First week in Bali

It has already been a week since I landed to Bali. My friend took me from the airport to Ubud and it felt nice to arrive to a place I already know so well. Seeing old friends were also such a joy.

For the first two nights I stayed in one of the rooms I already designed here and it was great to be able to try how it feels to stay in "Draupadi". There is still some small things to be fixed but in general the space has the wanted atmosphere and feeling! The other room, "Graeme" is also ready and naturally I'm happy to see that they are actually selling out very well. The fish pond infront of the rooms is almost done but there is no water yet.

I started working already by updating the menu and by making a handout map of Ubud showing all nice places around here. The workers are now making a new parking lot for the motorbikes and that will keep them busy for few more weeks. Meanwhile I started already making the blue prints of the next rooms to be renovated.

Other than that I have just slowly started to check out the new shops, restaurants and places I haven't yet visited. I'm also lookign for new models and new locations for future photoshoots.

Here are some phone pictures from the last days

Very fresh magazine I bought from Hong Kong's airport. Not sure how to get the following issues but by this one, im a fan!

"Draupadi"

"Graeme"

and the tiles that still makes me happy.

Tropical view to the pool.

My two animal friends from my friends' house.

I really enjoy my current room on the rooftop.

The fish pond is almost ready to be filled with water and those fire red carps.

Can't wait to see it done.

Making new ceiling to the parking lot.

Discovering new nature spots for future photoshoots

And having a swim where the stream is not too strong.

Lurking in the dark

Tonight I took a flaslight and went to see how the night view from the house looks like. On my way there I stopped by the pool to ponder what are those small stones casting the long shadows. Taking a closer look there were toads just staying still every here and there in the darkness.
  

The remains of the dinosaurs?

Funny looking one

Lembu

Yesterday while walking around Ubud I saw these decorative cows next to one temple. Now I sit in the Gayatri restaurant and after asking what they are for the waitresses and Ketut's sister tells me about them. Because of the language barrier Im not sure if I got all the details correct but it is something like this: 

"Lembu" means cows in Malay. These ritual cows are a part of the mass cremation which will happen in the end of July.  All the people who have died before this and been once burned already will be caved back up and be placed in these cows for the second, more ceremonial cremation where they burn these cows and the ashes inside (Sometimes they also place bodies inside these if there hasn't yet been the first cremation). This happends maybe every 4-5 years and it is a really big ceremony. There are different animals for different occasions and Im not sure how they are related to the caste and regions but sometimes they make for example lions too.

The fatal dog bite

Today I went for my daily "let see what's over there" walk and ended up to this private house. First I tought it was a hotel so I just walk in. Then one man came to ask what am I doing. After telling him what I study and how I really like the place he told me to look around and left.

The garden with two big ponds full of fishes.

The enterance and the pool

The ponds were full of carps and goldfishes.

First I saw only the little ones, but after a wile the big ones (lower left corner and in front) came up too. They were maybe 80cm long or even more and their faces were huge! It was so beautiful and a bit scary to see them rising from the darkness.

While I was taking photos and looking around, the dog lying on terrace came more and more interested in me and started to bark. Slowly the dog started to came closer still barking so I tought it's my time to leave. I was walking back still facing the dog but when at the gate I turned around the dog jumped and bite me to my heel. It didn't hurt much but it was bleeding a bit. I went to the pharmacy and when I was cleaning the hurt a chinese woman walking by gave me a bandage (she had also hurted her leg so she happened to have all the stuff with her).

To be honest I tought thats it but when I told Ketut that the dog had biten me he said I must see a doctor, because every year there are many people dying for the dog bites in Bali. Rabies is quite common here in dogs (but not so common in monkeys the doctor told).

At the medical center they cleaned my leg again and after figuring out my insurance was valid they first vaccinated my arm. Then they vaccinated the wound 5 times and after this they gave two more for bouth buttocks. I felt like a pincushion! I must go there 3 more times to get some more shots but after this it is confident to say that I wont get rabies :) Over all this will cost 1500€ but luckily it dosn't have to come from my pocket!

Sacred Monkey Forest

Few days ago we went to the monkey forest with Ayu. The forest is one of Ubuds main attractions and it truly was pretty cool. You must pay 20.000 rp to get in and then you can wonder around while monkeys run around you :)

The coolest statues I've ever seen!

a man doing the daily seremony in front of the forest

monkey and a dragon bridge

Ayus solution for the hot day

The monkeys are not very tamed and stuff but sometimes they do jump on you.

Over all the place was really nice with the jungle vibe and the monkeys! The forest has a nice combination of wild nature and the human made things. But by far my favourite thing was the lizard statues! They are a bit hidden so it's not so crowdy there and they look so realistic in a way!

The internet here is not so fast with this many pictures so I didn't even realize how long I've been doing this post - meaning it's my bedtime!

Taro

Today I joined Ketut and Bagus to a trip to go a village called Taro. Ketut owns quite much land there and we checked if everything were ok. It was nice to see the countryside and jungle :) The nature is really beautiful there and we visited some rice fields and orage plantation. 

Here are few photos of the trip

a view from Ketut's land

growing oranges

 The photos of the shrine really gives me this kind of Miyazaki feeling of something ancient, mysterious and fascinating. The moss and invasive nature makes it feel a bit forgotten which makes it even more secretive. The shrine is in one Ketut's land where the family used to live for some time.

Some children of the villagers were very happy to have some photos took and the boy was quite a poser :) And the girl were so sweet carrying the dog everywhere she went.

The trip took only few hours and after that I continued to make the room layouts of the house. Upstairs layout is ready but the downsairs is so full of widows and doors waiting to be put where they belong that I wasn't able to do the measurements of the rooms yet.

I'll post some photos of the house soon!