...And I'm Back!

Bali- from our drive to Tulamben

I left off with an ill-punctuated, misspelled, and grammatically incorrect entry (clearly I am embarrassed- thanks to those who wrote to tell me you enjoyed my entries regardless- all I can chalk it up to is not enough time and a slow but expensive internet connection, and I apologize if it was hard to read) that left me in Ubud, Bali, recovering from a nasty virus and off to experience the Sacred Monkey Forest.

When I departed Tanjung Putting National Park, it was with deep reverence and concern. I felt like I had just been a part of something so rare, so special and so insurmountable, I was really and truly at a loss for words. The journey back downriver was mostly silent in contemplation about what we had witnessed and about the imminent danger the orangutans and their futures face. Lack of education and awareness of many of the local people about the depletion of the rain forest and what effect that will have on both the human and animal populations of Borneo is devastatingly apparent and it is extremely disconcerting. I walked hand-in-hand with an orangutan, more than one looked into my eyes, one wrapped its arms around my waist. They are so incredibly magnificent. And the thought that they might not make it past this next generation is painful. I still think about what more I can do, and I am still looking into the organizations, but right now, I am sort of at a loss. If you haven’t already, please go to the sites mentioned in my previous blog and check out ways to help.

Just Sally, our new friend Pan, me, and Meaghan, walking to the banana feeding. He refused to let go of us...

My experience in Borneo lacks comparison, and in a completely different way, so does my experience in Bali. Bali is breathtakingly beautiful, and after our experience on the overcrowded boat we took to Komodo, it was heaven- just what we all needed to pull us out of our travel depression.

Ubud is in Southern/Central Bali, inland and gorgeous.  The streets are lined with art galleries and little alleys leading to courtyards filled with artists’ workshops. Giant canvases lean up against pillars and buildings with stray dogs tucked under them, hiding from the heat of the day. Cafes and restaurants serve delicious food and markets line the sidewalks, selling all kinds of Balinese art and wares.

When I was molested by a macacque in the
Monkey Forest

The Monkey Forest is home to- you guessed it- hundreds (thousands?) of monkeys. Monkeys who know that humans coming through to view the three temples within the forest are suppliers of food and drink. Almost immediately upon entering the gates, I had a macacque jump from some wall or pillar onto my shoulder, completely catching me off guard.  Vendors sell bananas just outside the park gates, and I can only assume that my appeal was that I had just come in and he thought I was carrying bananas. He was wrong. 

The temples were beautiful- especially the bathing temple. All were overgrown with jungle vines and green moss covering the sculptures on the walls and buildings. It would have been a completely enjoyable experience if it wasn’t for all those crazy macacques everywhere. They were quite aggressive, and at this point in my trip, I had seen gibbons, macacques, proboscis monkeys, and most of all, orangutans, and I was pretty much “primated-out.”

The view from the guest house in Ubud

We caught a traditional Balinese theater/dance show and stayed in beautiful bungalows tucked away down one of the alleys. Our view was of the rice paddies flanked with palm trees and the guest house that provided our accommodations also provided us with breakfast every morning, which sort of made up for the fact that our toilets were often out of order. We spent our days in Ubud meandering through the streets, eating good food, and visiting all the beautiful sights. I didn’t want to leave- I was in love.

Beautiful Bali

For a while, friends and fellow teachers in Nakhon had been talking about this wreck dive on the east coast of Bali, and Meaghan and I were really excited about going to do it. Leaving Ubud wasn’t quite so painful once we started on our drive to Tulamben. Every corner we rounded, my jaw dropped even further to the floor; it was THE most beautiful drive. Gently sloping hills, terraced with rice paddies and leading down into valleys; little thatched homes and makeshift scarecrows and flags flying to keep the birds away. Kites filled the sky- more than just for fun, the Balinese people fly kites as part of a deeply rooted spiritual and traditional activity, and the sight is truly one to behold. The whole drive there, which was about 3 hours, was just stunning.

At Tanah Lot, after being blessed at the Holy Spring

Tulamben itself was a cute seaside town- I like to think of it as the Balinese Riviera- that consisted of just one main street. We got situated and found a good dive shop and learned a bit more about our wreck dive that we would do the next day. While I was absolutely looking forward to it, this dive was also going to be my first dive after becoming open-water certified, and for that reason, I was also a bit anxious about it- to the point where I told Meaghan and Allan that maybe I wouldn’t do this dive after all. Being the good friends they are, they gently coaxed me back into it, and before I knew it, I had my long wetsuit on (the water is significantly colder in Indonesia- not what I expected!) and we were walking into the water from the beach! It was a pretty great dive, and the ship had been there long enough that there was a pretty great living reef in and around it. We got to go into the ship, swim through narrow openings and passageways, and see all kinds of beautiful coral and fish. Minus the little buoyancy problem I encountered, overall, it was a great dive. Afterward, we sat poolside on chaise lounges, looking out at the sea, and relaxed a bit before beginning our beautiful drive back to our friends in Southern Bali.

