Another common flower in the tropics is the orchid. Here is a nice yellow specimen.
Monthly Archives: January 2011
A Village Scene
This is the main street of Keliki, a village near the tourist centre of Ubud. Even though it’s barely 10km from the major centre, it feels like as if we’re in a different country. The roads were (relatively) quiet – well, there weren’t hundreds of motor scooters and cars vying for space. Aside from the scooters, you can see Hindu decorations at the roadside because it was a festival day.
Tropical Flora Interlude – Hibiscus
You can’t be in the tropics and not see a hibiscus. I might have quite a few hibiscus shrubs in my own garden, but seeing them in their natural environment feels right.
Morning Ritual
Breakfast in the morning is a fusion affair. There was still slices of toast on the table, but the spread we liked most was a mixed tropical fruit kind. The coffee however was something special.
Kopi tubruk is the Indonesian version of Turkish style coffee. The beans are roasted dark and grounded to the same powdery consistency as Turkish coffee, however the water, instead of being boiled with the ground coffee, is boiled separately and then poured on to the grounds. The grounds are then left to settle for a few minutes before the coffee is drunk.
I quite like this coffee. It’s strong, but not at all harsh and bitter. And unlike Italian-style espresso, it doesn’t give me the jitters. With a little milk and sugar, it’s good start to the day.
Tropical Flora Interlude – Water Lily
Being in a tropical place, water isn’t ever short at hand. Water lilies grow anywhere here.
Storm Watch
Like northern Australia, it’s also monsoon season in Bali. The general cycle is that the heat and humidity increases throughout the day until a storm (of the thunder, lightning, torrential rain kind) blows. We were watching this storm come up from the restaurant. It was rather menacing.
Tropical Flora Interlude
I’ll interlude the sights I saw in Bali with some tropical flora. Being from Sydney, these are rather exotic to me.
Shrine
You’ll see shrines and temples everywhere in Bali, because they are an integral part of Balinese life. Every house, village, even business has one. Balinese may call themselves Hindus, but the locals tell me that their beliefs are a mixture of Hindu, Buddhism, and the animist religion that was on the island before the arrival of the former religions.
This shrine was in one corner of our hotel. The staff studiously left offerings there every day.
Tropical Times
Before Christmas BB and I took a break in Bali. Not coastal Bali, mind you. I have been before and know how hectic that can be. We headed for the cooler, verdant hills, where aside from the hotel’s guests, there wasn’t another tourist in sight.
She’ll Be Comin’ Down the Mountain – Part 5
A little more of the twisting road to go, and we were down on the plains. What a road, what scenes!
Thanks for journeying to the Barrington Tops with me. It really is a lovely place to visit.
It might be a few days until I start posting the next series… Please be patient! In the meantime, hope you have a happy 2011.
Static and Silence 