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Avia as Tarzan – Revisited

Nov 21, 2012   //   by David   //   Bali, Blog  //  Comments Off on Avia as Tarzan – Revisited

West Bali National Park, Pemuteran, 8th Nov, 2012

Here’s Avia swinging from a Lian. “It’s fun, but it would be much more fun if Jamie was here. We could swing together.”

This plant attaches itself to the top of a seedling and grows at the same speed as the seedling. Alongside the Lian that Avia is swinging on is a 120 year old tree with attached 120 year old Lian.

 

I’ve also attached a picture of a Monkey Step, a relative of the Lian which looks like a rope with internal steps. All this was learned when David forced a Bird walk on his family. The bird walk was especially boring. The eight types of Kingfisher were all seen, but from the distance they all took on the generic shape of a bird. Eventually, after one and a half hours of mindless walking in extreme heat along mangroves (saltwater plants) we headed for the evergreen forest, converted the bird watching into a botanical tour and had much more fun.

 

Rice Growing In Bail

Nov 21, 2012   //   by Daniela   //   Bali, Blog, Daniela, Videos  //  Comments Off on Rice Growing In Bail

What is a Subak?

A Subak is a community of rice farmers. Each Subak has a leader to represent the Subak at the temple. The leaders go to the temple to set the irrigation system for the next year. This is important because the irrigation system makes sure that every field from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill gets an equal amount of water.

The  Priest

The high priest is chosen at birth by the goddess of the lake to be a human form of herself until death.There are twenty four  priests and one high priest. It is the high priests job to divide the water from Lake Batur and Kintamani between the people and to decide when to farm the land, as it all has to be farmed at the same time. This is a natural pest control because if pests have no were to go to eat, they will starve and there wont be any coming to eat the crops when you are farming again.

Farmers

Rice farmers harvest their crops three times a year and make $500 a year ($1.50a day) some make no money and eat only the rice they harvest. They harvest just enough to keep themselves and their families alive. this is called subsistence farming.

The Importance of Rice

Rice growing is very important in hindu balinese community. There are rise ceremonies, offerings of rise and people put rise on their forehead and neck at the temple. Rice is a source of life for the balinese people.

 

 

The lowdown on Cockfighting

Nov 21, 2012   //   by David   //   Bali, Blog  //  3 Comments

Ubud 20th November, 2012

Cockfighting sits right in the heart of Balinese culture. At the start of most major festivals cockfighting takes place in the temple. And then continues in a square outside. And it’s not simple cock fighting. These cocks have blades attached to their legs for slicing their opponent.

What’s going on?

It’s all about balance in life. Remember the evil spirits. They love it when people fight. They like to sow discord. So during festive times, when we show respect and appreciation to the good Gods of plenty, we need to balance that by appeasing the bad spirits as well.

Cock fighting replaces human fighting. It keeps the evil spirits happy and away from humans. People bet on each fight. Betting against someone’s cock is like fighting with them. So betting on cock fights too is a substitute for human fighting and social discord. If the cocks fight, the bad spirits are appeased and human relations remain pleasant.

This reasoning aside, Balinese men simply enjoy the fight and

This is a photo taken in Pemutran showing fighting cocks which are kept alone in a small woven cage. Fighting cocks are pampered like loved pets. If they lose they are thanked for their services and slaughtered. But if they win, they are highly prized.

With thanks to INenega Wira Setiasa Spd, son of Mr.Rija, Head of Village Customs (Kelian adat), Klungah Village, Sidemen.

 

Rarotonga, airport

Nov 18, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Blog, Photo of the Day  //  4 Comments

going through our photos, these are some of my favourites

 

 

Rarotonga,airport

Tirta Empul Temple, Swastika, and the Purification Ritual

Nov 15, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Bali, Blog  //  4 Comments

 

Part of our Living Ritual Series :]

You can only do it at one spot in Bali. And unless you are local you won’t know what to do.Happily, we visited the temple with our new friend Swastika with whom we took part in the ceremonies.

Part 1: The objective of a visit to the Tirta Empul pond is to have the water run from the spout onto your head. This is a purifying act. (Subconsciously read Mikvah).  Locals are not shy to bathe naked in village streams but here the etiquette is to wear a sarong around your waist and a shirt. (left photo)

Tirta Empul Temple was built in 926 on top of a large spring. The spring water bubbles up into a walled pond. From one of the side walls the water runs through spouts into the pond you see in the picture.

