Bali: Weaving Ikat

Earlier, in Jogja, we saw a demonstration of one of Indonesia's two major traditional textile techniques, batik.  While in Ubud were able to catch a glimpse of a woman using the other technique: ikat.

Ikat is a technique that involves pre-dyeing strategically bound bundles of threads (either the warp, the weft or both, in the case of double ikat) using a method similar to tie-dye in order to make a particular pattern.  Then the pattern takes shape as the dyed threads are woven into cloth. For tie dye, as you may remember from making it as a kid, the fabric is woven or knitted first, then bound and dip dyed.... 

 

In this case, the woman was weaving weft ikat, meaning the pattern only shows up as the weft strands are woven through and carefully adjusted (although the blurry edges where the alignment is a little off is part of the appeal).  You can see how the one thread is being lined up with the pattern and will then be smooshed in (a technical term) with the others:

Pretty cool!  We also made some ikat purchases.  Hopefully I'll be able to share a final ikat project over at the other blog soon!

Bali: Accomodations in Ubud

In the wake of our brush with the paparazzi as well as Liz and Meghan's adoring fans at Tanah Lot, we headed to the next stop on our Balinese adventure: Ubud. 

Whilst in Ubud (did ya see what I did there?) with the droves of Aussie and French tourists, we were residing at the lovely Alam Jiwa villas in the southern village of Nyuhkuning, Ubud, away from the crowds on the far side of the Monkey Forest.  Alam Jiwa is a destination in and of itself, where even the shower has a view of the verdant rice paddies and the canopy of your bed has elaborate Balinese artwork:

 

Our suite was quite lovely- built in the traditional high-ceilinged, open style, covered in beautiful, intricate wooden carvings, full of artwork and traditional furniture, with multiple balconies overlooking lush vegetation and the aforementioned verdant rice paddies, statues and flowers everywhere...

The style of the suite was so open, however, that we shared it with lots of other creatures.  About a million geckos (I've heard them called cicak [pronounded "chee-chak," based on the sound they make]... they're good luck!) scampering around, but also a wayward bird who sought shelter from the storm in the rafters one of the nights, keeping poor Liz awake.  We were also surrounded by all sorts of chirping and whistling things we couldn't identify.

As an aside, Tim and I have one or two resident cicak in our apartment.  Mostly I don't see them, but probably about once a month one makes a mad dash across the kitchen backsplash, scaring the shit out of me and getting the cats all hyped up.

While at Alam Jiwa we had our breakfast delivered to the room each morning so we could eat it while enjoying the views (read: so we could eat it while sitting around in our PJs being extremely lazy).  Breakfast was great, especially the jaffles.  In case, like us, you don't know what a jaffle is, it's a sandwich pressed in one of those old school as-seen-on-tv sandwich maker thingies.  Who knew?  We expected something with waffles, although I suppose the sandwich press is a second cousin of the waffle maker.  Liz was so impressed that christened the jaffle with her own personal name for it: jambon.  

Don't ask.

 Meghan + jaffle = k-i-s-s-i-n-g.  But no hand holding, because that would be gross.

Like I said above, the area surrounding Alam Jiwa was beautiful... rice paddies galore, views of the two volcanoes in the distance, palm trees...

In the photo below you can just see one of the volcanoes poking out above the palms but below the post-storm clouds.  In the last photo, if you look to the far left and far right, you can just make out 2 volcanoes on the horizon.

Bali: Tanah Lot and Paparazzi

After our brief sojourn in Seminyak, we were off to hit up some more sights on Bali.  First on the list was Pura Tanah Lot. Since I had been there last fall, I knew the ladies would enjoy it, so we braved the heat of the day and checked it out.  

So. Worth. It.

Tanah Lot is one of Bali's 7 venerated sea temples- a "directional" temple, as they call them- perched on a rock just off shore, separated from the main land by tidal pools on one side and crashing waves on the other.

 

Meghan braves the rushing tides to see what's on the other side:

What's on the other side: 

The ladies pose for a photo with the temple in the background.

:

Little did they know that the paparazzi were gearing up to capture their every move.  They were like stars. Liz and Meghan- they're just like us!!!

Remember when I wrote about us getting our photos taken with some Indonesian aunties at Monas?  Yeah, well it was quadruple that at Tanah Lot...

I thought Meghan had a lot of sister before, but this is getting ridiculous:

Look at how proud Liz's new mom is of her! She's practically beaming.  Liz's new little brother looks a little worried, though.  Perhaps he caught wind of that story about Liz, her other little brother Ben and the glass patio door?:

Everyone wanted a photo or 5 with Meghan.  These two ladies went in for seconds!

I am so happy I captured this moment below... the guy in the plaid sarong hangs out at Tanah Lot and, for those folks who don't have a camera, he will take your photo and then print it out for you on the spot using the printer in his bag there.  These people were so excited to see Meghan that they needed the instant gratification photo of them cuddling up to her!  Priceless.

Liz made some new man-friends.  I think it was because she touched the lucky Buddha's hand back at Borobudur.  Incidentally, they told her they were from Thailand and giggled.  They were not from Thailand.

Phew... after all that excitement, we kept walking to see some of the other cliffside temples nearby and to snag a bird's eye photo of Tanah Lot:

After all that walking around in the searing sun (with which we were perhaps too familiar after the previous day's beach activities), we were parched and decided to stop for nature's sports drink, coconut water.

The coconuts were literally bigger than our heads.  But so delicious.

Also, while sippin' on coconut water, we had the pleasure of meeting one more group of photo seekers (not pictured).  This was a group of 3 or 4 men in their late twenties, super excited for a photo op snuggling next to my blonde friends.  I tried to speak to them in Bahasa Indonesia, but they didn't seem to understand me and all I could get from them was "Kalimantan" (which is the southern, Indonesian part of the island of Borneo and one of Indonesia's least visited provinces).   I'm fairly sure they didn't speak Bahasa Indonesia (the national language of Indonesia) and perhaps only spoke their local language...  pretty interesting!  I haven't knowingly encountered that here yet, but it makes sense considering how rural and isolated most parts of Kalimantan are!

Bali: Seminyak Sunset

Following a truly taxing day on the beach in Seminyak, we retired to our beachfront hotel for a few drinks at the swim-up bar:

And by "a few drinks," I mean a few too many.  Oh well...

As a side note, the poolside bartendress alerted me to the fact that my new signature drink, the gin rickey, may also on occasion be called the gin fizz.  Good to know, although further research shows that the difference may that simple syrup/sugar is added to the gin fizz, whereas the gin rickey is sugar-free.  Either way it's good, but I think I lebih suka the gin rickey.

As a side note to my side note, Joan ordered a gin fizz on Mad Men a couple weeks ago.  I love Joan!

Drinks or no drinks, the sunset was lovely that particular evening.

A pretty finale to a relaxing day.

Post sunset we headed out for some tasty Balinese food.  Post-dinner we all passed out at approximately 10 pm due to our massive Bintang and pool-side cocktail intake.