Michael Franti in Bali?

Erin: Apologies for the blurry picture. Michael Franti in Bali. What?!?!?!

A few days before Christmas we were poking through one of the expat newspapers in Ubud and Seth discovered that Michael Franti, one of our favorite musicians from back home, was performing a benefit show for a holistic multicultural school here in Ubud. I couldn’t believe my ears. Every September he puts on a free festival in SF called Power to the Peaceful, and we were really bummed that we missed the last one since we were up to our elbows in moving boxes. His music is a great mix of intelligent, positive lyrics and funky beats that are impossible not to dance to.

He just published a children’s book based on one of his songs, so to start the show he read to all the kids who were gathered in the front row. A translator also read it in Bahasa Indonesia. After that, Michael performed an awesome acoustic set that had everyone jumping and singing along by the end. The energy at his shows is pretty incredible.

To see him here was so weird. Good weird, but still weird. Seth said he felt like he was at the acoustic version of that rave in the final matrix movie, as there was quite an eclectic mix of hippie mamas, ayurvedic practitioners, yogis, batik importers, tourists and locals jamming together in the mud, surrounded by beautiful rice fields. What a gift! The school raised enough money that day to construct a whole new building.

Happy Is Party

Seth: The baby of the family who runs and lives in our hotel just turned three months old. In Balinese culture, that’s a big deal, and tons of relatives and friends pour in for a ceremony. Since we were the only guests of the hotel, they invited us to come downstairs to watch the festivities.

The day before I asked around town to see what I should bring as a present. Everyone told me to bring baby clothes or money. No one told me how much to give (they dodged with BS like “the amount should come from the heart”) and not wanting to guess wrong in either direction of appropriateness, I opted for the clothes. I picked out a few shirts and outfits, but this was the gem. Happy Is Party. Awesome.

The ceremony was interesting. First, we ate some really good Balinese food. Then we waited for the priest, who we were assured would be here within a few minutes. About an hour or so later, the priest walked in with little fanfare or greeting, hopped up on the altar, and began ringing bells, lighting incense, muttering prayers, arranging this, sprinkling holy water on that, etc. In the meantime, there was a gamelan troupe accompanying a puppet show. No one appeared to be paying attention to the puppets, and people were chattering away, oblivious to the priest and his retinue. Eventually the baby and parents were blessed and sprinkled with holy water a few times, some more people were blessed and it was time to eat again. Right as it ended, a cremation procession thundered by so I went to go check that out. I felt weird taking pictures, so Erin modeling one of the gifts or Erin giving the gifts to the unimpressed baby is all you get.

Mango Day!

Seth: One of the little thrills of daily life in Ubud is mango day. Every day the family who runs the hotel brings up breakfast, which consists of tea, toast, an egg and fruit. The fruit is always a mixture of banana, papaya, rambutan, jackfruit, orange and mango. Although it’s all delicious (and free!), mangoes turn ordinary days into mango days, which are clearly better than all other days.

Our New Umbrellas!

Seth: I talked to Gran yesterday, and mentioned the monsoon and our resulting wetness. She asked why I didn’t have an umbrella and I told her that the only times we see them for sale are in the middle of a storm. Since prices fluctuate according to demand, umbrellas cost much more during wet periods. Econ 101, right?

Anyway, Gran said that we should buy an umbrella, on her, as a Christmas present. So during a brief dry spell (15 minutes) this morning, we found a store that sold umbrellas at a fixed price. As you can see, I clearly got the better one. Erin complains that it’s not big enough to keep me dry (because it’s a baby umbrella), but she’s just jealous. On the brief walk from the umbrella store to the internet cafe, SEVEN Balinese smiled and said “Nice umbrella” or something to that effect. I’m not aware of any Balinese people commenting on Erin’s umbrella. She could’ve picked a badass tiger-elephant-of-death like me, but she erred. Look how much happier I look! Oh well, live and learn.

Erin: We’ll see who has the more badass umbrella when we’re wandering around a new town with our backpacks on, looking for a place to stay while monsoon rains are pouring down. I still believe that I will have the last laugh…

Seth: So thanks, Gran! Together they cost 39,700 rupiah, which is about US$4.50. I’ll take an IOU. Merry Christmas to us! Especially me, with the better umbrella.

PS – If anyone else wants to pay for things along our trip, we’ll take a picture and blog about it too!

Bike Riding

Seth: One day I rented a bicycle to poke around the countryside near Ubud, where we’re staying. There’s lots of little narrow paths through the rice fields. The track was mud speckled with the occasional concrete.

It was a far cry from the bike trip Erin and I took in September from Seattle to Eugene, OR. After about 15 minutes, I came across a really nice organic cafe/garden called Sari Organik. They grow their own veggies and numerous types of heirloom rice. Lots of raw/vegan/hippie options, overlooking rice fields. After I got there, rain poured down from the sky. Rain can be unfortunate if you’re stuck in it, but if you’re reclining on homemade bamboo furniture with a mango juice in a dry pavilion it can be quite nice.

After I waited out the storm, I just biked around all day through the neighboring villages. Everyone was really nice.

When I was in the rice field area, I’d bike through the muddy path for 15 minutes before coming across an artist selling his/her wares. I don’t know how they expected me to carry a painting/statue back with me on a bike through intermittent rain, but one can always hope.

Ubud is a weird place. It’s the cultural heart of Bali, so there’s lots of dance performances, puppet shows, temples, processions, art classes, etc. There’s also lots of foreigners that buy up rice paddies and build villas. Some are rich and famous types and others are just rich hippies. As a result, the town has lots of organic restaurants, holistic schools, yoga classes, botanical gardens, etc.

So one minute I’m passing rice farmers knee-deep in mud, and the next I come across a villa with infinity pools and such. I’ve never seen a place where the rich live near the poor.

