Cruising

On Monday we stopped at Ujung Kulon National Park, a natural sanctuary for Asian wildlife.  The last population of seventy or so Javan rhinoceroses live in this park, but we were never going to see them.  If the rangers spot a rhino, they close off the entire area to all humans.  Monkeys (macaques) abound in the park, as well as wild pigs, bats, and a lot of birds.

We had a choice between a seven kilometer walk through the rain forest or a short two kilometer walk.  Unfortunately, it rained hard all morning.  Imagine that ... tropical rain in a tropical rain forest.  They postponed the landing for an hour and finally said that anyone who wanted to go could.  I had planned on the longer hike, but even two kilometers did not appeal in a pouring rain.  Besides, I figured the animals would be too smart to hang out in the rain.  So I missed my chance to see Ujung Kulon National Park.

Fortunately, the next day was clear when we went to see Krakatoa.  The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883 was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history.  It was also the loudest noise ever on earth.  It could be heard 5000 kilometers away, and anyone within sixty kilometers had their eardrums blown out.  The ash spread so far that there was global cooling for several years.

Krakatoa blew its top completely and most of the caldera is under the water, but a few small islands in a circular pattern show where the rim was.  In 1930, a new volcano poked out of the sea in the middle of the caldera.  It erupts frequently, so it continues to grow and is now three hundred meters high.  It is named, appropriately, Anat Krakatoa, which means "child of Krakatoa."

One of the things I have learned about Indonesia is that it is extremely fertile because volcanic soil is so rich.  But it takes a while for lava to become fertile soil.  Unlike the other nearby islands which are green and lush, Anat Krakatoa is mostly bare lava rock and pebbles, although you can see moss and lichen, and even a fern or two taking hold.  We climbed to the rim and had a view of the smoke coming out of Anat Krakatoa.

Walking to the crest on lava pebbles.  The other islands are tree covered.

It is hard to see the lichen, but a single fern is to the left of the gray area.

Overlooking Anat Krakatoa with steam coming out.

The next morning we were scheduled to visit Enggano but an expedition cruise can change the itinerary because?  Well, because.  They told us things had not gone well at Enganno before, so instead, we went to the nearby uninhabited island of Pulau Duo  We took the zodiacs to a pristine sandy beach where we went snorkeling over a coral reef.

More interesting facts about Indonesia:  it has somewhere between 13,000 and 18,000 islands, depending on how you count the sandy cays and rocky reefs that are submerged at high tide, and over 7,000 of the islands are uninhabited.  Indonesia also has eighteen percent of the coral reefs in the world.

From coral reefs to the tiny native village of Siberut to see traditional Mentawai culture.  Siberut is an island group of at least thirty three islands off the coast of Sumatra, but has a population of only 40,000.  We were led to believe that the Mentawai still practice traditional dance and medicine and they did demonstrate that for us, but aside from the demonstrators, every single person was wearing modern clothes.  They even demonstrated the traditional method of tattooing.

Crushing sago to make flour.  Just like making wine.

The shaman.  Notice the tattoos on his legs as well as chest and arms.

Another tattooed shaman.

The next day we visited another remote, local village on Pulau Nias.  This is also a small island off the coast of Sumatra but unlike Siberut, it has a population of nearly 900,000, and it is primarily Christian.  Go figure.  We saw another native dance festival, but this one was special enough that most of the local people came out to watch it as well.  The main show was the War Dance with over fifty warriors running at each other brandishing swords, stomping, and yelling.  The show climaxed with a few of the springier warriors vaulting over a seven foot stone barrier.

A family band

Houses shaped like boats

War dance

War dance

Traditional vaulting

This is a local fishing boat.  The long arms extended on both sides hold nets that can be lowered into the water.  They only fish at night and they shine lights from the extended poles.  The lights attract the fish and voila! The nets catch them.

Tomorrow we are off to another tropical beach for more reef snorkeling.

Borobudur and Prambanan

Our next long day excursion was to two "biggest" temples:  Borobudur and Prambanan.  Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world.  Like Mount Bromo volcano, it is located in the middle of a huge caldera surrounded by active volcanoes.  It was built in the eighth century but abandoned in the fourteenth century.  Why?  Because the population become Moslem?  Because the erupting volcanoes made it inaccessible?  And for that matter, why was the largest Buddhist temple in the world built in a fairly remote part of Java, a fairly remote island in Southeast Asia?  No one really knows.

Engravings on the walls

Our ship docked at Semarang, the capital and largest city in the Central Java province, and then we drove two hours south to Borobudur.  The temple is built on ten levels.  Yes, more stairs, uneven stone stairs no less.  On the lower levels there are intricate engravings that tell the story of Buddha's parents, his birth, his life, and more.  On the top levels are circles of stupas with one giant stupa in the middle.

