Learned a blues lick and developed into a song.
Hope to post more (Blues that you can play by yourself) with time.
Hope to post more (Blues that you can play by yourself) with time.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Bali - 17th Mar 2019
(All monetary amount is estimated to S$, 100000 Rupiah is approx S$10.5).
My wife and I took a 4-days holiday at Ubud, Bali (Indonesia) in Mar 2019.
When we arrived, we were met by our friendly pick-up service arranged by our homestay host.
ACK fried chicken
After a local fastfood chicken lunch, we spent some time at The Art Lounge.
In the late afternoon we went for a hot stone massage.
On 18th Mar 2019, we hired a local to drive us to different places for $60 (8 am till 7 pm). However ended the day early as there was a thunderstorm in the mid afternoon. We decided to return to ur farmstay. Here are the highlights of the day.
BTW, please Google if you are keen to find information about the places we visited.
We then visited Gunung Kawi. A lot of steps to walk. You need to cover your knees before entering the temple. If you wear long pants, you would only need to tie a "cloth belt" round your waist. If not, you will be supplied with sarong (included in entrance price). Vendors will try to sell you sarongs outside the temple. There is no need to buy from them.
We then had lunch at Kintamani - at a restaurant where we can look across to Mt Batur.
After lunch we drank luwat coffee at Sagara Windhu. After a brief tour, we sampled some coffee and a waitress demonstrated how luwat coffee should be brewed. By the way, the luwat coffee cost S$ 8 or $15 depending if you have the female or male version.
We next visited the Monkey Forest.
If you want to know something about the figure below, Google "ogah ogah".
Our plan was to visit the Ubud Palace, Ubud town centre next and have dinner. However it rained cats and dogs. We had to wade through ankle deep puddles of water walking on the street. We decided to call it a day.
As the weather forecast was for a wet day in the afternoon, we pushed back the outing to the next day and slept in later on 19th Mar.
However we did woodcarving at our homestay and the rest of the day lazing around, reading and learning the harmonica.
Left - touched up by master
Right - raw; with some help from master
20th Mar 2019. Started the day early and took a 2-hour drive to the Gate of Heaven. We did not go into the temples as there were prayers.
Below are some shots - some with "special reflection" effect - which you have to queue for your turn.
Descending from heaven, we visited 2 water palaces - Bali Water Palace Tirtagangga and Water Palace, Karangsem.
After the palaces, we went to look for a bee farm. However we could not locate it. We ended in a place where the original Bali people (Bala Aga) displayed their arts. The place reminded me of olden days village in Singapore.
In Bali, a house cannot be higher than the family temple or a coconut tree. That means most houses are less than 4-storey. However this policy does not apply to commercial buildings like hospitals and hotels.
Today is our last day in Bali. I do recommend holidaying in Bali if you are looking to be around nice people, great scenaries, good food and keen to learn some culture and traditions.
I agree that concepts of fun and relaxation differ from person to person. If yours is that of shopping and partying through the night, I believe Bali also offers these.
Generally we feel safe in Bali though vendors can be aggressive - the need to earn a living. Just take the usual precaution as you would in any foreign land. However we heard of a big arm robbery in Bali while we were there.
I do recommend homestay. We were hosted by Ms Martini and her family (Putra Homestay, Ricefield View - look them up in Airbnb). They are really nice and accomodating. The room we had was clean and adorned with modern amenities (wifi, shower, air conditioner, etc). Though I did not taste much of their home cooking (due to my own dietary requirements), the little that I got from my wife's plate indicated that Martini's husband is a reasonable cook - definitely above my standard.
I think renting a scooter to move around is probably one of the cheapest means of transportation. However many roads around Bali are not regulated by traffic lights and roads are normally 2-ways with single lane on each side. You will have to look out for pedestrains, vehicles stopping (suddenly) along the roads and even dogs lying there.
Our neighbour housemate came in with injuries on the knee and elbow - probably sustained due to a scooter accident.
By the way, there are no public buses. According to our guide, the government tried to start public bus services but failed - too expensive for the locals.
I do recommend hiring a guide for a day or two. Rates vary. For me, it is worth the $60 - $70 per day as I learned a lot about how my guide sees life through his experiences and religion. Learned something about Balinese Hinduism too. (Maybe I'll blog about my views of God someday.)
My English speakng guide is Ketut and you can contact him through Ms Martini. We ended our stay in Bali sharing knowledge of guitar.
Definitely recommends a 4 to 5 days holiday in Bali.
