in Yogjakarta. I’m sure normally it would be visible while we were on it. At the time two or three volcanoes in Indonesia were putting out tons of ash. […]
A Batik Factory
On the way back to the hotel from the Prambanan Temple Complex we stopped off at a batik factory. I’ve always been a fan of batik, and was looking forward to picking up a few yards of material while in Bali. I knew that even in Bali it wouldn’t be cheap, but I was hoping it would get cheap enough for me.
A Hidden Restaurant
We left the Prambanan Temple Complex fairly close to dinner time. The nice thing about a packaged tour is that you don’t have to worry about where you will eat or finding a place that should be food-safe. You just get on the bus and the touring company will take you to a place at about the right time.
