Let us introduce you to Fais, our dear friend. We met Fais many months ago on the beach while he was selling ice cream, he walks along “our” beach selling ice out of a cool box he carries around. There are many guys like him selling ice, but soon we made friends with Fais and he always stop for a talk and a break if we are on the beach. He is from Java, working in Bali because here there are more jobs then in Java. Oby, Fais’ girlfriend was also coming over to Bali some weeks ago, she had just finished high school and also wants a job here on Bali. At the moment she doesn’t have a job yet. Fais told us that she wants to see more of Bali, so we suggested going together to Uluwatu temple in the south. We still had to go there ourselves and would like to show them some of Bali. This was of course our treat and we enjoyed doing something nice for and together with Fais and Oby. After some convincing he accepted the invitation and we had a fabulous afternoon and evening!
After Rino finished work we met Fais and Oby on the scooter and made the one-hour drive to Uluwatu. Arriving at the temple area it was like all tourists suddenly came out of the ground, it was so crowded. Uluwatu is also famous for its monkeys, just like in Monkeyforest in Ubud. The difference was that they steal and pick more from people, so be careful with anything in your pocket or anywhere. We saw monkeys grab several pars of glasses from people and happily chewing them to pieces. Uluwatu temple is laying on the very tip of the big cliff that goes out in the sea and is not open for the visitors. But there are some amazing viewpoints where you can look down in the sea and out over the ocean south of Bali, and of course you can watch the huge cliff and the temple from a distance. The perfect view is with the sunset. It sadly was cloudy this afternoon, so the sunset wasn’t very clear, but it was still beautiful and the view is still breath taking.
Every evening at 6 they show the Kecak dance at Uluwatu, this is a very special Balinese dance, performed by only men. Instead of the usual gamelan orchestra, the voices of the men are the music accompanying this performance. In Bali there are not many places the kecak dance is shown commercially for tourists, but Uluwatu shows it every day. We didn’t see it yet, so this was a great opportunity. Fais also had heard about it and was so happy to be able to experience this show. The sunset was also still beautiful when the show started, couldn’t be better!
The show was impressive, the choir of the men’s voices is incredible to listen too and the dance performance and story that is told by the dancers makes it even more beautiful. It is a story about Rama & Sita, a Hindu love story between a King and his princess. To get a slight impression of the sounds here is a video we took:
After the show it was dark and we took the scooters to go home. On the way we stopped at our favourite Vietnamese small restaurant to eat. Oby and Fais had never had Vietnamese food so it was nice to try something new. The whole evening was so much fun for all of us! Fais told us that for him the show was like in his dreams or on TV and he enjoyed everything a lot together with Oby. Then we realize that we do this things every weekend, sometimes every day. We see the world, we eat food from all corners of the world, we do what we want when we want. We enjoy and we are impressed but at the same time we are used to do all this... When you enjoy and experience through the eyes of Fais and Oby one afternoon in Bali....then you realize how magical and beautiful all this is, to be able to do all this all the time for 10 months! Thank you Fais and Oby to let us be your friends and see the world the way you see it sometimes! :-)
Showing posts with label Temple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Temple. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Gunung Agung
We had been thinking about climbing the holy mother mountain, Gunung Agung already since we came to Bali. Because of the rain-season we waited until the end of our time on Bali. As a “warming up” we climbed Gunung Batur link to see how we would like it and how fit we are. Rino has no real climb/hike experience and Iris a bit more from Norway, but climbing experience you can barely call it. After Batur we knew that we are absolutely fit enough, Iris is a bit scared sometimes of the hights, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting to climb more.
Sarah had already said yes to the challenge and at a beach party we met Claas, a Dutch guy who also would like to climb with us. Team Mount Agung was formed! We started making plans together with our guide, whom we also used for Batur, but faith wanted our plans to change. A few days before the climb an uncle of our guide died, this makes him (our guide) impure and unable to climb the holy mountain for 12 days according to Balinese Hinduism. What to do...? We made contact with a good rated guide in the Lonely Planet, he replied and wanted to be our guide. He asked for our experience and made the suggestion that we maybe should not take the longest track to the very top, but a little shorter track to a top on the east-side of the volcano crater. 150m lower than the top and no 360 view, but according to him still fantastic view and good view on the crater. This track was 4-5 hours instead of 6-7. It also had been raining on the mountain a couple of days, so we decided to take his advise. Now nothing could stop us anymore.
We were picked up outside our house at midnight so we could start the climb at 2am. We had all been sleeping a little bit earlier that evening and eaten a big meal to build up some energy to stay up all night. With our backpacks and pockets full of snacks we cheerfully started the hike to the top of Bali. The starting point was at 1600 meters, almost as high as the top of Batur. It didn't take us long before we absolutely loved and trusted our guide Pak Gung Bawa. A tiny build Balinese with tons of climbing experience and a open and heartwarming smile and spirit. And smiling he did, all the time, jumping up the mountain with quick and light steps. He referred to the monkeys as our masters, light steps and using both hands and feet for walking up the steep mountain. It did help and made the climb easier. Keep smiling, think about noting else than right now and the goal of coming to the top and feel the energy from the mountain. Hug and embrace the mountain when you climb up a steep part, it will recharge your batteries, he said. We did, and we felt it. “We don’t concur the mountain, we concur ourselves” were his wise words. Especially for Iris, who gets afraid once in a while when its steep, learned a lot from Gung Bawa that night and morning. You have all the power to decide how to feel and think at each and every moment, as long as you’re aware of it. It is all in the mind!
