Scott & Jo's!!! Blog

When we landed in Denpasar, Bali it was 2 o’clock in the morning. The airport was virtually deserted and as we were to find, we seemed to be the only ones disembarking. The moment we exited the doors, we were approached by a few taxi drivers wanting to know where we were going and offering to take us there. We had been warned before leaving Australia by our friendly travel agent not to take any taxi except for the “Bluebird taxis”. Even in Bandung, they are the ones that actually use a meter to charge their passengers. The majority of other taxis will say that their meter is broken or not even have one – you need to bargain with them for the fare. Anyway, we were emphatic with them that we only wanted a Bluebird and one smartalec said, “Come with me, I have a Bluebird taxi.” I was a bit sceptical as this was the same guy who was trying to bargain with us in the first place. He did offer to take us to our hotel for 15 000RP but Scott stuck to his guns and refused. We followed him a little way and I see this fairly old looking taxi and asked, “Is that yours?” and he says, “Yes.” Honestly, the guy must have thought we were the stupidest people on the planet. The taxi didn’t have the emblem on the side, in fact, it wasn’t even blue and just in case he didn’t realise it, I told him. I figured he might be colourblind or something.

Anyway, we’ll start with that Indonesian wedding that we were invited to. The househelp that we had was related in some small way to the bride and so as her “employers”, we were invited to the wedding. It was a very wet and very rainy day so thankfully we didn’t have to walk very far to get to it. It was in the same kampung that we were staying in so really, it was a 1 minute walk! The bride and groom wore outfits in matching material and they just looked stunning. As you can see from the photo though, the norm is to not smile. They basically had to stay in the house for the whole day to receive the warm wishes of the guests that may have dropped by.

We (Andrew, Donna, Kate (and her baby seat), Scott, Catherine (strapped to Scott in her harness) and I all hopped into the 4 wheel drive with Andrew in the 3rd row, Kate, Donna and I in the middle and Scott in the front. The cars here only have seatbelts in the front but we were fortunate in this instant to have an extra one in the middle which we used to strap Kate’s seat in. Andrew, Donna and I were at the mercy of…everything! The drive itself was pretty uneventful except for the time where we had to pass Catherine back to me because she needed a breastfeed. The scenery was really nice once we got out of the city – Andrew said it almost felt like we were driving up Mt Tambourine, except that on the way up Mt Tambourine we don’t have roadside stalls selling rabbits and rabbit satay.

We reach the entrance to the “National Park” and the entry fee is 20,000pp, a total of 100,000. Our driver however, tells the guy on duty that we live here so we should only pay half. The guy says, “Okay, we’ll make it 56,000.” Driver then says, “50,000 will do you,” and the guy agrees! Unbelievable! We get to the top of the volcano and are warned by Andrew and Donna that there will be heaps of people (touts) wanting to sell us stuff and not to look interested unless we wanted a bevy of them following us. They followed us anyway… There was an assortment of “stuff” for sale, from postcards and strawberries to a Sponge Bob Square Pants thing. As Donna said though, “As if I’d come all the way up here to buy Sponge Bob Square Pants.”

Standing at the top of the crater. If you think I look really grumpy like I’m about to hit someone, I am. The guy to my right has been trying to flog off some postcards to me for the last five minutes, I’ve been saying “No!” or trying to ignore him and he’s still going…

The six of us standing at the top viewing platform with the crater/mountain behind us.

We acquire a guide and start the descent. It’s a long way down but at least there are steps. That’s what I thought until we were well into the journey and my knees started letting me know that they had had more than enough jarring for a week. The reason is that though there are steps, some are shallow (this is good), some steep (this is not good) which really aren’t made for people with little legs like Kate…and me.

Then it gets slippery as well… In all seriousness, being cool and misty the walk down was actually really nice. It was almost like walking through a rainforest in Brisbane except that some of the plants were different. As we got lower, we could smell the sulphur wafting through the air. All up, it was about a 45min walk down into the crater itself. We took a few photos and a couple of videos of the bubbling and boiling water and spent probably another 45min wandering around the in the crater.

This was taken on the descent to the crater, about halfway through our walk.

The boys went off to find some “sulphur flowers” while the girls sat in the little open air eating place, waiting.

Then, the return. It wasn’t actually too bad because we took a different route and didn’t really have to climb back all the way up to the top. When we were about 200m from the carpark it started raining heavily and we were very thankful that it hadn’t started earlier!

The house that we are living in is very basic and clean, exactly what we need. The shower took a bit of getting used to as there are no taps to turn on the water, just a switch on the wall near the door.

