In eat pray love , Elizabeth Gilbert had written about the Ubud “public” library, so I kept an eye out for it. Since it’s in the center of town, has a huge sign and was not far from our hotel, we found it easily. Randal and I were there each day to check email, browse the “for sale” books; and I took a Balinese traditional painting class. It was great; the best library I have found on our travels so far. Though only 2 rooms, one small and one tiny, it was quite similar to my own library at home except in Bali one removes one’s shoes before entering. (At least I did the last time I was there and thought to notice everyone had left shoes outside. Tourists are allowed shoes, but locals remove their sandals before entering the very clean tiled establishments. With sneakers it’s a pain with the laces and all.) Here is the description from the library’s small brochure.

A Bit About Pondok Pekak

(Pondok Pekak = Grandfather’s little resting house in the rice fields)

Pondok Pekak Library and Learning Center was founded in 1995 by a woman who loves to read and believes that every town should have a library. With the support of her husband and his family, the library was built as an addition to his family compound. The idea was inspired by the family grandfather, Pekak Mangku, whose passion for reading, learning and helping others established his reputation as a respected priest, healer and advisor until the day he died in 2001. Built in the 1970’s on the very spot in the rice fields where his own ‘pondok’ once stood, this home has always been referred to by family and community as ‘The Pondok’. In honor of this tradition and this man, the library was named ‘Pondok Pekak’.

Since 1995 the library has grown rapidly, primarily servicing travelers and expatriates who already have a love and desire for books. The goal, however, is to introduce “library and reading culture’ to local children who have not had the access to books many foreigners take for granted. As a result, and with help of many friends, Pondok Pekak in now able to provide these children with a library of their own, full of colorful and interesting children’s books.

As a privately funded organization, survival is a constant, creative challenge. We strive for self-sufficiency by offering a selection of services, all of which help toward supporting this project. We encourage you to help us along by using these services – joining the library, study language or an art form; enjoy a meal; refill your water bottle. Donations of funds, books, time and materials are also appreciated.

The sign was on the street on the far side of the soccer field that was located in the center of town. You walked past the sign down a short alley housing a restaurant and turned left. I believe that the family compound was to the left of the wall. At the end of the short alley you turn right and there you are. Sings all along the way pointed to the library.

They were open 9 to 9 every single day! This young woman worked every day except Sunday. She was pleasant, helpful and professional. In this photo she is signing me up for my Balinese traditional painting class. It was 3 hours and cost 200,000rp, about $23. There were 4 internet terminals, 2,000 rp 25 cents for 10 minutes. That was cheaper and better than the internet café near our hotel. In their “for sale” books, I found a very used copy of West With the Night by Beryl Markham. It is Randal’s favorite book of the moment but he had given his last copy to Tony Parkinson back in Romblon. This copy had been given to Penny in August 1987 for her birthday by Misha, Knengi and Kadiato? ( a photo of a happy group is taped above the words, but it is too faded to really see.) In August 2007, Tim gave the book to Patricia to inspire her writing. I gave it to Randal September 2008, just because he likes the book. It cost me 40,000 rp. About $4.25. It cost $12.50 in 1983 when this edition was published. The original copyright is 1942.

In the building is a small room with the adult books and internet, the place to fill water bottles and the for sale books. Just outside the library room is a bathroom, stage area, work tables for classes, and a small kitchen where they made the wonderful smelling snacks you could buy. Also some artwork was displayed. I had my class at the table on the left. You can see my black backpack.

Upstairs was a tiny children’s library.

I had my sneakers on so didn’t go in. From what I could see, most titles were in English.

I really, REALLY liked the little library and hope that where ever we end up when our cruising days are over we live somewhere with a library like that.

Some examples of Balinese traditional painting and woodcarving. Amazingly I bought a cat like the tall one with white ears while in Kota Kinabalu. Much of what we saw being made in the small shops is actually exported so that’s why you can buy things like the cat with the striped tail in the US.