We had brought snack with us for the walk, but at each short break Gung Bawa offered us snacks of all imaginable sorts, bananas, Oreo cookies and all kinds of small energy boosts. The climb was hard but we were in good shape all of us and it actually went very well the whole way up to the top. Gung Bawa had a perfect tempo and was a great motivator and company to walk with. Showing us how the continues smile from the inside and out can help you in reaching a goal. And we reached our goal, after around 4 hours we saw the top and made a monkey sprint up the steep big rocks. Full of adrenalin and out of breath we reached the top of 2890 meter.
Together with other people we watched the sunrise and just took in the impressions of being on the top of Gunung Agung and the breath-taking view. Gung Bawa made a prayer and an offering while the sun was rising. Adding a beautiful extra dimension to the whole experience, considering how holy and important the mountain is to the Hindus.
On the way up as well as the way down, we met a lot of Balinese people, aged teenagers to old men and woman, in traditional clothing and flip flops, climbing to the top to do their offerings. Gung Bawa told us that they also once in a while bring a cow or a goat alive up to the top to sacrifice/offer it into the crater. How do they do it??
After the prayer Gung Bawa pulled more stuff out of his magic backpack, this tiny man carries a lot of kilos up the mountain for his customers. We drank coffee and thee and enjoyed fried bananas and delicious cakes. We realized again that we had hit the best guide we could get, nobody else on the top were spoiled so much by their guide as we were. Besides that we also had a lot of fun together, which made everything feel easier than it maybe sometimes was. Here a short clip from us having fun on the top, Iris explains a song to keep warm from Norway :-)
On the way down, all of us could physically feel it ace more than on the way up, in the knees, hips, shoulders and feet. Gung Bawa kept the spirit high and we slowly made our way back down to starting point. 11am the broken but happy team arrived back at the car to go home, take a loooong massage, order pizza and zzzzzzzz! :-)
Thank you Pak Gung Bawa and thank you Gunung Agung for this experience! And thank you Sarah and Claas for the great company and the shared experience!
Sarah had already said yes to the challenge and at a beach party we met Claas, a Dutch guy who also would like to climb with us. Team Mount Agung was formed! We started making plans together with our guide, whom we also used for Batur, but faith wanted our plans to change. A few days before the climb an uncle of our guide died, this makes him (our guide) impure and unable to climb the holy mountain for 12 days according to Balinese Hinduism. What to do...? We made contact with a good rated guide in the Lonely Planet, he replied and wanted to be our guide. He asked for our experience and made the suggestion that we maybe should not take the longest track to the very top, but a little shorter track to a top on the east-side of the volcano crater. 150m lower than the top and no 360 view, but according to him still fantastic view and good view on the crater. This track was 4-5 hours instead of 6-7. It also had been raining on the mountain a couple of days, so we decided to take his advise. Now nothing could stop us anymore.
We were picked up outside our house at midnight so we could start the climb at 2am. We had all been sleeping a little bit earlier that evening and eaten a big meal to build up some energy to stay up all night. With our backpacks and pockets full of snacks we cheerfully started the hike to the top of Bali. The starting point was at 1600 meters, almost as high as the top of Batur. It didn't take us long before we absolutely loved and trusted our guide Pak Gung Bawa. A tiny build Balinese with tons of climbing experience and a open and heartwarming smile and spirit. And smiling he did, all the time, jumping up the mountain with quick and light steps. He referred to the monkeys as our masters, light steps and using both hands and feet for walking up the steep mountain. It did help and made the climb easier. Keep smiling, think about noting else than right now and the goal of coming to the top and feel the energy from the mountain. Hug and embrace the mountain when you climb up a steep part, it will recharge your batteries, he said. We did, and we felt it. “We don’t concur the mountain, we concur ourselves” were his wise words. Especially for Iris, who gets afraid once in a while when its steep, learned a lot from Gung Bawa that night and morning. You have all the power to decide how to feel and think at each and every moment, as long as you’re aware of it. It is all in the mind!
We had brought snack with us for the walk, but at each short break Gung Bawa offered us snacks of all imaginable sorts, bananas, Oreo cookies and all kinds of small energy boosts. The climb was hard but we were in good shape all of us and it actually went very well the whole way up to the top. Gung Bawa had a perfect tempo and was a great motivator and company to walk with. Showing us how the continues smile from the inside and out can help you in reaching a goal. And we reached our goal, after around 4 hours we saw the top and made a monkey sprint up the steep big rocks. Full of adrenalin and out of breath we reached the top of 2890 meter.
Together with other people we watched the sunrise and just took in the impressions of being on the top of Gunung Agung and the breath-taking view. Gung Bawa made a prayer and an offering while the sun was rising. Adding a beautiful extra dimension to the whole experience, considering how holy and important the mountain is to the Hindus.
On the way up as well as the way down, we met a lot of Balinese people, aged teenagers to old men and woman, in traditional clothing and flip flops, climbing to the top to do their offerings. Gung Bawa told us that they also once in a while bring a cow or a goat alive up to the top to sacrifice/offer it into the crater. How do they do it??
After the prayer Gung Bawa pulled more stuff out of his magic backpack, this tiny man carries a lot of kilos up the mountain for his customers. We drank coffee and thee and enjoyed fried bananas and delicious cakes. We realized again that we had hit the best guide we could get, nobody else on the top were spoiled so much by their guide as we were. Besides that we also had a lot of fun together, which made everything feel easier than it maybe sometimes was. Here a short clip from us having fun on the top, Iris explains a song to keep warm from Norway :-)
On the way down, all of us could physically feel it ace more than on the way up, in the knees, hips, shoulders and feet. Gung Bawa kept the spirit high and we slowly made our way back down to starting point. 11am the broken but happy team arrived back at the car to go home, take a loooong massage, order pizza and zzzzzzzz! :-)
Thank you Pak Gung Bawa and thank you Gunung Agung for this experience! And thank you Sarah and Claas for the great company and the shared experience!
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