Komodo Island

 

Komodo Dragon

We’re moored off the coast of Komodo Island, home of Loh Liang National Park, established in 1980 to preserve the 3700 Komodo Dragons who live here and several surrounding islands. Approximately 2000 people also live on these islands. We walked one of the trails in the park for 90 minutes. We saw seven dragons in the forest near a waterhole which attracts animals. When a baby Komodo breaks out of its egg, it seeks protection from predators (including adult dragons) by climbing a palm tree and finding shelter in a hole in the tree. From here they feed on insects and small animals until 3 to 4 years old. Only five percent of the eggs make it to maturity of 7 to 8 years. The males can live as long as 60 years. They feed on other lizards and even the Timor deer we saw in the forest. They blend in with their surroundings and then can run as fast as 12 mph to bite their prey. The bacteria in their saliva will kill the deer. They can track the deer by their scent from as far as 5 km.

Dragon Nest

The animals are usually solitary except during mating season in June and July. The females will build a nest digging a hole about a meter deep where she will lay 20 to 40 eggs. The nest we saw on the trail was originally made by an orange footed scrubfowl.  The female dragon will guard the nest for a couple months until the rainy season in October. The eggs hatch in April. Sex is determined by the temperature of the egg. Today there are 3 males for every female. We finished our walk on the beach where we saw four Timor deer and another three dragons.

Timor Deer

Benoa, Bali, Indonesia - Temples and monkeys

 

Pura Taman Ayun inner courtyard

We started our day touring a 17^th century temple, Pura Taman Ayun. It follows the traditional design of three courtyards separated by split gates.  It has a large moat surrounding the temple and a smaller one around the inner courtyard.

Making Bali Cake

Then we stopped for a snack at a wonderful restaurant and they fed us a number of local specialties including Bali cake. On to the Sacred Monkey Forest with over a thousand macaque monkeys. Dating back to the 14^th century, the monkeys are considered sacred animals Apparently there are 3 clans, each led by a dominant male. Unfortunately, the “rangers” that guided us through the short walk, end the tour at their shop, where they sell souvenirs.

Sacred Monkey Forest

Our final stop was the Tanah Lot temple built on the rocks above the Java Sea. It is a temple to the sea god of Bali.

Tanah Lot Temple

I must say, Bali isn’t what I expected. I pictured an idealistic tropical island with beautiful beaches. Little did I expect the crowded island with vast traffic jams that we encountered. Still a fascinating place of Hindu culture, but not a place I would want to live.

Family Life and the Caste system in Bali

The first name is based on your birth order: first, second, third, or fourth child. More than four? Start over again. A variation of the name indicates male or female. Your Hindu caste is indicated by your title:  one of four castes. The lowest caste has no title. The women change caste when they marry a man from a different caste. There is no shame in marrying a different cast in Bali, even into a different religion. Yesterday’s guide had a Moslem daughter and a Christian son. When a woman marries, she moves into her husband’s family home. When the father dies, the ownership of the home remains with all his sons. Even if the wife is widowed she remains in her husband’s family home. They all share a kitchen, and family area, but have separate bedrooms.

Benoa Bali - VW Safari

 

Our tour today was labeled as a VW Safari. Mary and I were driven into the interior of Bali by a driver and our private guide, Navayana, in a VW Thing. We had a police escort again to navigate the fierce traffic. Our two-lane road often had 3 vehicles side by side with a scooter trying to pass between vehicles. This is the “Land of a Thousand Temples”, there are probably 100,000, many of the houses have a temple in their front yard. The making of temples, gift offerings to the gods and Hindu ceremonies form a large part of the local economy. Our first stop was a batik shop where they demonstrated how they used wax to create patterns from which they died the cloth.

Gangsa and Bonsa instruments

We continued through districts (former villages) specialized in statues, furniture, baskets, silver. etc. We passed many former royal residences and numerous temples. Our next stop was a shop that makes gangsa,  bonsa,  and gongs used to play gamelan music in Hindu ceremonies. The artisans were carving the wood, creating metal pieces and gongs, all carefully tuned.

Mount Batur

The road began climbing higher eventually to about 1000 meters where we had lunch with a gorgeous view of Mt. Batur, a volcano, and Lake Batur in the caldera of the volcano.

Village of Penglipuran

We visited a preserved 17^th century village, a UNESCO world heritage site, Penglipuran. The traditional homes usually had a family temple for the ancestors in front with a kitchen and the bedroom for the family parents. As children are married, they may construct other bedrooms behind the main building. Sharing the kitchen, courtyards, temples, and kitchen. Each home had an area for selling goods.

