Photos of Indonesia-2013
Each of the 3 photos below is the cover of a photo album. You double click on the link below the photo and it takes you to that album. If you are also interested in reading about the trip, it begins after the photos with 17000 Islands - Indonesia.
#1 Album
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#3 Album
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Intro
I’m
still counting islands after a thirty-hour flight and our return to Buenos
Aires. Sara and I were only able to visit 4 of the 17000 possibilities. This being
my second trip to Indonesia our focus would be on more remote destinations,
absent of tourists. The number visited wouldn’t be important. And did we get lucky.
Bali
We landed in Bali, teeming with Aussies, and
acclimated ourselves to the 11 hour time difference. We hung out in Kuta with its surfing beaches,
massage parlors, and hundreds of small independent storefronts selling the best
of Bali. Noted for its Woodcarvers, ceramists, and weavers, Kuta was Bali’s
shopping mall. It didn’t take us long to tire of the commercialism and we soon
headed to Ubud, the cultural center of Bali.
  
Bali
is over 90% Hindu and it is particularly evident in Ubud. There are shrines, temples, and near daily festivals that attest to the pervasiveness of their religious belief in all of
daily life. The Balinese believe in reincarnation and make
offerings to honor the deceased. Every home has a personal shrine, as do
businesses. You will see them along the
roadside, in the rice fields, and blessing their motorbikes. Beautiful, ornate offerings that look like small
trays of woven bamboo are filled with food and other personal items to
acknowledge one’s ancestors, family, and their many gods.
 
Often
the women will be seen carrying towering baskets of fruit on their heads as
they proceed to a temple to celebrate some festival. Religious offerings are
indeed an important ingredient of Balinese culture and Ubud is culturally rich
with such tradition.
Yet
Ubud is much more. It lies at a higher elevation and thus the cooler climate is
ideal for artistic expression. It’s the perfect place to practice body and
mental disciplines from yoga to meditation. Like a magnet writers, painters,
textile artists, and craftspeople are drawn to Ubud.
  
Of
course things are changing rapidly. The movie, Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts has put Ubud into the
mainstream as a tourist destination.
Thankfully
its charm remains as most tourists spend only one or two days there, not nearly
enough time to experience all that is Ubud. Yes, in eight years since my last
visit, this small village has grown substantially. Yet I was not disappointed as within blocks
of the congested city center, rural solitude and cultural interaction with
local Balinese was still possible.
Sulawesi And Bunaken Island
   
When
I say diving, though I’ve been PADI certified for years, I preferred to free
dive absent of tank and cumbersome equipment. I can hold my breath to 40 or 50
ft. snorkeling, more than deep enough to swim with huge turtles, visit large
sponges, examine giant clams, and delicate coral and sea plants up close. This was Nemo’s world and to watch he and his
brother clownfish hide amongst the poisonous tentacles of sea anemone was a
delight.
The turquoise water was so clear that 100 ft. visibility was common, yet below
about 60 ft. the vibrant reef and fish colors begin to fade due to the
filtering effect of the water itself.
Freediving I could stay in the water for hours, while tank diving,
though deeper, would last one to two hours. Someone once remarked that it is beautiful to
watch me move through the water and go so deep.
Could I please show them how I breathe underwater with the snorkel? Holding
back a chuckle I suggested practice and in time you’ll figure out what
technique works best for you.
Tank
divers generally do see larger fish. Big fish prefer the deeper water, but
seeing a six foot shark, several moray eels, Barracuda, and an occasional 150
pound grouper satisfied my curiosity to see more big fish. Color my underwater world
to 40 ft. and I’m happy.
One might compare free diving to traveling
overland. It takes longer to get to your
destination, but you experience the world in a different way than if you just
fly over it. You stop for a momentary peek and explore what you can on one
oxygen-laden breath as curiosity drives you deeper into the undersea
world. I like that. You get a glimpse of another world without
relying on technology. Freediving makes the adventure seem more real, ability-based. Thus the deeper I can go each time with the skillful tuning of my surface
entry and utilization of my air.
First you prepare yourself at the surface for
each dive, using breathing techniques that oxygenate your blood. Then like a duck, you break the surface of
the water and propel yourself downward. The practice of meditation is useful as
it helps me to remain calm, less agitated and excited, maintaining a slower heart
rate which in turn affects your dive time. I seem forever driven by the
possibility of observing something unique with each dive. Each dive becomes a
work of artful, skillful expression. You
don’t get the whole underwater world at once.
You discover it slowly, savoring it with each deep breath. I
don’t have an underwater camera to document what I saw, so you’ll just have to
visit Bunaken Island yourself.
Something was missing. Bunaken Island was surrounded by mangroves
though beautiful are dangerous to explore barefoot. Thus except at the lowest
of tides there was no beach and Sara and I are beach walkers. Yes, besides snorkeling twice a day, we
explored Bunaken, its two villages, attended an outdoor dance and karaoke party, and
stayed for over 10 nights. Yet we longed
for a shoreline where we could meander aimlessly for miles, our toes wet, white
and happy. With a little research, we
were rewarded with Lombok Island and soon we were leaving Bunaken behind for
beautiful beaches and pristine bays.
Lombok Island
Lombok
has a new airport located minutes away from Kuta, The Other Kuta. Lombok’s Kuta is a place for surfers and
hippies with minimal infrastructure and lots of white sandy beaches. We rented a motorbike and toured miles of
coastline in search of the perfect beach.
We found several. Some had sand so fine, it was like white powder. Others had sand of tiny, white coral balls
formed by storms over time. Walking on
sand invigorates the feet, massaging them as you stroll along.
We
were in Beach Heaven. With gorgeous, dark cumulus nimbus clouds piled high as a
backdrop and the sun penetrating the clear sky overhead, you found yourself in
an otherworldly environment of rich colorful contrast. The turquoise sea varied in color with the
depth from shore. The water was gentle
and warm and you could float in the saltwater swayed back and forth by the
changing tide. In the late afternoon the
winds might pick up and you could body surf the breaking waves. Paradiso!
Of course the day included a handful of new friends, mainly vendors that
you’ll soon meet in my photos as well as delicious meals of Barbequed fish
smothered in garlic, spicy shrimp, and locally grown fruits and vegies.
  
The
days rolled by without much ado that the most insignificant of events, like
finding an intriguing spiny shell, watching naked boys learn to surf with drift
wood, or children netting dragonflies at sunset, would burn a lasting
impression.
Thus
passed our lazy days in Indonesia. One
travel memory builds on another. We will go back. We have already marked the
map with places difficult to get to, rich in local culture and beautiful
pristine reefs and beaches. We can’t
talk about them. They haven’t really
been discovered yet. We won’t be the
first but we don’t want to be the last.
Really there is not much more to share that a picture worth a thousand
words can tell you. And I have many
which I hope you will enjoy.
This
journey was about the sea, solitude, beaches, and local culture. It was a reminder of how special our planet
is and how we need to take better care of it. It was a moment to feel some fear
and to be rewarded for our creativity and curiosity in finding something unknown
to us, yet full of useful lesson. We
took home with us a new way of seeing the world and some new friendships. We
left leaving behind our footprints on white sandy beaches, a little kindness,
and an abundance of warm interaction.
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