BALI –and more touristic objects and sights, 1930

Het Land der Duizend Tempels (The Land of the Thousand Temples) A Guidebook and Souvenir of BALI.

And so we have reached the fifth day of the 6-day programme. In the morning from Denpasar to Bangli where the Kehen temple is visited. On to Penelokan—great view of the Batur active volcano and Batur lake—and Kintamani. Lunch and overnight stay in the KPM guesthouse at Kintamani. This guesthouse had 6 rooms which cost 10 guilders per night. A government guesthouse with 8 rooms at 7 guilders per night was also available in Kintamani.

If so desired the Batur lake could be visited in the afternoon.



Mount Batur and lake

http://www.balistarisland.com/Bali-Interesting-Place/Kintamani.htm



The sixth and last day of the programme one has to leave Kintamani early as the KPM steamer back to Java leaves around midday.



no wonder...



The trip goes to Kubutambahan and the Madruwe Karang temple there, and Tejakula. After crossing a great many, mostly dry rivers, there suddenly is an abundance of water in Tejakula.

The main attractions in Tejakula are the pools—separated by gender—and a separate one for horses.

An interesting snippet of information: the guesthouse is no longer operational, at least not in the hospitality sector, but now (1930) functions as a sales outlet for opium.

To be continued…

BALI –more touristic objects and sights, 1930

Het Land der Duizend Tempels (The Land of the Thousand Temples) A Guidebook and Souvenir of BALI.

This is the fourth day of the 6-day programme. Early morning departure for Klungkung via Gelgel where the Kerta-ghosa (Justice Pavilion) is visited. Somewhere during the past 80 years the Justice Pavilion will have fallen into disuse because in 2009 announcement appeared in Bali News of which an excerpt follows…

The Italian embassy will launch a restoration effort on the Kertagosa complex in Klungkung, in cooperation with several other parties on May 30th, an official report said… The restoration will focus on the “Justice Pavilion” and the refurbishment of the Museum wing hosting the works of the Italio-Balinese artist Emilio Ambron. http://balinews.asia/2009/05/italy-to-help-restore-kerta-ghosa-complex/

From there on to Karangasem with a stop at the Bat Cave (Goa Lawah).



Goa Lawah

http://blog.baliwww.com/guides/698 



In Karangasem, after lunch at the guesthouse, the programme included a visit of the Water Palace in Ujung. The Water Palace is part of the Puri Agung Karangasem, home of the royal family of Karangasem, and covers three palaces built by the last Raja in the early 20th century: Puri Agung, Taman Ujung (the Water Palace) and Taman Tirtagannga.

<div style="font-family:arial, sans-serif; font-size:10px; background-color:#ffffff; border: 1px solid #dddddd; width: 550px; margin: 0 auto 5px auto; padding:4px"><a href="http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-photo/jollyjetsetter/1/1221844157/taman-ujung-water-palace.jpg/tpod.html"><img alt="Taman Ujung Water Palace, Bali, Indonesia" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/jollyjetsetter/1.1221844157.taman-ujung-water-palace.jpg" /></a><br/>This <a href="http://www.travelpod.com">travel blog</a> photo's source is TravelPod page: <a href="http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jollyjetsetter/1/1221844157/tpod.html">To &#39;Kuta&#39; long story short....</a></div>

Water Palace - 1930
Het Land der Duizend Tempels

The return trip is via Selat and Rendang  and Bukit Jambul from where one has a wonderful view of the Klungkung plain.

To be continued…

BALI –the touristic objects and sights, 1930

Het Land der Duizend Tempels (The Land of the Thousand Temples) A Guidebook and Souvenir of BALI. The visitors would typically disembark at Buleleng. In the booklet the town is described as not very attractive and because of the hectic bustle imposed by the tight shipping schedules, the graceful Balinese and their elegant temples are not found there.



Bali tourist map, 1930



After visiting the Tourism Association in Singaraja and finalising the logistics, the first destination of the 6-day trip was Gitgit some 13 km south of Buleleng. At 600 m above sea level it provided a magnificent view of the Buleleng plain. Returning to Singaraja a stop would be made at Bratan to visit the weaving and silver crafts of the area.

