Today we challenge ourselves and pushed some borders. We attended a class of Acro Yoga at the yoga barn. This was new, fun, scary, hard, childish, challenging and … did I mention FUN?!? Continue reading
Tag Archives: Indonesia
Get up, get out!
Any good day start with a training session in the morning, or what? Today is Sunday and we got up with the call of the roosters and set out for a morning run. There are great views in Ubud, and specially if you go out from the beaten track. We stopped and took some pictures today as well. Continue reading
Tai Chi Chuan @ Yoga barn
Dave West teaching
Picture from TripAdvisor
Today we tried something new (for us) – Tai Chi Chuan. I guess there are as many branches of this martial arts as there is in Karate, Jiu jitsu, Kali etc. The one we tried were the one available, and therefor the one most right for us. There was an English teacher Dave West, who’s been living here on Bali for the last 15 years that held the class.
Roosters, hens, cats and dogs
It started with stray dogs and cats in Sanur. In Lombok the roosters and hens had the leading role, they were everywhere 🙂 Running freely around all over the place. Making rooster and hen sounds at all hours and “bobbing” around digging into everything they could find. In Jl. Hanoman today (the main street of Ubud) 3 hens on the loose made the traffic even more chaotic than it already is. All this makes me wonder:
Bugs
Coming from Norway the biggest bug problem is the mosquitos in autumn. We have wasp, bumblebees and bees during summer, but the common fly and the mosquitos are the worst.
Here in Ubud it’s the ants that take charge. They are small and everywhere: on restaurants, shops and in the yoga studios.
It doesn’t seem like they bite or otherwise cause any discomfort, but they tickle as the crawl in the underbrush of my calfs.
And as they days passes we get more and more used to the little buggers. You notice the itch, and it takes a few seconds to realize it’s not a fly who moves away when you shake your arm or leg. Then you pinch it and flicks it away. No drama, no fuzz – even for Katja. 😉
Yoga @ Ubud
Ubud is said to be the creative and cultural capital of Bali. There are lots of arts and crafts elements here. Both from local artist but also the general junk available all over the world.
When it comes to yoga, I don’t think there is any place on Bali near what Ubud offers. A lot if this is because if Yoga Barn.
We had our first session there yesterday and again two today. The campus is huge. Basically Yoga Barn is an industry in itself. There are several yoga studios on the premises, a cafe with food and drinks and a healing “department” as well. Continue reading
Ubud update
Those who have followed or blog since the first small post may remember our boasting about “renting a house in Ubud”. This was, after buying the plane ticket, the first thing we booked for the trip. Six weeks in a house with others, living happily ever after…. (Insert picture of cute cats, adorable babies and beautiful sunsets)
But NO! Mental note to self and fellow travelers: Never book so long a stay over the internet. Continue reading
Goodby Lombok, Hello Bali (again)
Green Asri hotel has been a great experience. It is located a little distance from Senggigi center (5 minutes with the local Bemo which costs 4000 IDR or 18.000 for taxi).
It is quiet, very well maintained and with a very friendly staff. They have been very helpful on all occasions. They really live up to their slogan: small, comfortable, friendly. The rooms are large with really comfortable beds. Katja especially knows this as she spent most of yesterday in bed with a bad stomach, she’s better now but skips breakfast this last day here before we head back to Bali, Ubud, by boat. Continue reading
Happy August 17th
Today, 3 months after Norway celebrated its national day, Indonesia does the same.
The Dutch held Indonesia since sometime in the 17th century, and the Japanese from 1942-1945. Indonesia declared independence a few days before the Japanese capitulation at the end of WWII. Still, the Dutch held on tight and there were fighting and UN mitigation before they were self governed in 1949.
It’s been a long journey to the stability and peaceful nation Indonesia is to day. The first fair election of government happened in 1999, and Indonesia is now the third heavily populated democracy (253,6 million), and the worlds largest Muslim-majority (87,2 %) country in the world.
It’s easy to get the Muslim part as there are lots of women in hijab, the mosques starts their prayers at 05:00 and there are prayer mats to be seen. At the same time is there a lot more freedom to be had than in a lot of other Muslim governed states. There are no strict rule about alcohol, it seems. In more rural areas all the farmers brew their own wine. And all drink it; women and children included.
And there are more women without hijabs than with, here at Senggigi on Lombok.
We have also learned that there are at least six languages just here on Lombok that hold 3.8 million people. They have a common language for Indonesia to make communication possible, but do not understand the languages between them.
At today’s celebration of independent day, we saw …….(drum roll)……
Nothing!
