Archive for January 17th, 2007
Pasar Badung is the huge market area in central Denpasar, famous among locals. Today I drove Ika, Jevon and my mother-in-law there, to check things out. You never quite know how somebody will react to a place. A westerner could view Pasar Badung as a wonderful example of Asian culture, or a stinking example of lack of hygiene and organization. But how would somebody from Java view it? The market is located on Jl. Veteren and took maybe 20 minutes to get to, because of traffic and my driving. Parking across the road on the Jl. Kartini, a Parkirman (parking attendant) quickly got 2,000rp out of me.
There is no entry fee to the market, and our first stop was cruising some of the food vendors outside. Ika and her mother didn’t seem super interested in snacks, as they had each powered a huge bowl of rice, vegetables and tempe before leaving the house. I got a 5 sticks of ikan laut (mashed sea fish, grilled). The vendor asked for ‘empat ribu rupiah‘ (4,000rp) smiling. I offered ‘dua ribu rupiah‘ (2,000rp) and got it, her and the locals laughing. “You don’t know the local price, ” laughed one guy. No worries, I think 2,000rp is okay, and I know by now that hitting the ‘bule‘ up money is a national sport out here. In Asia, your market skills are constantly tested, nothing personal.
Walking around the edge of the market, Ika spotted a cake shop and picked out a bag to take home. Up on the 2nd floor, were bags of spices, sacks of ingredients and piles of garlic. Ika squealed as a mouse jumped off of a sack towards her. Ika’s mum bought a large feather duster for 15,000rp, which would cost 25,000rp-30,000rp in a regular shop. Also on sale were many large pieces of kitchen equipment, such as giant woks, the kinds used to cook pisang goreng (fried banana) at the night market.
Back outside we took a look at the fruit market, and saw wani’s, the mango like fruit with a creamy white meat, and giant mangos. The general consensus was pretty positive and I think Ika and her mother, would enjoy another visit, if they had things in mind they needed.
source : www.baliblog.com
January 17th, 2007
Ika’s mother requested a visit to Ubud, for reasons I’ll get to later. Ubud is one of my favourite areas, because of the density of artists, great Balinese ceremonies, great places to eat and lovely scenery. On the way into Ubud I asked them where they wanted to eat. Ika has been to Ubud before and likes Casa Luna. They said they wanted
nasi campur (mixed rice), which is harder than you’d imagine in Ubud. Downtown is loaded with restaurants, aimed at tourists. They often serve good food, but its a million miles away from the ‘point and get’
nasi campur shop. Ika remembered us passing a place before, and directed me to it. Located at the very southern end of Jl. Hanuman and around the corner, the
Warung Nasi Pak Sedan, was busy with Balinese locals.
I went through the kitchen towards the rear of the place, which was somebody’s house. On the way I passed piles of garlic and other stuff, in the process of being chopped up and prepared. One guy was wearing the bottom half of what looked to be a policeman / official’s uniform, plus the peak hat. He was sitting there peeling vegetables.
We all asked for nasi campur, which means the staff will assemble a plate of items. A certain amount excitement goes with this, as you are not totally sure what you’ll get. Mine had rice, various bits of meat, eggplant, a bit of vegetable, hot sambal and Balinese salty spices. I was quit pleased with mine and will go back sometime. The cost for all 3 meals, plus 3 drinks was 27,000rp.
Warung Nasi Pak Sedan is located close to the petrol station, just south of Ubud in Pengosekan.
source : www.baliblog.com
January 17th, 2007
Last night Ika was telling me her mother wanted to visit Ubud, because there was a place on Indonesian TV, that a celebrity couple had been married. She had described it to Ika, but neither was 100% sure of where it was. “I will know the name of the place if I hear it,” said Ika, “I think it might be a museum.” After going through my mental list of Ubud museums (Neka, ARMA etc.) I said “Antonio Blanco.” and she said “Yes that’s the one.” We drove west along Jl. Raya Ubud, through to Campuhan and hung a left at the entrance to Museum Blanco.
I must admit, I never actually expected to end up there, especially with my mother-in-law. The entrance fee was 20,000rp each and we quickly shuffled through to the garden area. Museum Blanco has a lovely site, with the extravagant museum, surrounded by manicured gardens and many exotic birds, including large parrots.
