For a last hurrah before school starts up again, we took an overnight trip to Nusa Lembongan. Lembongan is a small island ("nusa" means island) a half-hour fast ferry boat ride from Sanur. Sanur is on the east coast of Bali, about a 40 minute drive from our house.
We didn't know much about Lembongan except that it was supposed to be a laid back place with some good spots for snorkeling and surfing. We picked a cliff-side hotel that was well reviewed in TripAdvisor and reserved the last available room.
The ferry service picked us up from our house in an eight-seat car smaller than Dewa's car. This would have been fine, expect that when made the next stop to pick up a young New Zealand couple, they were waiting with enormous surfboards next to them. There was no way they were going to fit into the car. Our driver quickly enlisted a driver from the hotel to bring the couple and their boards, and we were off again toward the ferry launch in Sanur.
Sanur is the location of the popular kite festival we attended last month. As we approached Sanur, we saw trucks carrying enormous kites heading to the beach. It seemed that yet another kite extravaganza was in the works.
a perilous perch above impressively stacked loose corn
We reached Sanur in time to have a buffet breakfast at one of the small beachside restaurants and to wander along the beach watching local families playing in the water.
The ferry ride was uneventful, even though the ferry had been delayed in arriving due to mechanical problems. A fresh set of offerings was loaded onto the ferry. Each of the three outboard motors received its own offering, and the front of the ferry was stacked high with more offerings. Smoke wafted from the burning incense sticks placed above the 'No Smoking' sign.
When we reached Lembongan, we disembarked onto the surf. Ferry boat passengers were sorted by their hotel destination onto various pickup trucks outfitted with benches. All the trucks departed leaving us (the only people traveling with kids) and a group of Spanish surfer dudes stuck at the dock. Eventually another truck was located, and we clambered on board, a half dozen surf boards wedged between our feet.
We chatted with one of the surfer dudes who was fairly fluent in English, and the surfers took turns showing off the nasty gashes and scrapes they had suffered from being smashed by waves against coral reefs. A short while later, amidst a blur of Spanish, I heard "Hitler". I wondered what on this beautiful sunny day could have prompted that comment. It soon became clear that the surfer was discussing the omnipresent swastikas. Lynn joined in trying to convince him that the symbol is drawn differently in Bali, with the arms facing in the opposite direction.
Our hotel was located on a cliff above a beach facing back towards Bali, with a spectacular view of Mount Agung in the distance.
steps to our room
mystery fruit growing next to the hotel pool
After lunch, we headed down to the beach. Several shacks offered
snorkels and stand-up paddleboards. It was the first time Charlotte
and I had gone paddleboarding; Lynn and Alexa tried it last summer in
Vermont. Lynn and I took turns going out with Alexa or Charlotte. It
was good fun, even with several unplanned dunks, and we all had a chance
to paddle.
After returning to the hotel to change for dinner, we headed along a path beside the beach to a nearby cluster of hotels and restaurants. Along the way we saw seaweed farms exposed by low tide. Lembongan is well known for its seaweed farming. The seaweed is nutriet-rich and is sold to the Japanese market for cosmetics. We went to explore, navigating our way along strips of wet sand and hopping over tide pools. We stopped to help a fisherman remove thin stands of fine seaweed from the larger branching specimens that are carted away for sale. We stuck around on the beach to watch the sun set.
Mount Agung, on Bali, in the distance, with seaweed "paddies" in the foreground
We ate at a high quality restaurant overlooking the beach as the sky turned dark under the new moon, and the stars came out. We then returned to our hotel along the poorly lit path, relying on the meager light from my cell phone to light our way back.
Not sure which door leads to the men's room? Problem solved.
The next morning we rented two paddle boards. Alexa and Lynn went on one. Charlotte and I on the other. We paddled over the clear water with coral visible below. The girls took turns paddling, and when they tired of that they jumped off the paddleboards to swim nearby and then would come back to lie on the boards while Lynn and I paddled. The paddle boards were a good discovery as we had a lot of fun with them.
