Cologne (Germany) - Neuss - Zons 14-/15/16-08-09

Half August we visited Cologne, an old city in Germany, famous for its great Dom church. Although we had plenty of time in Cologne to wander around and have a look in the old city, our main goal for our visit was actually a city nearby Cologne called Neuss. Close to Neuss the museum Langen Foundation has been built by the Japanese architect Tadeo Ando, whose buildings we both admire. When you approach the museum only one conclusion is possible. The style of his buildings is very recognizable and I am always surprised by the way he uses space and light in his creations.

In the city of Cologne we made a walk through the old harbor (Rheinauhafen). From the old harbor nothing old is left anymore. A new project is to be finished by creating new offices and houses. Anything is done to let it still have the look as a harbor and the so called crane houses were designed.

Sunday we finalized our visit to Cologne by seeing the castle gardens of Augustburg at Brühl, the botanical garden in Cologne and we had a very quick look at the museum of east Asian art (architect: Kunio Mayekawa which has a very small but nice Japanese garden (architect: Masayuki Nagare).

You can find more info. about the Tadeo Ando museum on www.langenfoundation.de/index.php?id=110&L=0 ; go then to
- Langen Foundation
- Architecture
- guidance (Rundgang)
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside. We did not see the crowd and dinner party you see at the end of the video; actually we didn't see hardly any people, which is understandable, since the museum is situated quite remote.

Interesting was the nearby Museum Island Hombroich, both with the Raketenstation Langen Foundation part of the Hombroich Cultural Environment: the development of the Hombroich Cultural Environment, which has its roots in the Hombroich Museum Island established 20 years ago. The starting-point for all these developments was an extensive collection of fine art and a 'forgotten place' in North-Rhine/Westphalia situated close to Düsseldorf, where a special synthesis of art, architecture and natural surroundings was able to emerge. In 1994, the Raketenstation close by also became a part of the Hombroich Island and thus documents spatially the extension to a Cultural Environment.
The buildings, hangars, earthen walls and observation tower on the grounds covering roughly 13 hectares were renovated and redesigned. New buildings by Erwin Heerich, Oliver Kruse and Katsuhito Nishikawa supplemented the existing ensemble along with sculptures by Heinz Baumüller and Eduardo Chillida.

Very pleasant to walk around on this Museum Island with the beautiful weather we had.
Very strange was the fact that around the Langen Foundation there were also some artistic buildings, deserted and nobody around to give whatever explanation.

Panorama views of Sunda

Hi all,

Just to give you all a clear view on what Ingrid and I saw on our trip to the Sunda-islands I made some series of photo's of the various landscapes and stitched them together to 1 picture.

More pictures of the Sunda Islands (Indonesia) 2009

If you wish to have a view of my photo's, please go to the following link:

http://community.webshots.com/user/tusben

The Indonesia album is the one on the top left.

Please take your time as there are just over 900 pictures in this album.

Enjoy,
Arjan

Snorkelling around Sunda Islands

With courtesey to Ruud & Loes authorising to publish their snorkelling pictures, I invite you visualise the new album I have put on my photos log. Please access to it the same way as explained below. Enjoy it!

Pictures Sunda islands (Indonesia) 2009

You still can view previous albums, but the one you may be interested in, is called "Sunda islands (Indonesia) 2009".

If you wish you can start a 'Slideshow', from which you can choose the parameters yourself.

Please activate "Show info." at the right down corner, if you want to visualise the titles of the pictures.

By accessing this feature via the way I indicated you, you should not receive any publicity spam of Photobox.

Kecak Fire and Trance Dance at Ubud (Bali)

The images are bad, but just listen to the voices, the gamelan suara, a choir of approx. 50 men.

Procession to temple - celebration 5th full moon

Cock fighting near to Pura Samuan Tiga at Ubud (Bali)

Please, do NOT watch this little video if the killing may affect you!

09-05-09 last day in Indonesia

We spent a wonderful last day in Indonesia! At 8 am a driver with a mini-van was waiting for the 4 of us. To give you an indication of its price: only 500.000 rupiahs = approx. Eur 37 for the full day for the 4 of us.

By the way: yesterday evening we splashed our 6 days average food budget during only 1 dinner by eating a - in Indonesia non-existing, being a Dutch invention - 'rijsttafel' incl. an arak (Indonesian rice wine) aperitif and Indonesian red wine (though the grapes are grown in Australia); delicious!

Difficult to make a selection in between the numberless temples to visit, so we decided to follow the program proposed by our travel agent. We were incredible lucky, because all over Hindu Bali, ceremonies were organised in the temples because of the full moon. That for sure was also the reason of the massive preparation of the offerings we attended yesterday at the Pura Samuan Tiga.
Our guide explained us that the cock fighting is part of the Bali Hindu rituals......

All over where we were driving, we have seen men dressed in white sarongs with a particular Indonesian hat preceded by women smartly colourfully dressed with offerings high stapled on their heads proceeding to their temples accompanied by differently colourfully dressed musicians and children also dressed for this occasion. Once arrived in the inner courtyard of the temple, where we were not admitted, the actual rituals started.

Our first stop was the Pura Taman Ayun in West Bali, a huge state temple surrounded by a wide, elegant moat, used to be the main temple of the Mengwi kingdom till 1891. In perfect condition being renovated. The inner courtyard has a multitude of meru (multiroofed shrines). We just arrived before the tourist buses, very pleasant. A small ceremony was going on.
Nice water lilies and other blooming flowers.

2nd stop at Pura Ulun Danu Bratan in the Central Mountains of Bali, a very important Hindu-Buddhist temple, dedicated to Dewi Danu, the goddess of the waters. Both pilgrimages and ceremonies - an important one was going on during our visit - are held here to ensure that there is a supply of water for farmers all over Bali. Beautiful with classical Hindu thatch-roofed meru reflected in the water and silhouettes against the cloudy mountain backdrop. This temple is shown on the 50.000 rupiah bank note.
Impressive all together, even the tourists (Asians mostly, apparently mostly Taiwanese) could not bother us too much. Pleasant gardens around.

3rd stop at the nearby Bali Botanical Gardens. The gardens boast an extensive collection of trees and flowers, incl. wild orchids, but unfortunately little was blooming. Surprising since we have seen so many blooming flowers all over Indonesia. On top of that it started to rain - the only rain we had was during our 3 days at Bali - so we were not too sorry that we had to leave quickly.