My teacher, Pak Sulendra, did most of what you see. We did the woman first and then the flowers. I say we because I actually did help. He drew a picture of the woman on one sheet of paper and I drew on this one, and then he fixed what I drew. Then he taught me how to go over the pencil with an drawing pen….very slowly! Then we started to put down the color. It is acrylic mixed with water. He would show me and then I would finish. Before we painted the woman’s hair you could see the pen lines and I am sorry they all were painted over. Up close you can see them and it gives the hair detail. The scarf still has visible ink lines. The lines on her face and the bit of white in her hair represent age, But with no saggy chin so I’m not sure that I see an older woman. Maybe Balinese women don’t get saggy chins. I also had trouble with the hibiscus because I didn’t know what they looked like in real life. My teacher obviously does. We drew then inked then put down a red wash leaving some white. Then we added yellow, then more red, then the green. I loved watching it develop layer after layer of color. By the end of the three hours I was quite tired. But I learned patience and how to use the acrylic paint that Dorothy Nagle gave me back in Subic. I hadn’t mixed in enough water. He mixed in lots of water for the initial washes.

That afternoon I followed the map Pak Sulendra had drawn for me to the local art supply store. I bought the same drawing pens and 2 brushes like he had. One can only hope (and practice!)

Ubud might just be my favorite stop so far, maybe for the wrong reason! The wrong reason is that it felt just like home. Why is that the wrong reason? We’re traveling to see the world away from home and experience new ways, not be at home away from home. Wonderfully, there was a great little library with library users just like I would see at home. (More about that another email) There was a pretty good book store and most small shops sold used books along with whatever was their main product for sale. There was a good art supply shop. Most people spoke English so communication was easy. Actually, the only people who didn’t speak English were most of the other tourists we saw. So though some things looked foreign, and the culture of the Balinese is far different than ours, the feel of Ubud center was to me like Roanoke’s market area, or the area of Salem around Roanoke College, or Provincetown, MA or Sate Fee, NM or any small art focused area that attracts artists, tourists, New Age types or people looking for a less hurried lifestyle where there is lots to see and do in a beautiful setting. People from other parts of the world come to Ubud for the same reasons they go to Provincetown, though lots cheaper and warmer! At least that’s the way I felt. Randal thinks I’m totally wrong! And we were only there a short time. But I felt totally comfortable on my own the day Randal and I did different things. No other place have I felt so comfortable so fast. Maybe I’m more used to it; but I think it was mostly Ubud that made me feel that way.

Every morning lots of shuttle vans leave our anchorage at Lovina for other destinations. Tuesday afternoon we bought our tickets for a Wednesday 9 am shuttle to the mountain town of Ubud. Our van was filled with 8 of us, backpack luggage, and a driver who smoked, talked on the phone and at the end tried to make Randal and me pay more money. There was a Brit, a French couple, 2 young American women each traveling alone, and a slightly older woman origin unknown. We all chatted; conversation and interesting scenery making the 2 ½ hour trip go fast. The French couple recommended a small hotel, Sania’s House, near the Public Market and the center of town. They said it was 200,000 rp per night, (about $ 22) lovely and clean and showed me on a map. I noticed it listed on the Ibud pages I had copied from our Southeast Asia tour guide with a glowing review. The journey’s only sour note; most people are dropped at hotels that perhaps give a “fee” to the shuttle driver. We had no hotel so our driver got no extra fee. So he told us we had to pay more for going just into Ubud where he didn’t normally go. Huh?!!! All we knew when we bought the ticked was that it took you to Ubud, no destination named. We refused to pay the “fee” and told him he was acting badly. Randal had a card from the company owning the shuttle car and called them to complain. We were told by other travelers on our return trip that our driver had been wrong and we should not pay more. But that was the only sour note of a really wonderful time. Not knowing exactly Sania’s House was, and being hungry, we picked a restaurant on Monkey Forest Road and had a wonderful lunch for not very much money. Monkey Forest Road really does have a monkey forest and we did visit it. Very fun! At our restaurant we picked up a free Ubud community booklet with a map, saw that Sania’s House was just down the street and around a corner; so off we went. During lunch I had called ahead to see if there was a room. “One left, 300,000 rp.” I said we would come see; and that we had been told they were 200,000rp. Everything here is a process of bargain and negotiation. Randal does well, I always overpay. When we got there, they showed us the room. Top level, very lovely with a balcony on all sides, table and chairs on the balcony, huge windows, and beautiful gardens to look at….. But they did have another room, ground floor, not so lovely, 200,000. We took the one upstairs for 270,000 rp (about $31.) The room itself was very spare with huge windows that opened out onto all of the balconies. There was one small table, a wardrobe, 2 large blue and green striped bath towels, no soap or shampoo. But spacious and the balcony, flowers, banana crepes and huge bowl of fruit for breakfast, thermos of hot tea at 5:30 am…made up for anything the room itself lacked. And actually all that was needed was another bedside table and a towel rack in the bathroom, and perfecto! In Ubud, the small hotels are called home stays because the entire family lives there too. (A family can be lots of small related families together in one compound all working and living together.)