Jevon enjoyed chasing the chickens and my mother-in-law seemed to like the place. Once inside the museum, the content of the paintings (portraits of naked women) revealed itself. My mother-in-law seemed happy to take a seat and look after Jevon, rather than critique the brushwork. Staff at Museum Blanco were polite and friendly. There is no food shop or restaurant on the premises and today the whole place looked lovely, because of the strong sunlight.
Museum Blanco is a good stop off place if you are looking for something to break up an afternoon. Its nothing to do with the history or development of Balinese art, more to do with one man’s admiration for the female form. While visiting today I got to wondering whether Blanco ever met Le Mayeur, the Belgian artist who was based in Sanur. They both married Balinese dancers and painted them in states of undress. Museum Blanco can be visited in an hour.
source : www.baliblog.com
January 17th, 2007
Returning to downtown Ubud from Museum Blanco, we pulled over and parked across from Cafe Lotus, on Jl. Raya Ubud. This restaurant has the most amazing view. Pura Saraswati backs on to it and guests can sit under the elongated ‘bale’ structure and admire the temple across the lotus pond. This afternoon Ika ordered a strawberry lassi, her mother a strawberry milkshake, myself a small water and an arak madu. The bill was around 75,000rp, quite a bit more than lunch, but this is one of the choice spots in Ubud. All the drinks were good, the lassi was less sweet than the milkshake.
Jevon liked watching the fish and I pointed out a 2f long orange fellow that was cruising around, looking for a feed.
Here’s what the menu looks like at Cafe Lotus:
•Lunch Recommendation - including Smoked Marlin (with Balinese style seaweed salad, made with garlic, shallots, shredded coconut, chilies, sesame oil), with creamed radish crostini, for 30,000rp
•Salads & Appetizers - including Crab & Prawn Rolls (made with crab meat, prawns, bean sprouts, coriander, lime juice, fish sauce and mint dip) for 27,000rp
•Soups - including Cream of Mushroom, for 20,000rp
•Balinese & Indonesian Favourites - including Ayam Sisit (shredded breast of chicken, seasoned with Balinese spices, served with ‘sayur lodeh‘, which are vegetables cooked in coconut milk. Its spicy. For 40,000rp
•Pasta & Risotto - including Seafood Ravioli (fresh seafood, served in a light curry sauce, with prawns and leek) for 41,000rp.
•Fish & Seafood - including Grilled Gindara (Butterfish) Fillets (on pisang (banana) dansabo with Indonesia-style shrimp sauce and snow peas) for 47,000rp.
•Fowl & Meats - including Babi Bagus (grilled basil and garlic marinated pork cutlet, served with sauteed fresh champignons and mashed potatoes) for 40,000rp
I didn’t see a dessert menu. Maybe you have to ask for it separately. Cafe Lotus seems a good place for a drink or lunch and is a popular place for people to take late afternoon tea.
source : www.baliblog.com
January 17th, 2007
Bali seems like a dream when you first arrive, green and beautiful, with the burning sun, and equatorial showers, making it a natural paradise. Then comes man, and all he brings. Bali is still mostly green, but in areas where people live, those parts are turning grey, with Bali’s new favourite color, ‘grey’ (for cement), coming on strong. How can people in Bali turn back the erosion of soil, the loss of habitats and the pollution of watercourses? A Balinese lady named Ni Wayan Sudji, hopes to change things.
Here’s more fom the Jakarta Post.
Turning Bali into land of gardens
Agricultural engineer, passionate conservationist and head of Bali province’s Environmental Assessment Agency, Ni Wayan Sudji, wants to see a new twist on Bali’s nickname the Island of the Gods.
“In the past, Bali was known as the Island of the Gardens. I want to get Bali back to the way it was — clean and green,” vows Sudji.
And with her background in agricultural engineering specializing in plant conservation and protection using biological, nonchemical methods, Sudji is well placed to achieve her goal for Bali.
“When I completed my studies at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, I brought (plant conservation) technology back to Bali. I worked on commodities crops, such as coffee, coconut and clove plantations, introducing integrated biological pest control solutions that only applied chemicals as a last resort. The aim was to develop our agro-industries within healthy environments.”
