Israel here I come!!

So its been a while since I've posted on this blog, however! I will be attempting to continue blogging as my travel exploits take me the Holy Land!! Keep an eye on facebook and tumblr for updates!!!

Sorry Folks!

Hey All!

You may have noticed that I am long since home, however I haven't posted a new adventure, unfortunately I have temporarily hit a writing wall! So please bear with me, I will finish my chronicles of my travels!

Thanks for understanding!

Flying: Bali to Jakarta

So I took some video of Bali from the ground to I think about a couple thousand feet, its a 5 minute video, so hopefully you enjoy!

5-16-11 Ubud/Denpasar to Jakarta

We left the natural beauty of Ubud for Denpasar, and later for the Urban Jungle which was Jakarta. But on the way back to Denpasar, I definitely kept myself awake, and the country-side was just as beautiful as I thought it was, another thing I noticed was all the temples that we passed on the way back to Denpasar, and more importantly all the stone carving places which we also passed, I thought to myself, these must be the people who are repairing the temples at Prambanan and Borobudur, but one could never be sure.  

Since my mom's friend Rima was leaving around 3 from Denpasar, we decided to switch flights to an earlier flight, and we also left around 3 PM on a Garuda Indonesia flight bound for Jakarta, I was surprised to find out that my mom had booked seats in First class on Garuda, so for an hour, I would fly First class, which was perfectly fine by me. Before the flight we also got to hang out in the “Eksecutive” lounge and enjoy some free food and drinks, and I browsed more shops in the search for trinkets to bring back home. 

 Meanwhile, we solidified plans to go to Singapore, the idea of which had been bouncing around for a couple of days. After booking our flight, we boarded our flight to Jakarta. The flight was uneventful, and though we were in First class on a Garuda flight, many of the amenities that came with being there were given in Economy class in Singapore Airlines. 

 But the one cool thing was the pop-out touch screens , and tray tables which the plane had. After a short flight we arrived in Jakarta, but due to traffic, my uncle-in-law Najib, (who I'll refer to as Wa Najib), was running a bit behind, so while we waited we went and got the print out to confirm our flight for Singapore. My uncle got there and was extremely apologetic for the delay, but it was no worries all around, as we made our way to my uncle and aunt's house, we got stuck in traffic, so for nearly two hours we were in bumper to bumper traffic.

Since I'm currently stuck in traffic (lol) I'll take a second to spotlight, Wa Najib. Wa Najib is my cousin Faris' father, and husband to my maternal aunt, who I call Wa Mei-Mei. (Her name is Miriam but it's pretty common practice to refer to a family member by their diminutive in Indonesian culture) He, like all my uncles-in-law, is not Sundanese, but is from Central Java, however he is fluent in Sundanese due to his time spent in schools in West Java, and his days at ITB (Technological Institute of Bandung, Indonesia's equivalent to MIT), where he would later meet my aunt. He is a civil engineer and works for Indonesia's private highway company which builds and maintains most of Indonesia's roads and highways. So as we were stuck in traffic, I got interesting explanations of current and future construction plans. He also has a penchant for golf, so I got a layout of all the major golf courses in Indonesia, which was pretty interesting because I had no idea that Indonesia had pretty big golf courses. 

We eventually got to his house, which would be our jump-off point for all trips around Jakarta. Had another awkward encounter with my younger cousins, but my older cousin Ardhi stopped by the house, and brought up an interesting bit, that in Indonesia, if you are less than 45 minutes late, then you aren't really late. It would become a maxim for the rest of the trip. I got more Internet access, though thoroughly exhausted, I didn't have the energy to type up blog posts and ended another day of fun in the urban jungle of Jakarta.

5-15-11 Legian to Ubud.

We departed from Legian before noon, bidding goodbye to the fabricated wonderland which was the Resort in Legian to the natural beauty of Ubud. Woke up not feeling that great, thinking to myself that what happened in Bali 10 years ago was happening again, luckily it wasn't as bad and I had no problems going from Legian to Ubud, but I kick myself for falling asleep as I would miss out on the beautiful scenery going from Legian to Ubud, as Bali is famed for its rice paddies. I vowed to stay awake for the return trip to Legian, but in the mean time I was awake for the way into Ubud. 

Now if you don't know Ubud, Ubud is famous for a number of things. Most recently it was put on the map by the movie and book, “Eat, Pray, Love” , Ubud is also famous for it's monkey forest, and finally for being the “artist colony” of Bali as a lot of artisans have set up shop in Ubud, either due to tourism or for the inspiration that the natural beauty around Ubud provides. The vibe in Ubud is completely different than Legian/Denpasar , where Legian/Denpasar is a type of spring break stop for Australians and various other tourists, filled with clubs and vibrant night life, Ubud is a very relaxed setting which is oftentimes visited by those who want to clear their mind and be at peace with their surroundings.  

The hotel we stayed in was also vastly different than the Resort we stayed in Legian. Though both Hotels had traditional decorations, the hotel in Ubud, was simple in comparison, just a bed, bathroom, and AC/fan. Mainly just a place to sleep which suited us just fine. As soon as we dropped off our bags we went about trying to explore Ubud, as we took a look at the markets, and I noticed that there were offerings everywhere, I can only assume to the Hindu gods, as Bali is a hindu-centric island, luckily I was able to pick up more knick-knacks and gifts for people in the markets, though not as many as I would wish. We would drive back to Denpasar the next day to fly back to Jakarta, which would suit me just fine as I had had my fill of Bali, as strange as it sounds I missed the Island of Java. 