Then west along the north coast to Bubunan and southward to Munduk for lunch at its guesthouse. In 1930 this trip took less than two hours by car. The sights along the road: a monument to honour the lieutenants Stegman and Nijs who with 20 men died there fighting the Balinese in 1865; the split gate of the temple of Bubunan; and the view from the guesthouse.

After lunch the journey would be continued to Denpasar via Tabanan (sights: carvings on the gate of the market building), Kapal (sights: a holy spring with a holy eel that comes out of its hole only when called by the priest of the nearby Prasada temple), and Lukluk (sights: beautiful temple with an enormous Waringin tree (ficus benjamina), aka Weeping Fig, or Ficus Tree.

The night would be spent in one of the two (!) hotels in Denpasar. One of these is the old KPM hotel, built in 1928. I believe it still exists. it is located on both sides of one of Denpasar's main streets. The name escapes me.



Legong dance

 After dinner a gamelan performance with the famous dancer I Maria.

The next day (Saturday) to Kedaton for a performance, 8 to 10 am, of the lègong and jangèr dances. After the dances to Kuta and Jimbaran, and back to Denpasar.

On Sunday a daytrip to the Elephant Cave near Bedulu, and on to Gunung Kawi—meaning Carving in the Mountain, a 10th century Hindu temple complex where ten seven-metre-high memorials are carved into the rock face. According to legend, these ruined temples are the memorial shrines of the king's concubines and his family.



Gunung  Kawi



Lunch would be taken at the guesthouse in Tirta Empul, and in the afternoon visits to the temple and holy springs of Tirta Empoel.

On the return journey a stop would be made in Ubud. In those days not known for its artists and the variety of its culinary outlets, but for an intricately carved gamelan and the Panajaran—the place where the Anak Agung prays and makes offerings.

To be continued…

BALI –how-to-get-there in the early days

Het Land der Duizend Tempels (The Land of the Thousand Temples) A Guidebook and Souvenir of BALI. In the previous blog I wrote that the booklet advises on sightseeing trips the tourists can make: the ones for those staying at least six days, and also a compressed version for a 3-day programme. Although the latter version is included, the writer wonders why anybody would want to "see" the island in three days. One would need to race from north to south and from south to east, neither having time to ask questions nor to let the impressions sink in, and ultimately not seeing anything. The writer recommends a minimum stay of one week.

In the old days Bali could be reached in two ways: the comfortable easy way by KPM ship from Surabaya, Makassar, Semarang, Palembang, Jakarta (Batavia)and even Singapore to Buleleng. The second route was far less comfortable and also a tad dangerous—by train to Banyuwangi and from there crossing the Bali Strait by outrigger prahu to Penginuman, a few km south of Gilimanuk, or alternatively to the more distant fisher village of Candicusuma. If a rental car had been arranged beforehand, Denpasar could be reached in several hours through a dusty, barren and nearly deserted landscape without any interesting features or sights.

Quite clearly Tanah Lot became a tourist site only later. Imagine the writer, von Faber, accidentally stumbling across the site. Why didn't you tell me about this? Why do I have to find this because we were looking for a secluded beach? He is exasperated and looks like he wants to strangle his guide. You never asked, is the impassive reply.

                                                          Tanah Lot

                                                      

                     

The adventurous and less comfortable option, the crossing by outrigger prahu, was, however, the preferred one for those coming to Bali to hunt. You read that correctly, to hunt…! And what's more, to hunt big game! That sounds like tigers. And yes it was!  Wikipedia gives the following information on the Bali tiger.

The Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris balica), harimau Bali in Indonesian, or referred to as samong in archaic Balinese language, was a subspecies of Tiger which was found solely on the small Indonesian island of Bali. This was one of three sub-species of tiger found in Indonesia, together with the Javan Tiger, which is also extinct, and the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger. It was the smallest of the Tiger subspecies. The sub-species became extinct because of habitat loss and hunting. Given the small size of the island, and limited forest cover, the original population could never have been large.

