A Rare Car Trip to Denpasar

It's rare these days for me to take a trip in the car. Problems with my ankle (two botched surgeries a few years ago), my back (a chronic problem dating back to my fieldwork days in Northern California) and my peripheral vision (from the first stroke almost three years ago now) first stopped my from driving the car and now has made it uncomfortable to even sit in a car for more than a short ride. So, I stick the my beloved motorcycle unless a situation arises where I need to use a car. Yesterday, one of those situations arose when I need to accompany one of my daughters down to the American Consular Agency in Denpasar.

I'm a driver: I was a cab driver for a few years, drove a fork lift for a while in a factory and have been attached to anything mechanical that can move me from one place to another. I don't trust most of other drivers, especially in Bali where road conditions are, at best, challenging. But, as I can't really drive a car, I used my wife's occasional driver yesterday to take Rebecca and me down to Denpasar. I loved it. I loved it not because someone else had to battle potholes, lunatic teenagers just graduating from school and driving like they have some impenetrable shield around, the clueless textters who drive with one hand on their motorbike and the other on their handphone (forget about watching the road, they're too busy getting out that vital SMS to someone obviously important enough to risk their life and the lives of other drivers), the tourist-bus drivers who have the biggest vehicles on the road and make sure everyone knows it, and the mad dogs who run out into the street oblivious to speeding machines. I loved it because it gave me a chance to gaze at Bali's natural beauty and its unique architecture.

Those of us who have been here for a while, and who don't live in traditional Balinese compounds, tend to forget about their special beauty. And, there are many along the road from Denpasar to Singaraja. My status as a non-driver allowed me to stare into the compounds as we sat in traffic or slowly passed by. My anthropological imagination running wild imagining live in one kampung or desa after the next. And as we drove up into the mountains on the way home, I was dazzled by the late afternoon sun highlighting the lushness of a Bali just coming out of the rainy season.

Knowing that I won't be making these trips very often anymore, I avidly accumulated all these visions of this graceful and gorgerous island for future reflection. Just another nice day in paradise.

A Warm Breeze from the Coast

It's been a while since my last motorcycle trip (Ramadan isn't ideal for traveling and my eldest daughter was visiting from school), so I decided it was time to hit the road and visit a friend down in Ubud to chat and pick up an antique keris that I bought many years ago. My friend kindly offered to have it cleaned for me, and now that it was done I had a great excuse to visit Ubud.

I've been dropping in to Ubud for short visits since I first arrived in Indonesia back in 1989. My trips back in the early days were mainly to look for Balinese art. I'd stay a night or two in a local homestay, get what I wanted and then head back home. What I mostly remember about Ubud back then was how early the village closed down. The streets would be dark and deserted by 10 pm. Years later, I started visiting Ubud with friends to stay a night or two, hear some music, do a little shopping and spend a lot of time in one or another of the bars or clubs. Now, I mostly visit Ubud to visit my American friend and discuss expat life, local and world politics, kids and school and anything else that pops up during the three or four hours that we spend together.

After visiting my buddy, I return to the inexpensive homestay that I've been using as my base in Ubud for the past 22 years. The homestay offers basic rooms with two beds, a fan, an outdoor bathroom with cold water, and the traditional Balinese double doors. No frills, although they do have two new rooms with hot water. What I love about the place is that the folks are friendly but not intrusive. We always have a short chat when I arrive, and then they just go back to their daily household routines. They do provide plenty of hot water along with coffee and tea, and the breakfast is quite good: a large fruit salad along with either an egg or a banana pancake. While the price has gone up over the years, the 100,000 rupiah they charge now is reasonable and fits in my traveling budget of 150,000 a night for a room.

So after returning from my visit, I have a shower and nap, and then wander around a bit. This usually includes buying a book and then having dinner at one of Ubud's many restaurants. While Ubud is one of the top destinations for visitors to Bali because of the cultural attractions (dances, music, art) and the gorgeous countryside, it has limited interest for me because I've been to the ceremonies and dances. I do enjoy watching the tourists, however. We don't get many in Kampung Bugis, so they're some akin to a birdwatcher catching sight of a rare species.

While I was driving down to Ubud from Kintamani, I passed three groups of tourists doing one of the bike rides that go down from Kintamani to Ubud, and then later several groups getting ready to do one of the rafting trips on the Ayung River. There are a number of companies that offer biking and rafting like Bali Adventure Tours and Sobek. So, there were plenty of tourists around Ubud to keep me amused.

Coming back to Kampung Bugis from Ubud, I drove up to Kintamani through a soft morning rain. I love getting out on the road early with the markets full, kids on their way to school and the smell of wood fires burning in the villages. By the time I hit Kintamani, the fog was so thick that visibility was down to 3 meters and a stiff wind was blowing up from the west. Indonesians on motorbikes tend to dress like I used to during the cold Chicago winters when I was a kid: gloves, scarves, heavy jackets. I wore a t-shirt, and I was freezing. My hands were numb from the cold and the vise-like grip that I had on the motorcycle because of the hazardous driving conditions. As I moved down the mountain, the fog cleared up and a dazzling blue sky appeared overhead. A warm breeze from the coast let me know that I was getting close to home. North Bali's brilliant coast never looked better.

Now it's time to figure out where to go on my next trip around Bali.