Aussie Adventures Blog #3

I’ve added some audio (which should be playing now)
To stop it continually looping, click the little grey square below the D in the word AUDIO at the top of the audio player.
(took me ages to find it & I'm a big boy!)

Recently I visited Surfers Paradise, I was struck by its skyscrapers & the general lack of charm this famous tourist trap had on this day. It all looked rather seedy to me with tourists and locals, filling in the school holidays on this rainy afternoon. Shopping for the classic Aussie kitsch gifts of t-shirts, didgeridoos, beer mugs and boomerangs.

Walked around checking the area out, plenty of women with the Arabian face shawls on, and lots of different languages being spoken. I wandered into a gaming arcade, not somewhere that I usually frequent. Allot of people, on noisey games, shooting things, bashing things, father and son, both shooting people on the same game, I thinks, yeah this is where people get their mass shooting ideas (Columbine and others), The only games I could relate too was the drum game (below), and a modern version of kids hopscotch.

Another 10 year old boy hitting fake rabbits, with a wooden mallet as they come out of their burrows, with a face full of anger! Oh what a crazy society some of us live in! I ended up taking movies and photo’s of the people and reflections in the various distorted mirrors around this arcade.

Fingers made for playing baritone Sax.

In the late afternoon with the weather clearing after heavy rain, I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering and taking photo’s of buildings



Spotted these high rise buildings, joined by this massive video screen.



I could sense this amazing sunset coming, I enjoy watching nature unfold its beauty, with time to drink it in! This is my version of bliss.


Speaking to the people at the bloggers “meetup” meeting, I found that most of them are "twittering"....I’d looked at it before, and decided to re-try it ….so far, I find it a total waste of time! ..... already a master in this area anyway.......

The Brisbane Arts Festival 08 had a street party. I took in the Racecourse Road event, where I had some raw sugar cane juice with ginger & lime & also a Hungarian “Langos” fried bread. The bloke selling them was a real character with a hat from Thailand. A real multi national event.

Would you buy food from this guy, I did!

Come to think of it, he reminds me of my father!

Took a Tai Chi class in Brisbane, well attended, its great to be able travel and relax doing exactly the same 108 moves of the Tai Chi set with a whole bunch of people I've never met before. A visiting American practioner told us all, how Tai Chi had prevented surgery on his neck bones...its amazing how soft yet powerful things like Tai Chi can be!

Visited a very small saxophone shop and tested some mouthpieces, none of which were overall, any better than my current set up, he had no Soprano's for me to try and although helpful, nothing I tried had any magic and screamed, yes this I gotta have! I tested only three, one metal (an Otto Link, which felt soft and dead, hard to blow on the bottom range) I quickly put that one aside. The other two had parts of there sounds better than my existing set up, but my current set up, especially the ease and full sound of the bottom notes, I couldn't improve on. I tried a Meyer Richie Cole, Medium, tip opening 5, face length 5 (this was good up top, fat sound on the high notes), but hard work and no volume down the bottom, I also tried a Shanty Runyon custom mouthpiece.

A very small, dark mouthpiece, interesting sound very sharp and slightly raspy, good volume right through the range, didn't care for the edge in it. This one had what was called a splitter, a thin steel insert allot like a spark plug feeler gauge, that fitted into the actual chamber facing away from the reed, a bit of a gimmick I thought & the sound sort of electronic, not my cup of tea!

I took my naked lady Conn into the repair shop 2 doors down from the sax shop, for an opinion on her current playing condition, he said, she's in good condition, although a repad would be worth doing.....he quoted $750-800 Aus. My last repad was $250 in NZ, so I'll stick with NZ prices and wait till she really needs a refresh.

Stopped to busk at Roma Street Station. Nice tile floors and walls, a real echo chamber, so I went past the ticket clerks and set up in a clear area, after about 10 minutes one of the Queensland Rail officials came and told me (in a friendly manner) to go outside the area, which I did, & busked for another 15 minutes, then the police came.... (same friendly manner) & told me to move outside onto the street, so I packed up for the day, after only 30 minutes playing, I netted $21.55 which was my best ever. I need to find a good patch and develop my busking chops!

