Well here we are ..still in Ubud (just about) but we leave tonight for Seminyak ...just one more night in party town and then we will head out to Nasu Lembongan. The diving there is great, the island is not too far away and it apparently offers an immediate 'off the beaten track' feel. We can't wait!
We've done the pamparing - boy was it good, we've had some more organic food and today we were lucky enough to witness the cremation of a Balinese. Well it wasn't just luck, we were told that the funeral will be taking place so we decided to stay another night. The woman cremated belonged to the Lempad family, a famous local artist. Luckily this family can afford the funeral and therefore the body was cremated 10 days after her death. Some families are not so lucky and we've heard stories of the body being kept on the top floor of a house (closer to the Gods) for 10 years until enough funds were saved up for the funeral. !!! This cremation was carried out in style.
If you look hard enough, you will see her knee, hand and skull, it was pretty horrible to watch the flesh burn.
I've been so lucky, my friend Dom has been here and stayed for months so he's passed on some great tips, thanks Dom!! And yes, I think i will be stopping on Komodo – Ive got a lot of islands on my plan and only until the 16th June to see them all. BTW Dom where did you head off on your Visa runs? I'd like to do a visa run in Sabah, Borneo however Im not sure how possible that is and if so, whether it would be viable. Do you know? (thinking: the boat to Sulawesi and then another to Sabah)
In the meantime my the plan is: Travel to N L with Natalie, then on Tues we will carry onto the Gilli islands. After that I plan to head out to Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores and Sumba and then back to Flores where I'd like to head out to Sulawesi and hopefully onto Sabah. Once I get to Sabah, I will enjoy Sipadan and the near by jungles and then head back to Sulawesi. I really would love to explore Sulawesi's islands and make my way to Banda, Kei's and maybe Papa New Guinea before returning to Bali and flying to Oz in July.
Dom if you happen to have tips on the above I would really appreciate it! :))
Right that's me done for today. I know that the internet is about on the islands but it won't be everywhere so I may have to update the blog on my return but don't worry it will be done. I'm excited about this next adventure. It really will be off the beaten track.
JoAnna - as promised, my Indonesian mobile number is +62 819 164 87365.
Take care everyone – Tash xx
1 comment:
Hi Tasha
Good to see keep up with all you're getting up to on your blog - your write-up on the funeral is amazing, what an experience... and I love your photo of the palm trees...
Guess where I am now? well, very easy to guess, nothing exotic! I've sneaked away to Malta for a few days! (supposedly working too, joys of email and phones (mobiles!) finally I've found one that I get on with, my uk number is the same,also have Egypt and Malta numbers!) weather is great, about to go swimming at Golden Bay, remember our last swim there on New Year's eve! -
I'll be here till next Wed, then back to London but will do my best to make sure its not for too long!
I guess you will be heading to Australia soon?
Dowloading skype at work was not a popular move, now I have my own (new :) ) laptop and tried it but it slowed it down a lot so will ask IT dept when I get back and may work something out.
take care, often wonder what you're up to!!
Al xx
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