Why a double whammy you ask ? Well when it rains, cycling is out and when it rains, kite flying is out too. Accompanied by lightning, there is the risk of frying one’s kite as well as oneself.

OK one good thing about the incessant rains is that this rant will end with some photos of a nice hotel we stayed in recently. If anything, it’ll give some nice ideas on interior decoration like designer rain showers for the bath.  And I’ve also stumbled upon the slideshow feature for WP. 2 good things about the rain today which I might add is easing up. Yippee !

http://www.hfcsingapore.com

Seafood can fly

Nice colours on a bright day. Kite # 5 I think

It's always a treat when a real eagle gets curious and circles this fellow wondering, What the heck ???

Within those months, I’ve had the good fortune to befriend two neighbours from across the street and fly these giant kites from the field below my apartment block. For simplicity’s sake they’ll be referred to as KB 1 and KB 2 (KB for Kite Brother)

KB 1 is the real enthusiast with dedicated equipment like a pro.

A special kit bag to hold half a dozen kites and spare bits like carbon rods and swivel hooks. Reels of various sizes with lines of various lengths and poundage. Yes, like fishing, one must take kite lines seriously. The capacity to hold or fly a kite in the air with the weight of a full grown adult, say 160 pounds, before out of luck mayhem happens like a broken rod or snapped line. Then comes the reels of various diameters, the larger ones being able to reel in or let out a kite faster than what the kids use. Remember rolling pins or old Coke bottles?

KB 1 all excited, and that's his bling stainless steel reel in mid air tied to a tree, holding another kite

KB 2 being younger has the knack of buying the latest and the best, easily swayed by marketing. I mean look at his car, decked out with bits of carbon and fiberglass. No wonder he’s in the business of selling ‘car bits’ cleverly designed himself and some parts made to order from a factory in Malaysia – online of course. This leaves KB 2 ample time to indulge, what with his fast car’s boot chock full with kites, picnic chairs and the all important ice cooler box, filled with various brands of …. chilled beer !

Occasionally KB 2 will show up in the evening with his 2 young sons, who after 5 minutes will turn their attention to their laptops and I phones. So much for the great outdoors, shrugs KB 2, as long as the cooler box is also filled with fizzy drinks and food, the kids will be fine.

Bored chubby kids, busy dad

30 % left, not good

KB 1 being the true kite master is down at the field 3 to 4 times a week. That’s a lot when multiplied by 6 months. Sometimes twice a day, with a break at mid day for lunch. Needless to say in our tropical climate, this Chinese man has the complexion of a Toblerone  chocolate bar ! And with a wife whose constant bickering about the bad effects of sunburn.  I try to avoid the heat and UV when I can but heck sometimes, to quote KB 1. “To fly a kite, one must embrace the wind no matter what time of day”

Bicycles are handy kite transporters

KB 1 is also the most helpful of strangers you have just met. As he had learnt the ropes literally by himself,  he’s always keen to teach newcomers not to make the same mistakes he did.

Stay away from the trees. Stretch your line out a few hundred feet before lifting your kite. No point in running like a mad hatter when the wind is dead zero. There were just too many times in which KB 1 took my kite without me asking and walked away with it. With the line laid out at 300 feet, reeling it in fast and seeing it soaring in to the evening sky, we spent many hours in total kiting bliss, so much so that sometimes, our wives will make the trek down to see what the fuss was all about !

KB 1 even looks after the field mind you, and has even told off some clueless soccer kids that leaving their trash on the field was not cool. “Watch out for the 3 deep potholes in the field”. He has since fill those out with rocks and waste wood,  just today. Carried on his rusty bicycle’s basket no less.

What are brothers for ?

When one spends hours on end tethered to a kevlar line guiding sails of parachute nylon and carbon rods in shocking colours, it won’t be long before ‘man gossip’  happens. I mean how else would I know that KB 1 led a life of driving huge oil tankers at all hours, before a bad work accident twisted his left foot 180 degrees?

Apparently his compensation was enough for him to stay at home and fly kites at age 54. And there are stories about him having to work at a young age so that his single mom could send his brother KB 2 to school. KB2 being the more successful at this point in time showers KB 1 with many manly gifts from pricey Oakley sunglasses, nice watches and even kites that have lost his fancy. KB 1′s two sons are all grown up and have joined the Singapore Navy, and yes his wife laments that her whole family (except her) are too tanned.

