Back home again!

After a 16 hours flight we landed at Schiphol Airport at 7.10AM local time! We were welcomed with almost freezing temperatures: 2 degrees celcius. I noticed my breathe fumes when we left the airplane.

My 6 weeks journey to Indonesia came unfortunately to an end!

I have had an awesome time and I can look back on an unforgettable trip!

I will remember:

The always smiling, friendly & happy Indonesian people!

The hospitality of DISKOMINFO to gain the working experience in Indonesia!

My nice collegues from IBM!

The great support from ABV!

The delicious food!

The wonderful fruit juices, specially the sirsak juice!

The comfortable climate in Bandung!

The heat in Yogja & Bali!

The Galungan ceremonies at Bali!

All the other things, too many to list!

Terima Kasih Banyak!

PS. This is the last contribution of this blog. After almost 50 messages this blog comes to an end!

All readers: Thank you! It was my pleasure.

Last day!

Our last day in Indonesia! Tonight we leave back to The Netherlands again! After 6 weeks it is time to say goodbye! As our plane leaves only at 20.35hr we still have time to enjoy and do some sightseeing.

In the morning we had a last gathering in Jimbaran with David and Maej who spend the last days together at Bali.

In the afternoon we hired a car for the last time! We went to the Uluwatu temple, not far from Jimbaran. Uluwatu lies on a big cliff and is famous for three things: monkeys, kecak dancing and wave surfing.

You have to watch out for you belongings as the monkeys easily snatch glasses and hats a way if you don't keep a close look on them!

The kecek dancing is only at night, so we didn't had the opportunity to see them!

Enjoying the views!

Monkeys enjoying the rambutans!

Checking the entrance tickets!

At the top there was a cool drink, really welcomed as the heat was almost unbearable in the middle of the day!

A man and his son where fishing! The caught small fishes while we were enjoying our drinks!

At a restaurant, owned by some who lived in The Netherlands for 15 years, we had our lunch!

The owner knows what we like! 

On our way back to Hans' home we had a short stop near Padang- Padang beach, also known by wave surfers. Parts of the Eat, Pray, Love move is recorded here!

A perfect closure of our stay at Bali!



Barong & Pasar

Today we left Ubud, we hired the same driver as we had last Friday when we visited all the temples and Klungkung. We left around 8AM to be in time in Batubalan, the place where the well known Barong dances are performed.
The barong dance is a mythological dance and tells the fight between good and evil spirits.

We were that early that we could sit on the front row, the right place to take pictures!

Before the dances start, the standard offerings are brought!



 

The orchestra, all man are dressed the same!

The Barongs enters the stage!

A monkey makes fun with him!

 

 

 

Making fun!

The end is a bit sad, all men killed themselves with a kriss!

A nice play with beautiful costumes!

 
Time to go to the Pasar in Denpasar!

Flower sellers, all for the offerings.

 Two moslim ladies, you see hardly women wearing scarfes at Bali.

 Market day starts early, so in the afternoon people are tired!

People enjoy their work!

 Vegetables!

 Playing a game!

Posing!

 Carrying you shoppings on your head, why not?

 Selling Ayam!

 The Pasar: a great place to be, not many tourists and you see the real daily life!

After a lunch in Seminyak with view on the sea, it was time to Jimbaran to meet Hans and his family again!

The rest of the afternoon we spend on the beach, Arie,Sari, Ati & Naazirah joint as well!

 A relaxing end of the day!

Ketut Liyer

Today we decided to visit Ketut Liyer, known from the book of Elisabeth Gilbert "Eat, pray, love". Not because we expected to hear something remarkable about ourselves, but to see it with our own eyes!

We arrived early and Ketut, who claims to be over 100 years old (I think around 80 is more correct), was still taking his shower. We had to pick a number, we were number 5 and 6. When he came outside he shaked our hands and asked where we came from. When we said we are from Belanda he spoke a few words Dutch as he had 3 years of Dutch education long ago, but he said he had forgotten a lot.
It is still a happy man, which I can imagine as still a lot of people are visiting him!

After his breakfast he started immediate with the first person. Each "reading" takes around 20 minutes, so we had to wait for another 75 minutes, but his garden is a relaxing and nice environment.

 He is based in a little backstreet, nicely decorated with a Penjor!

Then it was my turn. To everybody he tells more or less the same story, that he is happy to meet you (yes of course, you pay!), that you will become old, that you are smart, get married and have children!

He asks the same question several times, what are you doing for a living...?, 

He kept on asking Dutch translations for words and eventually sing a Dutch song about Bali!

Frank had to write down a Dutch translation of a sentence!

A funny experience!

The morning was almost gone by then, so we walked back to Ubud city to have lunch. On our way to Ketut we passed Tegal Sari, the hotel I stayed twice with my Dad (6 & 8 years ago). It was unfortunately fully booked when I tried to make a reservation for this trip. 

Still a very nice hotel and still expanding. Another nine rooms are under construction!

They gave us a short tour. I didn't realize it became that big.

The villa with private swinging pool!

View on the rice fields from Tegal Sari, the whole left side belongs to the hotel.

Next time I come to Ubud, I have to make a reservation earlier!

 

In Ubud town we still saw little boys performing barong dancing!