Cultural Experiences – Page 2 – Gene and Susan's Asian Adventure

Urban Ubud Bali Indonesia

I love that nearly every place we want to explore in Asia is within a 2-3 hour flight from our home in Singapore. Gene and I had a great get-away to Ubud (pronounced Ah-bood), on the island of Bali, Indonesia in late April. It is one of eight major islands of the 13,000-17,000+ islands of Indonesia (see photos below the text).

Since we are not beach bunnies (not that into sun burning, or scads of kids and surfer dudes), we headed north to Ubud, 1.5 hours inland. It has a reputation for impressive art and artists, spas and retreats (apparently the Julia Roberts movie, Eat, Pray, Love took place there), ancient temples, traditional dancing, and affordable shopping. Surrounding Ubud are swaying rice fields, lush forests, deep ravines, thatched houses and huts, numerous temples, and the Mount Batur Volcano which is supposed to have spectacular sunrises.

Although we were warned about motorbikes, we were still surprised by their sheer numbers and how they were used. A common sight is an entire family, up to 5 people, riding together. And large quantities of goods are transported this way, too, an entire vendor stall of products are tied and balanced on these bikes.

Ubud is an interesting random mix of urban and rural sites everywhere you go. As we walked down the busy shopping street of Jl Raya with it many ancient temples along the way, some of which are now homes and art studios, there is an expanse of forest which plunges deep with homes and shops in the canopies and shacks below.

Indonesians have a reputation of being friendly and they really are. We had many warm conversations with a variety of people: artists, shop owners, and the hotel manager who were happy to share information about life in Bali and answer our questions. This was the first place we traveled where we didn’t see any Muslims although we knew that Islam was the predominant religion of Indonesia. The Hotel Manager, who is from Jakarta, explained that Bali is the only island in all of Indonesia with a high Hindu population, and the multitude of other inhabited Indonesian islands have high Muslim populations.

I have to say that Indonesian currency tested my math skills. We felt pretty rich temporarily when we took out 1 million Rupiah on our first day, but it only amounted to $80 USD. We were having trouble knowing whether we were giving rupiah worth $1, $10 or $100 and often gave too little because of the enormous bills. It took a lot of effort to spend $30 a day. The food was wonderful, fresh, and creative. We had a fantastic barramundi, a thick white fish with aromatic herbs that I love to cook with.

Indonesian money. 1 million Rupiah equals $80.

Susan on hotel balcony

Offerings made by hotel staff

Hotel, like all businesses, offerings to deities twice a day

Goddess Sculptures

Shops and houses elevated in forest directly off main street Jl Raya

Ubud motorbikes on main street Jl Raya

Motorbike loaded with products to sell.

Downtown Monkey Forest Rd.

Downtown Market. Early morning fresh market, afternoon gift market.

Downtown gallery in alley

Temple Ruin on street

Sculpture of goddess

Gene in front of temple with lotus flowers

Susan in temple doorway with sarong from Thailand; required to wear here.

Within temple courtyard are shrines

Woman carrying concrete blocks on head going upstairs for new building project.

Old woman carrying blocks on head and stacking on pile in second floor of building

Woman walking with basket on head

Temple stairs with Dragons, frequently used in ornamentation.

Many old temples have become homes and art studios. Beautiful places, some are open to the public.

Sculptors house studio on the main street.

King and Queen’s Palace on the main street.

Gene in Temple courtyard

Male Legong dancer in front of Temple.

Legonng dancers

Rural Ubud Bali Indonesia

We went on a beautiful 4 hour walk in the hills of Ubud (Ah-bood) just off the main street where rice fields and artists’ shacks dotted the landscape. We loved the swaying fields, huts where the farmers lived, numerous scarecrows that resembled farmers working, and palm trees set against the mountains. We met a number of fascinating people: several talented artists working in their small studios, a generous organic farmer, and a shy spice grower. We saw lovely holistic spas and retreats along the path and situated deeper in the fields and forests. I’m afraid we’re not good at actually getting any spa treatments. We even had one free massage from our hotel spa which we didn’t take the time to do! (see photos below the text).