KB 1 has graduated into stunt kiting, a natural progression he says, edging me on constantly to move from static kites to the next level. In local parlance this is akin to ‘poisoning’ in that I have to spend and acquire more stuff that I am not ready to play with.

I kite therefore I am (sunburnt and aching)

It was a sad day too when I asked KB 1 about KB 2′s absence from the field. It seems some unsavoury Middle Eastern blokes were keen on moving into the ‘bits of plastic and carbon to make your Japanese car look faster’ business and were also hacking his website and claiming to be the designers and vendors of those ‘bits’  Isn’t having loads of oil under your deserts enough ?

NOT a taxi by a long shot

I was mildly incensed at this but more than that KB 2 went AWOL for 3 months or so. We both missed that cooler box too ! KB 2  like most Singaporeans had made the best of the situation and took up a night course in attaining his vocational taxi driving license. Very handy when the next recession strikes. Now the running joke  among us is, will he use a Lancer Evo 10 as a taxi. I’m sure there will be a demand to find out what 250 kmp/h feels like.

Lo and behold, 24 hours ago, I see  a giant black cuttlefish from my bathroom and KB 2 is back. Grabbed my kites and camera and headed down, much to my wife’s amazement who muttered something like, “Oh, all  the brothers are back”  There was so much chatter between the KBs that I decided to sink in my camp chair and let them  carry on.

Yeah yeah, spending many a glorious sunset with two other guys may seem weird, but really, when the winds pick up, that’s all that matters (almost)

these 2 are about 500m up

KB 2's $195 worth of 'kite poison' and a tad difficult to fly

PS>  In our increasingly urbanised enviornment, kite flying has grown in leaps and bounds. There’s just something about having control of one’s kite that’s sailing high up in the open skies that says, I am in control, and want to be in control of such a simple flying object  (well there are complicated pricey kites too) in a wide open space, that has timeless appeal.

Perhaps it’s the many restrictions that are imposed upon our everyday lives that makes kiting the total opposite.  Training one’s sight on a faraway object sure beats hours in front of the computer screen, unless it’s to check today’s wind and weather conditions! And of course being outdoors in a cool evening breeze, among the brothers, with similar passionate interests, is a sure way to forget the worries of the real world, if only for a few windy hours. I dare you to not bring your phone along too.

Anna from Amsterdam shows us our villa and asks for a credit card, in case we exceed the Thb 5000 / $200 limit for the minibar. I don't think so

It It was no coincidence that we had to check into the Banyan Tree Phuket resort after the G’s flights home . Coleen had won a 3 night stay there, at a media event (ie sponsor’s givaways)  last December. It was worth US$1950 and we had the chance to redeem it almost 7 months later. Having the G’s on a road trip to Phuket for 6 whole days, that was the coincidence. Friday to Sunday was our ‘now time’

With our G-sitting duties done, I spent most of my time by the pool, on the deck chair, checking out cloud movements during the day and the stars during the night, while indoors, well one can zone out in the jacuzzi or in front of the  big screen. I don’t recall my board shorts being completely dry in those 72 hours.

One huge room with a mattress on the raised floor

Office ? Nope !

The living room opens to this

Keeping out prying eyes

This was left outside our door. Did not use it at all as the tyres were half inflated and seat post was stuck

The grounds were really expansive and well manicured, a far cry from the abandoned tin mining pools in the 70's

On our walks we got to see the 'double pool' villas. One word, huge

a second pool surrounds the glass walled bedroom

What a living room

Even after a heavy downpour, the sunset on the Andaman Sea was amazing

Who are they, these Gs, you ask?  In short the Gs are my parents, both with a combined age of  158 years, which makes me a half century young too. ‘G’ started out as short for geriatric, a none too nice term for sometimes grumbling/feuding parents.

I take full blame for wittily coining it. It has stuck on with my better half and me, as a reference code word when referring to mum and dad. We now regard the letter G as a  loving term, without any sarcasm, well almost.

When their words and deeds defy logic or rational thought, we usually take a deep breath and say, “It’s the Gs”  Just fall back and accept come what may.  More micro managing with whyfores and therefores will only lead you faster in to G-hood.