In Balinese culture, the tiger had a special place in folk tales and traditional arts, like in the Kamasan paintings of Klungkung kingdom. However, they were perceived as a destructive force and culling efforts were encouraged all the way to the time of extinction.

A final blow to the island's already low tiger population came during the Dutch colonial period, when hunting trips were conducted by European sportsmen coming from Java, armed with high powered rifles and a romantic but disastrous Victorian hunting mentality. Surabayan gun maker E. Munaut is confirmed to have killed over twenty Bali tigers in only a few years.



one of the last...



The comfortable crossing was to Buleleng, the harbour of Singaraja where the Official Association for Tourism in the Netherlands Indies (Officiele Vereniging voor Toeristenverkeer in Nederlandsch-Indië) had an office. Tourists were advised to visit the office of the Association before setting off, as the latest information on special events and cremations would be available there. The office would also assist in reserving rooms in the hotels and guesthouses along the way.

To be continued…

BALI – the early days of tourism

Het Land der Duizend Tempels (The Land of the Thousand Temples) A Guidebook and Souvenir of BALI. I picked the book up in an antiquarian bookshop in Amsterdam. Year of publishing is not stated but should be around 1929/30 as some of the statistics given in the book refer to the year 1928.

It's a tourist guide, but unlike the present day versions the first nine chapters of this booklet describe the island's geographical location and geology of coast and interior; its people and settlements; the caste system;  the temples and a list of the most interesting ones; cremations; customs and traditions; public entertainment and games—including dancing and cockfights. And starting on page 90 only—two-thirds into the book—appear the tips for tourists which provide information on how to get there at what price, a list of hotels and government guesthouses, and a programme for a 3-day and a 6-day trip. The various attractions are listed alphabetically and described briefly.

Kuta in the early days

Kuta (Koeta), a dilapidated fisher village on the south coast of Bali, is easily reached from Denpasar. One can enjoy its delightful beach and safely swim as there are no sharks. There is a small government cottage with changing rooms. Swimsuits, towels, soap, and in case one wants to pick-nick, food and drinks, will need to be brought, as locally nothing is available. For a small fee one can make a sailing trip in a prahu.

The rest of the section on Kuta is dedicated to the Dane Mads Lange who in the 19^th century founded a trading station in Kuta, which was then an important commercial harbour.

The Kuta that in BALI, Lonely Planet is depicted as … teeming, mad, crazy, nutty, wild and loud … the original tourist centre of Bali … with its narrow alleys (gangs), hawkers, tawdry bars, cheap hotels and open-air cafes peddling cheap Bintang and nonthreatening nasi goreng. Every third person you see carries a surf board, every fourth sports a fresh tattoo.

Lonely Planet's slant on Kuta is a perfect illustration of the Balinese interpretation of the needs and desires of tourists. The Balinese have a sharp eye for profit-potential, and if tourists want cheap accommodation, cold beer and tattoos, that is what will be on offer in large quantities.



Woodcarvings

 Interestingly,  the writer of The Land of the Thousand Temples, G.H. von Faber, did spot the same trend. He writes that Bali now has electricity, cinemas, hotels, large ugly billboards, telegraph and telephone and … tourists. Unsurprisingly this has made its influence felt on the Balinese way of life and character. Von Faber includes one example as a warning: the handicraft is deteriorating, he writes. A large part of the products are made for the tourist market. The woodcarvers have taken account of the western tastes, and during my recent visit I did not find any delicately carved figures of the reddish sawu wood. The sellers assured me that those do not sell and are therefore no longer made. And according to the writer weaving and silverware suffer the same fate.

Fine, but look at it from the Balinese perspective. Tourism provides an income not only to hotels and restaurants, but also to the providers of services and goods. And why spend more time and energy on the production of artefacts if the tourist-milch cow is satisfied with the lesser quality!