Off for our last stop to the best-known temple in Bali: Tanah Lot. For the Balinese, Pura Tana Lot is one of the most important and venerated sea temple. However, nowadays it is a well-organised tourist trap..... I do not remember if such was the same while visiting this temple in 1996.
The most interesting part was the ongoing ceremonies, amongst the offerings brought into the sea by a little group of Malaysian Hindus, dressed in white sari.

Returning to Ubud we got struck in traffic jams because of villagers walking in large queues to their temple. We caused a mini traffic jam as well, since I requested 2 stops to take a picture of a fire hydrant (the only one I made!) and a Taiwanese fire car.

During our today's trip we enjoyed the numberless temples and shrines one sees literally everywhere.

We returned just in time into the hotel to make attend the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance, a very impressive typical Indonesian dance. This one was performed by the villagers of small neighbouring desa. The accompanying music is provided by the human voice, the gamelan suara, a choir of approx. 50 men sitting in concentric circles, swaying, standing up, lying prone as the story develops. The story is a fragment from the Ramayana, the Hindu epic.

Returning at the hotel at 9 pm we could sit and eat with other group members, who attended earlier that evening a cooking lesson.

A nice end of a pleasant evening.

Now it is Sunday 10-05-09, I am sitting in an internet café, just half an hour before our departure to Denpasar for our flight at 1.50 pm to Kuala Lumpur and from there a 2nd flight leaving at 11.55 pm / 11.35 pm to Amsterdam / Paris, where we both arrive tomorrow morning Monday 11-05-09 around 6 am CET. Arjan resumes work on Tuesday, me on Wednesday afternoon, will be though ....

A & I - 10-05-09 - Ubud

08-05-09

Yesterday’s evening massage was tough, painful, but refreshing! The 25 years young masseuse explained me amongst others, that a traditional marriage in Bali cost 25 billion of rupiahs, about Eur 1.850, a fortune for the majority of the Indonesian people. Surprising how much money is spent for marriages, funerals, daily offerings, and such by sacrificing the day-to-day expenses as food, housing, clothes ….

Our bikes were waiting for us this morning at 8 am and we kicked of right away. Quite scary to cycle on the roads together with the cars and motorcycles; there are no individual cycle lanes. On top of that, even being Dutch, I am not used anymore to bike, so happily enough quite quick we could take a side-way, where it was less busy.

The Balinese are nominally Hindus, but Balinese Hinduism is half a world away from that of India. When the Majapahits (last great Javanese Hindu dynasty, pushed out of Java into Bali by the rise of Islamic power) evacuated to Bali, they took with them their religion and its rituals, as well as their art, literature, music and culture.
Families worship their ancestors in family temples, clans in clan temples and the whole village in the pura puseh (pura = temple).
The simple shrines or thrones you see - for example, in rice fields or next to sacred old trees - are not real temples, as they are not walled. You’ll find these shrines in all sorts of places, often overlooking intersections or dangerous curves in the road to protect road users.

Knowing this, it is still not easy for a non-initiate to distinguish a family temple from a pura puseh, so this morning we stepped in right away in a family temple…. An old woman - busy to prepare some offerings with another old man - shouted something in Indonesian and there a young man showed up being able to speak English, who explained us quite a bit about his family temple. After having drunken and eaten a coconut he offered to us, we left with him to see his next-door living brother being a painter. Nice works, but impossible to take with us.

Off for our next stretch, looking for Yeh Pulu, a 25 mtr-long carved cliff face, believed to be a hermitage dating from the late 14th century. Not easy to find with missing road names and a simple map, but Arjan managed pretty well (he better does, because do not count on my orientation powers …). The energetic frieze includes various scenes of everyday life. One theory is that they are events from the life of Krishna, the Hindu god.
An old couple was busy preparing offerings and the old woman was initiating us in some rituals of purification. The explanation fully in Indonesian, it was hard for us to understand it, but we had quite some fun with her, since she dragged us around to take pictures with her in any stage of the rituals and she was laughing a lot about the fact that we are much taller than she is.
On our way back by feet to our bikes, we made a highly necessary drink stop at a lovely place in the middle of rice paddies, coconut and banana trees. A charming lady served us great fresh mandarin juice and we talked together. She explained, that being pregnant and mother of already 2 children she had quite a tough life, since she had to cook for both her parents-in-law as well as their parents, who happened to be the couple of the Yeh Pulu! When the old man arrived, she suddenly hid away, telling us that his mind is something strange and that he sometimes beats her. But …. she prefers to keep the harmony of the family instead of complaining about the fact that she is beaten, and simply lives with it/him.
A sad story about the negative side effects of social control.

Off again to find this time a real pura puseh.
We reached an area with a lot of parked motorcycles: that was the place of the cock fighting a man was telling us about earlier that day. Both we are not found of games where animals got killed just for fun, but being around we decided to have a look. Well, indeed the cocks had knives bound to their legs, so every fight finished with a wounded and finally dead one (since the wounded ones were killed anyway by humans at the end of the match). A lot of money (i.e. gambling) was going on as well during the matches.

The matches were organized next door to the majestic Pura Samuan Tiga (Temple of the Meeting of the Three), surprising. After having bought a sarong for me (obligation for visits to Balinese temples) we paid a visit to this temple. We were lucky, since a lot of women were busy preparing offerings for a ceremony being held in 2 days. One of the woman speaking very good English explained us a lot about the ceremony (connected to purification) and the fact, that the preparation of the offerings takes such a long time, that the women of any surrounding village have to contribute to it in sequences.
We also talked to her about the difference in lifestyle between Europeans and Balinese people: quite traditional in the major part of the island. For instance, I am sitting right now in a quite modern internet cafe, and just this very moment I am working on this blog a girl is stepping in with a plateau with offerings and incense on it, which she is placing into the small internet café temple. She is as well doing some rituals above the head and the PC of the local manager.
On top of that she places some offerings just in front of the door of the internet café, such is done for any shop. One has to be careful walking on the streets, because before you know you step in the middle of an offering, though nobody will blame you for such.