Pura Kehen Temple

Our last stop was a 13^th century temple, Pura Kehen Temple. This was the main temple for the Bangli Regency, one of nine kingdoms in Bali. The split gates represent a mountain. Lions often guard the entryway. Temples usually have three levels or courtyards. The outer courtyard features a 400-year-old Banyan tree. The last of which is only used for meditation or ceremonies and has a 11-tiered tower. I was surprised to see Chinese porcelain plates and cups built into the wall separating the first two levels.

Mount Bromo

 

Taking the ponies to Mount Bromo

Our excursion today was to climb 2329 meter Mount Bromo, one of seven active volcanos on Java. It last erupted in 2011. We started with a one-hour bus ride through the city. Soon we were climbing the mountain and even had to resort to first gear occasionally. We stopped for a snack at a hotel and transferred to 4 wheel jeeps to proceed. Four of us singles formed a group for the jeep: Linda from Las Vegas, Jeff from Ohio and Geoff from Melbourne. The road was narrow but paved as we climbed through the bamboo forest. As we proceeded, farms began to appear with vegetables growing on the steep hillside. Finally, we reached the caldera of the volcano. Here we mounted a pony who took us across the sand flats and started a climb up the crater. 

The final ascent

The final ascent was a steep staircase of 250 steps. The rim of the crater was 3 to 10 feet wide, so one had to watch your step. I could hear the gurgling of the steam, smell the sulfur dioxide, and see the steam rising. Occasionally the wind would blow the steam so we could see partially into the crater. I walked back to our jeep. We stopped at a viewpoint on the way back, but the clouds obscured most of the view. We had a good lunch. As we started back to the ship we had our afternoon rain.

Surabaya, Java, Indonesia

Mary and John at Bajang Ratu Gate

We spent all day on our tour to the Archeological sites of the Majapahit Hindhu kingdom. We left the 3 million people in Surabaya to drive into a countryside of rice, sugar cane, and assorted other fruits and vegetables. We had a police escort because even the freeways are bogged down by slow moving trucks and numerous scooters. We started at the Trowulan Architectural Museum. We were entertained by local dancers who shared a welcome dance followed by a dance to fight evil spirits.

Then we saw Buddhist and Hindu statues as well as reliefs from the temple. The museum was filled with kids on school trips, they were excited to say ‘hi’, high five, and wave with foreigners.

Lord Vishu mounting Garuda 

We went on to the Tikus temple, a ritual bathing pool, which contained the holy water from the mountains.

Tikus Temple

Sea day on the way to Indonesia

 

We went to several talks to learn more about Indonesia. The cultural talk today focused on Bali. Over 40% of tourists’ visits are to Bali. In contrast to the rest of Indonesia, Hinduism is the primary (87%) religion here. Islam came to Indonesia in the 15^th century, many Hindus fled to Bali. Bali’s style of Hinduism includes elements of Animism, making it more attractive to the people. Bali is known as the Island of the Gods with over 20,000 temples. There are some cultural taboos: the left hand is considered unclean, and one never touches someone on the head. The head is considered the seat of your soul. Nyepi the day of silence, is the day to convince the evil spirits that the island is deserted. Every business, school, and even the airport is closed. Throughout Bali, you will see Bantan, offerings to the gods. Caning Saui is a daily small offering. Banten Tegala is a stacked offering of fruit. The most interesting cultural fact is the Metatah ceremony where the canine teeth of the teenager are filed when they reach puberty, the ceremony to become an adult. Filing the canine teeth makes them human, different than other animals.

We began what would become a nightly ritual. We had first seating at a table of eight. Last night, we had one other couple Indonesia at the table, but we soon learned they preferred the Lido for dinner. Tonight, it was just us at our table of eight. After dinner, we would go to the Billboard lounge and listen to Megan and Gabe, who played hits on two pianos. 

At Sea on the Noordam

 

A video of this trip is available on youtube

We arrived in Singapore at 7:15 on Sunday morning after leaving Denver at 5:30 PM on Friday. We boarded the ship, Holland America’s Noordam, at about 1 PM. We’re learning about our ports of call and the culture of Indonesia during our two days at sea. Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands and 277 million people. It also has over 700 languages and more than 600 ethnic groups with unique cultures and ethics.

Torajan Houses

Our speaker explored the Torajan people who live in the mountains of Sulawesi island. The houses are unique in the shape of a saddle back, believed to have originated from turning their boats upside down. This culture is known for their death rituals, which last several days and involves the whole village and possibly nearby villages. It may cost up to $100,000. This requires the family to save up over years for the rite. Meanwhile, the body us mummified, dressed in clothes, and stays with the family. It is fed, clothes are changed and even given cigarettes if they smoked. The funeral itself can last as long as 12 days with meals of Buffalo and pig. The body is buried in the caves of the mountains with a wooden statue of the deceased in a balcony in front. Once a year, the body is brought out, dried and clothed with new garments, and paraded around the village.

Wooden statues in front of grave site