oobood 2nd try
i actually wrote a full entry this morning (your "last night"), but as i wrote, the dial-up connection cut out and so i couldn't post it. of course, everything's utterly different now, but i'll try and recapture some of what i wrote this morning, because i kind of liked it.
so... bali. we spent those first two nights in the lesser resort of Sanur near the huge resort of Kuta (those of you who remember might recall the bali bombings were there) in a gorgeous bungalow set in lush gardens - way too big for our needs, but we enjoyed it while feeling overwhelmed by the island and our lack of knowledge about it. highlights include swimming in the empty pool at night and finding the night market after a first night in vain - scooping up rice and saucy goodies with my fingers and shoving the drippy mess into my mouth. all for the low low price of 60 cents or so. does it get any better? i think not.
So then we took the complicated public transportation system (re: colored minivans that only honk at you when you don't want them and are nowhere to be found when you're pack-laden and wanting a ride) 3 legs to Ubud - further inland. after trudging around town for a little bit, checking out the places we'd starred in our 2-year old guidebook and finding them deserted or not finding them at all, we accepted the offer of $3/night that we'd gotten upon emerging, bright-eyed and sweat-soaked, from the bemo (minivan-thing). it was a fine room - there were some things that scurried across the thatch roof ceiling in the evening, threatening to fall through and utterly freak me out, but they stopped scurrying once it got dark, so it wasn't too much of an issue. we used the place for pack storage while we wandered about looking for alternate accomodation for the rest of our stay here. and this morning we got breakfast in our little porch sitting area: banana pancake and fruit salad, and it was good, even if there were bits of pan in the pancake and the cushions we sat on were ripped in places.
anyway, we found Ben Homestay - that means the family lives in the compound too - it's 2 very clean and big rooms, stacked on top of each other. each has its own bathroom and porch. the one on the top has a mosquito net so you can leave the deck doors and windows open, and the one on the bottom has a ceiling fan. it costs $10 a night. we stayed there last night. and this morning we had banana pancake and fruit salad on the downstairs porch. no pan in the pancake - just some shredded coconut. and avocado in the fruit salad - an interesting choice but it worked - the lime brought it all together. it rained early this morning, so as we ate, i noticed how intense all the colors had become. the rusty red of the plate on which my pancake sat. the white and purple of the fresh flowers our hostess had put in the vase on the table. the emerald greens of the garden of the compound. the vibrant magenta of the rambutan on the tree nearby. And i matched the vibrancy, in my newly purchased bright blue (same color as my senior year room at wesleyan) thai fisherman pants (which are SO comfortable) and rust-red cotton shirt from tasmania, brought together by the cotton scarf i bought last night from the 28-year-old tailor man who showed us how to dress in full Balinese garb should we attend any temple festivities (which we plan to do tonight).
speaking of purchases - it's tough. one guidebook called walking down the main street "running the gauntlet" and it's true. you have to wave people off or ignore them - there are calls of "transport?" and "just looking?" and other things that all overlap until it becomes chaotic noise and it gets overwhelming at times. yesterday morning, when we went to the market, we actually pretended we were Deaf (again) - signing our way through only helped a little bit. maybe more that i tuned people out and not that they approached us less.
today. i woke up feeling really good - everything was fresh and clean and bright - newly washed from the rain, and we planned to head to the art museum and then up to the temple festivites... but we got waylaid somewhere. the internet got cut off.. we didn't realize how far away the tailor shop was where we had to pick up some shirts... we stopped knowing our plan and everything fell apart. first nabia was feeling anxious and i was trying to bring her out, but after we went to the library and sat up in the kid's reading section, thumbing through magazines that talked about how tourism and "development" can have such horrible effects... my mood dropped like a rock. Here's the thing: everyone who makes it this far - to Ubud - is trying to get off the beaten path. that means they're more similar to me than "the average tourist." but this is now very much the beaten path. so anywhere i go will have been tread many times before. part of me takes comfort in this - that there are so many other people who are interested in learning about the people and the culture and not just the sun and the sand, but it also means that i can't have any real conversations with people because no matter how innocently they start, they always end with a pitch to sell me something. We were having a nice conversation with a guy who sat down with us at lunch - talking about exactly these frustrations, and he mentions he's an artist and takes out his portfolio. then offers to drive us around. "transport?" it's all the same. i'm really hoping we can get out of Ubud tomorrow a bit. i want to see where the real people are - if there are any left that don't just cater to tourists.
don't get me wrong - i'm not miserable - just frustrated. i feel like there's magic here just below the surface, and i can't seem to break through. we've only been here a few days, but when my grandmother asks me, "Is it beautiful there?," i want to be able to answer her instead of saying that i haven't really seen it yet.
so there. i think that's the jist of everything.
we're ok - disappointed with the lack of night market in ubud (there used to be one, but now it's all restaurants - fusion and the like. we asked a few locals where they
eat and they said they eat at home. sad.), but ok. tomorrow's a new day and we'll be more rested (hopefully - we've been utterly exhausted recently - the influx of new information, pressure of the 30-day visa to make a plan and get a-steppin to see things, the lack of "weekend" on this trip - no relaxing days...).
now we'll go get some grub at some restaurant, change out of our fishermen pants into our sarongs and scarves, and try to catch some festivites at a temple somewhere. tomorrow we'll do some walking, see some art, and then meet up with a canadian guy we've run into twice - he's been here and to java before and can give us some tips...
ok. keep sending those mailing addresses, and i'll try and post again soon. although the broadband connections are few and far between and the others are maddening.
ta for now,
amy
email me
so... bali. we spent those first two nights in the lesser resort of Sanur near the huge resort of Kuta (those of you who remember might recall the bali bombings were there) in a gorgeous bungalow set in lush gardens - way too big for our needs, but we enjoyed it while feeling overwhelmed by the island and our lack of knowledge about it. highlights include swimming in the empty pool at night and finding the night market after a first night in vain - scooping up rice and saucy goodies with my fingers and shoving the drippy mess into my mouth. all for the low low price of 60 cents or so. does it get any better? i think not.