I had to explain her that it is not necessarily true that all Europeans are happy and smiling, like they may do if they are on holidays in Bali….. Still personally I would not want to change with her; because of 1. the incredible high steaming temperatures (Annette, you are right, these holidays are particularly steaming….) and 2. the important social control. Indeed the individuality may go beyond some borders in Europe, but personally I prefer such rather than the high social control in Indonesia. Remember of what the other woman earlier today was telling us …
She also explained that Balinese have traditional caste divisions that resemble the Indian Hindu system, although there are non ‘untouchables’. Nor is there separation of labour based on caste, except for the Brahmana priesthood. Over 90% of the population belongs to the common Sudra caste, which now included many wealthy Balinese. The main significance of caste is in religious roles and rituals, and its influence on Balinese language.

We decided to return to the hotel early afternoon, because it was getting too hot again. After cooling down in our AC-hotel room and a rain shower outside, we made a walk through another section of Ubud and quite fast we came again face-to-face with the regular expression of the Hinduism: a temple ceremony with smartly dressed up children and offerings was going on. Having left our sarongs in the hotel, we could not assist to it, a pity.

We walked as well in the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, housing 3 holy temples and lots of hungry Balinese macaques.

Annette: triest van Rolando Villazon, want ook al boycot ik hem sinds korte tijd, zoiets gun je hem niet.

J&T: veel succes met de tentoonstelling morgen!

A & I – 08-05-09 – another hot day in Ubud (with a rain shower yesterday and today, but even that helps only for a while to drop the temperature)

07-05-09

A last photo taken of 3 couples of buffaloes busy to equalize the rice paddies to prepare them for new rice plants. A typical picture of Lombok and many other Indonesian islands.

It has to be said that at the Mataram airport we bought some chocolate: we hardly eat any sweets during our stay, since such is rarely available in these remote parts of Indonesia, but seeing it again, we couldn't resist ....

Good flight and arrival at approx. 2.30 pm at hotel Panorama near to Ubud's centre, situated besides the rice paddies; we have from our room a front view of them.

Late excellent lunch at the hotel, prices are higher, but still very reasonable. We made our arrangements for the coming days: tonight at 8 pm a massage (incl. exfoliation and honey balm for Ingrid) at the hotel, tomorrow we both rented a bike and will explore the surroundings of Ubud with its Hindu ancient temples, lush rice paddies and towering coconut trees; the day after we will visit by rented car + driver with another couple of the group the surroundings of Ubud.

This afternoon, we made a stroll through the centre of Ubud with its numberless craftsmen shops and restaurants with few clients, except Arjan, who bought a nice abstract painting from a local artist. Quite some Japanese (or Koreans, still difficult to distinguish for us), but not any longer the former top 10 Australian tourists, because of the Bali bombings.

A & I - 07-05-09 - incredible hot steaming day

06-05-09

Another snorkelling day around the Gili Islands from 8 am to 3 pm. Unfortunately the coral is damaged because of the 2004 tsunami and dynamite fishing. The latter is forbidden nowadays, though we heard a suspicious noise during our short snorkelling adventure on Moyo island.
Enjoyable anyway with a great sateh (for Ingrid, Arjan is more in the curries).
No accidents with our Rambo, though he is really stubborn and afraid for nothing. Our tour guide told us that locals treat stingray attacks - can be fatal - with only vinegar. Difficult to believe, but seeing our local snorkelling guide grasping the sand - under which the stingrays are hiding - of the sea bottom with his hands, maybe it works. The locals would recognize hiding stingrays....
We have seen a huge sea turtle, impressive. Unfortunately they are endangered. There is a turtle sanctuary just next to our accommodation, fully privately run by donations; the Indonesian government promised funds, but so far nothing. They are pounding their eggs on the Gili Islands, but not being the season, we will not see that.
Another - last? - snorkelling in front of the hotel after having finally bought the Ikat cloth for Trijnie for her patchwork activities and for our culinary wellbeing ;-))))).

Again dinner tonight at our private open air lounge cabin this time with another couple from the group, very relaxing.

Tomorrow we will leave these islands to reach the last destination of our voyage: the touristic and well known Ubud at the island of Bali. Back by local boat from Gili Meno at Bangsal at Lombok, then by our bus to Lombok's main airport at Mataram to take the plane back to Denpasar at Bali, where our voyage started.

A & I - 06-05-09 - beautiful sunny day, not that damping hot

05-05-09

Departure at 8 am from Tetebatu for a transfer day with some stops to start with Taman Narmada, a park around a scaled-down version of the summit of the Gunung (= volcano) Rinjani and its crater lake Segara Anak (one needs some imagination). Good to see that Indonesians at this part of the country are able (or rather: willing) to maintain a nice park with lots of blooming flowers. Very pleasant to walk around in the shadowed lanes, because it is another VERY hot day.
Then a visit to (Pura) Lingsar, a large temple compound, the holiest in Lombok, with its holy eels. It combines the Bali Hindu and Wektu (or Welu) Telu religions in one complex. Wektu Telu is an indigenous religion unique to Lombok, though it bears many similarities to Agami Jawi, the Javanese Islamic syncretism. Finally some culture after all our snorkelling adventures and beautiful scenery. For culture one needs to go more to the western parts of Indonesia. We made as well some short stops at a local forge (incredible working conditions going back to like it should have been with us before World War II) and a pearls shop.

Our guide invited us to have lunch at Mataram with his family: wife, 3 children and parents. Though we still doubt about his intentions (we actually think that the way he is acting, is a typical way for - poor - Asians to survive), it has to be said that this was very kind of him and an unique way to see how people are living in the kampong (= typical Indonesian village). Saving money to start his own travel agency and thus not investing it in housing, he has a very simple house with little luxury, but his family and some neighbours managed to serve us a very tasteful lunch incl. sateh with delicious peanut sauce!

Off for our last stretch by bus to the little port Bangsal to take a local simple (gosh, all the dangers we have to battle :-))) boat to Gili Meno, where we landed right in front of our accommodation. We are lucky with our bungalow, everything worked pretty well. A couple from our group had to let do some plumbery in the bathroom.....We both jumped right away in the sea; it is so hot..... and did some snorkelling, preparation for we hope a great snorkelling day tomorrow.

There is Internet down here, but I keep on using my distant editor Lilian, because it is too hot inside that place. I did not have access tonight to my personal email, but we have access again to your possible comments. I still have a serious cold with sinusitis and our tourleader recommended me a 'voodoo' trick consisting of tiger balm to be applied on my back and then move in a certain coin; a sort of Indonesian hidden power (in Dutch: 'Stille Kracht')?