Later in the week I revisited and stopped to have another chat with Graham Pawling the blind Saxophone busker in the Queens street Mall. Finding out how he cut his own lawns and uses his computer. His advice was to busk outside the Commonwealth bank, I'll let you know how I go with this one!

The Queensland State library, very impressive building & complex, I went to the Talbot Family exhibition "Just Gorgeous Sheet Music"
http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibit/online/tw/displays/200708/just_gorgeous_sheet_music


I spent the rest of the time, till closing in the Music Library on level 3. Found the Saxophone section...and time dissappeared!

I will have to return another day, I asked about there CD collection..... only having to register (which is free then, can view, even printing & listen to anything in the catalogue) This is a huge resource. (I may not get out alive)

I haven’t even looked at the Museum and Art gallery’s yet, still to visit the "Picasso and His Collection" exhibition. http://www.qag.qld.gov.au/home
Will report on this in the next "Aussie Adventures Blog"

I also attended an exhibition and symposium at the QSL, discussing Artists books, which was brilliant.... http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibit/cur/freestyle_books
Reminding me how unusual and fabulous my fathers collection of Artist books is....here is one of em!

Leaving the Libray, outside the Museum, is a huge corridor, a concrete passageway with massive whales suspended from the ceiling & whale song being broadcast in the space…..

What else could I do.......got the sax out and blew some sounds. A few people came thru, tossing coins into my case. An official came by and said "Your not Busking are you, ....I’d shut the case”!.......


& off I heads into the night........



Must thank Dom & Cathy for this house sitting opportunity, he's even letting me use his brand new Rode Podcaster mic.

Ah ...it's a tough life...being a busker, house sitter, and pets guardian.......

But....someone's gotta do it!

Stay safe, till the next blog B good!

Cheers from the land of limitless opportunities....

As the Wallaby rugby team showed us last weekend.

Jimu

Aussie Adventures Blog #2

The first 2 weeks of any trip is often the most interesting, everything is new and the differences in culture and accents are at there most pronounced. This was highlighted when I went for a haircut.....
I found a mans hairdresser in Main Street, two chairs, one was full so I got into the other. The customers cell phone rang, with the tune of Ravels Bolero (the Torvill and Dean’s skating tune), after he answered, we all had a bit of joke and banter about the tune…. A couple of minutes later, his cell rang again, this time the tune played was a woman’s heavy breathing, as if during sex, moaning…..the bloke said “I put that one on for when my wife rings, it stops her ringing!!!!”

Geeezzz. A perfect example of culture shock!

I’ve spent a bit of time arranging my next house sits after this one finishes and have two more, both 3 week sits, lined up after this first one. Moving to another near Brisbane, the other 1800 klms north near Cairns. House sitting is great, not at all like being a tourist, you have the comforts of home, your looking after peoples pets and homes and if you have the technology, links to home and the world are easier than ever.
This last couple of weeks, with the weather in Brisbane being (for the locals) cooler than normal, was still much warmer than NZ. Now here we have warmer weather after much needed rain.

My daily walking of the kelpie dog, Jaya past other dogs behind fences, they come and growl at us, makes me wonder why there is all these guard dogs in society today!
Vasu the Abyssynian Cat, is a real attention grabber, never far away, it’s amazing how animals check out new objects in their environment.

Winter time in Brisbane is still warm enough for banana’s to set, these are growing in the garden.



At the local supermarket, I was quite amazed at the veggies section various fruits and veggies from outside Aussie, like Shallots from the Netherlands, Coconuts from Samoa, Mangoes for Mexico, Persimmons from New Zealand, weird when they can obviously grow these themselves. These one's are from Australia.

Coming out of the Supermarket, I noticed an older guy in wheelchair, with a parrot on his knee, heading for his car, I thought, wonder how he’s going to get into that car, I was putting all my supplies into my backpack and struggling to get it on my back and getting onto my bike, the wheelchair guy, says “Gidday mate, I have the same problem”, and wheels on back into the supermarket...... Makes me appreciate, what I do have!
Last week I listened to a music show from back home “World of Leopold Bloom” on http://www.freshfm.net/ streaming live on the internet, connecting me back to NZ. I got my wife to ring into the studio, telling him I was listening. Later in his show he played a tune for me, which was really neat!