You can see our room was on the second floor.

It was a four poster bed. We left all of the windows opened at night!

Though the days were warm, I actually had to ask for a blanket after being chilly the first night. All the walls but one had those huge windows and there was balcony outside. They even gave each room a big drying rack for your small hand laundry and to hang out your towels that were not replaced. Good idea. Our second night the 2 men in the room just below had a dinner party on their patio and that was a bit noisy. But they were speaking German so you weren’t kept awake listening. It was just background noise. If you wanted, the hotel would prepare a dinner if you asked in advance. Next visit that would be nice. The French couple also had a dinner party one night, but they were quieter and not downstairs from us. I did try to listen in when people were speaking French since I had it so many years ago in school. But my vocabulary is just too limited.

Randal reading on the balcony.

Each morning about 5am they would take away your old tea thermos and bring you a new one with clean cups. It would stay hot all day. The second big blue Chinese thermos was just hot water that Randal requested for the coffee packets he carries in his pack. Most days he just had the cup of coffee they brought with breakfast. The huge thermos stayed really hot all day and I mixed its water in with my tea during the late afternoon to stretch the tea and make it hotter. The tea, breakfast coffee, huge bowls of fresh pineapple, banana, and papaya and choice of eggs or crepes was included with the room. The banana crepes were wonderful and made to order when you requested it. It was like having servants, but they didn’t act subservient. They just wanted to make your stay comfortable. In some ways it was like being a guest in a home, sort of like a B & B atmosphere more than hotel.

Behind the shrubbery on the top left of the photo is the small pool.

There was a small pool that lots of other guests used. We hadn’t thought to bring suits. It was more a stand around in pool than a swim laps pool. But a lovely setting. The pool and some greenery were in the center of the small complex and the building with rooms around the perimeter. The buildings made a J with the pool at the bottom curve and buildings along the line and top. We were at the top of the J. Below the J was the family area and the entrance way.

There were maybe five buildings of 3 or 4 levels that had 1 or 2 rooms all with porches or balconies. This building was the next one over from ours and lovely to watch as the sun rose. I also would watch one of the family tend to all of the plants each morning. The couple in the middle level was French and the woman in the one below, here for 45 days of vacation, was from Quebec. There were lots of Germans, some Asians but no other Americans. All different ages too, one couple with a tiny baby.

Just inside the gate to Sania’s House were where the family pets lived and stayed; a very quiet snobby Doberman, some fish in a tank, and a funny large black bird with some yellow on its head. He made noises like a cat and also like one of those whistles that you pulled a string and it made a crazy whistle in three stages. You could hear it all day. Very funny. No photo because the bars to the cage were too thick.

We spent our first afternoon walking around Ubud center; to the library, to the big funky public market; just soaking it all in. We went back to our balcony for a late afternoon beer for Randal and freshly squeezed papaya juice for me and a nice quiet nap. About 6 pm we walked the row of nearby restaurants stopping for dinner. One maybe shouldn’t order pizza outside Italy and New York City, but we did. Topping of tomato and cheese wasn’t bad, but the crust was like a cardboard cookie. Oh well. It really was the only food that wasn’t great while we were there. Ubud does salads really well and you get a healthy glob of it with pretty much anything you order. We did have a bottle of their local Balinese white one night. Not too too bad with food. But any wine that can’t be cellared, can’t be so great. This wine had in big letters, DO NOT CELLAR. Or it should have had; actually the letters were there, just small. It was ok with the sautéed veggies and rice I had. Can’t remember what Randal ate, some noodle dish. We had eaten a huge, late lunch that day as part of our Eco and Educational Cycling Tour. We should have had skipped dinner, funky wine, and especially the huge brownie and ice cream dessert we split. Didn’t need that at all. Or we should have only eaten that. The brownie was fudgy and vanilla ice cream tasted real. Well they do grow vanilla in Indonesia, and cinnamon and ginger and lots of other spices.