Right now we are sitting in a private open air cabin on the beach, listening to the waves (Arjan is half asleep) and some music and singing not far from us, enjoying the sea breeze and our dinner (some excellent curries, hot in temperature and in taste!). It looks like we are on holidays!! First time I actually enjoy these beach places: such is because of the excellent snorkelling in remote quiet areas. Down here at Gili Meno there are some tourists, but happily we are not on the neighbour party island Gili Trawangan. Also nice of the Gilis: no cars and no motorcycles.

04-05-09

Another early wake up to start before it's getting too hot. A beautiful 2 hrs walk through the numberless rice paddies and tobacco fields around Tetebatu. Pretty scaring, because you have to keep your balance to avoid falling either into the water or in the valley; the rice paddies being laid out in terraces on different levels in order to facilitate the transport of water needed for the rice production. Happily our own and local guide were very helpful, so we all survived with dry feet.

Our first cloudy day with our first rain, but fortunately nothing serious. The clouds protected us against the sun in the open fields, so not too bad that it was cloudy. We continued our walk to a waterfall in the Gunung Rinjani National Park. On our about 2 hours hike we saw some black monkeys jumping through the trees, fascinating.

Then we made a short ride with some horse cars through a village, being welcomed by lots of villagers. Interesting to see the enthusiasm of Muslim women ready to be taken their picture, usually no problem at all in these parts of Indonesia.

Off to the weavers' village at Pringgasela (sorry Trijnie, still nothing bought), an excellent lunch and the pottery village at Masbagik Timur, where we bought some souvenirs. Last part of the excursion consisted of some traditional dances Sanggar "Bao Daya" Lenek, something we usually dislike, but this was quite nice: all the villagers - in these remote parts of Indonesia there are a lot of children .... - of the neighbourhood were waiting for our arrival as well as the musicians. The latter accompanied us from our bus to the simple outdoor stage, where lots of other villagers were waiting for us. We tourists were as much part of the show as the dances ... Well, let's call it social wellfare.

Dinner again at the hotel under typical Indonesian conditions; this time we returned the soup because it was not warm enough.....

Tomorrow we leave this island Lombok for a full transfer day to our next destination: Gili Meno, 1 of the 3 Gili Islands, just off the north-western coast of Lombok, described as a vision of tropical paradise - a trio of tiny coral-fringed islands, each with white sandy beaches and pellucid water teeming with a kaleidoscope array of reef fish. Some new snorkelling adventures are waiting for us!

03-05-09

Before leaving the island Sumbawa by public ferry we made a last snorkelling just in front of our bungalow. Corals were not that nice as the day before nor the fishes (seen however 2 impressive lion fishes = koraalduivels in Dutch), but it was a pleasant way to say goodbye to Sumbawa.

Departure at 10 am for a 2 hrs drive to Tano to catch the 1 pm ferry to Labuhan at Lombok. Seeing the poor condition of the ferry, one understands easier that ferries happen to sink once a while in Indonesia. And it is completely accepted that you throw your rubbish right in the sea .....
We arrived around 2.30 pm at Lombok and continued for our final destination of today: Tetebatu, an attractive rural retreat nestling in the lower slopes of Gunung (= volcano) Rinjani (3726 mtr), the highest mountain of Lombok and the 2nd highest of Indonesia.

Lombok is the most popular destination of the Indonesian eastern islands. There are lush evergreen landscapes and parts which are chronically dry. The indigenous Sasak (around 90 % of the population) are Muslims but have a culture and language unique to Lombok. By the way, there are over 300 languages in Indonesia. In 2000 serious riots engulfed Mataram, the administrative capital of Lombok. The agitators came from outside Lombok. Ultimately all Lombok suffered, and tourism has yet to recover, the situation compounded by the Bali (at Kuta) bombs of 2002 and 2005. Today Lombok's tourism potential remains strong, but with many Sadaks adopting a stricter practice of Islam, the cultural gulf between conservative Islamic and liberal Western values is acute. What does such mean in the daily life?

At arrival at about 4 pm in our chalet-style cottages at Tetebatu we made a short walk in the near environment. Very pleasant with all the friendly people around (in Indonesia, people are outside, especially children). A man said Hello to us with some Dutch phrases, so we decided to have a chat with him. He explained that he used to be a local guide for Dutch tour operators, earning good money, but that since the bombings he is cleaning offices.... Sad to see how his capacities are under used because of some senseless terroristic activities.

Writing this weblog, I am sitting at the veranda of our stay, with a torch in my mouth because as usual the lightning conditions are terrible. I am surrounded by the singing of the 3 mosques, there are 1000 of them on Lombok. We crossed Mataram where one can find a mosque every 500 mtr. Such is hard to understand if one sees the poor conditions the people are living in....

Lilian is still our distant editor for this blog (thanks!), so please be aware that we have no access to your possible comments or our personal emails.

About the dinner tonight: warm sateh with thick abundant peanut sauce! Chaotic typical Indonesian (Asìan?) service. We were quite lucky with our cottage, because other group members had quite some justified complaints.....

02-05-09

Departure at 6.30 am by boat just in front of our hotel for a snorkelling trip to Pulau Moyo, an island off the coast just north of Sumbawa Besar, a nature reserve, with coral reefs teeming with fish. 4 of us were guided by a guide to an incredible beautiful part, magnificent. The water was 30 C, very pleasant. We had a view of at least 30 mtr down there. All kind of beautiful coloured fishes and coral.
Returning to the beach for a rest, it took us a while before we understood that something went wrong with a group member (the one of the tooth paste tube....), stung by most probably a stingray in his knee (on which he sat in the sand among the coral to take pictures, quite stupid thing to do because of the in the sand hidden nasty stingrays, stone fishes and scorpion fishes). He was in terrible pain, and being a kind of Rambo, we understood we had to get him back as soon as possible (1,5 hour by boat) to bring him to the hospital. The venomous spines of stingrays can be fatal! A couple in our group is cardiologists and together with the Lonely Planet they did the right thing: suck out the venom, bind off his leg avoiding the venom to move higher and bathe the wound in hot water. He didn't faint but suffered a lot. Anyway, he is doing fine again after a treatment in a nearby not so hygienic hospital and after having paid a bill of only Eur 30 incl. ambulance he returned to the hotel after a couple of hours.