There have been a few banners showing the national colors of red and white, but nothing more. All stores are open, the sales people at the beach carry on, the restaurants serve their food and all is normal. It was a little more people than normal on the beach this evening. Possible they got the afternoon of work or it may be normal for a Sunday.
And it looks like a pig sty after them. It is unbearable to see how the locals just throw garbage down around them. Seconds before these last lines are written a man at the neighboring table uses a napkin and just throws it on the floor. We saw it in the mountains, we see it in the streets and on the beach. OK, Indonesia is a developing country but one would think that keeping it decent around one self was more natural than this.
Another cultural thing that still baffles me is the use of “self whitening creams”. Where we westerners hold the sun brown skin in high esteem for both women and men, several of the Asian countries are into “the whiter the better”. So we have to be constantly aware when buying after sun lotion, so not to end up with one that takes away all those hours at the beach during the night.
But first, let me take a selfie:
And the obligatory sunset picture. As the beach we use is facing the west
Sunset @ Senggigi beach
And finally as we have posted few food pictures do we present: Grilled snapper fillet with fried rice and Lombok spicy sauce.
Mt. Rinjani – day 3 & 4
The third day started after about 12 hours of sleep. We crashed hard last night after both the summit trek and the trek down to the crater lake.
Down here at the lake it is a lot of locals. It turns out that this is an important site for celebrating the upcoming national day 17th of August. Lots and lots of people gathers here to fish in the lake and just chill out. Mostly men, though.
Locals at the crater
We were told that the last president had flown up in a helicopter and set out 2000 fish in the lake. I’m not sure how long they will last with all this people around. There were many there when we left, but according to our guide it will be thousands upon thousands from all over Lombok there this next Sunday.
As every day we got a healthy breakfast and set about for our trek. We were to go up the crater on the other side and down maybe an hour on the other side. We did so much more…
Steep climbing
More steep climbing
The climb up the crater is from 2000-2600 meters and much of it is pretty straight up. We spent 2 hours on the climb and came to the crater rim to a spectacular view. All pictures promoting Rinjani is basically taken from this point. With a great view of the lake, the active inner volcano and the Rinjani summit itself.
Panorama from the crater rim
The we started on the trek downhill. “Maybe down to waterfall”, said our guide Aman. We agreed and started walking – for another 6 hours. On the last part of the trek I was walking on pure willpower. With 22 out of the last 54 hours spent on walking, mostly climbs or descents, my legs were shaking, blisters appeared, toes and toenails were begging for mercy and I smelled like your average local hobo.
Local hobo smell coming your way
But on and on we went. Down through thick jungle and slippery slopes. We saw both grey and black monkeys on the way. And finally, there was the waterfall. After 8,5 hours of walking did we see the yellow tent.
But it just got better. The waterfall is not just for pretty pictures, it’s for showering. So we got undressed, got in and under and washed so much of the filth, dust, smell and grit away. It was heavenly! As the pictures show it is a rather large drop and the pressure is high. It holds about 17-18 centigrade and thereby more than I would have thought.
The waterfall
Into the waterfall
Showering in the waterfall
Dinner, brush teeth, sleep.
Day 4 started out at 7:30 where we walked the last 30 minutes to Johns hotel. Just enough to claim a fourth day of trekking. 🙂
From there we were taken to our new hotel in Senggigi further south west on the island. Here we have already booked the ferry back to
Bali, gotten a haircut and leg wax (guess who did what?) and we both had a massage. The calves and front of thighs hurt like a ________ (fill In blank) but I guess it will be worse tomorrow.
All in all it’s been a great adventure. We can highly recommend both the Rinjani trek and Johns Adventure, but there are some does and don’ts:
– Bring trekking shoes. You will have a better time, and you will not ruin your shoes.
– Bring warm cloths. It is freezing on the top (literary). Would you do shorts in that temp and heavy wind back home?
– Drink enough. We brought a little extra water, but just make sure you keep hydrated. We have camelback that let’s us take small sips easily. We used these every 15 min to keep the intake at a good level. It also helped us break down every trek into smaller parts.
– Bring a head torch. If you can get the head mounted torch. You need both hands to the summit, or to the toilet tent at night.
– Eat. Whatever you are served by your porter, eat it. You need the fuel.
– Bring some extra snack you like and that will give you energy. Chocolate, nuts, bars… As long as it gives you that little kick.
-Stay positive. When walking upwards it’s easy to let theirs wander to negative places. Look at where you will place your feet next and the top will be conquered.
Sunset on the first ridge
We talked a lot about the feeling of achievement we got from this. Knowing we can take this kind of “heat” straight on makes us sure we will enjoy a lot of other treks this upcoming year.
Right now it’s Bintang time! Cheers!
Bintang time
kogatravel 