Our new one month-long visa takes us to the famous island of Bali. Audrey came here nine years ago and had an excellent memory of it. So we’re going to taste Balinese culture for a dozen days, and it should be something different from what Indonesia has been offering for a month.
Ubud, the West with Indonesian sauce, not the other way around
Our first stop on the island is its traditional heart, Ubud. As soon as we arrive, we have the impression that all the crafts of the island are concentrated in this small town located in its center. The roads leading to the city center are dotted with furniture factories, painters and sculptors studios, and shops of all kinds. All that Bali sells around the world seems to be produced here! But if there is such a profusion, it is also because summer is linked with high tourist season. We are not the only ones who have been attracted by Ubud’s sirens.
After six months of traveling out of holiday periods, we must accept the fact that we are not the only ones on Earth to have the chance to travel, even for a few days. We had a little forgotten this point… But that’s good, Ubud is far (and it is little to say it) to be in lack of accomodations or restaurants. We can even say that it swarms! So, we find the last free rooms overlooking the lush vegetation and swimming pool of course. Pretty places that allow us to breathe after a day on the road (by scooter? You had guess!) To stride accross the rice fields and some temples in the region.
Ubud is far from being an unpleasant city. There are only good restaurants, of all types (vegetarians, vegans, pig on the spit, roadside grease), small cafes as we see here, spas and massage parlors everywhere, and everything is always decorated. Balinese love the aesthetic and it shows. The streets and roads are lined with flowery decorations, every house or almost is traditionally decorated and striding accross is really very nice. Following the advice of our host, we attend a dance and Balinese music show. We feels a little privileged because the performance takes place in a small temple outside the city center while the troupe is used to tour in all Bali and sometimes on the other islands of Indonesia.
The show is really great, we would not lied to say that they were perhaps the best musicians in the area. Each member perfom thoroughly and is full of energy. Everyone has a smile, except for the dancers who have fixed faces, only moving their eyes at crazy speeds (Ben found that really disturbing), in all directions, on the rhythm of the music.
Countryside, seaside and reunion
We see beautiful things in Ubud, but we are not yet ready to support daily traffic jams, strollers on the sidewalks, Western stores every twenty meter or dinners at $ 10 (for two, ahahah). It is therefore an opportunity to go for a few days walk through the countryside and on the heights of the island.
Quickly, we realise the obvious, the island is really urbanized. The countryside has lost its authenticity and the villages we cross are not really charming. The Balinese are nevertheless very religious and the Hindu temples erected on the island impress us. They are certainly not spectacularly tall, wide or refined, but they have a capacity for huge pilgrims! It is easy to imagine the buses filled with people coming to park sometimes several hundred meters away to participate in a procession or a celebration.
Our fresh air nee lead us to Munduk, a small “altitude” village, surrounded by greenery. We spend two days walking and scooter riding around. Waterfalls, volcanic lakes, forests and rice paddies. The landscapes are nice without being sensational. At least we enjoy the fresh air from the heights! Soccer World Cup period requires, we attend the game France Argentina on the terrace of a local. He has planned everything, the video projector, the beers, the little bench for the five French tourists that we are, and especially the fervor for him and his friends to encourage Argentina! The victory of our team relieves us and the villagers congratulate us. Indonesians love football and stay awake until the middle of the night to watch every game. And then, there is often an excitement more interested than the sport, the men bet on the games. The sums seem extravagant in relation to the standard of living. But Balinese even more than other Indonesians love money and like to spend it.
We continue our Balinese stay by the small seaside resort of Candidasa. We hope to find some beaches and some peace. It is also and especially our meeting point to meet our friends Maryse and Franck from Toulouse for a few weeks holiday in Indonesia. As great friends as they are, we have the right to a bite of French gastronomic reminder. Sausages, bread, wine and cheeses made the trip with them, exactly what we needed. The batteries are recharged thanks to our friends, we even take the opportunity to enjoy some well deserved bathing under the heaviness of the weather.
We take advantage of their increased scooter skills to discover the east of the island, the region of Agung and Batur volcanoes. The Agung has been recently famous in France because of its eruptions having resulted in the cancellation of some flights. The locals remind us regularly not to approach too close (not less than five kilometers from the summit) but even so, we still fall under a little rain of ashes. Nice when you fill up the scooter! We spend the three days on the spot driving around the small town of Sedimen. The countryside here is lush and more beautiful than we had seen elsewhere on the island. We cross terraced crops, streams, small hamlets, and everywhere people who greet our passage. It’s less touristy and it shows.
Unfortunately we are disappointed when arriving on the crater of the Batur volcano. Many tourists come here to go down in the caldera and to climb at night the small volcano in its center for the sunrise. So there are a lot of really unfriendly street vendors, and the atmosphere is almost tense. Once descended, certainly some places are arid and we do not know what kind of volcanic steppes, but the caldera itself is very strongly turned to agriculture. We find ourselves quickly drinving on roads and paths littered with waste. It is very sad knowing that the region boasts of being a kind of UNESCO sanctuary… The culmination of our disappointment comes when a man accost us on the road to tell us that we can not walk freely. Basically, you have to pay a guide and climb the volcano, otherwise you have to leave. We were invited to “go back to our country to watch his volcano on the internet as he looks at Mont Blanc on his smartphone”. Nice atmosphere.