Part 2: After bathing and changing, (to Eva’s dismay, the on site changing area is a small building packed with people and dirt) we  walked up to the offering section of the temple. Here a head priest (read Kohen HaGadol)  sits on a low platform ringing a bell, chanting and preparing for the communal phase of the offering. People sit in rows behind the priest and we joined them (see photo on the right). Swastika took and offering plate and we went through the motions. Flower over the ear, flowers on the head, hands above head. The priests (dressed in white) walk around chanting and with a special palm frond they sprinkle water on the worshipers. Then they proffer a bowl of rice which is taken and the rice stuck on the forehead.  Rice on the forehead does not suit Eva but flowers on the head do. (3 min video of  ceremony coming soon)

Releasing turtles

Nov 7, 2012   //   by Yannay   //   Bali, Blog, Yannay  //  12 Comments

Pemuteran, Bali

On November 7th, 2012 at around 9:30am I, with both my sisters, released three adorable three month old Olive Ridley turtles into the sea. Each one of us chose a name for our turtle and released it out into the open sea.

First, before you released your turtle, you could choose which one you wanted to release. The turtles were kept in tubs of water and were sorted out into groups. One tub for two week old turtles, one for 1 month old turtles, one for two month old turtles and three for three month old turtles. Each tub had several turtles in it but you could only choose one of the three year old turtles to free. There was also a sandpit where the turtle eggs were kept. We (my sisters and I), each chose a turtle to release and went down to the beach with them in our hands. Then, when we were at the beach we walked toward the water and stopped about half a meter from the it. From there, we gently put the turtles on the sand and let them go into the sea. I released mine first, Daniela was second and the refusing Avia, was third. She wanted to keep hers as a pet. Each one of us followed our turtles in the sea for about ten meters watching it swim and then let it go on. They were so cute!

VIDEO  – to be added.

David Adds: There are five species of turtle in Indonesia, each endangered. Turtles and their eggs are used by locals for food, ritual and tourist souvenirs. The Reef Seen Turtle Hatchery Project in Pemuteran purchases turtles and their eggs from locals and fisherman in an effort to conserve them. Most of the effort of the turtle hatchery goes to educating locals on the value of sustainable exploitation of natural resources.

The local fisherman and villagers now make more money by selling turtle eggs to the project than to the market. As one turtle can lay 150 eggs, this is quite profitable for locals. As a result the local fishing industry has mandated that anyone catching a turtle should bring it to the hatchery.

The hatchery raises the turtle from egg to three month.Their opinion is that a three month turtle has more chance for survival than a newborn. Turtles breed at age 19. This project is 20 years old. The three turtles that Yannay, Daniela and Avia released are thought to be the offspring of the initial intake of eggs and caught turtles. DIvers report an increase in turtle sitings in the area. The project was founded by Chris Brown, the owner of a local dive shop.

Two week old turtles resemble little bath time turtle toys.

Serengeti under the sea

Nov 7, 2012   //   by David   //   Bali, Blog  //  2 Comments

PemuTRAN, Bali 7th November 2012

Here on the north west coast of Bali, the sea is a balmy 27 – 31 degrees centigrade. We’re on the edge of the world’s most biodiverse seas. Indonesia has 581 of the world’s 793 species of coral. But fishing, weather, and crown of thorns starfish destroyed much of it in this area. Then 12 years ago the biorock project was formed (biorockbali.webs.com). It was found that by introducing a low electric current into a metal structure corals grow faster, larger and are more resilient.

Today we visited the biorock project which has seeded more than 500 meters of coral in an area of two hectares. This is the world’s largest biorock coral reef and nursery and restoration project. It is  larger than the combined sizes of all other ongoing projects in the Pacific, Carribbean and Indian Oceans.

Biorock works. We were overwhelmed by what we saw. Larger and more plentiful than Polynesia, we saw enormous coral, spectacular sizes. And along with the coral were schools of fish, more like herds of fish. In one school of snapper (pictured below) we estimated about 1,000 (yes one thousand) fish. Daniela says there were more than 1000. I counted 500 and had only included half the school. We saw a number of large schools of fish from tiny fish three centimeters long to the larger snapper.

On Friday we’re going diving at Manjangan Island. We expect to be overwhelmed again.

Sanur

Nov 6, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Bali, Blog  //  Comments Off on Sanur

 

I love the heat (especially the sea water temperature, which is very similar to  my bath tub).

Sting rays

Nov 6, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Blog, Polynesia, Videos  //  19 Comments

I think this was not properly uploaded before.

little movie starring the Bora Bora Sharks

Nov 6, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Blog, Polynesia, Videos  //  13 Comments

Thank you Ralph for introducing me to the go pro and teaching me the secrets (- not to make my clips 2 hours long)

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