Heading into town, on the train I wrongly assumed that the Enoggera train station would be close to Enogerra Terrace, where I intended to visit a saxophone shop, however it was 4 klms away and I ran out of time and went into town looking for busking opportunities. Walking down Queens Street Mall, lunchtime on a Saturday afternoon the place was buzzing, hearing a sax playing busker......


I recorded him with the mini disc player, when he stopped, I had a good chat with him, (Graham Pampling) only realizing after a few minutes that he was blind, as he started fumbling in his case to check his busking earnings. I will return to have a jam and another chat later and record him and do an interview for my new upcoming “The SaxMan Podcast”. I enquired, later about getting a permit to Jam in the Mall, getting a permit is free, although you also need to pass an audition...next audition date 30th Aug, which canceled me out! (we may have a Jam outside the mall)

After leaving Graham the blind busker I took off for the Queensland State Library on the South Bank. I decided not to busk on the Bridge, the walkway was quite narrow and competing with noisey traffic as well as playing out in the open, not a good option. Found a great place to busk near the Museum on the super flash covered walk way above the road and Bus Station. A great view across town to the city sky scrapers, only few meters away from two lifts, which is good for people traffic passing a busker. (ATM machines are also good)


Many sweet connections and conversations with passers by, people generally are appreciate of buskers and are supportive with coins.
Returning home on the train this was the view.

The trains are very organized with special ramps laid down by hand to get mobility scooters onto the trains, and people are very easy to chat too (if you start a conversation).

Came across a local pet shop, which was interesting, with a range of dogs (pups) in Rotwheelers, Mastiffs, and little terrier types. kittens at $85, bird eating Spiders at $95, rats at $12, assorted types of lizards and a special small Childrens Python at $380 (need a permit for these)


Bought some Kanga Banga Sausages, (kangaroo) can hardly believe the blurb 98% fat free, low in saturated fat (that must be the 2%) high in iron and Gluten free, & National heart foundation approved. All this lead me onto the range of people I see in Australia, allot of severely overweight people, kids as well, I hate seeing kids this tubby it’s bad news all round for everyone! Reminds me of America and similar excess with food and junk foods in particular!

Now, I'll be leaving this house sit and straight onto the next, still in the Brisbane area. There is plenty to see and do with many Museums and a 19day Arts Festival just about to start, so there is always plenty to blog about.

Oh nearly forgot…. The sax playing, and play learning are all going well. With time to play and think, and play some more, doors start to open………

Tomorrow evening I go to the Gold Coast Web Bloggers Meet up out at the Hog’s Breath Café, might have to chew some garlic......should be fun!

Till the next post, B good and stay safe.

Namaste
Jimu.

Aussie Blog #1 More photo's.

Technology and computers, sometimes for me are a challenge.

The reason I couldn't upload these photo's was because the upload screen was already open, just hidden at the back of all the others......so here's the rest of the Brisbane photo's.



Below is the Story bridge......see the people walking up the top girders of the bridge...........but that's another ........y



This guy's grinning so much because 24 hours earlier he was wearing double thermals and still feeling cold!




Pretty snazzy steel sculpture on the South Bank, wish I could bank how much that must have cost.



Just hanging around.......suspened in blue air. I told him to whiten up a bit....


Steffi and Jimu on the Goodwill Bridge....awh.....this is the only way to see Brisbane, I reckon.

Till the next post, B good and stay safe.

Ciao

Jimu

Aussie Adventures Blog #1 June 30th 2008

Well here I am off on travels again.......this blog has lain dormant since Bali 2006.

Bali was about reseaching material for writing a play and playing my sax to higher levels.

Now I've finished writing my play called, "Da Saxifoney".
It's a solo play on the subject of Creativity, and features three characters, Jimu Modern Man (that's me folks), John Coltrane, the American Saxophonist, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Once I've developed my acting and performance skills, we (my wife, Christine and I) will be travelling and playing it, in small venues clubs, pubs, house concerts etc, as a way of entertaining and meeting people while travelling. To spread the joy of Creativity and Music.