We continued some hours later another excursion to a nearby traditional village with amongst others Ikat weaving (no time to buy anything, Trijnie...). Some water puts were installed by the Dutch welfare foundation Het Schone Streven. Also a common bath house transformed in a cattle food storage; visibly an example of wrong spent donations...

We visited as well the market of Sumbawa Besar, the (former) Sultan's Palace (Balai Kuning), all together not that interesting.

We returned approx. 5 pm, time for a swim in the swimming pool before dinner. For the first time I complained about the food: the rice and sateh were cold, once again. Finally they reduced something of the bill for compensation.

01-05-09

Transfer day of 235 km by bus on the island Sumbawa from Bima to Sumbawa Besar, the principal town of the western half of the island. Road conditions are bad. Sumbawa is as beautiful as Flores, but turns out dusty brown at the end of the dry season which is fortunately some months after our stay. Right now still abundant vegetation, beaches (often polluted), rice paddies (harvest is going on).
We made several stops at salt pans, shrimp farmers and rice harvesters. The contractual workers harvesting the rice are camping during the harvest with their wife and children (not sure if such applies to all of them) in improvised very simple camps along the fields with no sanitary facilities at all.
We had to hurry the first part of the trip to make sure that we passed by a certain village in time as they close the passage because of Friday = Islamic holiday. We made a stop at a village just during the (1 of the 5 daily) praying attended by exclusively men in one of the numberless mosques. Particular that it was very quiet on the streets and hearing the voice of the imam citing verses. Hanging around a while we saw the men (and children) getting out at the end of the service and most of them were willing to have a (small because of the language) talk and their picture being taken.
Lunch at the beach.

Arrival late afternoon in an enjoyable place on a quiet, sandy cove where we stay for 2 nights in timber individual bungalows with a view on the beach. Being too far from the centre of Sumbawa Besar, we had to stay at this place for quite a nice dinner. I am still not too adventurous with the often cold or half warm (that is the way Indonesians serve food) food, protecting my stomach. Unfortunately I caught a cold, as usual because of the AC buses and rooms.

29-04-09 / 30-04-09

29-04-09
Second part of the story on the island Rinca (the internet café I was sitting in 2 days ago was too smoky and too hot; tonight I publish this story with the help of Lilian, thanks to her and thanks to BlackBerry!) :

We have seen some domesticated Komodo dragons i.e. they are fed by the rangers just to make sure that 1. tourists get to see them instead of being disappointed by coming all the way down and seeing none and 2. tourists are not attacked.There are no set dragon-feeding places any longer.There would be about 2.450 still alive on the islands Komodo, Rinca and on the west coast of Flores, but our guide is doubting such. Cannabilism would be the major danger of this endangered species; yearly the female is laying 15 to 30 eggs, from which only 1 to 2 get adult. Why they only exist on and around Komodo is a mystery, as is why males outnumber females by a ratio of 3,4 to 1. They are impressive to see with their ugly heads, massive bodies, enormous claws, strong tails and yellow split tongues getting out of their mouths like with snakes. But seeing them laying down and hardly walking around the ranger camps and none in the fields was quite deceptive.
We learnt in the European press that an Indonesian fisherman picking fruits in Rinca, fell of the tree and has been killed by a Komodo dragon at the end of March this year. Down here however we have been told that it was actually a ranger preparing food in the kitchen of the Komodo National Park being bitten in his arm and leg by a dragon (having climbed a staircase???), survived such but being half paralysed.....They can expend their mouth cavity considerably, enabling them to swallow prey as large as a goat. To tackle even bigger prey, they ambush their victim, bite it and wait for the potent bacteria (over 60 in number!) their mouths contain to take effect - waiting around for up to 2 weeks for a buffalo to die - before tucking in.
We made a beautiful hike of about 2 hrs through the National Park guided by rangers with great views from the hills on the surrounding islands, sea, savannah and forests.

Off for the next part of the boat trip for a great snorkelling experience at the Red Beach (Pantai Merah) where our group was the only people around. Water of 27 C (that is quite cold after 31 C a couple of days ago) and beautiful fishes - like you are swimming in an aquarium - , corals and anemones. Because of the protection of the surrounding islands, there is no damage here of the 2004 tsunami. Komodo National Park has some of the most exhilarating scuba diving in Indonesia. It's a region swept by strong currents and cold upswellings, created by the convergence of the warmer Flores Sea and the cooler Sumba Strait - conditions which bring in a rich soup of plankton and an astonishing diversity of marine life. Bomb- and cyanide-fishing previously did some damage to the reefs in the National Park, but its waters are now patrolled by navy vessels and the coral is recovering well. Good that we bought our own equipment back home, since one can not always rent it in these remote parts of Indonesia and at least it fits well.

Off again for the last part of our boat trip today. Our boat was anchored for the night and we were surrounded by flying foxes, night fisher men, the moon, sparkling stars,....

The trip by boat is wonderful: bright sunshine, nice breeze, passing by 100s of inhabited islands with great beaches, sometimes jumping dolphins before our boat,.....

Excellent food prepared by the cook (fresh fish, chicken, rice, vegetables, soup, fruit,.....) in a kitchen of 1 by 2 mtr for the 18 of us + tour leader + 4 crew members. Regularly coffee and tea with biscuits (like during our transfer days for which we make a stop along a nice stretch on the road), enough cold soft drinks, beer,.....Sleeping was less fun: it was so HOT!!!! Incredible that we managed to sleep anyway. The boat itself is simple, but OK for 2 days and a group like ours with enough place to sit or hang around outside in the sun or shadow. Thanks God we had excellent weather, since the seas in this part of Indonesia can be extremely hazardous. A great day!

30-04-09

Early natural wake up because of the heat in our cabines in the boat and some new adventures waiting for us. We could have slept on the deck outside but we were not sure of such being too windy, which turned out to be true.
We returned to the Red Beach for another snorkel experience which was wonderful again.
Then we continued our boat trip to the Komodo island itself to spot some more - semi-domesticated - Komodo dragons. Besides that the ranger this time showed us plenty of trees, insects like grass hoppers, birds, wild water buffaloes, wild pigs, wild cows and again great views on and from the National Park on the surrounding islands/seas.