JAKARTA TRAFFIC – some nasty surprises

Yesterday. At midday a heavy thunderstorm, strong gusting wind and pouring rain. When the worst was over I ventured out to buy a wrench in ACE's Pasaraya branch. On the way back I turned left into Kemang Raya and only then remembered that at this time the road is chocker full, an endless line of cars picking up children from the Al Azhar school. Progress was thus slow and I had just cleared the bridge over the swollen Krukut river when agitation rippling through the people on the sidewalk and the oncoming motorcyclists, made me look back. Three cars behind from where I only seconds ago had been, a tree had toppled over. It wasn't a big tree its trunk not more than 3 metres in height, but its top had nonetheless trapped two cars beneath it—one going down and the other going up the incline to Antasari.

That blocked the traffic for a number of hours till the man with the chainsaw cleared the road.

Today I had a closer look. The shallow roots must have lost their grip when the rain washed the last remaining soil away. It just keeled over without a sound of breakage or tearing wood. That explains why I never heard anything and was only alerted by the commotion among the other road users. Of course my ears are not all that good, but at that distance I would have been able to hear it, I think.

The rainy season has started in earnest, let's hope that my luck lasts.

ENVIRONMENT – frog specie threatened in spite of its name

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species, 2011.2 lists this beautiful black and red frog, the Blessed Poison Frog, as vulnerable. For details go to http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/193431/0.  

What is so upsetting is that the frog was discovers in 2008 in Peru, that is only three years ago. Which appears to mean that the moment an attractive specie like the blessed poison frog is discovered it already becomes nearly extinct.

Think about this possible scenario. A group of scientists surveys an area—likely a mixture of rain­forest and subsistence agriculture, or swidden slash and burn. They get very excited about the discoveries and will certainly query the local inhabitants about the animal: how often have they come across it, is it used for anything, do they know it is poisonous… Yes, of course, it's poisonous, colour schemes like that denote a warning, don't touch!

But the locals also perceive that these strangers are interested in collecting a few more. And even more so when after a while more strangers from the distant city come searching for this animal, offering to buy them at what seems a remarkably high price for a little frog that is of no use and has not disturbed anyone as long as you don't hold it or let it jump on you…

The IUCN report even states:  It is suspected that local inhabitants may be felling trees to collect these frogs for the black market, impacting not only this species but others that share the same environment (J. L. Brown pers. comm. July 2011).

Not only another, maybe not yet discovered specie, but definitely the forest. The Blessed Poison Frog might be saved from extinction through the terrariums of the buyers who keep the trade alive. The felled trees would, however, be lost for good.

BOOKS – I came across these

Reading The Scotsman—I do so regularly, although neither the local news nor the sports section provide anything like a shock of recognition to me, but strangely enough, I still experience it as a link… Link to what? Don't know, but it gives me a homey feeling.

Anyway, in the Lifestyle section I came across a review of books by Scottish writer Philip Kerr. He is well-known for his Bernie Gunther novels. Bernie is a policeman in Berlin but after the rise of Hitler he is forced out when he does not want to join the Nazi party. In the Berlin Noir trilogy—March Violets, The Pale Criminal, and A German Requiem—we follow Bernie from 1936 to post-Nazi 1947.

In March Violets it is 1936 and the Olympic Games are starting. Bernie is a private investigator in poor condition. He is hired to look into two murders that reach high into the Nazi Party. In The Pale Criminal it is 1938 and Bernie has been blackmailed into rejoining the police by Heydrich, the designer of the Endlösung himself. A German Requiem is set in 1947 and Bernie stumbles across a nightmare landscape that conceals even more death than he imagines.

Enjoy!

ATM SAFETY

We have all heard how "bad people" are trying to steal our credit card data by installing little cameras on the ATM that will read the card number and the PIN-code we enter. We are thus warned to look for any suspicious change in the front of the ATM. Great advice, but are we really expected to know how an untampered machine is supposed to look. Here in Indonesia I can now use my card on nearly all banks' ATM, even free of charge. But not only do the different banks have different machines installed, but regionally the same bank does not necessarily use the same ATM. The main reason probably being that the main cities get the newest versions and the older ones are recycled to the provinces.

Today, however, I discovered that the card data are under threat from a different angle, too.