The hike started up a large hill that opened to rice fields and became a very skinny, meandering path with some locals on motorbikes who were coming to and from town. And, as usual, it was hot, very hot. There was a variety of structures along the way. Simple tents and shacks, one room art studios, and lovely two story retreats.

We had a lovely but also slightly disconcerting interaction with the organic farmer. He came over to chat with us in limited English and showed us the farm’s many fruits and vegetables that they grow for their restaurant downtown. He pulled a turmeric and ginger plant out of the ground to show me since I told him I enjoy cooking. He also gave us fresh peapods out of the ground to eat. I ate mine while he showed me around. Afterward, Gene and I continued our walk and she said “I’m glad I remembered we’re not supposed to eat anything grown in water here so I tossed mine.” “Crap, I ate mine,” says I. Ok, if I’m going to get ill eating a tainted peapod at least this walk was worth it; fortunately I was fine. We’ve had several friends get ill in their travels in Asia and in Bali specifically. So far, only Singapore seems to have safe drinking water that I am aware of, for travelers anyway.

The walking paths were so minimal that we took a wrong turn and ended up on a path by some small houses on the way back to town. we came to a lovely stream and small waterfall a few feet off the path where a handsome young man about 17 was standing bathing nude. He watched us pass and didn’t seem to mind the old white ladies walking by.

You may notice in some photos, and the feature photo above, small offerings to Hindu deities. Twice each day, Hindus in Bali (mostly women I believe) create baskets of flowers, fruits and other significant symbols and place them at entrances wherever they are, work or home. Bali is one of the thousands of islands in Indonesia; I’ve read anywhere from 13,000 to 17,000 plus islands, but 8 of the islands have large populations. It’s one of the few inhabited islands that is predominantly Hindu (85%), the other islands have became predominantly Muslim, and Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.

Walk along the rice fields

A farmer’s hut surrounded by rice fields

Huts/houses behind rice fields

Rest stop, refreshments along path

The narrow walking path

Organic farm for restaurant downtown Ubud

Gene and organic farmer

Organic farmer showing us a tumeric plant

A cute dress shop with offerings placed in the shrine wrapped in yellow.

Spa Retreat

Wood carver making masks out of Hibiscus wood.

An amazing painter

Artist studio, small offering in entrance

An artist in his studio showing me his current piece (in studio previous photo)

Farmer selling vanilla, cinnamon, coffee along path

Farmer’s vanilla drying

A flooded rice field

Farmer plowing

On the way back to town.

Ayutthaya Thailand and its Temples

My companions, Deb, Daniel, Patcharin, and I had a great adventure visiting Ayutthaya (Eye-U-Tie-Yah) and its many active temples and ruins. We hired a long boat and took a picturesque ride on the Chao Phraya river passing houses on stilts (in varying degrees of condition), bridges, boats, restaurants, and lots of temples, ancient and modern. Ayutthaya, which was once the largest city in the world with over a million people in 1700, is now about 82,000. (Photos are under text)

As with any adventure, not everything goes according to plan. We ventured out for dinner about 9pm and couldn’t find much open so we flagged down a tuk-tuk vehicle (in place of taxis) and got a ride to a central hawkers’ market that had many food vendors. When we finished our ten dishes(!) we went out to the street around 11pm and they were empty except for a few people riding bikes and motorcycles, and a number of dogs wondering around.

After standing on the street for a half hour we figured that the tuk-tuks were done for the night and had no other options. We began walking back along a large boulevard that was poorly lit with big busses parked along it, and too many packs of dogs for Deb’s and my comfort; we could see some of them and others we could hear howling. We thought we were quite a bit farther from our hotel than we were, but after about 20 minutes we arrived safe and almost sound. (Daniel and Patcharin, who live in North Thailand, weren’t too concerned, and Deb has a fear of dogs).

Ayutthaya was first established as the capital of Thailand in 1350 and its rein lasted until 1767. It was an absolute monarchy and its official religion has always been Buddhism.

This place was chosen for the capital because, “Throughout the centuries, the ideal location between China, India and the Malay Archipelago (Malaysia) made Ayutthaya the trading capital of Asia and even the world.

