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From the category archives:

jakarta escapes

Seminyak

by Ashlee on March 10, 2010

in Bali, Indonesia, jakarta escapes

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The light was really harsh today at Seminyak (above) and Legian Double Six beaches, beating down on the boiling hot sand, bouncing off the waves all glarey… the sand was so scalding hot you could definitely fry an egg on it, leaving me with little inspiration to wander past the shady fringes and down to the surf. Despite thankfully skirting pink skin, the SPF 50+ wasn’t enough to keep my freckles at bay and I am now completely splotched, marked with the same dots that have always reappeared whenever I spend too long under the rays, their appearance able to be traced back to childhood swimming lessons and summer school sports carnivals.

But the brutal light meant I had to play a bit with these pics to make them palatable. Which is always a little bit fun, right?

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More pics after the jump…

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And on the sabbath day, the Sexy Dancers rest.

Spotted this outside a sports bar in the relatively upscale area of Seminyak in Bali.

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A few points:

1. Do you think I can get a research grant from a major university to conduct a study of which bar actually has the coldest Bintang in Bali?  It’s clearly an untested claim with many rival theories… in other words, every bar is claiming the title.

2.  The fact that you can advertise on a huge banner that you have sexy dancers in Bali, yet in Bandung, West Java, you can be arrested for sexy dancing just goes to show the huge gaps in law enforcement and justice in this country.  Firstly, sexy dancing should not be illegal, because, seriously, where do you draw the line?  I get pretty steamy on the dancefloor if someone drops JT’s ’sexyback,’ but whether its criminal is a matter of taste. But secondly, Bali clearly doesn’t face the same restrictions as many other parts of the country, largely due to its Hinduism and tourist industry.  But in a secular country, shouldn’t the standards on this stuff be universal?

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Java’s sweets

by Ashlee on March 10, 2010

in Food, Indonesia, Pangandaran, jakarta escapes, photos

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Gula Jawa (Javanese palm sugar) being poured into bamboo molds to set at a home manufacturer just outside of Pangandaran, West Java.  It is made from the concentrated coconut palm nectar and has caramel overtones.

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Sugar farm kid with a sugar sweet smile, who seemed to know just the right place to hang out to please the foreigners and their cameras.

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The puppet master

by Ashlee on March 6, 2010

in Indonesia, Pangandaran, jakarta escapes, photos

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During our tour out to the Green Canyon outside of Pangandaran, West Java, we stopped by the workshop of a local puppet master or dalang, Rojikin Supriadi Putra.

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[keep reading…]

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Sunset at Pangandaran’s West beach in West Java.  This country sure knows how to put on a darn good sunset.  Will post more about our trip to Pangandaran soon, busy trying to pack at the moment.

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Sate seller

by Ashlee on March 4, 2010

in Food, Indonesia, Yogyakarta, photos

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A woman selling sate on the street at the Yogyakarta night market in Central Java.

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Bungalow door, Ubud

by Ashlee on December 29, 2009

in Bali, Indonesia, photos

ubud-7Door to my bungalow at the guesthouse we stayed at in Ubud.

It was on Jalan Kajeng, that street of cheap guesthouses just behind Ubud Palace.  The place we stayed, Gusti’s Garden Bungalows, had gorgeous gardens (as the name would imply) with ponds and butterflies and little sculptures everywhere, really lovely laid back staff (so laid back I never actually checked in), a swimming pool, yummy banana pancakes for breakfast and clean, basic rooms, all with balconies with chairs perfect for reading.  A decent price as well, a little more expensive than some of the other basic guesthouses on the street, but worth it for the pool and garden.

It’s a Lonely Planet stalwart though, so it’s probably best to book ahead.

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Ubud 1, 2, 3

by Ashlee on December 28, 2009

in Bali, Indonesia, jakarta escapes, photos

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A room with a view.

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A flower on a table for two.

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Here’s breakfast for you.

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Little guy. Big guitar. Entertaining the people just hanging out in the public square in Bandung… for a fee, of course. He couldn’t really play very well though.  But this group of teenagers were having a laugh, and gave him some coins.

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There were also lots of people trying to sell bubble wands in the park.  I saw about five or six set ups like this.  Maybe there’s a bigger market for them on sunny days, but I didn’t see any interested buyers.

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Bandung bites

November 8, 2009

Went down to Bandung for the weekend, because Jakarta was driving me nuts.  I didn’t do much… just wandered around, enjoying the usable footpaths, quieter pace and cooler mountain temperatures.  Most people go for the outlet shopping, but I wasn’t really in the mood for braving the hordes.

But I ate some of the good local [...]

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Tharrr be dragons on them islands…

September 6, 2009

So I’m finally going to write about Komodo Dragons, one of the main reasons we obviously went trekking out to the Komodo National Park.  We were lucky… we saw about 15 of them on Rinca Island (because we went on the two hour trek in the morning… the best time to see them) and probably [...]

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The strange landscape of Rinca

September 5, 2009

Rinca Island, one of the islands that make up the Komodo National Park and one of the islands that is home to Komodo Dragons, has a very ethereal and strange landscape.  Dry and dusty with savanna grasses, but with odd tropical plants sticking out all over the place, including parasitic trees and palms.  Some of [...]

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Portrait

September 5, 2009

Woman selling fish at the pasar pagi (morning market) in Bima, Sumbawa.
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I’m normally not into sunrises…

September 5, 2009

… because I’m normally not into getting up too early.  But when you are living on the deck of a little wooden boat cruising around Komodo National Park for three days, the first peeks of the sun are your alarm clock.

What an alarm clock, right? Absolutely stunning, not to mention that we could have [...]

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Ada susu?

September 5, 2009

Mike and I had bought some martabak (pancake) on the street in Bima.  Bima is on Sumbawa Island.  We’d ended up there because while we’d been able to get flights out of Bali to go to Komodo National Park, there hadn’t been any empty seats coming back, so we’d had to catch an eight hour [...]

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