We paddled to the neighboring beach which we had to ourselves. The girls passed the time collecting sea shells. Then it was time to paddle back, have lunch, check out, and return by the ferry to Bali.
On the drive from Sanur back to our house we passed large flags still flying from Indonesia's August 17th Independence Day and an entire neighborhood walking in a funeral procession.
It was a great way to end the long school break. We were happy to discover that such a relaxing retreat is just two hours door-to-door from our place. Now it's time to prepare for the start of school tomorrow.
Photos by Nat. Comments, edits and additional photos by Lynn.
After Chiang Mai, we took a one-hour hop on a Lao Airlines prop place to Luang Prabang, Laos. Luang Prabang, though quite small, is the major city in northern Laos and the former capital of the Lanna kingdom. It is located in the highlands along a bend in the Mekong River. The entire city was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1995.
Visiting Luang Prabang is like stepping back in time
thirty years. If Chiang Mai is a vision of Bali's future, Luang Prabang is probably like Ubud was a couple of decades ago before it was
reshaped by the tourist influx.
The slow pace of the town is palpable. People lounge in the shade along the side of the road. Kids play badminton and soccer in the street as the occasional tuk-tuk putters by. Young monks in their bright saffron robes stroll along the sidewalks.
Luang Prabang has only recently been discovered by foreign travelers. Locals still engaged with us as people, seemingly not yet jaded enough to demote visitors to "tourists." We struggled to communicate with them because they didn't speak much English.
We stayed at the Satri House, a former princely residence. It is one of the nicer places in town, with elegantly appointed rooms, in a residential area a short distance from the downtown and kitty corner to a local monastery.
After unpacking, we took a tuk-tuk into town to explore on a rainy afternoon. The main street in the center of town was largely empty of traffic. We had dinner at an upscale French restaurant, L'Elephant, one of our best meals in a long time.
the central street in town
dinner and Uno at the elegant L'elephant
The next morning we went on a half-day excursion to Elephant Village, an elephant rescue organization founded by a German expat. They offer elephant rides and educational programs. Elephants in Laos were used in the logging industry. When that practice was halted, poaching became rampant. A number of groups are working in Laos (and across Southeast Asia) to provide havens for the elephants. Now their economic value is in the tourist industry.
The Elephant Village guide who picked us up at the hotel told us that heavy rains had washed out a road on the way to the village, so we to a village upriver and then hopped into narrow boats for a ride down the river to the camp. We were happy to have this additional river excursion added to our day.
Once at Elephant Village, the girls climbed on top of one elephant, sitting on a wooden bench secured to its back, while Lynn and I got on another elephant. Mahouts - elephant drivers - sat near the elephant's head and directed the elephants by using their feet to give small tugs to the elephants' ears.
Once on the elephants, we trekked down a steep muddy trail to the river. Then with the encouragement of the mahouts, we all took turns climbing off the bench to take the mahout's spot "steering" the elephant by sitting on its neck. We waded through the shallow river to a dry spot in the middle of the river. There one of the mahouts climbed down to take pictures, and then we headed back to the Elephant Village where we fed the elephants.
It was a lot of fun and we are proud of the girls for being brave with the elephants.
After lunch, we boarded a boat for a trip upriver where we changed into our swimsuits to splash around in a series of natural, cascading pools formed by one of the mountain streams.
The water was cool and clear. It was a beautiful setting, all the more marvelous for being natural and unspoiled. We enjoyed clambering up the many pools and sliding down the smooth rocks from one pool to the next.