Anyway, back to this blog!

I've now taken off for another 3 months, this time in Australia, to finish off the final draft and memorizing the play, and as always playing my Sax.

I will be posting on this blog every 2weeks, focusing on what I really came here to do.....

If your new to this blog you can see my previous Bali Blogs, by scrolling down the page.

I am house sitting 80 klms south/east of Brisbane near Beenleigh looking after 3 cats and one dog while their owners travel to the USA. Really sweet people, and neat pets too!

Just perfect for this sort of retreat.

What a golden oppertunity this is, to focus and step ever closer to our Goals. The distance from home is not so great as last time, now we have Skype and a web cam, and can see and chat to home daily.

Aussie Bound

Left home in Nelson with frosty mornings and all the usual last minute preparations, having finished a Walnut rocker order that came in only two weeks from trip time.(great boost to funds)

Leaving New Zealand from Wellington this was the view, heading into a sunset with marvelous cloud structures, reminded me of other trips across USA.

Landing in Brisbane, my pack was the last onto the baggage carousel, hmmm....... the angle they slide down is quite steep, could cause some breakages (I always carry my alto Sax on the plane as hand luggage) I was met by a friend at the airport, I last saw her in 1982. That's along time ago, although we both had no trouble recognizing each other.

Sweet Sue, still had the coffee table I made for her last time, I was quite impressed by it, as I remember this was made in the warehouse of her (at that time tile importing business) with only hand tools from packing case timbers. Here it is below.

Many similarities between NZ and Australia, this is not one of them....that's a snake skin.

I'm assured that the Pythons are fairly lazy, this time of year, but my house sitters recommend I still need to have the cats in before nightfall.

Gee Brisbane's a great place to bike around, by the river, South Bank, Goodwill Bridge, the Botanical gardens, a fantastic sculptural steel walkway which is covered in flowers, and Kangaroo point. We biked past cliffs with practising rock climbers in action, all in the heart of the city.

Spotted the Brisbane Jazz club (and another called Jazz Cafe near Griffiths University) near the Story Bridge, which I was told used left overs from the Sydney Harbour bridge (looks like it, so it could be true?)

Now it's largley alone time, reading , writing and playing my sax and caring for the three cats and Jaya the Kelpie.

See you all with another blog in 2 weeks time...you can also leave comments and I'll reply!

Blessings/Peace/Namaste.

Arohanui

Jimu

Ps more photo's to follow, these for some reason wouldn't load......

Ciao

Jimu

Leaving Paradise heading to Paradise

Blog#6 Leaving one Paradise heading to another Paradise!
This will be the last from Indonesia. I’m heading home, Whoopee! It’s been a great three months, learned heaps, enjoyed more than that, and keen to get back to family and friends in NZ.

This last week has been full of the literary world. I attended four workshops at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, many interesting cross cultural events as the festival theme was a Balinese term called “Desa Kala Patra” or in English “Place Time Identity”.
This was explored in many Discussions, Debates and at the two main venues. There was also a free children’s programme with hands on workshops in many subjects, shame I didn’t qualify as a child!

My first workshop “Travel Journalism Intensive” held beside the rice fields in an open sided building, had the amazing backdrop and sounds of local women harvesting rice, threshing it by hand, over the length of the workshop (3hrs) they moved 50 yards of growing rice field into several bags of rice, finally carting it way on their heads.


We had just remarked what other writers festival would have this happening in the back ground, when the icing on the cake came in the form a flock of geese herded into the field to gobble up the remaining leftover scraps. The other workshops were no less interesting but without the backdrop. The blend of poetry, & writing, both local and international Poets and Authors forums, made for very stimulating discussions.

In these final few days in Bali I reflect on what an amazing place this is, the climate, warm and lush, so like the people. The foods, cheap healthy and spicy. The Arts in Music/Dance/Painting and other arts and crafts are all very vibrant having the softness, shapes and intense colours of the tropical flowers that abound everywhere in Bali. Staying most of the time in and around Ubud surrounded by the rice fields I have seen the complete rice growing cycle.