There’s even a G 1 and G 2. (Not to be confused with Canon Powershot cameras)

When their moods are nice and correspondingly their offsprings will be too, G is uped a few notches to Genial Grandparents, though in a single blinding moment any one G can become ‘Grumbling’

With the meta out of the way here’s a look at the G’s and Us on a road trip.  All of 6 days, it’s trails and tribulations had a special added element, just to keep things in balance or add to the potent mix of grumbling, sighing and gereral well being of the non Gs, seated up front.

It’s Mom’s friend from Church, 80 year old Aunt Dorothy. Recently widowed, she has all the power of a single woman again, but we found her to be genial, confident, courteous and all round very nice to ‘be with’ (Much to Dad’s instant consternation and impatience, mostly because, she’s not him. Mom has her own special patented brand of G-ness, it’s a bit delayed, in that I’ll hear the negatives and my shortcomings in the following…..months!)

Just to recap, we had done another road trip in the Thai north in 2009, with the third party being a mum in law from Malaysia. People say I am brave, but I have to be as I hold almost all the cash, keys to the car, hotel choices and maps in my head.

Of course there are many compliments too  from friends who do not have the time nor patience to carry out  such a long, taxing 1300 kms cross country trip 24/7 with their own special set of Gs,  but see that 2009 trip was much too long, 13 days. I blame myself for wanting to explore new cycling routes. We have halved the duration now.

This is Road Trip V 2.0 and I’m getting smarter.

Click on photos to embiggen.

Just a week from returning, Dad’s fondest memory of the trip was my navigation skills without a map. (I had cycled the road to Ranong and further north, in May last year) and his many durian feasts. Not much else. While I credit Mom for holding hands and helping Dad across busy roads, packing his stuff each night, taking medication, and even edging him on to marry the durian lady with much laughter all around. That’s so like our Gs doing things that will bewilder us once in a while.

Trips like this seem to bond the G’s for a while, before they get back to their set ways back home. Having to co exist with each other in a different enviornment, does bring out the best in them, and we know that a 3rd party friend or relative nearby always makes them think twice about making a scene.

Mom is looking forward to another trip next year while Dad in his own impatient way, says why not next month, we’re not getting any younger. I don’t blame him as he used to disappear to Thailand for 2 weeks each, and  did that 3 times back as recently as 2009.

Even I don’t do that no matter how many nice bicycles (and a very understanding wife) I have. The last 2 years have not been easy what with insomnia and having to walk much slower with a walking stick. (I’ll have mine in carbon or titanium please)  2010 was a zero travel year for him (visits to hospitals don’t count) and it does, to put it bluntly, suck not being able to go where you want to. If an ageing G says, “Sh*t, I haven’t gone to Thailand for more than a year” I’d better have a back up plan.

That was said with much anger and frustration compared with a sadly poignant admission, “Christopher, I don’t think I can travel alone anymore” upon our return last week. We all know he shouldn’t anyway, what with some memory loss, he might miss his return flight or easily fall prey to some con artist, but this is one sad truth that all of us will have to face someday. ;-(

Latest intel from Mom says Aunt Dorothy is keen to play 3rd party again. Wow, that soon.

I sort of have a Road Trip V 3.0 in my head, but I must also have some kind of bicycle in the back of the car, or back in the hotel, maybe cycling around at midnight in a strange town, to delay the onslaught of my own G-ness.

Old hands watch and ponder, from a discreet restaurant, hey we were like that once maybe 20 years ago. Me? I try to avoid the place like the plague, but then again like the book says, the place is a ‘mood’ Catch it in your right ‘mood’ and soon you’ll be an old hand, never wanting to leave, save for the odd bicycle ride into the countryside. Useful things those state of the art bicycles.

Sublime sunrises

Dinner mood just after sunset (spot our wheels)

Ubud’s market is a real market before the daily transformation. Locals hustle and bustle for their daily needs from as early a 5 am. Messy, grimy and with suspicious odours. I’ve yet to enter  their deep dark and dank below road level areas. You hear the odd gripes about rising prices and shrinking portions. Locals buying in bulk seem to do so for their businesses mostly restaurants. They’ll pass the costs on to their customers.