We spent Thursday doing the bicycle tour (more about that in another email,) and Friday each doing our own thing. I spent Friday morning taking a traditional Balinese painting lesson for 3 hours and Randal wandered Ubud. (More about the class in an email I’ll write about the library.) We met for lunch, a really good one! Then Randal went back to the room and his deep involvement with the book Krakatoa by Simon Winchester that he had bought the night before in one of the Ubud bookstore near our hotel. I went off on my search for the local art shop to buy a brush like my teacher had used in hopes it would work for me like it did for him. And some drawing pens. It was about a 30 minute walk to get there. I passed a telkomsel shop and stopped in to ask about our terrible service but the one staff person didn’t speak English….. I passed a fishing gear shop and made a note to stop on my return to see if they had a gaft. My art teacher, I was the only student that morning, had drawn me a map to the art supply shop and it was exactly correct so I found it. The women working there were very helpful. Two brushes, some white watercolor paint and some white acrylic paint, and 2 drawing pens later I left and returned to the fishing gear shop. The woman behind the counter was very helpful but didn’t know what a gaft was. I drew a picture and she thought I wanted some fishing hooks. A gaft for those who don’t know is a big handle with a huge hook on the end that you grab the fish with to haul it onto the boat. Randal had lost the hook part of his when he caught his first fish. Somehow the metal hook part had been unlocked from the handle. Anyway, luckily there was a customer who knew what I wanted; and the shop had one for 95,000 rupiah (about $10.) I had just enough money left to buy it. Had I known I had that much money with me I would have bought more art stuff! But we needed the gaft so I’m glad it worked out that way. I walked the 30 minutes back to our hotel and rewarded myself with some still hot tea and a ginger cookie on our balcony. Later that evening, Randal and I went off for a light dinner of wonderful made from scratch spring rolls we shared and vegetable soup for me and tomato soup for him. Then we stopped at a convenience store and bought about 20 DVDs, cheap. We don’t ask……( We watched the Bob Dylan I’m Not There last night on the boat. Very odd.)

Saturday morning it was time to leave. We needed to get back to the boat to recharge the batteries powering the frig and freezer, and to rejoin the Sail Indonesia activities. I hated to leave Ubud. There was still so much to see, and life at the beautiful hotel was so comfortable and relaxing.

The entrance to Sania’s House. In the book eat pray love by Elizabeth Gilbert (which I’m really glad I read as an intro to Ubud) she says that Balinese women are either getting ready for, participating in, or cleaning up from some type of religious ceremony. That seemed true. Each morning there are thousands of tiny flower offerings to the ancestors that must take hours to make and then replace the next day. You always saw the Sania’s House women doing something, making these ancestor gifts or cooking the meals or doing something. It seemed the men waited on the guests and cleaned the rooms.

Sania’s House granny

Sania’s House member

Its 1 45 pm pm the 10th.  We are on the first day of a 2 day passage to Mataram.  Saw Komodo Dragons on Rinca Island.  Hope some day to do photos.  Have met a several really nice Sail Indonesia folks.  It will be fun meeting lots more.

  Till I can send a real email.

Ru

Hi Everyone,

  Writing from Labuanbajo where we will meet up with Sail Indonesia on the 6th.  I still owe you the remaining photos from Nur’s house but our cell phone connection won’t send photos well.  I hope this goes to you so you can meet Petra and Janez. 