The idea is that you adjust the dial on the gas water heater and it will heat the water and pump it straight into the shower, alleviating the need for taps.

The problem is that the gas heater is outside the front door so you can’t adjust it whilst in the shower… Also, there is no hot water in the kitchen or to the hand basin so if you need to wash your dishes or want hot water, you need to boil it on the stove.

The house windows are all flyscreened but there aren’t that many of them – the locals here believe that fresh air is bad for you so the windows in their houses are always closed. We have the windows opened all the time to let the “fresh” air in but our doors are usually closed because they aren’t screened. The mosquitoes don’t seem to be too bad but there was one buzzing around our bedroom the other night, driving me batty – well, more so than I already am. The windows are the louvered kind so they don’t really shut out any noise from outside. This is not so good when trying to sleep at 11 pm and there are kids outside playing… This is also not so good at 4am when the prayers start…we are near the mosque and they have loudspeakers. Poor Catherine has woken up (and so have Scott and I) every morning because of the loudspeaker and cried and cried. We bring her to bed so she can have a comfort feed and off to bed she goes again because the prayers have usually finished by then. While the usual guy who sings isn’t too bad (he stays on-key) there have been a couple of mornings where someone else has sung and it wasn’t so good. I found myself hoping the original would be back the next morning! I think I speak for all of us though, when I say, “I’m really, really, really looking forward to sleeping the whole night through!

Our househelp is fantastic. She washes our clothes, hangs them out to dry and then irons them every day. It’s wonderful! I have never, ever had my socks and undies ironed before I wonder if I could smuggle her back to Oz?! She also washes any dishes in the sink, cleans the bathroom and sweeps and mops the floor.

She’s a lovely lady and was very chuffed when Catherine held her arms out to her for a cuddle. Ibu Lillis even looked after Catherine yesterday while we had lunch – I don’t know who had more fun!

The food here is wonderful and cheap Our help together with Andrew and Donna’s cook lunch and dinner for us on most nights. Sunday is their day off so we have to fend for ourselves but that’s pretty good too. They have cooked some traditional Indonesian food such as Gado Gado for us as well as some other recipes that Donna has taught Ibu Uli. We really have been quite spoilt by them and it will be a struggle to adjust from what has been a life of leisure for us to having to do most things ourselves again! Maybe our cleaning lady would like a full-time job and become our cooking lady too?!

All in all, a kampung is not a bad place to live if you don’t mind the very close proximity of the neighbours and the smells and smoke that come wafting through the windows. I myself would miss my bit of grass, dogs, cats, fish (I wouldn’t trust the floors here to be capable of holding an aquarium!), trees and space. It’s great for a visit but I don’t think I would like to live in one for any extended length of time.

Around the kampung, there are several guys who have motorbikes and hire themselves and their bikes out for people to get a ride up to the road. This cuts out maybe 10-25 mins of walking depending on where you live and how many kids are with you. We live about a 10-15 min walk away. Anyway, Andrew, Scott and I went out one day and left Catherine with Donna and Kate. Andrew then had the “brilliant” idea that seeing as we didn’t have any of the kids with us, we should hire some bikes and ride up to the road to catch an angaot (a minibus). Scott of course, jumped at the chance whereas I, with a much greater love of living, was very, very reluctant. We debated about it for maybe a few minutes before I gave in and said, “Okay, but if I die, I’m coming back to haunt you.” When we got to the guys, there were only 2 bikes there so I was going to have to triple on a bike, sandwiched between the driver and Scott. I felt safe with that! Unfortunately though, another one rode up so I had a bike all to myself.

I got on, reached behind me, clutched the back of the bike with what could only be called a death grip and closed my eyes. Every so often, I would open my eyes to peek around the driver to see where we were going and then close them again when we approached a pot hole – very often! I did open my eyes at one stage to appreciate a mother hen with her two chicks walking at the side of the road so seeing that was pretty cool.

After coming home on an angaot, Andrew asked if we wanted to catch the bikes back so me being all daring now, said, “Yeah, why not.” I’m learning to live dangerously while over here…yeah right! The ride back was much more eventful. The ride to the road was pretty much straight whereas to the house the drivers decided to take a different route. I suspect they changed their minds while riding because the guy behind overtook my driver while yelling out instructions. Mine yelled back as if to qualify that statement and there was a reply. We turned corners! I was not prepared to turn corners…I mean, what are you supposed to do to turn corners? The answer is, apparently nothing.