On one very hot morning, wife is thirsty and insists on a cooling coconut drink. I am quoted Rp 30 k for one. No point haggling, it’s almost US$4.00. We walk away and the price drops to 20 K. I cross the street to a local warung and get a cut up coconut. Rp 10 K. I’m sure the locals pay less, but the thing to note here  is she’s thirsty and water wont do.

Come sunlight and say after 9 am, the produce market changes into the tourist market. This is a good time to be there. Mess cleaned up quickly and in it’s place, neatly laid out souvenir stalls waiting for the huge white tourists buses from the south to disgorge their contents.

My mood insists that I make a last visit on the very last day of each trip. People watching at it’s best. Plus photo ops galore. Intelligent mood dictates that we find our lodgings as far away from the town center as possible, which we cleverly do. And of course having a folding bike handy really beats walking 2000 metres just to get lunch or dinner or a new bikini.

A bikini shop in the heart of Bali's artistic and cultural universe

Seen at Periplus Books, not the Ubud library, there's none

Human beings being made monkeys of, at the Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. On a bicycle get there before 0800 hrs and you save Rp 20,000 as the ticket guy isn't there yet

He's in a hungry mood

BBQed honey coated and roasted ribs @ Naughty Nuri's Warung. We couldn't get a table at 3.15 pm. Unlike the poor kid in the bus, we got to smell it !

Ibu Oka's babi guling in Ubud. 8 whole pigs are sold in a day at this one tiny stall. There are others ??

Go pig out

Or better still, go cycling

Behind this bucolic scene at the Ubud Palace's lotus pond, there are 2 dozen tourists wanting a photo of pink flowers

A more private moment in someone's garden

Happy moods are the best

yes, whatever works for you.....

I once did a tally of the days and nights I’ve spent in Ubud. It added up to 62. That was in 2000, so that figure is severely outdated. There’re lots more, hidden somewhere in my trip diaries, waiting to be counted.  For simplicity’s sake, I’ll just double that figure. East Bali and Amed is looking good these days. It’s peaceful, quiet and with a spider web of roads and trails waiting to be to be explored on a mountain bike. It could just be the next place to stay a while.

From a previous post on food, it’s also possible to dine in a different restaurant everyday for a month in Ubud, but we now know the good from the less good  (thankfully we were spared the bad ones)

We will leave the island soon, and with the impending departure, the mood is sombre as we have to deal with traffic, immigration and crowds at the air port.

http://www.ubudvillage.com/ubud.html

A traffic stopper ogoh ogoh (back in 2003)

It happens once a year during the March or April full moon to herald in a new year,  after the most intriguing of all Balinese celebrations, where ironically nothing happens. This is the day of Nyepi or silence. 24 hours of quiet. People stay indoors, eat quietly indoors, no sounds, no conversation, no lights (except candlelight) no cooking, no frolicking  (ie, behave or abstain) and meditate. The more devout will also fast for a day.

Basically no one goes out, the streets are devoid of people and traffic. (save for emergency vehicles) This applies even to tourists and village pecalang or ‘enforcers’ make sure that the rules are strictly enforced. Out driving with no good reason ?  Your keys will be taken and you’ll have to walk home quietly. In recent years with the influx  of mass tourism,  the Balinese are dead serious about Nyepi and the airport is shut down for 24 hours. No flights in or out.

What’s the significance of all this, you ask ? Well it’s simple yet bewildering. With such silence for a day, the demons and malevolent spirits will think the island is devoid of life, and thus leave to haunt another place. Balinese demons are that naive for a day. Yet the ogoh ogoh prevail and have their boisterous street parades on the eve of Nyepi.

Welcome to Bali, misterrr

Rangda is a grotesque wicth queen that devours children like snacks

She has, to be polite, underwear and cuticle issues

2 tongues ?

Some are too detailed !

Sadly, we were not in Bali at the right time, just about a month after Nyepi. I cannot fathom 24 hours of plain doing nothing, not even with fast wifi, which in Bali is intermittent at best, but who knows one day in the future. Apparently there are even more, but sombre celebrations in the days after Nyepi and invitations have been ‘expressed and offered’ to me for the whole period  :-)

We saw the remains of Nyepi, that is the many ogoh ogoh left to flounder in village halls and street corners. Those that were not spectacular enough, did not win any best ogoh ogoh contests, and thus were not burnt at midnight.  Some were rotting and as freinds assured us, have no spirit or ‘power’ left in them.  Months of handiwork gone and it’s mind boggling that about 20,000 ogoh ogoh all over Bali are made and then torched at midnight before Nyepi.

