Browsing articles in "Eva"

Bali

Nov 27, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Eva  //  10 Comments
Bali is very different from anything the kids and I had experienced ever before. From Denpassar to Sanur. The heat and humidity,  people offering their services, money changers, taxis and travel agents, statues, temples, colours, offerings, dust. Traffic is crazy, with narrow streets, swarms of motorbikes and no obvious rules except to avoid the other vehicles. We took a taxi to Sanur, a very busy town, where we stay for 2 days until continuing to Permuteran, a place off the beaten track (for me in many ways, -I fell at night into one of the ditches running along all the streets. ) Permuteran was lovely – rural, with a lot of tradition and a spectacular underwater world.
Ubud was different again, very busy, shops, restaurants and temples and endless rice fields. In a beautiful place just outside of town, we learned to live with giant (4 inch) spiders, frogs, geckos and Dani’s absolute favourites – giant praying mantises. We were lucky to be there for the holiday of the new moon, seeing the parades, with beautiful costumes and music.

Now we are in Amed. It is very quite here and there are no rice fields. It seems that except for tourism, there is no income for people. We are staying  in a simple but lovely homestay with a pool, but our next door neighbours are living with the pigs and chicken in the same house.  And many Balinese are still washing themselves and their laundry in the ditches. A very humbling experience.
Bali is a very difficult place to live for local Balinese and we are reminded every day how lucky we are.

Olivier

Oct 19, 2012   //   by Eva   //   Blog, Eva  //  4 Comments

 

The greatest part of being on a boat is being able to move around and being able to enjoy the best of all islands without having to leave your home.  And Olivier -the captain on the catamaran was amazing not only at moving us to the right places.  He took us to all his favourite spots – to the sharks and the rays and the beautiful coral gardens. But also giving Yannay knot tying and sailing lessons and teaching us about the sea life and the polynasian culture.