Indonesia - it's complicated

I like to learn a few things about the places I visit to gain a better appreciation for my surroundings. I have to admit I didn't really know much about Indonesia before we arrived. We are enjoying our stay here, but now that we've been here for almost two weeks and plan to stay for a couple more, a few questions have come to my mind. Here in Java we're reminded five or six times a day by the call to prayer that this is primarily a Muslim island, yet the island of Bali is primary a Hindu area. Why is that, and do the various groups in Indonesia get along? Why are the people here better off than say Vietnam, but not as well off as the people in Thailand? And why is Indonesia, a vast collection of islands, one country and not many? I found some answers, but it's complicated.

The various religious groups in Indonesia tell a story of empire and trade spanning thousands of years.  Buddhism and Hinduism originated from India and made their way to Java and Sumatra via merchants along the naval Silk Road. Buddhism is only practiced by a tiny minority in Indonesia today, mostly Chinese immigrants, but it played a much larger role in the past. 

Yesterday we visited one notable temple called Borobudur, which has the largest and best collection of stone reliefs of any Buddhist structure in the world. It was covered in jungle growth and trees until the early 1800's when the British and later the Dutch took an interest in uncovering and repairing it. It caused quite a sensation in Europe at the time as the first example of a large and sophisticated ancient civilization in the area outside of China - this was before Angor Wat was uncovered in Cambodia. The temple was built in the 9th century as a homage to Buddha and as a site for pilgrims. Pilgrims would circle around this large step pyramid, which is in the shape of a stupa when seen from afar. As we moved around the large structure along the bottom level we saw really intricate stone reliefs covering the walls. The lower level reliefs showed the desires of daily life and its struggles with good and evil. By the time we moved up a few levels we were supposedly looking at a world of forms, a higher plane of existence closer to reality. Here we saw reliefs of holy men praying, contemplating and teaching. When we reached the two top levels we were looking at the "formless sea of nirvana", which was represented by statues of gods and holy men in stupas that you could peer into. 

It was a good site to visit, and we followed the pilgrim's path around the structure to get the sense what it might have been like to be a pilgrim in the 9th century. One difference was the Indonesian students we met along the way. I think they had a field assignment to practice their English, and so we were stopped a few times to answer basic questions about who we were and where we were from. We were asked to sign their score sheets for school, which we happily did, although I signed more score sheets than students I spoke with; I think they were working the system. It was nice to talk to them and take some pictures of us together. 

Anyway, back to my history lesson, Hinduism was especially prevalent in the western half of Indonesia from 1200 to 1400, when the Majapahit empire spread from Java to conquer and rule much of modern day Indonesia. Islam made its way to the islands of Sumatra and Java at first via Muslim traders from western India and later from the Sultanate of Malacca in modern day Malaysia. The remnants of Majapahit culture retreated to Bali by 1400 and is the reason Bali is a Hindu dominated island today with a culture much different from the rest of Indonesia. Islam became dominant in the western part of Indonesia by 1600 and spread further over time to be the dominant religion today where 90% of Indonesians subscribe to Islam. Next the Portuguese and then the Dutch entered the scene, and the islands of Indonesia were controlled by the Dutch from the 1600's until around World War II. At that time the area was called the Dutch East Indies. During this period Christianity spread somewhat into the eastern portion of the islands, which had mostly subscribed to animist beliefs up until then. The islands were briefly under British control in the early 1800's and Japanese occupation during World War II. 

The local resistance to the Japanese during World War II led to resistance to Dutch rule after the war. The Indonesians then won their independence in 1949. After some turbulent and violent years in the 60's between local communist and anti-communist parties, it has settled down into a more or less stable, secular democracy. This has been especially true since the Suharto regime ended in the late '90's. Since then, freedoms and governance have improved for the most part. 

There are still some areas of concern among freedom watch groups including government corruption, some curbs on freedom of the press, and some restrictions on religious freedom. One quirk is that the Indonesian constitution only recognizes six official religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Those who subscribe to another religion or have no affiliation are subject to discrimination and in some cases repression. The source of this odd situation? At the time of independence a compromise was made between some Muslim groups who wanted a Islamic state based on Shariah law and other groups who wanted full religious freedom. The compromise they settled on seems a little muddled to me.