Here's a rude one

.

Honourable mention(s) below, and sincere apologies to the countless others by the road side and local markets (the kind where flies are trapped inside the food showcase by a plastic sheet and the same fingers that handle the food, handles your money)

http://www.ubudgoodfood.com/

http://www.tutmak.com/

http://www.bali-travel-life.com/bali-buddha.html

http://www.bali-travel-life.com/cheap-ubud-restaurants.html

http://pulaukelapa.webs.com/aboutus.htm

http://www.hoteltirtagangga.com/restaurants.html

http://restaurantamedbali.com/

Cycled 35 kms for this ! http://www.kopibali.com/products.htm

Hot tip : If driving around Bali, stock up at Hardy’s S’Mart on whoslesale priced bottled water. We bought 24 x 1.5 litre bottles and made the earth more plastic-ky. More apologies…..

Heck we have two foldies in the back enjoying the bumps and views too. After a week, the car did 715 kms and my tikit did 208 kms (100ks of which, after the car was returned) The Cappu, well, does not have an odometer.

Onwards to Bali’s far east are a string of fishing villages lining the coast on the driest part of the island. A small broken road circles the half blown off top and massif of Gunung Seraya, with dizzying views of the Straits of Lombok. This is a great 50 kms road to cycle across, and yes I did it in both directions during my lifetime.

Almost a decade ago there was pretty much nothing here, except for the Vienna Beach Bungalows and restaurant, a most unBalinese operation that catered to those wanting to get away from it all. The attraction along this coast was and is like Pemuteran 140 km in the west coast, snorkelling, diving and sailing. The area is as lost as one can get in Bali without heading out on a jukung/outrigger to Lombok.

As usual we had no reservations. With new resorts popping up like mushrooms after heavy rains, we soon deduced that the going rate for a newish place, plus AC, hot showers and breakfast for 2, was about Rp 200 K (US $25) and highly negotiable in this low season.

These were in season and I had to succumb after 7.5 days

Fleeing the dreaded dark cloud of moisture

Da beach of black volcanic sand

Where we stayed, they have just 2 rooms, with No 3 under construction

The usual places to stay were becoming ‘too famous’ with rave reviews from travel websites and the all knowing Looney Planet. Sadly some were suffering the ill effects of being too well known and service and standards were not up to par with their ever increasing room rates. Well they had a good run and had a lot of my custom especially  when we show up with a group of 10 perpetually hungry mountain bikers in tow. With the popular spots in Bali, there’s always a new hotel or restaurant to try out. It all depends on how much effort you put in to find them.

With your own transport/AC car, it’s a miniscule malady. Park car and ask wife to go out and check rooms/prices. On a bike trip, wife hides in the shade while, after many many kms, hubby climbs more stairs in SPD shoes to make enquiries. Can’t win them all, I guess.

View from the balcony

Cloud watching (great alternative to slow/no wifi)

As we were 30 minutes too early for lunch at 12 noon, a kiasu S'porean coyly copied 10 jazz remixed CDs into I tunes.

Sails Restaurant along Lean Beach is the place where other hotel and restaurant bigwigs come to dine, http://restaurantamedbali.com  We spent many a daylight hour there, and one rain soaked dinner (a first for us) after which we had to drive back in the dark through flooded streets and across one river bed, which was not there a few hours ago. It was after all the ‘dry season’ of late April. In retrospect, it was better that the car got soaked than our bicycles.

3 cars = 15 diners, quick run !

Over polarized restaurant views

Boss wife and boss lady of restaurant

His

Hers (it's fishy)

His again, obviously (mucho porky)

New World Tourists (those are the bike models from Bike Friday) The couple from England were almost dehydrated

A fully loaded tourer enjoying his 30 kms of down hills

Mrs :  ”Wow, 2 guys on touring bikes and rolling downhill at that ! Aren’t you jealous ??”

Me :    ”Do you have to rub it in ??”

Mrs :  ”What happened to your plan of cycling down hill while I drive ?”

Me :    ”You didn’t offer to drive?”