This is only a really negative meeting, but it demonstrate everything that, little by little, we have begun to hate in Bali, the relation to the tourist and the money. We tried a lot to stay open during our stay here and to feel all that we found positive through our story, but for the first time since our departure, we regret to have come. Aside from the dance show (and the coconut stuffed pork!), There is nothing about Bali that we have not found elsewhere in Indonesia, and much better. Mountains, countryside, terraced crops, volcanoes, temples, smiles and above all, tranquility. We were tired of constantly having to be suspicious (very often rightly) of people as soon as there was a link with money. As we have written, not everything is black, far from it, but it’s just that Bali does not match what we are looking for on our trip. There is a bit of everything here, but not enough to really make it a must.
We leave Bali to go to Flores Island where we hope to find what we missed here.
Flores, big lizard, but not only
The island of Flores is best known for its proximity to the Komodo Park, an archipelago where live the famous lizards (or dragoons rrrrrr) of Komodo. Most travelers arrive at Labuan-Bajo (the big village close to the Komodo) by plane like us, or after a three or four day cruise from Lombok, near Bali. Bajo is indeed ideal for two or three days, diving in the fish-rich waters of the park and return by plane or boat to where we came from. But since we have ten days, we decide to cross the entire island from west to east, and discover a new side of Indonesian culture.
Of course, before continuing our journey, we visit the big lizards on their island. Well, we fall in the middle of the spawning period, so most of the females nest off and the males have to wait until the next breeding season. We still see some cattle near the rangers’ camp. Two very photogenic adults seem to pose there with the sole purpose of being the future stars of the Facebook pages of us little whites. We are sure they feed them … but hey, at least we see them closely (say three meters, except for Audrey who stands on guard at six meters). A little further we even have the chance to see a female dig her nest. We can see the tail of the lizard of more than five feet out of a deep hole of about two meters. The end of the visit is quite lunar. We hike for an hour in a wood to observe the local fauna, mainly chickens, roosters and even a guinea fowl! One thing is certain, if not impressed, we laughed at the sight of a specimen of “Komodo flying chicken”!
Maryse and Franck join us the next day in Bajo as agreed for a few months. Indeed, it was expected from the beginning to meet us on July 15 to watch the final of the World Cup football together. Luckily there is a lot of French here, tourists or diving teachers. Even better, the team of France did not miss us and respected the appointment as well. Here we are in the company of friends and about forty fellow citizens to sing the Marseillaise, hand on heart, thousands of kilometers from France. The few Indonesians present of course support Croatia to tease us but at the final whistle it’s all the bar that exults. It’s all about sport but we’ve felt it even more here than elsewhere, football is the number one sport in the world and a wonderful showcase for our country. We are proud of our team and what it represents. The same Indonesians who threw us “Zidane, Barthez, Henry” a month ago have only “Mbappe, Griezmann, Pogba” in their mouths. The miscegenation and youth of these ambassadors are a dream for both children and adults here. And for good reason, Indonesians are the champions in terms of ethnic, religious and youth mix. True symbols of tolerance, unlike some Westerners who came here and there giving us foul racist remarks about our team. But this is nothing, and we take advantage of the congratulations of our hosts for this victory (also because half of them won a lot of money by betting on the blues!).
This time we say goodbye to our friends Toulouse who will continue on their side and head for the heart of the island. We first cross the small town of Bajawa and visit the traditional villages nearby. We will not keep an unforgettable memory of our walk, the villages seem empty and mainly there for the folklore and the few tourists. Positive point, we find a coffee with a real espresso machine! It may sound silly but you are challenged not to fall for temptation after six months of sock juice.
The eastern part of Flores is much more pleasant. To get to Moni, our base for two nights, we drive a few hours in the heart of the lush forest, along white or black sand beaches and through small ports or mountain villages. The reliefs here are uneven, and for good reason, it seems that each summit had one day spit fire and ashes. That’s why we come. After Komodo Park, Kelimutu Volcano’s three lakes are the main attraction of the island. Although popular, it is still much less frequented (barely 90000 visitors, 80% of Indonesians, last year according to statistics posted in the tourist center – but who reads these papers pinned to the wall apart Ben ?!). We are not disappointed. After a few minutes of walking, the lakes with electric shades of blue are discovered in turn under the mist. Leaving nothing to glimpse of their deadly acidity, the lakes emit calm and mysticism in this peaceful setting. It feels good, and we wander there with some vendors of souvenirs and families of macaques, the only tenants of the place once the sunrise is over (we had preferred to sleep, for obvious reasons of laziness and … and that’s all!). We decide to go down the volcano by foot, through the fertile countryside and the few villages scattered on its flank. He has no doubts, the inhabitants of Flores are friendly and have easy smile. We just regret that we did not take pencils to distribute to local children. The villages are isolated and quite poor, and the little boys and girls do not want anything else.
Last step of our quick walk through Flores, the bay of Maumere. So we calm down right away, there is no question of exploration or discovery. We found a bungalow on the beach about thirty kilometers from the economic lung of the east of the island (Maumere – 65000 inhabitants…). The goal is to rest, read, paint, swim and play UNO. For once, we have an incredible chance, there is no more bungalow available for our two nights. Suddenly, we are housed in a small villa away, just the two of us. We did not shun our pleasure to live in a swimsuit on the terrace of our new second home.
We were afraid that our negative experience in Bali would tarnish the end of our Indonesian chapter, and even volume 1 – Asia – of our trip. Fortunately Flores has kept his promises, and more. We are now certain, after six months (it’s not too early eh), of what we can not do during our trip. Exchange with the peoples we meet and the richness of their culture or environment. Indonesia has conquered us for the diversity of landscapes and traditions that this huge country offers. However mass tourism, overconsumption and pollution are more and more felt, and it’s a bit sad.
It is now time to close our Asian adventures. Heading to the city of Perth in Australia for three short days before flying to Tahiti and French Polynesia (and there you will hate us for good…).
See you soon,
Audrey & Ben