A Day Of Being A Tourist In Bali
It’s tempting to just never leave the villa. It’s cool and breezy inside and like living in the Garden of Eden. But now that my friends have joined me, everybody wants to go and see Bali. It’s all beautiful and Anwar, the driver I met in 2005 knows all the best places to go and has enough sensitivity about individuals’ peculiarities to know where to take us and what to skip– although it’s a diverse group and he must be getting confused by now.Our first day out with him was to the mountains in north central Bali and Danau Bratan (Lake Bratan, site of a famous temple). We headed southwest from Ubud to Mengwi, site of another famous temple, Pura Taman Ayun, a huge and beautifully kept up complex built in 1634. It’s got a huge moat and a couple of landscaped courtyards and a big climbable bell tower. Climbing it is the only way to get a look at the inner sanctuary. Continue reading Anyone Ever Offer You A Cup Of Mongoose Crap Coffee?
I never drank a coffee in my life and I resisted the temptation to try yesterday when Roland, Helen and Michael sampled some coffee made from mongoose crap. Sound enticing? We spent the day traipsing around northern and eastern Bali seeing sites from the Batur volcano and Bali’s mother temple on the slopes of Mt Agung to an aboriginal village, Tenganan, known for intricate books painted on palm leaves, and the ancient kingdoms’ hall of justice at Klungkung with wonderful paintings of punishments all over the ceiling. Roland especially liked the one depicting demons sawing into someone’s head who had been disrespectful towards his parents. But the highlight of the day was probably the trip to a coffee and spice plantation where one is able to sample some Kopi Luwak. Continue reading Concert Rocks Havana – Peace Without Borders
Havana, yesterday; maybe Glenn Beck can use this pic next yearWhen I awakened yesterday morning and checked Twitter I noticed that nutty dog Miami Congresswoman and anti-Cuba fanatic Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was hollering about Juanes’ “Peace without Borders” Concert in Havana.Juanes is a Colombian pop idol living in Miami and Ros-Lehtinen, who is incredibly friendless with Miami’s big and growing non-Cuban Hispanic population, was frightened that he was comforting her enemy with his music. Between half 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 people showed up in Revolution Square for the event, more than ten times the amount of folks who worried going to Glenn Beck’s Million Moron March on Washington last weekend. Not like the Moron Marchers, Juanes’ 14-artist concert wasn’t about loathing, bigotry or political paranoia. It was about peace and love and music. Ros-Lehtinen and other far right Oldschool Cuban outlaws used to be in a position to dictate Yank policy– always punative– towards Cuba. Continue reading Tour