Off again for a long - about 6 hours - very pleasant last part of the boat trip to our final destination for the coming days, the island Sumbawa with arrival at the harbour of Sape late afternoon. A new bus with a new driver and co-driver was already waiting for us, to drive us to Bima, the principal town of the eastern half of the island, a run-down place. Before arrival at the hotel more than 10 km from this town, we had dinner in the town itself and some time for ourselves to walk around in this unexceptional place where horse cars called benhur still hold their own with bemos (public transport in Indonesia by mini buses).
At this town was this terrible internet café.....
Surprise, surprise: at arrival at our hotel, the latter had decided earlier that evening to give our rooms to another party because of our late arrival and we had to return again to the restaurant annexed to a hotel! Happily enough that hotel had enough rooms for all of us. As usual there were some justified complaints: like in India there is always something broken, missing or not working (and I bet that the same thing is applying to 5 stars hotels in Indonesia....). But both Arjan and I were so tired after our hot (in temperature ....) night on the boat, that it could not bother us too much after, however, having let cleaned our bath tube from a ton of sand ....

The potential for tourism remains vast, but, due to political instability, poor infrastructure and transport links, and low educational standards, Nusa Tenggara (the eastern islands of Indonesia) looks unlikely to profit much from this sector for some time yet. On top of that, popular and rather well developed Bali is opposing itself to the development of the neighbouring island Lombok.
Sumbawa is larger than Bali and Lombok combined. Though Sumbawa is an extremely scenic island, it's a poor one, and health and education is very much at the development stage in most parts. Few Western travellers venture here other than wave-seekers and we! That is quite nice of this trip, we hardly meet any other tourists.
Sumbawa is an overwhelming Islamic island; Christian missionaries didn't even bother here. But in remote parts adat (traditional indigenous and animist laws and regulations) thrive under the veneer of Islam.
Also here lots of volcanoes; interesting is following story: in 1815 the Gunung (= volcano) Tambora in Sumbawa exploded, killing ten thousands. One of the most cataclysmic eruptions of modern times, it reduced a 4200 m peak to approx. 2850 m. All around the globe, the following year was known as 'the year without a summer', due to the amount of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

Later on I try to catch up the backlog of our blog, I have to sleep right now. Thanks again Lilian for publishing this edition; first time during my travels that I meet so few internet cafes, it shows how under developed it still is here.
I have read about the terrible accident during Queen's day in The Netherlands, sorry to hear about it.
And no pigs sateh anymore for us because the swine flu (Mexican influenza) having touched Indonesia as well.

29-04-09

Early departure at 6.30 a.m. to board our private boat for the following 2 days, simple but big enough for the 18 of us + tour leader + crew. We made an amazing beautiful trip along 100s of islands (remember Indonesia has more than 16.000 of them amongst 5.000 inhabited) between Flores and Sumbawa (island) with stops at the 2 islands Rinca and Komodo.

Stop at Rinca for spotting of Komodo dragons (giant frightening monstor lizards up to 3 mtr) and other animal life like birds and wild buffaloes. I am sitting in a hot bad working internet café so I keep it short, please look yourself on internet for Komodo dragons, they are quite something else. I will come back to you later on these days….

27/28-04-09 Indonesia

27-04-09
Another drive for our in total 780 km on Flores from Bajawa to Ruteng through still a beautiful scenery of lush forests, volcanoes and rice fields. Happily during our voyages we make regularly a stop and can walk for about half an hour, a good occasion to see more and (try to) talk with the locals. Like in India, in Indonesia one is never alone.
We visited a home factory of arak (palm wine).
We arrived around 4.30 pm which gave us 1,5 hr to walk around in the market town of Ruteng - not as interesting as Bajawa, the day before – before sunset. Life in these cities slows down at sunset and there is little public lightning. At least it was quite cool here.
We picked a restaurant from the Lonely Planet, but apparently the owner changed, because it didn't look that attractive at all (especially not the kitchen inspected by Arjan), so we changed for another one, where we had a nice dinner with 2 other group members.
So far we are doing all pretty well, still no nasty typical tropical diseases. Our guide is paying a lot of attention to our well being and apparently such is paying off. We definitely do no eat from the food stalls in the streets, nor from the typical Indonesian Padang. With Padang cuisine you sit down and the whole kit and caboodle gets laid out in front of you. You decide which ones look tasty and push others aside. You pay for what you eat – nibbling, sniffing and fondling included. The drawback is that you never really know what you're eating, since there is no menu. Because most dishes are cooked slowly and thoroughly, the difference between chicken and certain types of fish - or dog … - isn't that obvious. On top of that, the food may have been prepared 1 week before.

28-04-09
Last drive on Flores from Ruteng to the fishing town Labuanbajo (or Labuhan Bajo) in Flores, where we arrived at 2.30 pm, so enough time to walk around, but down at the coast it is so damping hot again, that we waited till 4.45 pm before getting off for a walk along the seaside. A quite saddening walk, since the part of the seaside where our hotel is located is the less appealing stretch of town: a lot of pollution, poverty, but ….. welcoming children and parents. There seems to be a Muslim majority here. Interesting to see this mix of Christianity and Islamism in Indonesia, from which I only remember from my 1996 trip the mix of animism, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Labuanbajo is the main jumping-off point for the island Komodo (with its dragons!!) and Rinca for which we are both leaving tomorrow morning for 2 days (incl. the night) on a boat.

Trijnie: wat de Ikat betreft: moet het machinaal (goedkoper) of handgeweven zijn. Nog voorkeur voor achtergrondskleur?

Toshiharu-san: I think that Ingrid's phone (and thus email) is not working in Japan, so far no news from her, but I am sure she is doing fine and enjoying your country.

Annette: zoek eens op internet naar ik meen "de lijn van Wallace" een theorie dat ergens in Indonesië (ik meen Flores, maar ga dat nu niet nazoeken, wil slapen …) een scheidslijn van evolutie is geweest. Daan kan er ongetwijfeld alles over vertellen, moet je
Trijnie even aanschieten.

26-04-09 Indonesia

This morning a visit to the traditional villages Wogo, Luba and Bena near to Bajawa (= the place where we stay last and coming night). Over 60,000 Ngada people inhabit the upland Bajawa plateau and the slopes around Gunung (= volcano) Inerie (2.245 m). They were subdued by the Dutch in 1907, and Christian missionaries arrived in about 1920. Older animistic beliefs remain strong, and most Ngada practice a fusion of animism and Christianity.
The most evident symbols of continuing Ngada tradition are the pairs of ngadhu and bhaga. The ngadhu is a parasol-like structure about 3m-high, consisting of a carved wooden pole and thatched ‘roof’, and the bhaga is like a miniature thatched-roof house.
The functions and meanings of bhaga and ngadhu are multiple, but basically they symbolize the continuing presence of ancestors. The ngadhu is ‘male’ and the bhaga is ‘female’, and each pair is associated with a particular family group within a village. Some are said to have been built to commemorate people killed in long-past battles over land disputes, and they may be more than 100 years old.
In addition to ngadhu, bhaga and the ancestor worship that goes with them, agricultural fertility rites continue (sometimes involving gory buffalo sacrifices), as well as ceremonies marking birth, marriage, death and house building.