Mrs :   “You didn’t ask enough”

Me  :    ”I thought I did !”

Mrs :   “Yes but you said that the clutch was ‘low or loose’ and the hand brake’s broken and………that I navigate well since  you can’t read the small small prints on the map”

Me :     “Don’t really need a map yeh, it’s all in here (points to head)

Mrs :     “Don’t trust my driving??”

Me  :      (very softly) “Uh huh”

In retrospect we’ve done all the down hills we’ve cared to do on other trips, but as I wonder now, with a tinge of regret, how fast would a Bike Friday tikit roll before I am reminded of my mortality ? I guess we will never know…..

Lazy mammals

Not too shabby a view from our porch. Pity the sunshine was in short supply, then again it was just 7.30 am

My new big toy. The place does not have fans or air conditioning, as the sea breezes always blow in once the sun is up, our host reassured us. Boy was he right, we checked out at a very late 1.00 pm after my kite felt tired. In the next bungalow, there's a Japanese tourist sweeping the floor with a broom that comes with each room. Wonder if she'll do ours ?

Far off the beaten track lies a little gem, best reached with your own transport or much nicer on a touring bicycle, http://www.geriasemalung.com/english/index.html

We wanted to stay 2 nights, but alas, our room was booked for the second day and we had to scoot ;-( (we did stay 2 nights back in 2008)  They have a constant flow of Japanese clientele to fill their 4 rooms, as the Balinese owner’s wife is Japanese. That explains the Zen like touches in the lush garden and a black volcanic stone hot tub in a corner, and a large manga collection in their library.  GS is in Desa (village) Ababi and we passed through Desa Budakeling (an as the crow flies short cut across a few semi dry river beds)  In Malay, those names are quite funny.

Next stop. Amed by the Straits of Lombok, and a scenic and shady down hill section that goes on forever…..sigh…

The line's maxed out at 800 metres (and my camera's zoom at 210 mm)

Tirtagangga's endless rice fields

The straits of Lombok in bad weather

Turn on your speakers, courtesy of the Geria Semalung folks, http://www.geriasemalung.com/page/s_gal/cnddsa.html

So much better light in the afternoon

My co driver (who didn’t drive at all) was a bit apprehensive at the cleanliness or lack there of, for such an establishment. Never fear I said. I think I dined here in 1991, and have already spotted at least one renovation. There’s a new signboard by the entrance. ‘Such and such a resto, since 1955′ It was here or some other street side stall with cold food and flies for company. As it turned out simple noodles and rice and some veggies were quite good and one quarter the price of eating in touristy Ubud. And yes, the grainy, unfiltered Kopi Bali was spectacular, I had seconds.

An open concept kitchen, great for seeing hands being used for everything, including tasting !

Our newish old Dutch style house in the hills of Munduk. The room was cosy (@ 980 m asl) and the garden, very lush.

Packing cloves for export in Munduk. It's a prime ingredient in some Indo cigarettes

Sunset was a non event for the camera because of a heavy downpour

Sunrise was much better

This morning will be etched in my memory forever, as it was about this time or so 7 am on Saturday 30th April that Paul Lim passed away, and I was up and about looking the the skies trying to capture a crimson sunrise. It was about 18 deg C, the mountain air crisp and refreshing. Paul and I and some friends were mountain bike touring in this very same village way back in 1995, and had to cool of our rims and brakes by dunking the wheels in a rushing stream.

Hidden hamlets of north Bali

An old timer's house and car in Munduk

Looking at the scenery and potential for long walks and climbs through the rice fields, one would need at least 3 days in these hills, enjoying the cool rarefied air, but we had done that on previous trips, so a single night with the sounds of a heavy down pour (definitely a first for us) was quite adequate to get reaquainted with Munduk. We had invitations to a village wedding that was going to last 5 days, but politely declined, as we were leaving on the 1st day when only the decorations were being put up. It would have been quite spectacular if we had arrived on the 4th or 5th day.

Coffee cherries

Tanah Barak (red rock) waterfalls after heavy rains. 5 minutes in this water and hypothermia is a given

Lake Tamblingan overflowing, it's temple and surrounding villages inundated. I was knee deep in the icy waters on the village road and made those ripples

Lake Buyan at 1200 m. According to some Balinese friends, it has been raining for the past year !