Preparing the land, planting, tending the crop, fertilizing, spraying, bird scaring and harvesting all happens in a three month rotation, Bali virtually has no seasons, therefore, rice planting can be happening at the same time as harvesting, and leaves and flowers can fall from the trees at anytime of the year!

The Balinese people are friendly to an extreme, hard working, dedicated to their culture and beliefs. I think of the Nike slogan “Just Do It” as this sums up for me in this westerner (European) outsider’s eyes their lack of an over structured lifestyle. If you want to make a new path to your home, just do it, if you want to cut down that banana palm, to feed your cattle or pigs, just do it. They bless their surroundings on a regular basis, they collect flowers from the roadside trees, they are constantly doing something with their hands, they seem to add grace to simple things like sweeping the pathways, cleaning up their immediate surroundings.

They have strong ties to Religion and Culture. Beauty appreciation, laughing, massage and family all seem important to them! This is a simple lifestyle, they notice the simple things, they are connected to nature, they carry rough bundles of firewood or plant matter on their heads for considerable distances. I notice how wide the Balinese foot is from a life of not wearing shoes. Their lifestyle does not appear to have an over accumulation of technology, like computers, radios, cars, microwaves, washing machines, dishwashers and other westerner’s essentials. Yes some of them have cell phones. Not once have I seen the blaring light of a TV screen in any house as I walk home. I meet the locals sitting in the dark on my little path way home, talking, and passing the time! Life is more and less here! Choose you own definition, what are the real values of life?

These are the experiences, thoughts and questions I’ll be reflecting on as I head back to rural life in New Zealand on a Singapore Airlines flight at an altitude of 19.000feet

Blessings Peace Namaste
Jimu

Blog #5 Bali Singapore Mix

Bali Hi to Blog 5 This one will be a Bali/Singapore mix.
The week before my scheduled trip to Singapore I had the Bali version of Cabin fever not getting out much or talking to people, so I needed to break my routines & rented a bicycle for a day. In a trial run down the road the front tire was rubbing on the brake pads, & after a lot of adjustment still was rubbing, so we changed the front wheel,
Biked through Ubud and down to Sukawati, to the market.



I came across a Rattan shop which was making Rattan bicycles complete with rattan chain, Vespas, even Harley Davidson Choppers, so I spent a quite a bit of time, Photographing as well as chatting. I’d been to the Sukawati Market before, always later in the day, seeing this was early and Saturday, I went again, & it was much better this time. It spreads across the road into quite a few other buildings. Spent a fair bit of time wandering taking photos and getting badgered to buy from everyone, I bought some local drink daluman, very sweet, they put it in a little plastic bag & tie a knot in it!(ever tried drinking from a plastic bag?). Leaving Sukawati biking towards Singapadu, I heard the chip chip of carving as I passed a big drum shop and did a u turn to check them out! Here were three carvers working on drum bases, which had been stained a dark colour. The drum skin was on and they were doing nice work, like dragons and elephants. They also were using some of the carving patterns I use in the Fijian style.

I sat and watched them for a while, taking a few photos, then I got one of my brochures out and started showing some of my carving work that I have saved on the digital camera. Then it was all on, I grabbed some of their chisels and started giving them a demo of a few patterns, which excited them, then the head guy started copying one of my carving patterns directly from my brochure onto a spare little drum he had nearby, which was a hoot, he made a fair stab at it, anyway. Back on the road, a policeman, sort of on sentry duty at a busy corner, in his shade hut, enthusiastically called me into his hut, asking “where do I want to go?”, and “what do I want to do there?”. He couldn’t understand that all I wanted was “to see what was there!”, anyway he gave me directions and off I pedalled.
Lots of stone carvers on this road, stopped and took a few photos, biked towards Ubud, with a few wrong roads taken and back tracked, finally getting back, feeling tired & worn out as the day was very hot!

