Exotic Bali, Indonesia

Our second Indonesian visit in as many years is bringing us to two new islands.  A year ago we had gone to Komodo Island, notable for venomous dragons that bear the name and to Lombok Island, one of the lesser Indonesian islands (to Americans, anyway).  But this year we are visiting two new islands, Bali and Sulawasi.

While Java is Indonesia’s most populous island and is home to the largest city, Jakarta, Bali is typically identified as Indonesia’s playground where tourism reigns supreme.  Indonesia is made up of over 13,000 islands of which less than half are inhabited.  It has the fourth largest population in the world, behind China, India, and the United States and ahead of Russia.  While Indonesia is predominately Muslim, Bali is the exception with about 85% of its population being Hindu.  Balinese Hindus though are somewhat different from the Indian Hindus with Bali’s Hindus dedicating most of their temples to one of three Hindu gods:  Brahma (Creator of the Universe), Vishnu (Preserver), or Shiva (Destroyer).  I might also add that most Indonesian Muslims are not like the stereotypical Muslims of the radical Middle East.  Indonesian Muslims are more tolerant of other religious beliefs and for the most part don’t participate in the violent protests that seem to denote Muslims in many Americans’ eyes. 

We would have to agree with the assessment that Indonesian Muslims are quite different from ones elsewhere.  Because Indonesia formerly was a colony of The Netherlands, Holland America Line employs many Indonesians as dining and stateroom stewards and maintenance staff, we have had the opportunity to get to know many Indonesians.  Several, like Yohat, Herfan, and Deris have been repeat dining stewards and we have had contact with them after meeting them on ships.  Although Muslim, they have wished us “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Easter.”  Their contact and their telling us about their families, homes, and traditions and we telling about theirs has given frequent travelers on Holland America a good feeling about Indonesia.  Working in the service industry, by the way, is considered a very honorable position for Indonesians. Holland America maintains a training school in Jakarta for those who will be on its various ships and they even have mockup replicas of staterooms, dining areas and other venues to provide realistic training for crew.  Those people who do and have worked on Holland America cruise ships are highly regarded at home.

Thus it was with growing, palpable excitement that we drew near to our first of two Indonesian ports, Benoa, Bali.  Several told us of plans to see family and friends that they hadn’t seen in months.  Our stateroom steward, Donny, told us of seeing his baby daughter, born about two months ago, for the first time!  His wife and daughter were coming from the island of Java for the all too brief reunion.  Crew has a job to do and whether we are in the middle of the ocean or “home” for them, guests have to be fed(!) and the ship can’t be abandoned for the day.  Many guests however left notes on their doors, telling stewards not to make up their rooms for the one special day for all too short crew reunions with family and friends.  Our young dining steward, Agus, told us it would be a bittersweet (not using that term) day. It is his first contract with Holland America but commented that the reunion would be so short that it difficult to say goodbye after a few short hours.

We had originally been scheduled to visit a port where tendering would be required, but a new dock able to accommodate a ship as large as ours was constructed and it was to be free the day we were in port.  Unfortunately for the crew anticipating family time, we were approximately an hour and a half late docking and clearing the ship for getting off the ship. The reason was not that we were late; in fact we were a bit early but a ferry at the dock left late and had to clear a channel before we could move through and take the location.

Barb and I had scheduled a long shore 7½ hour excursion, Bali Arts and Safari Park Adventure.  We weren’t quite sure how strenuous it would be, particularly since Barb was dealing with her chronic sinus issues.  Fortunately it was a delightful and rather easy introduction to the island of Bali.  Last year when we visited Lombok, I found it more like the stereotype Indonesia I had pictured in my mind, but Bali is very lush and green with many dense trees along the road and tall trees (making it difficult to take pictures) in the medians.  Even though it was a Saturday, we saw groups of schoolchildren along the streets, all wearing their school’s uniforms.  Our guide explained that Indonesian children go to school six days a week from about 7:30 to 12:30, including Saturday morning before the heat of the day becomes more intense.  However on Saturday, school is dismissed somewhat earlier.  Like most of Asia, streets are full of motorbikes and scooters.  Almost every home, there were ornate decorations and sculptures that had Hindu religious symbolism.  Although not our style of architectural decoration, they were very interesting to see.   Many homes were like compounds with several buildings within the compound and walls to the street for privacy.  This was because, as our guide Rapantara explained, multi generational families live together.  He and his brother are both married with children and they still live together with his parents.   Our first stop was a typical Balinese home.  Rapantara showed us the notice above the gate to the home indicating the number of males and females who resided there.  We were permitted to enter and to see the outside of the various buildings in the complex.  We saw where the food was prepared as well as the buildings where members of the family slept.  Three dogs laid on what we would consider to be a porch, two of them mostly sleeping but with an eye on the large number of guests, but one of the dogs barking loudly at our presence.  Many families have dogs, mostly used for protection.  Outside were typical children’s  toys and farther in back were a small garden and courtyard with colorful flowers, clothes hanging on the line along one side of the property, and on the other side rubbish was smoldering as recycling was not a part of their lives and there was no trash collection.  There were some trees on the property including palm trees with coconuts high in the branches and even a starfruit tree.