After returning to Satri House and spending some time relaxing, Alexa and I went for a short bike ride around the
neighborhood. It was a good place for Alexa to ride in the street, as there wasn't much traffic. Lots of people were out and about. Vendors walked and biked along the road past street food
stalls.
chicken satay
the side street next to Satri House
several petanque (similar to bocce) games were always in progress across the street from Satri House
That evening after dinner we wandered through Luang Prabang's night market. The market had an amazingly relaxing atmosphere, without any of the pushing-along of the crowds in the Chiang Mai markets. Many of the stalls offered handicrafts from the many tribes that populate northern Laos, along with t-shirts and other trinkets. It was fun to wander along and see all the wares on display, the smiling vendors, the kids wandering around, and babies sleeping peacefully along side their parents' offerings.
The girls expressed an interest in taking a weaving class offered by a local organization with the funky name of OckPopTok ("East meets West") that is fostering traditional handicraft techniques. They have retail shops, education programs (dyeing and weaving), a snazzy little cafe, and even a tiny eco-resort. The next morning we took a tuk-tuk to the handicraft center located at the end of a muddy lane on the outskirts of town along the Mekong. The girls were put to work spinning and weaving silk (with plenty of help from the experienced weavers at the center). Charlotte was the youngest student the staff recalled ever having in the class. Charlotte needed some help with the loom, but eventually picked up the technique and by the end was singing a made-up tune to the rhythm of the shuttle passing back and forth. The weaving teachers arranged various complex groupings of warp strings to create patterns in the fabric. The girls simply had to keep the shuttle moving back and then tightening the weave to make the intricate patterns in their finished cloth.
singing while she works
the finished product
boat on the Mekong as seen from the weaving center
our tuk-tuk arrives
While the girls were busy weaving, I went off to explore the nearby outdoor market. Like the one in Chiang Mai, but on a much smaller scale, the gritty market in Luang Prabang offered a central shopping area for locals and far-flung villagers.
We returned to Satri House to the sound of a pounding drum coming from the monastery across the street. I headed over in time to catch the end of the energetic drumming and the beginning of a ceremony within the temple, as the many young monks who called the monastery home hung around the grounds. The day earlier I had walked around the monastery on a quieter day and had taken additional photos of the monks.
We later learned that many poor families who lack the means to pay for an education, and perhaps even the means to feed all their children, will send some of their sons to the monasteries not so much for religious reasons but because this is a way of ensuring them food and an education.
That night we went to dinner at Dyen Sabai restaurant, across the Nham Khan River from the center of Luang Prabang. During the dry season one can cross a bamboo bridge to get to the restaurant. But since it was the rainy season, we had to cross in a boat. It was near dusk and steadily raining as we climbed down the steep steps on the Luang Prabang side of the river to the narrow, wooden boat waiting below. The boat had no motor, so once we were settled, the two men in the boat rowed upstream against the strong-flowing current and then paddled hard to push us across to the landing. We then climbed up the muddy steps on the other side to the restaurant. We enjoyed a good meal there in our own private 'hut' while we played checkers and Scrabble. The way back was even more of a nail-biter, as it was quite a dark night and still steadily raining as we boarded the unsteady boat to cross the rain-swollen river with its fast current. We made it back safely, and the girls were good sports about the adventure.
the landing for Dyen Sabai, seen in daylight
at Dyen Sabai
Our last full day in Luang Prabang, we stopped in at an organization called Big Brother Mouse to participate in their program of giving local adults a chance to practice their English with native speakers. The three students Alexa and I spoke with were all from farming families. One wanted to go into tourism, the other was studying chemistry, and the third was a 23-year old monk who planned to stop being a monk in a few years once he finished his education. Big Brother Mouse also publishes books in Lao, and bilingual Lao/English books. The group claims that most Lao schoolchildren have never even held a book. We made a small contribution to the group. Lynn also bought some of the bilingual books that the girls enjoyed reading, especially one about a young elephant that despite repeated setbacks manages to carry a box of books to eager schoolchildren in a remote village.
at Big Brother Mouse
We then headed to the royal palace that has been converted into a museum. It is somewhat ironic that the museum celebrates the royal family as the current regime in 1979 sent the king, queen, and crown price to die of malnutrition and disease in a forced labor camp. After decades of pursuing a collectivist, centralized economic policy that destroyed much of the little wealth that was in the country, in the last ten years or so Laos has followed Vietnam and China in opening up and freeing their economy.