Asking around, regarding transport to the airport seemed expensive to me at around 150,000Rps (one way) so I rented a motorbike for 2 days (60,000Rps) and decided to ride there and back with my very light backpack strapped on the back of the Ojek. On the main road I was watching the filtering traffic coming in from the right, then looked left and saw that I'd just gone thru a red light and two traffic cops were right there! I continued on, one of the cops caught me up and pulled me over, anyway it eventually came down to the old "you need an International drivers license trick". I went through three different blokes, coming in & out of their little road side shed, each one, with the same questions, " where you from, where you staying, how long you staying?" The last guy had two new questions, "what's your Job, & do you have any friends in Bali?" It was the same as the previous traffic cop encounter, the fine is 200,000 to pay the court, I said ok write me out a ticket & I'll go to the court and pay it, I said that a couple of more times, and when he reduced the fine to 100,000 rps I said ok & gave him the money as it wasn't worth digging my heels in like the last time, when I got off scot free. But that’s another good true story!
Consoled myself by getting a MacDonalds icecream cone about 5 km down the road. The Airport was signposted as the "Airport", earlier, then never again, using its local name, missed it and had to double back, eventually getting there around 5.30 pm. I did a Tai Chi set in the waiting corridors, lots of people looking on and admiring my form, still hustling for custom in the restaurants. The flight leaving Bali was uneventful, arriving more or less on time in Singapore. I caught a #24 bus from Changi into town.
Quite a long ride, lots of music everywhere on the bus with TV screens going all the time, people wave their plastic prepaid cards sometimes inside their wallets at the readers either side of the entrance door, some people flashing them on the way out. English is spoken, (with strong accent distortions) and I’m understood by everyone so far. It's interesting to see the change in manner from Bali to Singapore, more polite, very helpful, sort of have that boisterous/subservient Asian energy mix about them. I could see it in their conversations with others at the airport. Getting to Betel Box hostel at midnight along Joo Chiat road through many clubs, pubs. Betel is right in the middle of all the activity, the door has a security intercom and I need to buzz to enter. At the reception desk I'm greeted by Justine a Chinese Singaporean, he sees my Tai Chi Shirt asks if I am a Tai Chi master. After paying for the first night's accommodation S$18 we go to the dorm, where an Indian guy in the next bed says “Taoist Tai chi, I am a Taoist, do you do it every day and can you teach me!” I head back down to the common room which has four free internet computers & check my email. They have a TV going with a very violent action packed movie, with surround sound like in the movies, so loud it's very aggressive to me. Then I realize, I've been living alone with no TV or radios or even newspapers for the last two months, wow this is how society lives, over stimulated. I’m looking forward to a good night's sleep, although don’t feel sleepy! Now well past 1 am.
Day 62 16 Sept Saturday
Well it was a long night, people coming in for quite a while, the hum of the air conditioning & its cool temperature, with only one blanket didn't make for much sleeping. I hunted for the control, but couldn't find it, getting up at 6am to go down stairs to the warmer kitchen to type this recording of my day & current thoughts.

After breakfast I went out to the post office very hot & sticky weather, found the fancy building and after some discovery about parcels, finally posting a parcel back to NZ for about half the posting cost in Bali. Deviated through the local market which was very interesting & bought a Muslim hat for only $4, & back to the Betel Box Hostel for a shower, now 11.30 am with most of the people still in bed and here's me with no sleep bubbling and bursting to go! I hit the train into Orchard road, with my sax slung across my shoulder heading for the Yamaha Shop to test out Saxophone mouthpieces. What an interesting experience I had on the train, seeing a 9 or 10 year old boy, with a huge empty bag slung over his shoulder. He was reading while standing on the train, & I was right next to him looking over his shoulder, sort of picking up on his vibe as it were! The book was wrapped in one of those old style school covers, I remember from my school days. The book was Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. In one hand, the book, the other has one of those kanji electronic dictionaries, he was looking up words from the book, I thought what 10 year old kid is going to have that level of focus in New Zealand? Much walking and window shopping, & many strange looks at my saxophone case & starting to feel my energy draining, now about 8 pm, I wonder back to the Betel box hostel via Burgis Market and caught the MRT back to Paya Lemar, after a shower I went out for a nibble and returned to the hostel after 11pm. Having made sure I had an extra blanket, I had no trouble falling to sleep.
Day 63 17 Sept Sunday
Awake at 7.30am, had a shower and stretched out the Yoga mat and did salute to the sun, eagle, triangle, headstand.