However, there are pockets in the country where the rules don't apply. On our way to Indonesia from Singapore, I read the Jakarta Post, and was surprised to discover that people were being publicly caned per Sharia law in one part of the country for misdemeanours such as couples hugging in public. There are also a few extremist groups in Indonesia, and there was a terrorist bombing in Bali in 2002 which was claimed by an extremist group. But for the most part Indonesia is a safe place to be.

The country was very poor through its colonial period and started to improve its economy starting in the mid 60's after some changes were implemented to stabilize the economy. Since then, thanks to oil production, manufacturing, and crop exports, the economy has improved and the official poverty rate has dropped from 60% to 15% since the 60's. 

On a trek today through the countryside, we saw some of the crops grown here. Even though the land is very steep and mountainous, much of the land was under culivation. We saw terraces 10 feet high so farmers could squeeze in another rice or tobacco crop. The land seems so fertile and well irrigated. We saw endless crops of rice, tobacco, tomatoes, cassava, chilli peppers, green beans and other crops we couldn't identify. We also saw banana and papaya trees. I could see though how undeveloped some practices were. I saw water buffaloes pulling wooden plows, and ladies making gravel from rocks on the side of the road using hammers. In town yesterday I saw four men with sledgehammers and long iron spikes breaking up some asphalt in the middle of the road. At an average wage of $2 an hour I believe, I can only guess that this is a cheaper alternative than having one guy with a jackhammer do the same job faster. 

By contrast, Thailand has been developing their economy in fits and starts since the early 1900's when serfdom was abolished, and Vietnam has only opened up their economy for the last 20 years. This mostly explains why Thailand is richer per capita than Indonesia, while Vietnam is poorest.

Here is Catheleen near some water buffaloes on our trek through the countryside today. 

 

Just one of those days

Hello guys, John here bringing you a blog that talks about those days when there is just to much moving around all over the place, or one of those days where you just think things are all over the place/a mess, and you just give up and loose track as it leads to you just following everyone else and not knowing what's happening. Yup this blog brings you on that epic journey of 'Those days'. 

We start by going back on the wonderfull fancy pants (Fanxipan) over night train ride back to Hanoi, obviously I really liked this fancy pants train thing because for some reason I just enjoy it every time and I think that's the same case for everyone else (Well except for Grumpa over here a.k.a my father Mr. Funny Bones!).  The only thing I hate about the fancy pants was the over excessive use of the air-conditioning.  Vietnam is warm but not that warm, I FELT LIKE I WAS BACK IN CANADA... NOOOOOOOOO D:! So anyways, we get off the train and we arrive in Hanoi, I ask what are we doing here and mom explains to me that we are only going to be staying here for 4 hours at the same hotel we were at last time at 5 a-clock in the morning... My response 'Ok!'. That's exactly what we do and they give us breakfast and let us you'se the their lobby shower bathroom to get cleaned up. Now you're probably wondering why we are staying here for this specifique time, well then I'll go ask mom. She says that we are going to be spending to days on a small cruise, pretty awesome right! So I return to my little table to go kill time by playing my Pokemon video game on my 3ds (Super fun if you were wondering, even ask Sarah!). 4 hours have passed and a bus is waiting in front of our 4 hour hotel, we hop on this bus and of we go to a tropical cruise paradise... Or is it? The bus was even longer than I though with 3 hours and 30 minutes to kill, so I did with my trusty Pokemon game. As you have probably guessed, our entire family is pooped out due to the lack of sleep :(, but the bus brings us to this fancy cruise harbour as we get to drink some tea and kill 30 minutes... HAVEN'T I KILLED ENOUGH TIME, IT'S ILLEGAL IN CANADA ANYWAYS WITH THE WHOLE ANIMAL ABUSE THING. Anyways so we eventually hop on this sorta rather big dingy along with 20 other people and we drive on to our boat called 'Grey Line'. We arrive, and we get a nice long safety speech and a small tour of the boat, we receive our room key and I had to say I was pooped hard!!!!! The next words I heard was 'The tour will be starting shortly, please find yourself on the top deck', the day is not over :'(. Until next time when I finish the day of the cruise, this has been John and is officially signing out. Have you ever had one of those days, let me know in the comments below :D!