Apparently this is one of the most visited places in Southeast Asia.  We saw many school groups and I struck up a conversation with one group of girls.  Their English was not very good, but it was much better than my Javanese.  They introduced themselves and asked my name.  I asked them how old they are (14) and they asked me how old I am (gasping audibly when I told them).  Then they quickly pulled up a translation program on their phones and asked me questions:  how long are you here?  what do you like about it?  I'm not sure they understood my answers.  They asked if they could take a picture with me, so I felt the need to reciprocate.

Another hour drive and we arrived at Prambanan which is the largest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia and the second largest in Southeast Asia after Ankhor Wat.  Unlike the single Buddhist temples, no matter how big, Hindu temple complexes seem much less organized with various buildings, platforms, and statues scattered around seemingly randomly.  Also, apparently Hinduism is a generic term that includes many different religious practices.  Some Hindus worship one god, some three, and some dozens.  Prambanan is dedicated to Brahma, the Creator (large tower in the middle), Vishnu, the Defender (tall tower on the left), and Shiva, the Destroyer (tall tower on the right).  Unlike most sites I have been to that restrict entry, you can enter all of these towers by climbing steep stone steps (no handrails, of course).  Inside each, in complete darkness is a statue of the god of that tower.  Like Borobudur, Prambanan was deserted in the fourteenth century and sadly, largely destroyed.  After its "discovery" in the nineteenth century, parts have been reconstructed but it is still surrounded by mountains of stones from other towers that were once here.

One interesting theory for why Borobudur and Prambanan were deserted in the fourteenth century is that when the population became largely Moslem, the Buddhists and Hindus left Java and went to Bali.  This explains not only the desertion but also why Bali itself is primarily Hindu and why the Hinduism practiced in Bali is so different from other types of Hinduism.  Indonesia is 87% Moslem, 10 % Christian, 2% Hindu, and less than 1% Buddhist.  Not coincidentally, Bali, which is predominantly Hindu, has approximately 1.5% of the population of Indonesia.  More interesting facts about Indonesia:  with a population of nearly 300,000,000, it is the fourth largest country in the world and the largest Moslem country in the world.  Fully half the population lives on Java, an island that is the same size as Cuba.

Tomorrow will be our last stop in Java, and then we will continue up the coast of Sumatra.

Mount Bromo

On our first day at sea, we stopped at Probolinggo on the southern tip of Java, and took a long excursion to Bromo Tengger Semeru  National Park.  The Park contains a huge caldera from a volcano 150,000 years ago.  Within the caldera are several smaller and newer volcanoes including Mount Bromo which is still active.

First we took tenders to the port, and then a one hour bus ride up the ridge of the caldera.  After a lunch accompanied by native dancing, a caravan of forty five jeeps took us up the even steeper road to the top of the ridge and then down into the caldera.  From there we walked about a mile across the black sand to the base of Mount Bromo.  Then we climbed.  Gently at first, increasingly steeper, and finally, up a few hundred stairs.  We had seen the smoke from the volcano from far away.  On the top, the smoke was intense and the smell of sulfur was almost overpowering.  Lava was bubbling in the volcano which we could clearly hear - it sounded like the roar of the ocean.  And occasionally, and a bubble of bright orange lava would burst through the smoke.

Starting the climb (stairs in the background)

Approaching the stairs

A toast at the top

After hiking back down, we drove an hour in the jeeps and another hour on the bus to arrive back to our ship, the Jacques Cartier.  This section of Java could not have looked more different from Bali.  There was no traffic (except for our caravan of jeeps), and no overcrowding.  We were back in Moslem Indonesia, so there were no more Hindu temples at each house, but there were several beautiful mosques.  And we could really see the countryside: dense forests interspersed with farmland on the steep sides of the mountain - sometimes in terraces and sometimes in rows that climbed the mountain.  The road was so steep that the houses were built like those in San Francisco.  I enjoyed the scenic drive.

Clarification:  I am not on a large cruise ship with excursions.  This is an expedition cruise with about 150 passengers and an staff of fifteen naturalists.  Some of the naturalists are generalists in ecology, but most have a specialty such as fish or insects or geology or culture.  Their combined knowledge is impressive.  Each day, the team leads everyone (unless you choose to remain onboard pretty much alone) on a single expedition, often to a place that is not accessible to most tour groups.  The expedition to Mount Bromo was a twelve hour day.  We had a restful day at sea today, and have another twelve hour expedition planned for tomorrow.   Most of the rest of the stops will not be at ports, so we will use the zodiac boats to go ashore.  We were also issued snorkeling equipment today so I guess that is on the schedule, too.  As an expedition cruise, the itinerary can be altered as conditions change.