Randal and I made the best spur of the moment decision while in Tana Toraja.  During our stop where the women were playing the music with the long poles calling people to the coming funeral celebration, we met Petra and Janez.  While I was off with Rusli taking photos, Randal was watching the drum women.  Petra, also watching the women, started to chat.  Janez joined them and they were all still talking when Rusli and I returned.  I was introduced and thought them a very sweet, happy couple. They were from Slovenia and reminded us of a cruising Slovenian friend, Tasha, whom we had met at the boat yard in China.  Randal gave them one of our cards and we said good-bye.  While we walked to the car, Randal told me that Petra and Janez were hoping to get to the island off Labuanbajo.  We both thought the same thing, why not ask them to come with us if they would like.  Randal returned to them, offered and they said they would like to if everyone’s plans fit; they didn’t want to hold us up.  They had some more things to see and then a 10 hour bus trip.  They are 26 and incredibly adventuresome and live on a shoe string budget.  Well, it worked out and they arrived in Makassar early Sunday evening.  They had given us their passport numbers over the phone the day before so we could officially add them to our crew list.  You have to do that when you cruise so countries know who is entering and leaving.  There are lots of reasons.  Countries want to know who is coming and when they leave.  They charge fees to come so they know how much to collect.  It gives the crew some added safety if something happens to the boat, there would be a list of crew (passengers.)  By 11 pm we had all the paperwork done and the fuel loaded thanks to the help from our friends Arifuddin Hamid who did about everything we needed and Sempo who ran the water taxi service.  About  7:30 am Monday morning we pulled up anchor.  We’d had two boat glitches that Captain Randal could fix, and the Sox score was bad, but nothing to stop us so off we went.  It was a rolly bumpy slow long day.  But we made it to anchor before dark.  The next 2 days and night were not smooth either.  There was little boat traffic to worry about so both Janez and Petra took 3 hour night watches with Randal sleeping close by if needed.  Randal and I took the first and last watch and that made it so much nicer than each of us doing 2 watches.  Petra and Janez cooked, washed dishes, played the guitar and sang and slept where there was space.  Compared to the dark spider filled caves they’d had to sleep in during a trek or the knee deep mud or leeches on their hikes in India, anywhere on our boat was comfort.  They had met at university in Slovenia, both studying geography and focusing on ecology.  For now their passion is travel and they have been doing it for many months including several in India doing volunteer work and meditation.  They are so enthused and open minded and care about the world.  They, of course, are vegans so we all ate very well.  Lots of cabbage salads and beans and a great eggplant potato vegetable stew Petra made.  We also ate tempeh pan-fried with garlic.  I made bread and we all ate veggies, fruit and healthy! 

  We arrived in Labuanbajo about 3:30 pm on Wednesday and they were packed and leaving by about 4pm.  I quickly grabbed my camera realizing I’d taken few photos of them.  So here they are, Petra and Janez.

This is how they traveled, with packs for camping, sleeping bags for sleeping.  I asked what kind of shoes they wore through the knee deep mud.  Sneakers Petra said.  Petra said she just laughed at how absurd it was but Janez was too mad since they had been given such bad directions that they had hiked miles through horrible mud all the wrong way. Luckily they had come upon a native hut, were allowed to stay there and then were taken by boat across the lake where they needed to be.  Very trusting people, they were always treated with kindness. 

  Petra with her purple tie dye shawl sitting on the flybridge.  She had such beautiful, expressive eyes. 

  Randal is just washing down the back of the boat washing off pounds of salt!  I bet there are too pounds of salt. It’s amazing and slick to grip too.  Not good for stainless steel or anything on the boat.

  Here is a quick painting I did of Labuanbajo.

  We are here to meet Sail Indonesia (they have a web site)  Most boats joined in Darwin, Australia.  Some are here already, but most will arrive September 6th.  Hard to type September it has been August for so long!  There are lots of small islands with low hills surrounding the anchorage.  Not far from us in the island famous for the Komdo Dragon lizards and we mean to see them.  As you can tell from my painting, lots of sail boats here.  We may be the only “stink pot” in the group.  A curiosity item.  We had one visitor early this morning wanting to see the “Diesel Duck” he had read about. 

  So just this quick bit for now. 

GO SOX!!!!!!

Ru

ps  biak meaning good is pronounce bike.  I can remember that.  Most words I stumble over and can’t make the correct sounds.  Petra tried to teach me something and I just couldn’t roll the R around long enough to get it to sound right.  I will try to include the pronunciations if I know how.  Thanks Lois for the suggestion.  Terima kasih (Thank You)  Drema ka’see is how I pronounce it.I could remember it because I worked with a woman named Drema at the library.  It took tricks like that for me to remember things. 