And while much has been achieved in environmentally sensitive pest control other areas of Bali’s environment are still in much need of attention, according to Sudji.
“The biggest problem is plastic. There is a jungle of plastic out there clogging waterways and in the land environment also. The EPA is working with major supermarkets to reduce dependency on plastic bags with a drive for people to bring their own bags when they go shopping. Supermarkets give shoppers incentives to reuse bags rather than constantly throwing plastic away,” Sudji said.
At the national level, Sudji believes flooding and its primary cause, illegal logging, are the greatest environmental and economic disasters facing the country. “Flooding because of the environmental impact and destruction it causes and illegal logging because of the loss of forest and the flooding caused when the natural filters of tree roots are lost. Topsoil is also lost, reducing the fertility of the soil and washing it into the river and ocean systems, causing additional damage to the waterways.”
Also of deep environmental concern is the management of solid and liquid wastes.
“Waste is a major problem across the board in Bali; industrial, commercial and at the domestic level. This is in fact a problem all over the world. For Bali to be cleaner and greener we all need to work actively and collectively to solve the problem,” Sudji said.
But getting the message on conservation and environmental protection across is no easy task in a developing nation where many people are more focused on day-to-day survival than on protecting their physical environment. However, Sudji has tapped into the grass roots at village level across Bali giving villages the incentive, equipment and training to manage their own waste.
“With the coming of the wet season, the plastic waste issue is highly visible. There is more rubbish floating in the waterways, for example, and this is washed out to sea or blocks drains so flooding occurs. Local governments are assisting communities to clean up and recycle plastic bags and compost other waste before the wet season hits,” said Sudji, adding that the EPA gives communities the equipment needed to process plastics.
“So when communities are actively working for the conservation and protection of their environments we give help.”
An Environmental Awareness Program for villages was established in 2001 and to date 45 villages across Bali have joined the program that addresses on the ground environmental issues, such as wastewater.
“One example of recycling waste would be for each banjar or village to have its own Wastewater Garden to treat domestic and commercial wastewater. This would prevent polluted runoff into our river systems and create more beautiful villages. In the long term we need to make Bali beautiful from the ground up.”
Sudji’s belief that conservation needs to grow from the grass roots is also seen in the coastal and upland protection programs, run by local communities with input from the EPA.
“We have two communities of differing environments, but Bali needs to be seen as one ecosystem, not divided into smaller environments. We have developed two projects that are interrelated; one is coastline rehabilitation and the other is reforestation in the upland regions.
“A group of fisherman from Serangan carry out beach cleaning and are funded to replant coral. This coral reef conservation project is driven by the local community of fisherman. They recognize they are dependent on a healthy ocean for fishing and tourism so are replanting the coral and rehabilitating the coastline,” said Sudji of the 40 families involved in the project.
Also in Serangan is the Turtle Conservation project, again run and managed by local fishing families with support from the EPA.
Upland communities are replanting trees in traditional villages and Udayana University is researching recent drops in upland lakes systems, such as in Bedugal where lake water has been reducing for some time.
“Udayana studies showed evaporation of the lake is very high. This may be due to global warming or because, with illegal logging in other parts of the country, there is less precipitation and, therefore, a drop in rainfall. Traditional villages in the uplands are replanting trees and over time this will assist their environment and protect the soil from erosion during the wet season,” Sudji said.
With her passion for Bali’s environment and her strength of character, Sudji is well armed to take on the battle to protect, conserve and rehabilitate Bali’s natural beauty.
“I have a commitment to make Bali greener and cleaner. Working together we can achieve this,” Sudji said.
In my opinion, there are 3 ways you can get people to change their actions in regard to the environment. 1) Education, 2) New laws, 3) Monetary incentives. Most people in Bali are totally ignorant, both in cause and effect, and in ‘why should I give a shit’, about their effect on the environment. Education is needed. If you make laws that say a cop can fine you 100,000rp for burning plastic, or throwing your junk down a stream, less people will do it. One good strategy that always works, is to put a deposit on things recyclable, that way, even homeless people (and I used to work with them) will get up and do some work.
source : www.baliblog.com
January 17th, 2007