We will tell something more about Bena, one of the most traditional Ngada villages. Its stone monuments are a protected site. Houses with high thatched roofs line up in 2 rows on a ridge, the space between them filled with fine ngadhu, bhaga (which are smeared with blood after sacrifices). Most houses have male or female figurines on their roofs, while doorways are decorated with buffalo horns and jawbones – a sign of the family’s prosperity.

Particularly in the village Luba it was confusing to see these animist expressions together with Christian tombs in the middle to the village. The female villagers were selling Ikat (cloth in which the pattern is produced by dyeing the individual threads before weaving), but we didn’t see them weaving, so we wonder if this was really produced in the village itself.
One sees a lot of elder people with broken, missing and corroded teeth because of excessive use of betel nut. Also lots of elder people suffering of cataract (in Dutch ‘grauwe staar’).

Talking with our guide we learnt that we paid an entrance fee of 10.000 rupiahs = Eur 0,60 per person for each village. 80 or 90 % of this fee is going to the chief of the village, who uses this money for the education and healthcare of the villagers. 20 or 10 % has to be given to a tourist service and the tour guide is not sure if this money is getting anywhere else than the pockets of a civil servant….
Surprising that some villagers asked us money for having taken their picture …
We met quite some young villagers able to speak English and our local guide was born himself in such a traditional village, so indeed at least some of the villagers are educated.

After lunch we had the afternoon for ourselves (finally!!!) and we both walked around in Bajawa to meet lots of friendly people. Communication in English is not always possible, but one does not need a lot of words to get some contact, make jokes with the children, take some pictures (the digital cameras have the big advantage that one can show directly the result), give some balloons, etc. Arjan played some table tennis with locals and I talked quite some time with an Indonesian maid serving a family and talking an amazing good English. Difficult to ask her all the questions I would like to since the daughter in law of the ‘master’ was seated next to her… I was surprised to learn that she returns only once a year to her parental home, which was not even 100 km away.
Some villagers have very nice gardens with all kind of flowers blooming.
Ingrid photographed her first fire engine, an old, dusty, apparently long time ago used, Nissan! So far I have only seen 1 fire plug at Sanur at Bali and I am afraid that I have to wait till our return at Bali to see a 2nd one (I hope so, because I didn’t take any picture ..).

Something we forgot to tell earlier: 2 days ago (24-04-09) during our snorkelling day in National Parc Pulau Tujuhbelas on the way to that island, we passed the island Pulau Ontoloe, which has a massive colony of flying foxes (in Dutch, we call them ‘flying dogs’), fruit bats, quite impressive if they fly around.
Yesterday (25-04-09), leaving Riung, we paid a short visit to Chris, the local guide during our snorkelling day. It is heart breaking to see how simple these people still have to live …..

Tomorrow off for a new town village at the Flores island, according to Lonely Planet (edition November 2007) having no internet connections.

A&I Bajawa 26-04-09 nice sunny day, not too hot

22/23/24/25-09 Indonesia

Back in some civilization, at least a working internet connection.

22-04-09
Finally we saw authentic Indonesia at our way from Maumere to Detusuko, still at the island Flores. With Sumatra and Java, Bali is the main tourist destination with some parts of the island Lombok, so we were longing to see something else.
Flores is a fascinating, mountainous and remarkably beautiful island. It has volcanic topography that has longed shaped its destiny. A chain of cones stretches the length of this verdant island, provoking a complicated relief of V-shaped valleys and knife-edged ridges - terrain that was near-impenetrable until recent years and that has separated the island into many distinct ethnic groups. Today, though Flores is overwhelmingly Catholic, rich indigenous cultures continue to thrive alongside mainstream religious beliefs. Christianity was a successful import, and today a church is the centrepiece of almost every village.
In the more remote areas, some older people don’t speak a word of Bahasa Indonesia (national Indonesian language), and their parents grew up in purely animist (ancestor and spirits worship) societies.
Around 85 % of the people are Catholic, but in rural areas particularly, Christianity is welded onto adat (Indonesian traditional laws and regulations). Animist rituals are still used for births, marriages and deaths and to mark important points in the agricultural calendar. Even educated, English-speaking Florinese still admit to the odd chicken, pig or buffalo sacrifice to keep their ancestors happy when rice is planted.
It is surprising to see tombs for the deceased family members right in front of the main entrance.
The monastery in which we stayed the night, Wisma Fransiskus, is situated in the village Detusoko, quite poor, with floors in the houses made of dried mud (whereas the tombs are decorated with shiny bright tiles ….). The accommodation was simple, but OK. The orphans (or rather kids left behind by their parents / mothers not having the money to look after them) were singing and dancing for us after dinner, something we are not necessarily looking for, but the fact that we are staying in their place contributes to their well being, so after all such is OK.
The people in the village were very welcoming and friendly, even if it was impossible to have any conversation, because of the language.

During the day a beautiful drive through Flores, the roads are simple and often in poor condition (partly because of the rough climate and partly because of the bad material used, and such because an important chunk of the budget for the road construction is going to the government because of corruption …).
We had lunch at one of the beautiful beaches Flores has.

23-04-09
Wake up at 2.30 a.m. to get with our bus to the sun rise above the Kelimutu volcano. The 3 differently coloured lakes of Kelimutu are supposed to be the most spectacular sight in Nusa Tenggara (Indonesia’s arc of eastern islands stretching towards northern Australia), but the colours didn’t turn out that spectacular because of cloudy weather, a pity. Kelimutu is sacred to local people, and legend has it that the souls of the dead go to these lakes: young people’s souls go to the warmth of the Turquoise Lake, old people’s to the Brown Lake and those of the wicked to the Black Lake.