statue of a king at the Royal Palace museum
Laos remains one of the poorest countries on earth. It has the unwelcome distinction of being the most heavily bombed country in history, on a per capita basis, as a result of U.S. bombing missions during the Vietnam War. (It was hard not to imagine all that bombing as we flew over the mountains into Luang Prabang Airport.) They have a large Unexploded Bomb problem, especially in the districts bordering Vietnam, that cause numerous fatalities and maimings each year.
street children gathering recycling and trash
Despite identifying ourselves as Americans whenever asked, which was often, we never sensed any hostility. We tried to be good ambassadors. The people are genuinely friendly and seem eager to put a difficult past behind them and to take advantage of the new opportunities available from the opening up of their country.
Part of this opening up includes a new appreciation and dedication to preserving their cultural heritage. One of our first evenings in town, we attended a dance performance of one of the stories from the Ramayana. These dances were performed frequently under the king. Most of the educated class opposed the communist takeover and fled or perished when the communists came to power, so the knowledge of how to perform the dances and the music was nearly lost. The dance company considered it a great accomplishment that they had been able to bring the old masks and costumes out of storage, restore them, and to locate some old masters who could teach the dances and the songs to the young performers. We couldn't understand what was going on in the story, but it was still entertaining to watch, especially the actors portraying monkeys, who itched themselves quite realistically.
After visiting the museum, and over protests from Charlotte, we crossed the street to climb the 300 steps to reach Phousi temple, located on a hilltop with a commanding view of Luang Prabang and the valley below. (Despite the protests, Charlotte and Alexa raced all the way up to the top.)
this was the only cowboy hat wearing religious figure we encountered on our trip
the uncrowded streets of Luang Prabang
an old anti-aircraft gun next to the temple
That evening we had dinner at Tamarind, a Lao restaurant, owned by a Lao/Australian couple. The menu told the story of the Lao husband, who was sent to Luang Prabang alone at age 7, with 50 cents in his pocket, and told to find a monastery that would take him in. He eventually became an accomplished chef, and he and his wife have a very successful business. They serve tasty Lao cuisine, which is eaten with the hands by rolling up a ball of sticky rice and then dipping the rice into various accompaniments, featuring ingredients such as smoky eggplant, chilies, and dried buffalo. (The crackers on the right are made by drying a vegetable that comes from the river.) Tamarind also host popular cooking classes.
We awoke at 5 am the next morning to take part in the early morning tradition of giving offerings to the monks who live in the nearby monastery. Residents of the neighborhood "make merit" by giving food to the monks, who largely depend on these offerings for their food. The monks eat only a morning meal and a noontime meal; nothing in the evening. We paid Satri House to prepare sticky rice and food offerings for us. They also laid out a mat on the street, as women had to offer the food from a sitting position and could not touch the monks.
We set up in a row, next to several local women. The women instructed us on how to sit, how to wear the shawls, and how to ball up the sticky rice to put into the monks bowls. Then we spied a long line of monks coming down the street. They passed silently by as we tried to keep up and give each one a ball of rice and some other food that was wrapped in a banana leaf. I used up all my rice on a group of monks, only to discover a second group coming. One of the local women kindly gave me some of her rice. And then they were gone, walking back to their monastery. We were all glad to have had a chance to experience this ritual, which is repeated every day all across Laos, as it has been for hundreds of years.
Luang Prabang was the highlight of our trip. It is still a sleepy town, but the number of accommodations has doubled in the past five years. A new international airport is under construction, and a high speed train from China, passing through Luang Prabang, is expected in 2014. Lynn and I were glad that we went when we did, as we fear the town will lose much of its charm once it is inundated by the swarms of visitors that are surely on the way.
Posted by Nat with additional comments/edits by Lynn. Photos by Nat and Lynn.