I went to the local Malay Market, bought another Muslim hat another $4 and bought nice shirt for S$15 from a Muslim who also teaches Aikido, we had a great chat about Muslims, Gods, Tai Chi & Yoga. He told me the Namaste equivalent in Muslim is "Malam Moli Kum" & the answer to that is, "Walli Kum Salam" (Islam brothers)











Left Betel getting to the Airport Terminal 1 with plenty of time, interesting floor on the MRT train to Changi, (which also has the Expo site on the same line) advertising to Join the Army their slogan is "LIVE TO BE YOUR BEST".

Been wondering why they don't recycle the plastic cards that are used for the MRT & have been throwing them away. I asked someone if they recycle those cards & was told you feed them back into the same machine as you got them from & receive a S$1 refund. Even though I was aware of this there are no machines available once you’ve used it for the last time heading for the Terminal. The plane left on time @ 4.30pm. On arrival in Bali they were handing out forms to fill out for Visa applications as we marched into the customs zone, which all took a while, the whole plane virtually all had to do the same thing, at the same time & then go through customs etc. I was pretty much the last to go through, once again I turned out to be the star turn, as the customs guy spoke some Balinese to me, then I realized it was that Muslim greeting I had been told about at the Malay market, and hadn’t learnt the reply yet, he asked if I was a Muslim, I said “no I just like the hat” all the customs men were laughing about the Saxophone pin/badge I have on the front of this Muslim hat!

Oh how I love picking my pack up from the carousel & unzipping the straps cover & slinging it on my back. However as I knew I was going home on the Ojek I left the straps covered, however this meant everybody wanted to carry my bag! Getting back to my parked Ojek the same guy who I spoke to last Friday comes up to help me tie on the pack. Motoring home through Sanur, managing to avoid stopping at MacDonald’s arriving at Teblin just before 9pm, made myself some tea after a nice hot shower, unpacked & jumped into bed, with no air conditioning to take into account and fresh sheets on the bed……ahhhh…..paradisimo!

Well playing the sax here at Teblin I can watch what’s happening down the way towards the ravine, where they had the Cock fighting today & watched all the activity down their, this afternoon things had quieted down. While playing sax I watched a woman with child on her arm walk around the rice field looking up at me, so I started playing, some tunes that I know kids relate to like Pink Panther, etc. She paused in the shade. I played on for another 5minutes while this mother allowed her child to listen to me. She looked up at my window, I waved & got a wave back. I can see she’s telling her child the man is waving…. and I play on realizing this is a gift from god or the universe. That’s the sort of connections that are the juice of life for me!

Coming to the end of this Bali Hi it’s a high 5. Next week I attend the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, which has international writers from America, UK, Australia, Indonesia, India, Singapore and even NZ attending & have booked 4 workshops. Should be a busy week, therefore at least one more Blog from Bali before the homeward journey through Singapore, these last two Photo’s showing some of the Diversity that is Singapore.



















Blessings/Peace/Namaste
Jimu.

Visionari Blog#4 Bikes 'N People

Welcome to Blog #4
As I mentioned in the last blog this one is dedicated to the subjects of bikes (cycle & motorized) and people, as these subjects are everywhere in Bali. Bikes are an essential part of Bali life, used in all manner of ways. They really are integrated into their culture as some of the photos below reveal. Many houses do not have what we would call road access, with very basic walking paths which can be navigated by the motorbikes, so they cart in and out all manner of things, often very precariously balanced or held with one hand. This is why the automatic motor bike, including electric start, is so handy for them. I took some interesting photos from the Ojek (which is the Indonesian word for motorbike) of other Ojeks.

Like this guy sitting on at least a couple of 8x4 sheets of ply while he rode down the main road with the backs of the sheets nearly on the road. Another with a fat guy complete with a full bag of Rice across the back. Many other fantastic sights I was too slow to capture with a photo.