I pulled money out of an ATM—my own bank's machine in a shopping mall—and also paid with the card in one of the shops there. When examining the print-outs one gets of the transactions, I discovered that the ATM print-out gave the first 12 numbers of my card and X-ing out the last four. The shop made me sign a transaction slip that listed the last four digits, and Xes for the first 12 numbers.

Throwing the ATM-paper in the wastebasket placed near the machine and the second one somewhere else, will make it virtually impossible to ever match the two. When disposed off at home, however, this would be quite possible.

JAKARTA TRAFFIC, the price of petrol and parking

The 2011 Indonesian budget for fuel subsidies has recently been increased to Rp.129.7 trillion (10¹²), or US$15.2 billion (10⁹). Due to this subsidy the price of regular petrol at the pump is Rp.4,500, or US$0.53 per litre. Comparable prices (converted to Indonesian Rupiahs) for neighbouring countries are: Malaysia – 5,066; Thailand – 8,777; Singapore – 11,560. There is nothing wrong with subsidies, as long as they are allocated to important things, such as economic development, and reach the right parties. But in practice, Indonesia’s fuel subsidy does not support development and it is mainly enjoyed by the rich.

This heavy subsidy seems to encourage the private use of vehicles—the poor quality of public transport helps support the desire for private ownership of vehicles—and by 2010 there were some 60 million motorcycles on the road and 14 million cars. Vehicle densities do of course follow population densities, and relative wealth levels. Consequently, the bulk of the cars and motorcycles are to be found on Java and Bali. No wonder thus that Jakarta (and Bandung, Surabaya, and the Denpasar-Kuta-Sanur area) is heavily congested, certain parts of the city being gridlocked most of the day.

It has been calculated that an increase in the petrol price to Rp.6,000 would save some US$2 billion in subsidies that could be used for the construction of infrastructure. More roads would dilute the number of cars per 100 km of road, while an increase in the price of petrol would most likely make a fairly large number of car owners decide to switch to another transport mode: public transport, or sharing, or even cycling.

This would require that the quality of public transport were drastically improved. And to encourage cycling the separation of motorised traffic from bicycles would improve the safety of cyclists—under present conditions riding a bike is all but comparable to a death wish.

Apart from the low price of petrol, a second bonus for car owners is the low price of parking and the ubiquitous availability of parking space. In secured parking areas, for instance at shopping malls or office buildings, the charge is Rp.2,000 (less than US$0.25) for the first hour and another Rp.2,000 for each subsequent hour. Street side parking in commercial districts is organised by official or otherwise organised parking attendants who demand Rp.2,000 for an unspecified period.

Compare these prices to the parking fees applicable in the European capitals—an afternoon in town will set you back a few euros on parking alone. The scarcity of parking space is moreover a good reason to leave the car at home and go by bus, tram or underground.

Although it will cut into my own purse, I believe that the expenses of driving a car in Jakarta should be increased heavily in order to make car owners think twice before taking their car.

In combination with improvements in the public transport system—cleanliness, safety, schedules and routes—a major part of the traffic problems of Jakarta could be overcome.

But I also repeat my proposal to compile cases of flawed traffic flow where a change of the traffic rules and regulations would improve the situation.

FAMILY REUNION

The view is of rolling farmland where at this time of the year the wheat is yellowing. The heavy rainsqualls of a few days ago have, in places, flattened the stalks. Natural crop-circles, I think, showing the dynamic brush strokes of gusting winds. The room faces east, as I requested, in fact, reception told me, all guestrooms face east as the western part of the building, facing the road to Saint-R, is used for administrative purposes and staff quarters. To me the east symbolises creativity and spiritual renewal, and I want to be open and fully accessible to these influences. What’s more, I prefer the morning sun to gently warm up my room and supplant its night smells, rather than the day’s heat being locked in by the fiery last rays. Isn't that what those travelling to India of old wanted—if they could afford it that is—port out, starboard home! POSH! During the hot traverse of the Red Sea that would give them the morning sun through the porthole.