Meandering thoughts on outdoor living

Modern urban environments like Singapore have their charms but I prefer a rural setting most of the time. When we take a holiday we usually try to strike a balance between time spent in the countryside and time spent in the big cities. There's usually a tug of war being city and rural time, since Catheleen and now John usually prefer what the cities have to offer.

When we're home and weather permits, I really like to spend time at the cottage, closer to nature than life in the city. Even when at home in the city, when the lawnmowers aren't mowing, it's nice to sit quietly in the backyard on the deck, with a view of the surrounding trees and garden, listening to the cardinals come and go while the squirrels scurry by across the canopy of trees.

I'm not a huge nature lover on its own. I do like to go for a nature walk or a hike on occasion, but I'm not a camper. I avoid the odd suggestion from Catheleen that we give it a go. I've never tried glamping (camping with beds and tablecloths) or flash packing (backpacking with nice hotels at the end of the day), but I see the appeal. One thing on my list is to build more decking and stairs from the cottage to the lake so I don't have to walk on the grass or rough paths so much. In other words, I like to be around nature, not on nature.

So what does my meandering preference for decks and backyard gardens in Canada have to do with our visit to Bali and Java? Well in Bali, the building styles of upscale houses, museums, temples, and resorts usually combine gardens and nature with open air buildings. If you believe everything you read, the Balinese have cultivated an aesthetic appreciation that keeps society, architecture and nature in harmony, in line with their Hindu and animist influences. Westerners have been waxing on about Bali harmony and beauty since the '30's, when some Western artists started coming here and mixing and matching styles with the local Balinese artists. 

I certainly admire and appreciate the places and grounds we've visited in Bali and Java. We visited one striking place in Ubud, Bali called the Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA) along with an adjacent resort. It was truly breathtaking in its beauty. Perhaps tourist dollars helped make the place possible, but the building architecture, gardens, and landscape of the museum and resort were stunning, both by day and when lit at night. The place combined outdoor pavilions, lilly pad ponds, bridges over streams, rice paddies, and unique buildings blended into the landscape. There was a massive retaining wall over a rice paddy that was really beautiful - the wall included evenly spaced statues of ladies carrying pots, where water flowed out of each of the pots. We followed the meandering paths, leading to creative statues throughout in the surrounding gardens and bushes. I could go on.

But Bali doesn't have a monopoly on aesthetic beauty.  I should think most places and cultures in this world try to combine architecture with natural settings and gardens in some way that is intended to be pleasing. Which styles and cultures you might like the best are a matter of taste and opinion; I think they all must have their appeal. 

Being just a few degrees south of the equator, Bali benefits greatly from a climate that doesn't vary much throughout the year other than a wet season from January to March. So for most or all the year the Balinese can enjoy their outdoors and fine tune their harmony. 

Good for them. I think I'm just a bit jealous because the winters in Canada are a bit too long, and so I don't get to spend as much time outdoors on a deck as I would like. 

Here's John on a country road in Java today. We greeted most of the people we passed on the road and small villages on our long walk, who I don't think see many tourists in these parts.

 

Mountains near Borobudur

Catheleen

Villa Sumbing in the mountains near Borobudur, Central Java Indonesia. Our villa is jaw dropping gorgeous, like a rustic Indonesian/Canadian cottage set on the side of a hill with fruit and flower gardens, rice fields and views of 4 volcanoes. Jim is in nature heaven. The call to prayer has started and will be going again at 4:30am but I have my ear plugs. The owner, Christophe from France, est tres genial

Good morning Java! Nice ladies snuck into our villa this morning and laid out the breakfast table on the back deck. Then they returned to serve eggs, home made pastries with mango ginger preserves and great coffee. Jim never wants to leave and is happy just observing village life and the rice cultivation. Such a special place.