From that enlightening visit where we saw how Indonesians live their daily lives, we went on to the area around one of the communities on the island, Ubud, which is home to an artist colony of various craftspeople.  On the way, we saw places selling wooden crafts as well as large paintings.  We stopped at a place where paintings were for sale but few purchases, if any, were made because the paintings were so large, large enough that they surely wouldn’t fit in any luggage and the cost of shipping would have been prohibitive.  While many of the paintings wouldn’t be what most of us would want, there were some very attractive ones but much too large to be sent home.

This was followed by a stop at a wood craftsman’s shop where various kinds of wood carvings were sold.  Most were again very large but quite ornate and often depicted some of the Hindu gods as well as elephants which are revered by the Hindus.  There were small enough items here and quality was good enough that a number of purchases were made.  Interesting when I was on the island of Lombok last year, I visited a pottery shop and a lace making location. 

By now, particularly given our late start on the excursion because of the tardy arrival in Benoa, we were ready for some lunch.  We were scheduled to visit the award winning Bali Safari and Marine Park where we would have lunch in the modern Tsavo Lion Restaurant with its floor to ceiling windows looking out at the pair of Tsavo lions (made famous for eating about 100 railway workers on the Kenya-Uganda railway back in 1898). I am happy to report that the pair we saw was much more docile and they watched us eat rather than the other way around.

After lunch we visited the White Tiger display where the male mostly paced in front of the enclosed gallery just a few feet from guests separated of course by a strong protective glass window, and the female that rested on a raised, covered platform.  They were a beautiful sight to behold as these tigers are quite rare.  For the price of $7, a few people chose to be permitted to pet a baby tiger under the watchful eye of a zoo employee.  While there, it began to rain, gently at first, but that turned to a downpour.  It’s the rainy season in Indonesia so some rain was to be expected.  As the rain came pounding down harder and harder, we were to have stopped at the Komodo Dragon enclosure but that visit would have drenched everyone to the skin, so we went straight to the waiting tram ride. Fortunately three couples had umbrellas, so they lent the rest of us theirs and our poor guide, ran barefoot through the rain to bring umbrellas back to the rest of us in shifts.  Barb and I were glad to have seen the Komodo Dragons in their natural habitat on Komodo Island last year.  Once we had all managed to dodge through the rain to the tram station, we boarded the tram for a drive around the park to view mostly Indonesian, Asian, and African animals, including among others, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, hippos, elephants, and rhinos.  This was a much different group of animals from the more gentle Australian animals we had recently seen.

As we drove to the ship, the rain diminished and by the time we arrived at our last stop of the day at a Batik factory and sales shop, it had ended.  Batik is a particular way of designing and processing fabric and it’s used for everything from Indonesian style clothing to tablecloths to pillow shams.  Following a brief demonstration of the process, there was time to browse and purchase items of interest before heading to the ship.  (Two years ago, a dining steward had given both Barb and me Batik shirts as a “thank you” for requesting him to be our table steward on our Voyage of the Vikings trip.)    Colors are usually colorful and “busy” but traditional colors for clothing are blue, brown, and light yellow since they are considered to be life symbols.  Whenever I wear my Batik shirt, it evokes a positive response from the Indonesian crew on board.

After our return to the ship, our day was not over by a long shot.  Every year on the World Cruise, Holland America CEO, Stein Kruse, his wife and other high officials of the company board for a few days and travel with us.  Last year between American Samoa and Sydney, there was a festive Mardi Gras party on Shrove Tuesday and with a New Orleans theme. This year it was held on the evening of the day in Bali and it was called the Pasar Malam Indonesia, or Indonesian Night Market.  The Lido deck was transformed to a typical Indonesian rainforest with bamboo huts, a rice field, and many bamboo decorations.  It included an Indonesian band, an Angklung (typical Indonesian musical instrument) orchestra, a shadow puppet show, traditional dancers, demonstrations on wood carving and Batik making.  Local craftsmen were on board to sell some of their wares in the “Night Market”.  There were some authentic Becak-Becak or cycle taxis which folks could ride for a $5 donation to charity.  An Indonesian meal was available in one area of the Lido and proceeds were used to support the Indonesian charity.  In the Lido, a wide variety of Indonesian food was available.  It was a gala evening, enjoyed even by some of the crew family members that were onboard for the day.

… Our immersion in Asian culture has begun.

CT