Living in Bali

The popular vision of Bali as a lush, green paradise with beautiful beaches is, unfortunately, somewhat out of date.  A major problem has been created by overtourism as Bali became popular.  Rice paddies and every piece of bare land were developed.  Traffic clogs the few roads, creating gridlock and hours-long traffic jams.  Sadly, this was the view that I saw most often:

Not very scenic.  I can only imagine what Bali looked like before. 

But overtourism is only part of the story.  Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.  Its large income, primarily from oil, does not reach most of the people.  If there are laws, the authorities can easily be bought off, so development can occur anywhere with no oversight and no quality control.  Needless to say, the infrastructure is seriously lacking.  Unlike in Japan where there is no garbage anywhere, in Indonesia, there is garbage everywhere.  The accepted standard is to throw garbage on the ground or in the ocean.  The ocean carries garbage from nearby islands to the beaches of Bali.  Thus a typical beach looks like this:

So what is special about Bali?  The people really do seem to be kind and caring.  The reputation of the Balinese is that they are very welcoming and accepting.  I hear the surfing is great (when there is no garbage around).  And there really are Hindu temples everywhere.  People put out offerings at each temple every day as well as at their stores and businesses.  Our driver always had a fresh offering on the dashboard of the car every day.  I wasn't sure why, but people wrap statues and trees with a black and white checked cloth and put the offering in front of it.

I have seen "local" dance shows that are clearly put on for the tourists, but I also see ceremonies at the temples regularly.  I believe there is a core culture of belief, spirituality, and openness that it is hard for tourists to readily access, but comes across as kindness and warmth.  Again, I wish I could have seen it before.

There is one more thing about Bali ... it is incredibly cheap which is, I'm sure, part of the reason for overtourism.  At a local restaurant, dinner for five of us cost $15.  Even at more touristy restaurants, it was hard to spend more than $20 for a meal.  Our driver (and car) cost about $65 for a day.  Labor is really cheap here, so you can be treated royally for not a lot.  Although, you also get what you pay for as the quality of work here may not be up to our standards.

I had the opportunity to live rather uniquely in Bali.  The villa I stayed in for the first week was spectacular, and since it was in the north of the island, I did see a more uncrowded, somewhat rural landscape.  In the south, we stayed with Peggy's friend Ben who has lived here for twenty five years.  When he built his house near Balangan Beach, there were only open fields around him.  But now there are hotels and other houses surrounding his, and destroying the openness and view.  He used to find the inefficiency of life here the price to pay for living in paradise, but now is not sure that he is still in paradise.

Finally, I boarded a luxury cruise ship and was disoriented in the main lounge which has a mirrored ceiling.  So where is paradise?

Backyard and view from villa

Ben's house

Open patio, living room, and kitchen

Guest bedroom

Main lounge with mirrored ceiling

Finally, we visited one last temple on our last day in Bali.  Tanah Lot is built on an island that you can walk to at low tide, but is inaccessible at high tide.

And that was Bali.  One last drive through traffic to the cruise ship terminal and we are off to some other Indonesian islands.

Bali temples and more temples

I spent my first week in a lovely villa in the north of Bali.  That area is a small, primarily Moslem enclave in a small, predominantly Hindu island in a huge, predominantly Moslem country.  I knew that Bali is primarily Hindu and did not expect to hear the muezzin several times a day.

Whatever my preconceived notions were, Bali is not a small, green, idyllic island.  It is much larger and much more populated than I thought, with a population of over three million.  Old-timers will tell you that Bali has changed so much in the last few decades, primarily due to over tourism.  The narrow roads are always clogged with cars and motorcycles, and the traffic is beyond horrible.  The drive from the airport to the villa, a distance of sixty miles, took four hours.

On Friday I left the lovely villa and finally went to visit some of the sites in Bali.  First I went to Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, a major Hindu temple on the shores of Lake Beratan.  I also had not expected that there would be not one but two beautiful lakes, appropriately named the Twin Lakes, in the mountainous interior of Bali.  Built in 1633, this temple is dedicated to the Balinese water, lake and river goddess Dewi Danu.  It is also known as the floating temple as some of the shrines sit on a small island in the lake.

At this temple, I saw a presentation of the barong, a traditional Balinese dance that features a mythological lion-like creature, who is the king of spirits and the symbol of good.  The dance was accompanied by a thirty piece percussion band, most of them playing something like a xylophone.  Both the music and the dance were a style that I have never seen or heard before.  Very interesting.

Next I visited one of the famous rice terraces that Bali is known for.  From a distance, the fields look green, but that is just the front of each terrace.  At this time of year, each terrace is filled with muddy water where the rice seedlings are individually planted.

Finally, I stopped at a second Hindu temple, Pura Taman Ayun.  Taman Ayun means beautiful garden, and this temple/garden complex which is surrounded by water is the second largest temple in Bali.  The various pagodas are dedicated to ancestors of the kings of Bali.