Tanah Lot

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing in the same place for five days, which was a welcome change- I was tired of unpacking and repacking my backpack on a daily (sometimes twice a day) basis. A small day-trip was planned along the southwest coast, where we visited Tanah Lot, a beautiful “temple in the sea.” While is was quite a site, it was flanked by Indonesian tourists on holiday and was so incredibly crowded that it stifled a bit of the beauty. 

With my Javanese friends at Tanah Lot

In addition to that, apparently our group was just as amazing a site as the temple itself- families and individuals were constantly asking us to take photos with them. We found ourselves standing literally for about five minutes at a time while each individual member of each group took a photo with one or more of us. We also visited Ulu Watu, another seaside temple set atop beautiful limestone cliffs. Here, the monkeys were even more aggressive than at Monkey Forest in Ubud, and we were warned while walking to the site that they like to steal shoes, jewelry, sunglasses, food, water bottles- basically anything on your person that is metal or plastic… or just removable. Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to myself (like I said, I was pretty much primated-out at this point), I removed my shoes and jewelry and made sure I tossed my water bottle right away. This did not stop them from grabbing my ankles once or twice, but other than being terrified when a few of them bared their fangs at tourists who were teasing them with food, I was okay. While there, however, I watched, horrified, as an Australian man feeding the monkeys peanuts was bit on his hand by one of the monkeys. I also noted how incredibly obese these macacques were compared to the ones I had seen skirting through the trees in Borneo and the ones I saw in the Monkey Forest. I don’t know what the fascination with feeding these little beasts is, but please, I implore you, if you ever visit a place with monkeys, don’t feed them. Thank you.

Don't feed these monkeys!!
(He was actually yawning... after landing on Sally
in an attempt to snatch her sunglasses- exhausting
work for an obese macacque.)

Uluwatu

Leaving Bali was sad and happy at the same time. I had fallen in love with a beautiful place, but I was glad to finally get somewhere where I wouldn’t be living out of a backpack. After exactly one month of traveling around SE Asia (mainly Indonesia), I have returned to Nakhon. Summer school started three days ago, and it feels so great to be back in the classroom. I’ve missed these kids! We are working on a small poetry unit- I am trying to get them to play with words and find less-boring synonyms for words like “happy” and “bad” and “sad” and “good.” So far, I have been incredibly impressed- we have done acrostics and haikus, and I am seeing all kinds of wonderful vocabulary and they seem to be having a good time as well- we have been laughing a lot. It’s amazing how in one month, they have changed so much- grown up, matured, new hairstyles, new attitudes… oh to be young again…

Meanwhile, the month I was gone brought many changes to Nakhon. There are so many new foreign teachers that I haven’t met. My street has at least four or five new shops, restaurants, and other random businesses that I almost don’t recognize parts of it. The biggest and most disturbing changes though, I think, are political. Elections just took place locally and nationally, and many people have been uprooted and disturbed by the shift in political parties in the governmental seats. The mayor whose brainchild was the school at which I am employed has resigned, and it was expected that his son would take his place. In a surprising turn of events, his son lost the election to the opposing party. Rumors have been flying about what the fate of the city and our school is, and this time, I don’t think it is only the foreigners who feel in the dark about what will happen. It’s amazing to think about how much power politics hold- to give and to take away. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about what was going to happen to the school and all the hard work we have done, trying to realize the dream of the parents, students, mayor, and ourselves to make it an international school- a first for Nakhon not only as a city, but as a province. The idea that it could all be ripped away in an instant is all too real. Meanwhile, we are carrying on, continuing to plan lessons and provide these students with the best education possible. A head foreign teacher/director from another school in Nakhon was talking to me about this last night. He told me that all I can do is to continue doing what I believe in, and I have to “tend my own garden with the best of intentions,” and just accept what comes. In this case, I think he is right. I have to keep doing what I believe, keep working hard, and hopefully everything will be okay. At this point, it’s out of my hands. I am already here longer than I originally anticipated, doing things I never imagined myself doing, learning so much and building great relationships. But I am worried about these kids and their educations. I will know more when the new mayor takes office on the 12^th. Meanwhile, our trip to China is still on, and we leave on the 19^th. The students are all so excited and we took our visa photos today- I can’t wait for another NICS field trip! To China!

Uluwatu, Bali