Northern Bali and first day in Java

Yesterday we hired a driver to take us around northern Bali to see some of the sights and sounds. We visited a couple of temples of course. I thought one temple was particularly beautiful since it incorporated the natural landscape. It had massive statues carved out of the cliffs, along with whimsical rice terraces forming loops and waves around the palm trees, and waterfalls running down the surrounding forested cliffs. It was also nice to see that the temple was well used, with many people making offerings for sale in the community, or making special wedding decorations. It looked like a community effort. 

The men in Bali often wear sarongs at the temples and elsewhere. So I purchased one, since the shorts I was wearing were not sufficiently modest for the temples. Catheleen bought one too, and I made sure to purchase one made for men. I don't know what the difference was between the two, but I was assured I had the right one.

Later on we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking a lake next to an active volcano. I don't know when the volcano last erupted, but it was some time long ago. We could see the black lava covering one side of the mountain from the last flow. 

One of our last stops was at an agro tourist plantation where we saw cocoa plants, vanilla beans, coffee plants, and the process to make Luwak coffee. The Luwak animal looked like a weasel, and we saw cages of them where they eat the coffee fruit and poop out the coffee beans. Who would have come up with this in the first place? Some brave or foolhardy soul I'm sure. But it's supposed to be the best coffee, so we figured it was worth a try. We saw how they cleaned the beans, dried and removed the husks, and then the beans were roasted and ground. We enjoyed the view over the mountainside while sipping some of this coffee. It was good but it did have that ick factor for me when I thought about it. The kids aren't big coffee drinkers but did enjoy a taste sampler with cocoa, vanilla, and many other teas. 

As we waited at the Bali airport for the short flight to Java, I stared out at the surf. The airport runway was built out into the sea on reclaimed land. We're flying on Lion Air. I can't help but recall that two years ago one of these planes didn't make it onto the runway and ended up in the sea. Nobody was killed and it was remembered particularly for the help provided by the locals, who rushed to the scene by boat from the surrounding area to help rescue the passengers. But our flight was without incident and we made it to our next stop near Borobudur Java, a Buddhist temple site we want to see. 

Along the way from the airport though the city of Yogyakarta, we saw and heard people playing music  on the street using drums and cymbals like caribbean music with their steel drums. There was also a holiday parade going on. We didn't see the parade, but along the way we passed a couple of jeeps, one with people in combat fatigues carrying machine guns, and another jeep with what looked like a General in back and a large machine gun mounted to the front of the jeep. We were told by the driver that they were not military or militia, but were civilians dressed up for the parade. What a strange thing to see. 

The hotel we're staying at is unlike anywhere else we've been. We're up in the mountains with views of the surrounding volcanoes and rice fields. We have our own villa, which looks to have been someone's cottage at one time, with its own private backyard, coy fish pond and even a coop with some fancy pigeons. Looking around the garden, we've spotted banana, orange, and jack fruit trees, and some other fruit we haven't identified. This place is rustic, with no air conditioning or screens on the windows. We have mosquito netting around our beds so we'll see how well we sleep tonight. It's a pleasant temperature up here in the mountains and should actually get cool at night. 

On our way to lunch at the hotel restaurant, we passed cages of love birds and other birds. The owner is a French man, and with his wife from Indonesia they seem to love birds. When we had lunch at the hotel restaurant we witnessed and heard a group of about 20 motorcyclists roar past the hotel and then back again, making a lot a noise revving their engines. We asked the hotel owner whether there was a parade or festival going on today, but he wasn't sure. He said the local village would often organize these rallies for different days and times, but he couldn't keep track, since there were so many events. 

As the sun started to go own, we heard the Muslim call to prayer, with chanting and singing from the nearby mosques. Being on top of the hill, we could hear the prayers coming loudly from three or four different directions. It was a new experience to be surrounded by it. It was as if the whole land was praying, which I suppose was the case. Elizabeth thought it was somewhat frightening, but I thought it was soothing, especially when the singer was talented. I'm not sure I will find it so relaxing though when I'm woken up tomorrow morning. It must be an effective way of remind all it's time to pray, since it's not something that would be easy to ignore. We are definitely in a strange and exotic land.

