Bali - Part 3 - School and mountains

Tuesday and back to Bukti today to visit the school in Putu's home village. The schools in Bali are private and parents must pay for their kids to get educated. Having spoken to the Villa gardener it's not that cheap but  most parents (as parents do), will find the money somehow as they realise how important it is. As we have littl'uns we went to the primary part of the school where the kids are aged between four and six years old. As soon as you arrive (for those of us with families) you get a very familiar feel to the place. Toys in the playground, bright colours and cartoons adorning the walls and cheeky kids everywhere. Well, not everywhere. The school was slightly emptier than usual owing to the fact that the village was celebrating Black Moon Day where the majority of the village stops to make flower offerings and gather in the temples to pay devotions to nature's energies. Those children that were in school were dressed in their traditional robes topped off with the 'peci' or hat. Also in evidence was the traditional Batik design (which is actually named after the technique used to make it), so famous in Indonesia.

I really like Batik, but I don't think it's something I could get away with wearing. It just doesn't suit me. I've seen many westerners that have tried it and not many pull it off!
A little reserved at first, it didn't take the kids long to come out of themselves. The girls gathering round D (how does he always do that?), while he ignored them coz he had scissors.
You'll notice that in my pictures on Flickr they are mainly of the boys being cheeky. I thought the girls were being reserved through some sort of cultural reason but the teacher told me that their 'gang' wasn't together today whereas the boys 'gang' was which gave them the confidence to show off. Same the world over, eh? The children sang some songs. A lot of which were exactly the same as songs they sing in the UK and Singapore (only with Indonesian words of course!). D even recognised some of them and thought about joining in. But not quite. He decided afterwards that he'd like to go to school, on his own. Which was nice, because he will be soon (nursery is on the agenda and then proper school in September)!
Back in the car and off to see a waterfall in the mountains. Was pleasantly surprised by the great quality of the roads a we ventured up the narrow tacks into the hills. One village was particularly large. It turned out that these were the well off guys in the area as the nature of the weather allowed them to harvest different types of fruit the whole year round. Just enough rain and just enough sun to grow most fruit, vegetables, spices and cocoa throughout the year. Parking up at a friend of Putu's house, we embark on the long, hot and humid walk to the 'falls. Putu immediately takes control of the buggy with Z in it and ploughs on up the hills with the aroma of the many clove trees hanging in the dense, humid air. The steep track through beautiful padi fields lead us up to the 'spice-man'.

This guy is about 1000m up the side of the mountain selling, amongst other things, refreshments for the weary tourist. And a very good trade he does too. As well as the refreshments he sells spices, lots of spices. And coffee beans. Notably the mongoose coffee bean. I won't go into detail but sufficed to say, Mongoose love to eat the coffee beans. They'll only eat the really good ones and they don't get digested so off course they come out the other end. This apparently starts of the fermentation process and gives it a 'particular' flavour. I'm sure it does, but not quite my cup of, er, tea. But it does sell very well and for quite a lot of money (surprisingly there aren't too many people practising mongoose poo coffee making), so he can't be wrong. What I wanted to know was who had discovered this process in the first place? He seemed unable to answer that question. D was quite fascinated by the mongoose though. Of course, we bought some spices, quite a lot of them. I think I probably paid over the odds, but hey, I'm gonna pay a whole lot more in Singapore and they aren't going to be freshly harvested from a Balinese mountainside! And then on to the waterfall itself. Spectacular certainly, and very tall. But on account of us not being able to get too close because of the kids and heat we didn't really see too much of it. As they say, sometimes it's the journey not the arrival and to be honest, really the revelation was the 'Poo Coffee'. I like finding things like that.

On the way back down I start to become aware of the amount of people who do actually live and work up here. The smell of fermenting cocoa beans and spices out in the sun greets us at almost every homestead we pass. The aroma is terrific and a world away from the busy land of Singapore. D is doing very well with walking up and down these tracks until half-way back he trips and sprawls over the track, bangs his knees and ends up on dad's shoulders. Can't say I blame him. It is very warm by now and the water is being drunk by the bottle. I have to say though that it would have been much more of a struggle without having been acclimatised first in Singapore. We met some Dutch tourists on the way looking very red and hot and needing a long sit down at the Spice Hut. Think they were slightly amazed at the way Z and D were going at it. Even with D on my shoulders we couldn't catch Putu who by now was off like a startled rabbit with Z in buggy. Great fun, with the most beautiful scenery and great weather. Not to mention seeing the biggest spider since our arrival. A good six inches across. What's not to like?

See more photos of our Bali trip on Flickr.

Cocoa beans fermenting in the sun

Hillside homstead

A little bit of India, amongst other things.......