“After a lengthy siege, the city capitulated and was burned in 1767. Ayutthaya’s art treasures, the libraries containing its literature, and the archives housing its historic records were almost totally destroyed, and the city was left in ruins.”

Many of the active religious sites throughout Ayutthaya are along the river which we visited by long boat; some if not all have monks in residence. And, some of the ancient sites seemed to be unharmed, while others were irreparably damaged from the attacks by the Burmese over centuries. These are sadly apparent from the many hundreds of beheaded Buddhas at several of the sites we visited. This city’s ancient temples form a UNESCO site.

We are in a long boat with driver

Houses on stilts

Temple compound from outside, on river

Temple compound interior perimeter

Corner structures on perimeter

Headless Buddhas on perimeter

Temple compound on river

Modern active temple on river

One of the temple sites with shrines to its leaders on river

A shrine at one of the temple sites on the river

Reclining Buddha, the only sculpture at this place

Close up of Reclining Buddha

This appears to be the entire site; small sites not uncommon

An ancient monastery and still active. Stairs to temple.

Monks ascending stairs to temple

Monastery with depiction

Monastery walls.

Dogs and cats cared for by monks

One of monastery’s temples.

Large Buddha, at this site, they are draped

Every Buddha is slightly different, eyes, hand positions, smiles

On our way in a Tuk-Tuk, 3 wheeled car

Bangkok Thailand: May’s Cooking Class

One of the many highlights for me on this trip to Thailand was our cool cooking class in Bangkok. Deb and I learned how to make nine Thai dishes and we hope this experience has a lasting impact on our cooking! I’m happy to learn a great way to cut and not mangle mangos, and discovered a cool tool that makes thin ribbons from vegetables. I am using these tips in Singapore with the many exotic fruits available year round.

Finding May Kaidee’s cooking school was its own adventure. Our Thai host, Patcharin, Deb’s niece, made a valiant effort to make this place easy for us to find because there are so many small cooking schools in Bangkok. She flagged a cab and went with us to the school which we weren’t expecting her to do. After the cab dropped us off at the school, we found out that we were at the wrong one. Fortunately, the owner was familiar with May’s school and gave us directions to it about 10 blocks away. We did pretty well walking until we were about two blocks away. The major streets crossed with alleys that were packed with businesses and we weren’t sure where to go. After asking a couple of people, we found the school on an alley and never did see a street sign. We were only 10 minutes late. I always say that getting lost or taking detours are the best way to learn your way around. We certainly saw parts of Bangkok we wouldn’t have seen without this experience (so don’t fret Patcharin).

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Thai Cooking class in Bangkok

Other two students, a couple from northern France, and teacher

Class cooking black sticky rice

Mango with sticky black rice

Morning Glory, our new favorite vegetable

Freshly made Papaya Salad

May’s cooking school

Cooking stations

Susan and Deb making Papaya Salad

Ingredients for one of the nine dishes

Students trying our creations

Afterward, I got crowned

Bangkok Thailand: Street Scenes

Bangkok Street Scenes

Picturing Bangkok, I think gritty. The city is colorful, chaotic, and culturally rich, a sea of motor bikes, tuk-tuks (3-wheeled open air taxis), and trucks, all that make negotiating the streets adventurous. There is a modern, fashionable downtown business district, but you can’t escape the signs of poverty, plenty of dilapidated housing scattered around. I shouldn’t have been, but was surprised to see the tangle of electric lines everywhere (I didn’t realize until I got back to Singapore that all of its power lines are underground).

We saw vibrant outdoor markets and vendors that line the streets and alleys selling food (including hanging dried squid, mango sticky rice, and an array of insects), clothing, souvenirs, and services like massages. And, on the bigger streets you see portraits of the royal family on buildings and as shrines and throughout all of Thailand. We were told that every Thai house has at least one portrait of the royal family.

My friend, Deb, was visiting from my home of Madison, WI. We had the good fortune to have her nephew and his Thai wife who live in northern Thailand as our guides as they know Bangkok pretty well. They were delightful, and their auntie came down to spend a day with us too.

Click on the first photo to scroll through all the photos.