Back to our hotel to have breakfast and get our luggage to get to our next destination. On our way many picturesque stops : rice paddies, fruit market - we learnt about Japanese cucumber, never heard of it before - , high piled up loaded vans, heavy crowded bemos (local transport), beautiful flowers (Bougainville, hibiscus, “Poinsettia = kerststerren” in Dutch, etc. etc.).

Again lunch at the beach. No facilities on the road, so often we take a lunch box from our accommodation.

Though our tour guide is a little pushing, it has to be said that he is well looking after us. For us it is sometimes too much, but after all I think he is sincere and just trying to please us as much as possible. He is very worried about our well being and does not want us to fall ill because of the food. It is true, that there aren’t a lot of restaurants, which deserve the title of restaurant and it is true, too, that we experienced, that the restaurants recommended by our Lonely Planet edited in November 2007 sometimes do not exist any longer.
He told us today an awful story about Foster Parents, a well fare organization, for which his brother and he self used to work. He stopped working for it, when Foster Parents asked him to translate a letter written by a kid, and duplicate it 30 times, to be used for 30 different children and to be sent - so the same letter!! - to 30 different parents. He refused to do such and when he discussed this with his brother, he denied it by saying that the organization is paying him well. Both brothers did not talk to each other for a year because of this argument, till his brother realized, that indeed this was no good. I remember that Foster Parents has a bad review, but can somebody tell me what the exact story was?

Arrival around 5 pm at Riung, a small village off the Trans-Flores main road, so little visited by tourists, so little touristic accommodation and facilities. We were staying again in a place run by missionaries. Only electricity from 6 p.m. till 7 a.m.
Finally we could escape the group and instead of having again a buffet meal at our accommodation, we had an excellent gado gado (vegetables with peanut sauce) in a nearby restaurant with candlelight.

24-04-09
Today we went the full day to a unique isolate superb snorkelling spot at 1 of the more than 17000 islands Indonesia is counting next to Flores, in the National Parc Pulau Tujuhbelas. There were plans to develop this excellent spot - the coral having suffered from the 2004 tsunami however - for international tourism. Lucky us, one didn't do so far and we had all it for us alone, quite an experience! Ingrid her legs got quite seriously sun burnt, we both protected our backs by wearing a T-shirt, but were not thinking that our legs would suffer that much ......It is VERY hot, but slowly but surely we are getting used to it.

In the evening we returned to the same restaurant, for having the same excellent dinner.

25-04-09
Off for another beautiful ride over the Flores island. Just right after the rain season, the roads are good enough to drive again, but the soil contains still enough water to show superb green (coconut, bamboo, coffee, mango, pineapple, etc.) and beautiful flowers.

Lunch at the hot springs Mangaruda Mata Air Panas at Soa, unfortunately with lots of half-finished buildings, which detract from the atmosphere. We both didn’t try it, because the hot water would hurt too much our suffering sun burnt legs…
Arrival at 4 p.m. at our next destination at Bajawa (still Flores), a relaxed hill town at 1.100 m, surround by forested volcanic hills, with the volcano Gunung Inerie (2.255m) looming large to the south. And finally a working internet connection!

We are staying 2 nights here, tomorrow we will visit some ethnic villages.

19/20/21-04-09

Hello everybody,

We both had a good trip from Amsterdam/Paris to Kuala Lumpur / Denpasar.
Short drive from 1 hour to Sanur, small beach resort at Bali. Just enough time before sunset to explore the small village and find a nice restaurant run by a Belgian couple, where Ingrid had a delicious peanut sauce (the sateh was OK too :-))))
In between a not so refreshing swim in the swimming pool: the water inside felt warmer than the outside temperature, which is already unbearable hot because of the high humidity. But like in Cambodia last year, we will get used to that.
We got to bed at 8.30 pm feeling very, very tired after the long flight. Excellent night, so normally we shouldn’t have any problem anymore with the jetlag (we are 7 hours ahead from CET).

Group seems to be OK (no tooth paste explosion in the plane …..), we have our doubts about the tour leader who treats us a group of OAD or Fox, ant that is exactly what we are not looking for. He is Indonesian talking Dutch, which is very convenient.
So far he changed for both nights the initial accommodation, and we suspect him of putting the money of the price difference between the initial and the used hotels in his own pocket…

Today another flight from (Sanur) Denpasar via Sumba (island) for a 45 min. stop to Flores (island) where we arrived around 4 pm at Maumere, in an accommodation at the beach, unfortunately too far and too late from the village to get there easily (or is this another trial of our tour leader to organize it the way it suits him best?).
In a way a lost day, because there is nothing we could do before and after, but that is the way you have sometimes to use to get from A to B…..

Tomorrow we go to our next stop, by bus, still at Flores island. We will stay the night at a monastery!

All the best to you,

A&I - hot, very hot, humid, very humid - April 21st, 2009

Spring - Sunda Islands

Both Arjan (from the Netherlands) and I (from France) will be in a week on our way to Indonesia. We meet each other over half way at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) airport, from which we will spend the 2nd part of this flight by Malaysian Airways together. Five months ago I already spent some hours at Kuala Lumpur airport on my way out of Cambodia / Thailand….

We will arrive on Monday April 20th at Denpasar airport at Bali, from which we will leave for Sanur, a beach resort at Bali, where we will spend 1 night before starting our tour on the Sunda Islands, from which we will visits Sumbawa, Lombok, Komodo, Flores and Bali. The more known islands Sumatra and Java are also part of them.

Having received some wonderful cherry blossoms pictures from Tokyo, I went today to the Jardin Albert Kahn, west of Paris. Well, I didn't succeed to find pictures as nice as Toshiharu-san sent us, but still I enjoyed my afternoon!

Ghent 2009

We visited last weekend Ghent (in Dutch Gent), a pleasant city for 2 days, located in the Flemish region, Belgium. The city became in the Middle Ages one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe. Today it is a busy city with a port and a university.

In 1500 Juana of Castile gave birth to Charles V, who became Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Although native to Ghent, he punished the city after the 1539 Revolt of Ghent and obliged the city's nobles to walk in front of the emperor barefoot with a noose (Dutch: strop) around the neck; since this incident, the people of Ghent have been called "Stroppendragers" (noose bearers).

Ingrid visited the beautiful neoclassistic Grand Théâtre of the Ghent opera - very easy accessible by feet from the Thalys railway station - where she assisted to Tsjaikovisi's opera Mazeppa (not such a success).




Enjoy it!