And finally, I learned a simple harmonica lick in Bali. So here is Bali Blues.
My wife and I took a 4-days holiday at Ubud, Bali (Indonesia) in Mar 2019.
When we arrived, we were met by our friendly pick-up service arranged by our homestay host.
Street outside oir homestay (Sunday afternoon)
Walking to our homestay
Breakfast with sunrise
View from outside our room
ACK fried chicken
Tea at The Art Lounge
Dinner at The Art Lounge
In the late afternoon we went for a hot stone massage.
On 18th Mar 2019, we hired a local to drive us to different places for $60 (8 am till 7 pm). However ended the day early as there was a thunderstorm in the mid afternoon. We decided to return to ur farmstay. Here are the highlights of the day.
BTW, please Google if you are keen to find information about the places we visited.
Tegallalang rice terrace (S$10)
Recommendation: Shorts, shoes (expect mud)
Gunung Kawi (there is entrance fee - forgot how much)
Lunch
After lunch we drank luwat coffee at Sagara Windhu. After a brief tour, we sampled some coffee and a waitress demonstrated how luwat coffee should be brewed. By the way, the luwat coffee cost S$ 8 or $15 depending if you have the female or male version.
A luwat coffee experience
We next visited the Monkey Forest.
If you want to know something about the figure below, Google "ogah ogah".
The Monkey Forest (S$8)
Our plan was to visit the Ubud Palace, Ubud town centre next and have dinner. However it rained cats and dogs. We had to wade through ankle deep puddles of water walking on the street. We decided to call it a day.
Raining in Ubud
As the weather forecast was for a wet day in the afternoon, we pushed back the outing to the next day and slept in later on 19th Mar.
However we did woodcarving at our homestay and the rest of the day lazing around, reading and learning the harmonica.
Left - touched up by master
Right - raw; with some help from master
Woodcarving
20th Mar 2019. Started the day early and took a 2-hour drive to the Gate of Heaven. We did not go into the temples as there were prayers.
Below are some shots - some with "special reflection" effect - which you have to queue for your turn.
Gate of Heaven, Mt Angung (donation + $2 for sarong rental)
Descending from heaven, we visited 2 water palaces - Bali Water Palace Tirtagangga and Water Palace, Karangsem.
Bali Water Palace Tirtagangga (can't remember how much is entrance fee)
Water Palace, Karangasem, Bali ($5)
Looking for bee farm
We also dropped by a traditional Balinese house. Their concept of a house is quite different from those we have in Singapore. The land is huge (they are asse rich) and different "apartments" are built on the land - one for kitchen, one for gathering, one for bedroom. There is an area for the family temple.
A traditional Balinese house
Today is our last day in Bali. I do recommend holidaying in Bali if you are looking to be around nice people, great scenaries, good food and keen to learn some culture and traditions.
I agree that concepts of fun and relaxation differ from person to person. If yours is that of shopping and partying through the night, I believe Bali also offers these.
Generally we feel safe in Bali though vendors can be aggressive - the need to earn a living. Just take the usual precaution as you would in any foreign land. However we heard of a big arm robbery in Bali while we were there.
I do recommend homestay. We were hosted by Ms Martini and her family (Putra Homestay, Ricefield View - look them up in Airbnb). They are really nice and accomodating. The room we had was clean and adorned with modern amenities (wifi, shower, air conditioner, etc). Though I did not taste much of their home cooking (due to my own dietary requirements), the little that I got from my wife's plate indicated that Martini's husband is a reasonable cook - definitely above my standard.
I think renting a scooter to move around is probably one of the cheapest means of transportation. However many roads around Bali are not regulated by traffic lights and roads are normally 2-ways with single lane on each side. You will have to look out for pedestrains, vehicles stopping (suddenly) along the roads and even dogs lying there.
Our neighbour housemate came in with injuries on the knee and elbow - probably sustained due to a scooter accident.
By the way, there are no public buses. According to our guide, the government tried to start public bus services but failed - too expensive for the locals.
I do recommend hiring a guide for a day or two. Rates vary. For me, it is worth the $60 - $70 per day as I learned a lot about how my guide sees life through his experiences and religion. Learned something about Balinese Hinduism too. (Maybe I'll blog about my views of God someday.)
My English speakng guide is Ketut and you can contact him through Ms Martini. We ended our stay in Bali sharing knowledge of guitar.
Definitely recommends a 4 to 5 days holiday in Bali.
And finally, I learned a simple harmonica lick in Bali. So here is Bali Blues.
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