The autumnal morning sun in this part of France is still strong and when the first rays reach the bed I fairly quickly have to kick the duvet off. Housekeeping told me to close the shutters at night, but I like to gaze at the night sky when I can't sleep, wondering who else is awake, who else is looking, waiting for a shooting star, or for the hooting of the distant owl. Have I been here that long already? Have I started to distinguish a pattern in the foraging sorties of the local barn owl? Have I really heard an owl? Would love to see this one—if it indeed is one. Would love to get close to her—it most likely is a female, they are so much easier to get along with than males. Most of my friends, the ones with whom I have established a really deep contact, are female.

'Nonsense,' she had said, 'bullshit, those are not friends, they are lovers and wannabe lovers and ex-lovers. As soon as there are sexual undercurrents, friendship is marginalised.'

I had answered that she was wrong. 'Sexual stimulation is only a part of the relationship. It is only its embellishment. Spiritual and emotional contact lies at the foundation and provides the structural strength.'

'Who are you trying to impress,' she countered, 'every attractive woman you meet feels that you immediately sniff her out, carnally so, before you have even spoken a single word. Don't even try to deny it, I know you from the first sniff to the consummation… The talking, or spiritual and emotional contact as you call it, is the embellishment… It really is,' her voice had taken on a soft longing timbre, 'it does lift the sexual act to greater and more beautiful heights, but it is sex you're after!' She was quiet for a moment. 'I know the power of your words, I remember the way you allayed my vexation about premarital sex, and you being married at that. You said: it's so nice to be desired! That made me feel so incredibly good. It moreover put the blame for the situation outside of me, I am being desired, what can I do!'

She is of course right, at least partly, but I will not admit it.

But where is she anyway and what am I doing here…? Maybe I should call her, ask when she will join me here. This, as far as I remember, is an institute for a French immersion course. It was her idea to enrol and I was to come along for fun. But until now I have not discovered any classrooms and the other guests I see during lunch all seem to be fluent French speakers…

'Why do you call me in the middle of the night', she asks when I finally get through.

Now I am really confused… middle of the night… but the sun is still shining… and according to my watch it's late afternoon.

'Darling, I am here in H, I am six time zones, that is six hours, ahead of you, you woke me from a deep sleep. Don't call me again at this hour, please.' And then she disconnects.

She is still in H, now I understand. That explains her absence, and of course she would be sleeping already. I suddenly feel so alone. And with the understanding comes the realisation that the time gap has widened  the emotional distance between us. A cold band of fear encircles my heart, intensifying my dread of losing her, of estrangement, of dislike replacing our love.

Staring at the night sky and imagining that she is already preparing breakfast, or opening the first of the many meetings of the day, brings on the vision of a dispassionate distant lover.

Love, shouldn't you have been here with me? I seem to remember having booked a double room. I am so confused… and the right side of my face hurts, it affects my hearing. Tomorrow I will have to check the booking and find out how long I have been here. And especially why I'm here.

Anybody out there willing to give me an advance so that I can finish the novel…? 
 Just a thought. ..!

BOOKS -- the MAN BOOKER SHORTLIST and WINNER

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is awarded each year for the best novel in the English language by a writer from the Commonwealth of Nations—a group of nations consisting of the UK together with states that were previously part of the British Empire.

Each year when deciding to buy the winning book, or maybe another one or two from the shortlist, I realise how thin the dividing line is between "judgement" and "taste". The judging panel's decision is not often unanimous. The differing opinions would therefore indicate a strong admixture of taste, as one would assume that selection of the panel's members is based on their technical competence as literary critics.

I consider myself fairly competent in assessing a book's quality—taking into account the strength and depth of the characters, the dialogue, the plot's predictability, and the like. But it is my taste that ultimately has the strongest say in my evaluation. Over the years I liked the panel's choice of: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark; Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day; Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient; Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha; Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things; Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang; Yann Martel, Life of Pi; DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little; Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger; and Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall.

Of the 2011 shortlist I am reading the winner Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending, and Patrick Dewitt, The Sisters Brothers. I looked at Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan but put it back on the shelf as I didn't like the dialogue. Am waiting for Stephen Kelman, Pigeon English.

This year it looks like I will not agree with the choice of the judges. I have a feeling that my choice would have been Pigeon English, but of course I haven't read it yet.