Here's a picture of our Luwak coffee experience.

Hello Bali

Hello everyone I know that I has not been publishing it is because of bad internet and bad reception but I want to tell you that we have arrived and tomorrow leaving Bali I personally want to talk to you about MonkeyForest I know where the People who are reading are from and this is not something you will find in Canada or U.S.A first of all mom was researching on our first day what to do well she found the monkey forest. For us it seemed like a nice place to see the monkey's in there cages but no it was open free for the tourists to pet the monkey's just don't hide a banana in your pocket!!!

 

We heard that you should not bring a bag any snacks nothing at all because they will unzip your bag and grab the stuff inside I am not fooling you, ok we arrive at the forest buy our ticketing we enter and as soon as we enter we see a monkey just walking around doing its own thing and of course we bring water as usual but this time a monkey is standing near dad and suddenly jumps on him it was hysterical apparently he wanted the water so dad gave him the water and he started twisting the cap and he opened it now I will show you some other times that they jumped on all of us

 

And the next day we went to the Bali Bird Park here are some photos of our wonderful time 

And to finish it off they put meat on my head and the Eagles went and scooped it off my head

It was really scary

The charms of Bali and your neighbourhood

After having visited other places in South East Asia, it is only natural I think to compare them to Bali. I can only imagine if we had come to Bali straight away from Canada, with no other experiences in Asia to draw upon, it would have charmed and amazed me as an exotic and beautiful place. I am still charmed, but it's a subtle spell. 

Just for fun imagine you didn't have to concern yourself with working for a living. Where would you live? Perhaps some in Canada would choose a tropical paradise like Bali but I don't think I would like to live anywhere else but Canada. The main reason is it's my home, plain and simple. It's where I feel most comfortable, in a culture and environment, both urban and natural, I understand and like to think I appreciate. Perhaps the winters are a bit long for my taste, and I wouldn't mind skipping the odd one, but I think I would feel out of place without the seasons. 

I'm sure most of the Balinese would say much the same thing about this island. This is their home, their culture, their natural environment. Why would they live anywhere else? In Vietnam I got the sense from a few people I spoke with that they would consider moving elsewhere for a better life if they had the opportunity. I don't get that feeling here. The Balinese seem to be quite comfortable in their environment. It shows in many ways. For example, the way they interact with foreigners like me, calm and gentle, greeting me with big smiles. It's like they are happy. I think that's it. And I think foreigners who come here for the spa treatments, yoga, guitar lessons and whatnot are drawn here to capture some of that happiness. 

Here's the big life lesson you can gleen from the Balinese if you're paying attention. Slow down and take it all in. As we would say, "stop and smell the roses".  Or as one guy here put it, "stop and listen to the brook". That's the best advice I've gotten here since "try the curry" - it's tasty by the way. 

We ran out of time to get the golden hour tour from a local art collector and curator named Rai Agung who runs a great art museum here called ARMA. But I know where he's going with his tour where he shows people his favourite misty forest at dawn and points out the "beauty and poetry" of early morning village life. He's from here, he has cultivated an appreciation for the place over a lifetime, and he's happy to share his joy with others. 

As I sit writing this, the sun is starting to set, and sunlight is peeking through the clouds to reflect golden across the water soaked and newly planted rice paddies. The swallows are having their last dance over the fields, catching their dinner, before it's the turn for the bats to put on their show. The breeze is cooling as the leaves move without a rustle. It is silent, save the sounds of nature's crickets, birds, and the odd rooster in the distance. Their are two smaller birds picking their way at the insects in the field, occasionally turning to each other to sing a song or grouch at each other. The moon is almost full and on the rise, soon to ascend directly over us later this evening like last night. Catheleen is on the same path, about to go out with Elizabeth to the next village to watch the white cranes leave the rice paddies en masse to roost for the night in the nearby trees. 

I'm sure the ARMA guy could point out the beauty and poetry of this setting better than me, but I get it. I should invite him to a golden hour tour from my deck at the cottage in Ontario in the summer, or a nature walk though Gatineau park in the fall. 

Every place has its charms if you open your eyes.