  Randal is just washing down the back of the boat washing off pounds of salt!  I bet there are too pounds of salt. It’s amazing and slick to grip too.  Not good for stainless steel or anything on the boat.

  Here is a quick painting I did of Labuanbajo.

  We are here to meet Sail Indonesia (they have a web site)  Most boats joined in Darwin, Australia.  Some are here already, but most will arrive September 6th.  Hard to type September it has been August for so long!  There are lots of small islands with low hills surrounding the anchorage.  Not far from us in the island famous for the Komdo Dragon lizards and we mean to see them.  As you can tell from my painting, lots of sail boats here.  We may be the only “stink pot” in the group.  A curiosity item.  We had one visitor early this morning wanting to see the “Diesel Duck” he had read about. 

  So just this quick bit for now. 

GO SOX!!!!!!

Ru

ps  biak meaning good is pronounce bike.  I can remember that.  Most words I stumble over and can’t make the correct sounds.  Petra tried to teach me something and I just couldn’t roll the R around long enough to get it to sound right.  I will try to include the pronunciations if I know how.  Thanks Lois for the suggestion.  Terima kasih (Thank You)  Drema ka’see is how I pronounce it.I could remember it because I worked with a woman named Drema at the library.  It took tricks like that for me to remember things. 

“South Sulawesi is home to fertile plains that are the most densely populated region in Indonesia outside of Java and Bali.Towards the southern tip is the provincial capital of Makassar, the largest city east of Java.  Further north, Parepare is the second largest port on Sulawesi and a stopping point driving from Makassar to Tana Toraja.  Tana Toraja, 400 km (240 miles) north of Makassar in the highlands of South Sulawesi lies in the region of Tana Toraja.  From June to September the local community holds its elaborate funeral celebrations to honor their ancestors.  Rantepao is the main town and location of the buffalo and pig market where animals are bought for the funeral celebration meals.    Cave burial sites are located at Londa and Lemo.”  Paraphrased from our info on our map of Sulawesi.  Some of the stops along the way were Maros, Pangkajene, Prepare, Enrekang, and the Rantepao.  Our hotel was in Makale just outside of Rantepao.  I believe we stopped in Parepare for lunch. 

Rusli said about 30% or the population is middle class earning between $25,000 to $35, 000 per year US.  Since there are about 10,000 Rupiah to $1,  what you earn and spend sounds staggering!   Most people are poor though not hungry or homeless.  We saw some of the local economies on our journey from Makassar

  Early in our first day we stopped not far from Makassar to see part of the bamboo industry.  Here bamboo is sold.  In Torajaland its abundance makes it free.

  Catching fish in the river near Nur’s house.  Lights are shown into the nets and the fish swim in and are caught.

Rusli and Herman, our driver  buying “lemons” from a street side shop.  We would call them grapefruit.  There are no speed limits and no real rules.  Just go as fast as you can around everyone else so you can get from Makassar to Tana Toraja in 8 hours.  Scary!  Luckily Herman has been doing this for years and knows how to deal with the road and other drivers. 

  Rice drying along the road near Nur’s house.  Rice has three stages and three names.  Padi with the husk, Beras with the husk removed, and Masi when it is cooked.  Pare Pare is rice in general, I think

  These small cakes had the consistency and texture of a flat corn muffin.  They were made from sticky rice, I think and cooked over coals in a heavy covered cast iron pan as you can see.  Very good.

  The shop/restaurant owners.  He wanted his photo taken, she was not so eager.  The home is located over the shops in many cases.  Ruko is the local term for the combined home and shop.

   Rusli explains to Randal about the fish “drying” process. These fish are tiny but we also saw large grouper.

  Look prehistoric don’t they.  Could be too since formaline is used to preserve them.  We were going to buy some but took a pass when we learned of the preservative.  Usually it’s just salt.

Rice workers.  I could devote more than one email to photos connected to the rice culture.  These are mostly “rental people” who will be paid with rice. 

Rusli giving them some lemon.  They had asked for candy, but we had none.  I bought some for the ride back, but the opportunity didn’t arise.

  Protection from the sun and also because they are Muslim women.  I was warm in just my tiny sleeves!  Sitting!!!