Anyway, I just cruised around all day. No direction, no plan, just a left here and a right there.

The Last Time We Saw The Sun

The first night we got here to Ubud, we saw this amazing sunset. We haven’t seen the sun since. Is this what the sun always looks like? We forget…

My Christmas Present To Erin

I told Erin that I’d trim my Osama-beard for her Christmas present, as my whiskers were going up her nose when we kissed (which coincidentally was becoming more rare). Here she is “improving” my present, as my trimming apparently left something to be desired.

Wet

Seth: So, this photo doesn’t really do it justice, but it’s raining in Bali. A lot. Tonight is Christmas, and we thought we’d trek to the “broadband” internet place that has Skype to call our families. We were absolutely sopping wet by the time we got here. Actually, we were sopping wet two minutes into the walk. Erin had to wring out her dress for five minutes before coming inside. Skype didn’t work very well, and we only waded through shin-deep water a couple of times. Since the sewage system leaves something to be desired here, we’re gonna make sure we wash off the “dirt” from our feet pretty well tonight.

Our Christmas consisted of walking to lunch in the rain, having lunch at a local dive, having dessert to avoid walking back in the rain, then having a tea to avoid walking back in the rain, then a mango juice, then a beer, then another beer, etc etc. In the meantime, I taught Erin chess!

After only 6+ hours at our lunch place, we decided to go to dinner. Surprisingly, it was still raining. Now we’re here at the internet cafe, and hoping if we write more blog posts, the rain might stop.

In spite of the weather, we’re actually having a lot of fun. We wish everyone a merry (and dry) Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Bali

Merry Christmas! This photo was taken during one of today’s brief dry periods. I think I’m getting better at these self portraits…

Gingerbread House

Seth: Nuala spent a year in Switzerland and brought back the tradition of making gingerbread houses for Christmas. We made the house and then proceeded to eat it piecemeal over the next few days. As an engineer, Andrew had plenty of opinions on proper gingerbread house construction. You can see him pontificating to Erin and Nuala in this photo.

Our time in Wellington wasn’t very wild and crazy, but it was nice to hang out and be a part of someone’s social life. We went to parties, had drinks with their friends and did normal things that normal people do. Normality has its charm, especially as a break from a transient lifestlye that, for all its rewards, rarely includes free showers or attached bathrooms.

It was great to see Andrew and meet his super-sweet fiance Nuala. To thank them for their hospitality cooked tacos for them one night. Kiwi grocery stores aren’t real Tex-Mex friendly, but I think we made it work.

Nuala’s house

Seth: After we sold the van and endured the overnight bus to Wellington, we stayed at the cozy, suburban house of Nuala, my friend Andrew’s fiance. Her flatmate was in the UK for a month, so we got her room.

After living in a van for six weeks, it was nice to have a stable life, complete with attached bathrooms, refrigerators and couches.

We spent our days going to museums, taking walks or just poking around town. We discovered a delicious and cheap little Calypso eatery nearby, and found a brewpub of our favorite Kiwi microbrewing company. Even though the house was in the ‘burbs, it was only a 45 minute downhill walk to town.

Happy Chanukkah

Seth: So as you know by now, our Chanukkah miracle happened. Kim fixed our van, which we were happy to sell for $3600. Although we only paid $2550 for Dimples, we actually broke even if you take into account insurance, repairs, ferry, bedding, etc.

Anyway, we had a happy and somewhat-profitable Chanukkah. Hope all of you did too!

Thermal Food

Seth: Easily the coolest part of the tour was the corn. The folks who live in the village dunk bagged and uncooked food in the hot springs for a few minutes and it emerges cooked, tasty and un-sulphury. Everyone uses the same communal pools to cook. This one for veggies, that one for meat, etc. The corn was amazing. I don’t know if it was the novel cooking method or the salt and butter slathered all over the corn. Either way, it was really good.

Maori Thermal Village

Seth: After the dolphin swim, Erin and I boarded the ferry to drive all the way to Auckland (700km or so) to sell the van. Along the way, we stopped at Whakarewarewa, a Maori village situated amongst thermal springs in Rotorua.

We toured the village and saw the obligatory cultural dance program. Usually we pass on overly touristy cultural things because we find them tacky and insulting. But this seemed different because people actually lived there. We figured there’s worse ways to make your living. Than having people walk around your neighborhood and pay for the right to do so.

Dolphins!

Seth: Although Erin and I are on a pretty tight budget (especially in expensive, “developed” countries), we do try to do some special activities regardless of cost. The sky dive was one and an overnight cruise on Milford Sound was another.

One of the things I’ve always wanted to do was to swim with dolphins. I thought you could only do it at those fancy-schmancy hotels where they capture wild dolphins to swim in the hotel pool. But in NZ, you can swim with them in the wild.

I chose one organization that is run by an American couple. He’s got a PhD in whale genetics and she’s got a MSc in dolphin something-or-other, and they run the dolphin-swim and whale watch biz as a way to fund their research.

Ethically, it seemed a lot more above board. They don’t approach the dolphins while swimming, throw food in the water, harass dolphins that don’t want to play, etc. After finding a pod of dusky dolphins that were wholly uninterested in hanging out with us, we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins that were. The guides had told us to sing in our snorkels so the dolphins wouldn’t get bored of us. Since this was the day after my Exeloo discovery, I naturally chose Burt Bacharach’s timeless classic “What the World Needs Now”. I think it might’ve sounded a little muffled and gargly underwater though.

Regardless, it totally worked. They’d darted around and below us. It’s hard to explain how cool it was. I’ve never seen such big creatures move around so gracefully, especially compared with the ineffectual thrashings of most of us.

As you can see in the video, the dolphins surfed in the wave behind us on the way back to town.