While I visited two large Hindu temples, we passed thousands as we drove.  That is no exaggeration.  I realized I have never visited a Hindu country and had no idea what the symbolism or customs are.  To add to my confusion, I have also discovered that Hinduism in Bali is unique, and quite different from Indian Hinduism.  Fortunately my guide, Putu, had been a teacher of Hinduism in the local public schools before becoming a guide, so he answered my questions and lectured to me for most of the day. 

In Bali, there are four types of Hindu temples.  First, every house has one.  Second, every extended family (clan) has one.  Third, every village, and fourth, there are public temples.  It is the latter that we are visiting, but we can see the small temples at every house and village that we pass.  There is also a fifth type of temple for various types of industry (fishing, construction, etc.)   The people apparently pray to their ancestors as well as the various Hindu gods, but there is also the concept of one god which is a foundational premise of the Indonesian country. 

Peggy arrived the next day and we moved to her friend Ben's house in the far south of Bali (twelve miles and a one hour drive from the airport.)  Ben built the house himself two decades ago in a remote, bucolic area, but the house now is surrounded by hotels and large houses right up to his property line.  His house is open and airy and quite different from last week's villa.

In the evening, we went to yet another Hindu temple, this one in a stunning cliffside location, to see a unique Balinese dance - the kecak.  The most amazing thing about this dance was that the "musical" accompaniment was a "choir" of seventy shirtless men who chanted rhythmically for the entire hour.  But the chanting was tuneless; they were more like a percussion section, closer to wordless rap than music.  And they did it in complete unison with occasional multiple parts.  Amazing.  The complicated story of the dance had an evil spirit kidnapping the lover of the good king.  The evil spirit was turned into an old man at one point and there was a golden deer for some reason.  As I said, complicated.  Needless to say, evil was vanquished at the end and the good lovers were reunited.

On our first day touring Bali, Peggy and I went to the Basakih Temple, also known as the Mother Temple.  Built high up on the slope of Mount Agung, this is the most important, largest, and holiest of Balinese Hindu temples.  In fact, it is not one temple but a complex of twenty three smaller ones, and was originally built in the 800's.  And it is built on the side of the mountain.  A shuttle conveniently drove us to the base, where we had to walk up a million steps, passing temples along the way until we reached the most important one on the top.  There are, however, two more temples higher up the slope but it takes two hours to hike to them.  I was okay not seeing all twenty three temples.

Japanese curiosities

Yes, everything you have heard about 7-11's in Japan is true.  They sell everything from fresh baked goods to pork baos to prepared dinners.  It was also where I had to go to buy stamps for postcards.  But they have competition; Family Mart and Lawson's are almost identical and I like the baked goods at Family Mart better.  Also, you never hand money to the cashier.  At 7-11, you feed bills and coins into a slot on your side of the counter, and change comes out.  At the other two, you put the cash in a little container and the clerk picks it up from there.  Of course, you can use credit or cash cards.

It is also true about Kit-Kats.  For whatever reason that no one knows, they make Kit-Kats in every weird flavor you can imagine and some you cannot:  green tea, wasabi, matcha.  And the store to buy them (go figure) is named Don Quixote.

I also bought some more authentic Japanese treats like wasabi peanuts, and a few less common treats like salmon jerky.

They drive on the left side in Japan.  Apparently this has nothing to do with the British Empire.  Rather, the samurai needed to stay to the left so that their sword was accessible for meeting a passing enemy.  Maybe, but it's a good story.  They also drive teeny, tiny cars, and only back into spaces, including spaces that are so small that I couldn't figure out how the driver gets out.  Then I remembered - they drive on the left and the driver sits on the right.

Everyone knows about the heated toilet seats and the toilets with so many buttons that you have no idea what they are for.  I have also mentioned that most public bathrooms do not have paper towels or garbage cans, so you have to carry a small towel with you.  But there were so many other oddities of Japanese bathrooms.  For example, how does a young mother manage with a baby?  What about a toddler son who cannot go to the men's room by himself?  The Japanese have answers for these problems and others.

Ladies toilet with baby holder

Only urinal I have ever seen in a women's bathroom.

You do not wear your shoes inside.  You also do not wear your inside sandals in a bathroom.  There are special sandals for that.

Toilet with a built-in sink on top.

So that's why they always close the lid.

It rains a fair amount here so everyone carries an umbrella.  When you go inside a museum or other public place, you put the umbrella in a special umbrella holder that locks it in place and gives you a key.  At the lovely restaurant we went to in Kyoto, if you wanted to walk in the garden, they supplied both sandals (since you did not have shoes on inside) and umbrellas.

Something I have never seen before:

And I could see someone inside holding a tiny pig

Finally, most translations here have been excellent but occasionally you see a sign and wonder:  did they really have to warn me about that?