Special education and a fire dance

John and I went exploring yesterday for a geocache, which we found in a school for the mentally disabled, sponsored by the Sjaki-Tari-Us foundation. John was very happy since he found something in the cache called a geocache coin, which is supposed to have a mission assigned to it like "bring me to every continent". John was happy because this one from Germany did not have mission yet, so John can make one up.

I was interested to speak with one of the teachers from the school. She said the school was founded and sponsored by people from Holland. The Indonesian government does provide some schooling for the mentally disabled, but it's limited to kids ages 7 through 10. This school provides schooling for kids outside these age ranges. 

Last night we attended a performance called the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance, which was definitely worth seeing. The local community puts on these performances in a number of temples in the area.  We were told at the end of the performance that the proceeds will be used to help build a temple. The area already seems to have an endless number of temples, but what do I know. 

We bought our tickets, an attendant put a flower behind our ear on the way in, and were seated within a small Hindu temple courtyard on makeshift benches. The place was packed by the time the show started, with people seated on all four sides, wherever they could squeeze in. Some of the last people in sat on the only places available, the stone throne focal point of the temple. Even this sight of 300 people seated within a partially lit and ancient temple at night was strange and unique, all of us with flowers in our hair.  Maybe my imagination was running wild, or perhaps I shouldn't have purchased the big beer on the way in, but it reminded me of something out of a cult movie, like the second Indiana Jones movie Temple of Doom. There was no doomsday here this night, but as I often repeat, you would never see this in Canada due to health and safety concerns. 

The performance started after a man in a traditional sarong (which is the custom here) lights the candles on a statue in the middle of the courtyard. The candles burn brightly. Then an orchestra of 100 men, all bare chested and wearing checkered sarongs, enter and sit down around the statue. Throughout the performance they chant, sing, sway and raise their arms to the fire. This is the only music for the performance, since there were no instruments. Occasionally they would stand or lay down on each other. A most strange mix of sights and sounds, but mesmerising after a while. 

The actors come and go throughout the performance, telling an adventure story from the Ramayana epic, as kings, evil demons, monkeys and others play their part in the capture and rescue of a princess from the forest. The lady actresses were well dressed in ornate costumes with golden dresses and headpieces, and performed slow dance movements with their arms and head most of the time. Again, very mesmerising. 

Next came the most dramatic performance, the Fire and Trance dance. They first set up shallow metallic barriers around the courtyard, and then a pile of coconut shells were placed in the middle and lit on fire. Some of the orchestra men return on one side with some percussion instruments, and began to chant and bang their instruments. Next a shirtless man enters in bare feet, standing within a frame with a head and tail made of reeds. He was apparently in a trance from the chanting and he proceeded to walk and dance around the red hot coals. Then he kicked the coals toward our side of the courtyard, and a great mass of sparks flew up on high in this otherwise darkened courtyard. What a dramatic and startling experience to see the sparks fly! Some of the coals struck the barrier and made it through the cracks next to the audience's feet. He scattered the embers in other directions and then walked on the remains. The coals were swept into a pile by attendants and the horse man repeated the performance a couple more times. Once the burning coconuts were mostly extinguished, he lay down among the orchestra members with his blackened feet exposed, and seemed to receive a blessing. 

The kids were concerned about his feet, and hoped they were okay. They were too shy to talk to him after the performance however and ask him. After the show we all streamed out of the temple, and enjoyed a late dinner down the street. What a unique way to spend an evening. 

Here's John with his geocache coin. 

A short Sapa

Hello guys, John here bringing a new blog which is in Sapa, now I may not spend a whole lot of time writing blogs for Sapa because it really wasn't for me... More of a Dad kind of thing with the whole "I love nature" stuff.   I did have some fun with a lot of unique experiences that may or may not have to do with the crazy motorcycles that are found only in Vietnam. 