"Sarries, Sarries.....", that's what I can hear through my headphones as I start typing. The curtain raiser to the 2010-11 Aviva Premiership season. Saracens v London Irish. I'm listening online via BBC Three Counties Radio. Seems a little unlikely on a Saturday night, around 7000 miles from Twickenham, but there you go. I dare-say there will be updates throughout the blog update, apologies in advance!
I can't believe my previous update was last Monday, the time is starting to disappear quite rapidly all of a sudden. And that's a good thing. Nothing worse than it dragging, especially when you're living here. Plenty of things to report anyway. 
Firstly, the drilling (touching a large chunk of wood) seems to have ceased. We still have the chaps trawling up and down in the lifts with wheelbarrows full of goodness knows what! But they're nice guys and always say hello (to the kids) and are at pains to get out of the way (even when it's extremely inconvenient for them). But it would appear that the waterproofing of the roof on Tower B has hit a quiet phase, and long may it last.

The other day I decided, with some fortitude, that I was going to find postage stamps. I know that sounds a bit dramatic, but the fact is that a) we need stamps b) I have failed previously and c) we live here and we are going to need stamps. I don't know if I'm missing something obvious, but it ain't that easy! So, I know that I need either a Post Office (obviously) or a SAM. Given that there are no Post Offices on the horizon then the obvious choice is a SAM (you need to look at the previous link for what they are and do).  There are two close by (a 10-15 minute walk with buggy). No problem, take a walk, ask when I can't find it and hey presto! There it is. No problem. Type in what I need on the touch screen (two airmail, one local). $2.46 all told. How do I pay? Cash? No. OK. Debit card, of course. No. NETS only. A what? NETS (please look at this link too, I really can't be bothered to explain). OK, I don't have one of those, where can I get one? Now, at this point, my phone really earns it's stars. Type it all into Google. A list of outlets, none of which are anywhere near me, plus there are other indeterminate outlets that sell them (i.e. just guess). Right, I have a hunch that there might be a place in the MRT station at Buona Vista, a short hop away from where I am now. And it also has a SAM. How could I go wrong? Well, my hunch was right, I did find a shop selling a NET cashcard (plus sweeties for the kids who are now showing signs of incredulity at my single minded pursuit of stamps). I purchase one with the promise of stamps looming large. A SAM machine, as promised, as I exit the shop. Here we go. NET card doesn't go in, try again. Out of order. But of course. No matter, I know where the other one is, let's head back there. It's only a ten minute walk (when you aren't on the wrong side of the roadworks with no crossing in sight). Twenty minutes later I have it in my sights. Not only that but I have entered my postage needs and am at the checkout screen. Bang, it crashes. Wait a couple of minutes to reset. Bang, crash again! So, there you go, despite my best efforts (and one and a half hours of walking later), I am still stampless. "insert rude word here"
Half time - London Irish 6 Saracens 10. Couple of tries by Sarries but no Glen Jackson to convert so only 10 points and Irish are down to 14 men for ten minutes. C'mon Sarries, less of the silly pens.
Tuesday saw me meet up with a follower of my blog called Natasha. She is a proprietor of a rather fine site called www.natashabailie.com. She sells vintage clothing don't ya know and very nice it is too (I had never met nor spoken to Natasha before Tuesday except via email so that plug was entirely out of good will). It turns out that her other half was over in Singapore being interviewed for a job (yes, they paid flight, bed and board. Some kinda interview. Must remember to get one), and I thought she might like to meet up over a coffee to discuss the ins-and-outs of relocation (like I'm some sort of expert). Amazingly, she agreed to meet some random blogger (against her various friend's better judgement I'm sure). Coffee was pushing it to be honest, with two young children in tow, so we met in the already frequented Botanic Gardens to keep the little darlings entertained and under control. The fact that Claire, my teacher widow partner in crime, had also agreed to come along made the odds significantly better. Hurrah! This made it three adults to two children. Nothing could go wrong. And surprisingly nothing did! A very nice afternoon shared by all, albeit with some ice cream incentives (that the kids also enjoyed). Claire and Natasha found a shared interest in 50's clothing (I opted out of that conversation) and we whiled away the afternoon in a very convivial fashion. So it turns out that Natasha and hubby will, indeed, be moving to Singapore in the New Year. Congratulations and welcome! We look forward to our next meet up (New Years Eve sounds like an apt date).

Today, we ventured into Little India. It's a must see and I loved it. As did the kids and T. The smell of spices, beautiful garlands and Bhangra in the background was enough to make me feel at home right away. Indeed, it didn't take too long to immerse myself in a spice shop. Even D, notoriously fastidious about his food, couldn't resist the opportunity to smell touch and taste what was on offer. Not long afterwards, we found ourselves in the Tekka Food Centre, eating chicken curry with D scoffing a fresh chapati. After recent revelations about him eating my spicy noodles, I'm starting to suspect we were living in the wrong country altogether for his epicurean preferences. This was followed by the kids making friends with the locals, mostly by being a) Western b) and cute c) downright cheeky! We had a lovely chat with a Singaporean of Indian descent who as far as we could work out had six children, five grandchildren and an indeterminate amount of great-grandchildren. He was 78.... or 79 depending on which part of the conversation you had caught up with. Happy days!


BTW Sarries lost. Usual seasons start then!