So then we took the complicated public transportation system (re: colored minivans that only honk at you when you don't want them and are nowhere to be found when you're pack-laden and wanting a ride) 3 legs to Ubud - further inland. after trudging around town for a little bit, checking out the places we'd starred in our 2-year old guidebook and finding them deserted or not finding them at all, we accepted the offer of $3/night that we'd gotten upon emerging, bright-eyed and sweat-soaked, from the bemo (minivan-thing). it was a fine room - there were some things that scurried across the thatch roof ceiling in the evening, threatening to fall through and utterly freak me out, but they stopped scurrying once it got dark, so it wasn't too much of an issue. we used the place for pack storage while we wandered about looking for alternate accomodation for the rest of our stay here. and this morning we got breakfast in our little porch sitting area: banana pancake and fruit salad, and it was good, even if there were bits of pan in the pancake and the cushions we sat on were ripped in places.
anyway, we found Ben Homestay - that means the family lives in the compound too - it's 2 very clean and big rooms, stacked on top of each other. each has its own bathroom and porch. the one on the top has a mosquito net so you can leave the deck doors and windows open, and the one on the bottom has a ceiling fan. it costs $10 a night. we stayed there last night. and this morning we had banana pancake and fruit salad on the downstairs porch. no pan in the pancake - just some shredded coconut. and avocado in the fruit salad - an interesting choice but it worked - the lime brought it all together. it rained early this morning, so as we ate, i noticed how intense all the colors had become. the rusty red of the plate on which my pancake sat. the white and purple of the fresh flowers our hostess had put in the vase on the table. the emerald greens of the garden of the compound. the vibrant magenta of the rambutan on the tree nearby. And i matched the vibrancy, in my newly purchased bright blue (same color as my senior year room at wesleyan) thai fisherman pants (which are SO comfortable) and rust-red cotton shirt from tasmania, brought together by the cotton scarf i bought last night from the 28-year-old tailor man who showed us how to dress in full Balinese garb should we attend any temple festivities (which we plan to do tonight).
speaking of purchases - it's tough. one guidebook called walking down the main street "running the gauntlet" and it's true. you have to wave people off or ignore them - there are calls of "transport?" and "just looking?" and other things that all overlap until it becomes chaotic noise and it gets overwhelming at times. yesterday morning, when we went to the market, we actually pretended we were Deaf (again) - signing our way through only helped a little bit. maybe more that i tuned people out and not that they approached us less.
today. i woke up feeling really good - everything was fresh and clean and bright - newly washed from the rain, and we planned to head to the art museum and then up to the temple festivites... but we got waylaid somewhere. the internet got cut off.. we didn't realize how far away the tailor shop was where we had to pick up some shirts... we stopped knowing our plan and everything fell apart. first nabia was feeling anxious and i was trying to bring her out, but after we went to the library and sat up in the kid's reading section, thumbing through magazines that talked about how tourism and "development" can have such horrible effects... my mood dropped like a rock. Here's the thing: everyone who makes it this far - to Ubud - is trying to get off the beaten path. that means they're more similar to me than "the average tourist." but this is now very much the beaten path. so anywhere i go will have been tread many times before. part of me takes comfort in this - that there are so many other people who are interested in learning about the people and the culture and not just the sun and the sand, but it also means that i can't have any real conversations with people because no matter how innocently they start, they always end with a pitch to sell me something. We were having a nice conversation with a guy who sat down with us at lunch - talking about exactly these frustrations, and he mentions he's an artist and takes out his portfolio. then offers to drive us around. "transport?" it's all the same. i'm really hoping we can get out of Ubud tomorrow a bit. i want to see where the real people are - if there are any left that don't just cater to tourists.
don't get me wrong - i'm not miserable - just frustrated. i feel like there's magic here just below the surface, and i can't seem to break through. we've only been here a few days, but when my grandmother asks me, "Is it beautiful there?," i want to be able to answer her instead of saying that i haven't really seen it yet.
so there. i think that's the jist of everything.
we're ok - disappointed with the lack of night market in ubud (there used to be one, but now it's all restaurants - fusion and the like. we asked a few locals where they
eat and they said they eat at home. sad.), but ok. tomorrow's a new day and we'll be more rested (hopefully - we've been utterly exhausted recently - the influx of new information, pressure of the 30-day visa to make a plan and get a-steppin to see things, the lack of "weekend" on this trip - no relaxing days...).
now we'll go get some grub at some restaurant, change out of our fishermen pants into our sarongs and scarves, and try to catch some festivites at a temple somewhere. tomorrow we'll do some walking, see some art, and then meet up with a canadian guy we've run into twice - he's been here and to java before and can give us some tips...
ok. keep sending those mailing addresses, and i'll try and post again soon. although the broadband connections are few and far between and the others are maddening.
ta for now,
amy
email me
posted by theonetheycallamy at 4/01/2005 05:18:00 AM
3 comments