We took the overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa.  It was like the one we took in Thailand from Bangkok to Koh Samui. Crazy fun, I liked this one a lot better than the previous one for some random reason, the company's name of the cabin we were staying in was pretty funky... Fancy pants (Fanxipan).  Fanxipan is also the name of the highest mountain in Vietnam and is located in Sapa.  The only problem I found with the fancy pants overnight train was the lack of warmth on the top bunk, and the overly heated bottom bunk (I stayed in the top bunk by the way) and I was not enjoying it as I froze my butt off.  The next morning I asked mom and dad and they said they were too warm, I found this really funny. 

Next highlight of Sapa is when we decided to spend the day in Cat Cat village. Elizabeth and mom had already gone there and already knew about the fact that the only way to get there was on a motorcycle.  The next day, Dad and I decide to go, but considering the whole Elmer the safety elephant thing that Dad has going on,  we decided to take a car.  The cab driver dropped us off what looked like in my mind Cat Cat village, but instead he actually brought us to motorcycle drivers and told us to hop on. Dad starts his giggles that soundrf more or less like an evil laugh and finally after a long waiting time of him regaining consciousness, we hop on the back of two motorbikes. It was way more stable than I though and really a fun experience.  I could tell dad was loosing his ways as Elmer the safety ellephant so I suggested we stay at a cafe and call mom and Elizabeth and strongly suggest that they join us for moral support.  They arrived in no time on motorbike and then we enjoyed the Cat Cat village together with seasoned veterans. 

The village was a jammed packed fun place with cats, kittens, pigs, chickens, ducks, dogs and puppies,waterfalls that looked majestic and vendors left and right, a fun hiking trail with a beautiful scenic view of nature and finally last but not least motorcycle drivers waiting for us at the top :). Well I'm guessing you can picture what happens after that but I'd say that you have gotten a great amount of sapa so that I can move onto the next place in Vietnam and get back onto schedule. But as always until next time, this has been John and is officially signing out.

Bali Bird Park

Last night we had a great meal at an Italian restaurant, although we may have eaten too much. The portions were much bigger than we thought. No worries, we had left over pizza the next day.  After dinner Catheleen and I wandered around. I don't know how many Hindu temples there are here but they are everywhere. It's an interesting mix to see restaurants and shops squeezed in on the street between temples. We definitely had the feeling that we were far from home, but yet we had a sense of relaxation.

Today we visited the Bali Bird Park. It was an excellent day where we saw up to 250 species of tropical birds from Indonesia and around the world. Many of the birds we visually stunning with such brightly coloured feathers. But the best thing about this place was the close interaction we had with the birds. Something I suspect would not be possible in Canada for health and safety concerns. I think the locals are less fussed about that here. 

Upon arrival we had a chance to hold some of the macaws and to pet the cockatoos, who liked a good scratch behind the neck. Catheleen was instructed by one white cockatoo, who pointed with its claw, to pet a little to the left. Some of the birds were allowed to roam free throughout the park, including peacocks and crowned herons, which looked like they had golden spikes on their heads. We had lunch in an open air restaurant when another demonstration started up. Here we had large birds flying within inches of our heads. Very exciting but I'm glad we had finished lunch before the demo started. 

Later a peacock wandered into the restaurant and we had a good laugh as it tried to get at a french fry from under the table where two Japanese ladies were sitting. Later on we saw a bird of prey demonstration, where owls, hawks, and large eagles swooped around us. My favourite part was seeing a flock of four South American Macaws, which flew around us up above, back and forth, in perfect formation.

The kids were big on volunteering for the demonstrations. At lunchtime John held out his arm while a large horn billed bird flew in from its handler who was far away to land on John's arm. John didn't get much warning about what was going to happen, so he found it pretty startling to have this large bird fly straight at him to land on his outstretched arm. Elizabeth volunteered at the end of our day for a bird of prey demonstration. She also didn't know what was going to happen to her. A lady before her had volunteered to hold a tray above her head while the handlers dropped pieces of meat on the tray one at a time while we watched Asian eagles with tan bodies and white heads swoop in quickly to scoop up the meat off the try with their claws. The announcer then said for the next demo that there would be no tray. Elizabeth was picked from the audience. She happily went along with it but was feeling much trepidation when the handler dropped a piece of meat on her head. Quickly an eagle swooped down and plucked the meat off Elizabeth's head. A bit scary for her but it turned out okay.