However I saw these cyclists with their huge grass swarths & rode past them, stopped to get the camera out. As soon as a bike stops (this was pretty much in the middle of nowhere) kids run up to the bike wanting to be in the photo. As I already had the camera out they went bananas, so I took a photo of them & motioned them to come and have a look, which they did & were once again ecstatic!

Filling up at the petrol stations is also often an interesting experience. I knew I had about 1/3 left in the tank, the attendant filled it up & I saw the price at 15,400 Rps. He started filling somebody else’s Ojek, so I gave the exact money to the other bloke, and I said ok he’s got the money, the bloke said, no the price is 20,000 Rps. I knew that wasn’t right because when I was nearly empty once before, & I had said to another petrol station attendant, the previous day, “put in 20,000 rps, worth” & it overflowed at 19,000Rps. So I just closed the seat down, hopped on the bike and took off!!!! Seems like its open slather on the petrol stations. You also need to really look at the change that gets handed back as that’s often on the light side.

My map showed a road around the back linking the whole Gunung Batur crater area, so off I started on it. However the road got narrower & rougher. Finally it petered out at Blandingan. I drove down through this village which was pretty dirty with chickens & mangey scruffy dogs, & there was no road. Immediately people came from everywhere, nobody could speak English. I pointed to the next town on the map & was shown a direction & started to head the bike towards it, but it was obvious it was only a walking track.

By the look of all the people & kids around, this thing called me was a fairly rare event! A woman was washing herself naked from the waist up & just continued on. Some young lads said Photo, Photo, so I took my camera out & took one of him, by this time the crowd was maybe 30 people, old, young, everyone! So I thought ok lets see what happens when I take the sax out for a blow! I took my helmet off, & opened the sax case, & started to play, it raised quite a stir (a lot of smiles & bagus’s, which means good!)

I had given the camera to the young guy who started it all off with the photos, & shown him how to use it. He came back with no photo, & we did the same scenario another 4 times after that with also no photos. Finally I got through to him by holding my finger on his arm and pushed & held it to give him the idea, which worked! They asked if I wanted tobacco, or coffee, both I said no to, then an older dark skinned man asked if I needed Benzine. I was at about half a tank so I said ok & of he shot! I was showing people the images I’d taken of them & it was as though they had never seen a digital camera. When I took my glasses off, a couple of the older men picked them up to try on themselves, then I noticed no one around here is wearing glasses (maybe they don’t have them or need them?). I made a joke with the sax case balancing on my head, like the women carrying loads, using my jacket as a soft head balancing substitute for the towels or rings they use, however the lady who I cracked the joke to, started putting on my jacket & was having a great laugh about it all. Occasionally I’d let fly with the Sax & finally decided to put it away! Now the guy with the Benzine has turned up & poured 2 litres into my tank. I gave him 10,000 & wasn’t sure if that was enough, so I gave him another 10,000, which he gratefully received (this was about double going rate, I found out later). I tied my sax on the back, made sure I’d left nothing behind & got on the Ojek & headed out & up. The guy who I’d got the Benzine from had a bunch of very green bananas, asking me if I wanted any, so I said ok, then he said, money, so I said no thanks & took off for civilization.

Getting back to Kitamani & Batur I stopped well away from the corner to consult my map, however people still approach asking if I want a guide or a sarong. Another guy comes up on another ojek, saying its ok I’m not a guide, I’m an artist. Where you from, ah New Zealand, I have friends in New Zealand and promptly opens his diary at a hand written page from a Maori guy who married a Finnish woman & has bought painting from this guy. He starts showing me his stuff, anyway thanks, but no thanks. Gee the electric start on the Ojek is great for fast getaways. Another 5 km down the road I stopped in the middle of nowhere, no buildings just a fork in the road. Another motorbike approached & pulled up along side, with exactly the same patter, it's OK I’m not a guide, where you from. I have friends from NZ etc, & please look at my paintings. By now the bike almost does it on its own!

So by now you can see how important to Balinese is the humble Ojek. It's truly the servant of the people. Next week I head to Singapore to update my Visa before the final month's Bali Hi. So till then “Be Bagus”.

Blessings/Peace/Namaste
Arohanui
Jimu