We rounded out the night, by having dinner with a friend of Rima's named Simon, who was a French Canadian who had been living in Bali for the bast 20 or so years, and he also was a tour guide for a French Canadian travel agency who usually led nature tours around Asia, his most recent trips took him to Burma/Laos and previous trips took him to Tibet. At the time he was leading a private tour to some French Canadians around Indonesia, so it would be another awkward dinner, luckily it was relatively short and we packed up for the trip back to Java.

5-14-11 Denpasar/Legian

My mother's friend Rima would be joining us later that day due to her missing a connecting flight, so we were by ourselves to explore the resort, and I must say it was super swanky. The resort was beautiful, and the staff was super polite, but once again the thing that got me was the amount of westerners that was there. Now this was a resort built for western families, and various other tourists. It was an odd feeling being surrounded by westerners again, as for the past week I've been surrounded by Indonesians, and Denpasar/Legian was PACKED with western tourists, the majority of which was Australians. 

 I felt even more out of place since I was trying to get more in touch with my “indo”side this past break, so being immersed amongst western tourists made me self-conscious of how out of place I was in Indonesia, but I trudged through the awkwardness as my mother's friend finally arrived, and we got a bite to eat and sat by the beach as my mom and Rima caught up. 

Rima currently works for an Australian coal mining corporation which is trying to open up an operation in Kalimantan, or Borneo as it's known in the west. She is recently widowed and her husband used to work in the business of furnishing hotels and worked with Indonesian suppliers to put Indonesian furniture in locations such as Dubai, and Ho Chi Min City, so in comparison to my Indonesian family, she is relatively westernized and still keeps relatively Western tendencies, versus her daughter, though born multi-ethnic decided to choose to live a more Indonesian lifestyle. I could sort of relate being caught between two cultures, and having to choose identities, though it seems I have already made my choice of living a more European lifestyle, though I like injecting some Indo every so often.

The rest of the night was a blur as we moved form place to place, we tried to catch the sunset in Tanah Lot, but due to horrible traffic, we decided against it and Rima suggested a local hang out called Ku De Ta (pronounced like coup d'etat), it turned out to be an ex-pat/tourist hang out, which was defended by multiple guards. We later moved back to the resort as one of my Mom's cousins who lived in Bali asked to meet up with my mom, as it turned out to be another family gathering as my mom caught up with cousins she hasn't seen in nearly 25 years.

 It ended up being another awkward encounter as I had to converse with my extended cousins, but we eventually found common ground as my cousin went to an international school, he english was impeccable, much better than my “Bahasa”, so the evening ended relatively well.  

We got stuck in traffic on the way back as we passed the location of the famous Bali bombing that occurred in the early 2000s, and as we passed the memorial to the victims, I got extremely apprehensive. My paranoia kicked in and I sat wishing the traffic would move faster, instead it moved a crawl's pace. We eventually moved pass the block of clubs, and we retired back to the Hotel, where my mom continued talking to Rima, and we got ready to move hotels from Legian to Ubud the next day.

5-13-11 Yogya to Bali!

Today would be our last day in Yogya, as we would take a later flight to Bali. But in the mean time we still had to finish our trip in Yogya, and once again Serina would play our guide as her husband Mas Saleh couldn't join us due to his work. One of the most interesting things about Yogyakarta, is that it is actually an independent kingdom within Indonesia, similar to India's princely states. It has it's own Sultan/King and much of the Palace staff lives within the walls of the Palace, nearly 25000 people.  

We would take a tour of the Sultan's palace, or rather whatever was open to the public, though it wasn't much. We toured the outer-grounds with a tour guide, and he also took us to some shops around the palace where locals wove textiles and continued traditional arts such as forging kriss blades, and making batik fabrics. Our friend Serina would also tell us of a story where the people who live within the Palace walls would only be given a stipend of 100,000 rupiah a month, however that 100,000 would be enough to sustain multi-member families as well as send some members to University (which usually tuition is much more than 100,000) and is still have money to buy groceries and such. We also toured a museum which was dedicated to the horse drawn carriages which the sultans of Yogya have used for either coronations, funerals, or just touring the city, and many of them are still used today. 

After our tour of the palace we would go to a bath house which was often used by the sultans of old. Our tour guide told us a story of how usually the the Sultan and his Harem would bathe separately, but the Sultan had a little room which overlooked the main bathing pool (kinda like like a little creeper peeping on people showering), and if he was feeling in the mood, all he would have to do was drop a flower into the pool, and his Harem would fight to get to the flower and the first to get the flower would go into “congress” with the Sultan. The bath at the time was no longer used as the bath house still had damages from the Earthquake.  

After all the walking about Serina would take us to the largest mall in Yogya, and because my mom was dying for a massage we went to a “reflexology” spa, and my mom got a massage, and eventually badgered me into getting one for myself. So we both got massages, I opted for the shorter one, and was sort of glad for it as the masseur must have thought I was a lot stronger than I was because it hurt so badly at first, but it eventually got better.  

We boarded the late flight from Yogya to Bali, we were flying Lion Air to Bali, and I was a bit apprehensive at first because my father had told my mother earlier that Lion has been reported to have numerous incidents in that pilots would regularly overshoot the run ways, Serina echoed the same thing, but she claimed that it was with the old MD80s that Lion Air would have the most problems, but with their new 737s, the pilots were a bit better. The seats were really tight space-wise, my knees were digging into the seat of the person in front of me, but it was ok. 

 We landed in Denpasar, the main city of Bali, and caught a cab to our Hotel, which was booked by Serina's mom, Rima. It turned out not to be a hotel but more of a resort as we arrived at the “Padma Resort in Legian”, and settled in for the next few days.