Bits and Pieces

This has been a fairly unusual visit for me as there have been few excursions, and I've seen very little which is new and not previously reported during previous visits.  That's meant I've written very little as I've been reluctant to repeat myself (at least not too often).

I've been to Seminyak three times now with my on-campus neighbour Lin (a young man from Myanmar working for a company in Singapore implementing a project on campus).  On one occasion there were wild seas which made conditions far too dangerous for swimmers and even surfers.  On the other 2 occasions conditions were just perfect for sitting on the beach with a snack and a drink, watching the vendors, and waiting for the sun to set.  Here "people watching" can be interesting, and occasionally surprising.

Sunset on the beach at Seminyak - always a colourful affair

Kites for sale - in a variety of sizes and colours.

"And as the sun sinks slowly in the west ......".  Well, that's
the standard comment, but here the sun quickly drops
below the horizon.  There's not much time to capture it.

After the Wisuda I stayed 2 nights at the Sanur hotel where the ceremony was held.  It was a quiet and lazy time, and I walked several kilometers (in total) up and down the beach.

Outrigger canoes drawn up on the beach

A section of the beach at Sanur.  The Balinese pavilions
 are ideal for sitting in the shade, perhaps catching a
gentle sea breeze and watching the world pass by.

(2013 photo).  I hoped I would see some of these sailing canoes
again this year, and was ready to pay for a short sail, but there
were none, and the cost of individual hire on arrangement was too high.

Enjoying the view.  Inna Grand Bali Beach Hotel is the large
 building in the background.  It was built in the 60s and it
provoked so much opposition that now the approach is for
nothing taller than the coconut palms along the foreshore.
I support that approach.  The hotel is much too visible.

It shouldn't happen to a duck ....

I support humane treatment for animals and poultry, but such concerns are not necessarily shared here.  Farmed animals and pets are viewed in a rather different manner.  During a recent early morning taxi ride into Denpasar I could hear a lot of "quacking" - not something I expected along a busy road.  Soon a couple of motor cycles went past and I saw where the noise was coming from.  I can count about 30 ducks tied by the feet to the rear of this motor cycle speeding through the traffic.  They don't look happy.  The taxi driver was also surprised - that I should be concerned and take a photo.  It was a novelty but not in a good sense of the word.

Poor ducks - not a comfortable ride for them.

Family members, priest and "banjar" officials (the "grass roots" level in
local community government) sit on the front porch of a house in a
compound off a small alley to discuss terms for a traditional marriage.

Most weeks I walk past this corner two or three times.  The narrow street pictured here borders an open space on which the local fair is currently being staged.  My room overlooks the site of the fair perhaps 400-500 yards away.  I can certainly hear the very loud music every night (until 10 at latest, so it's not a real disturbance).  I know that occasionally cows graze on the field as I've seen the evidence but I was surprised when I saw about a dozen cows scattered along the verges (I can hardly call them "footpaths").  They are rarely tethered but they rarely wander far.   The horns on Balinese cattle don't appear to be well designed for defence.  They curve around and point inwards to the animal's skull, just beside its eyes rather than towards an attacker.

The faulty pump supplying water to the pressure tank on our roof has now been fixed, but for about a week we had regular problems.  On occasion we'd lose all water (kitchen; bathroom sink and shower, toilet) for up to 2 days, forcing us to haul water or store it in buckets when available so we would have some during outages.  Last Sunday afternoon the maintenance engineer came to my room to announce that we again had water (for a while).  To demonstrate that the water had indeed been restored he turned on the shower and the sink taps.  I don't know why but he also reached for the tap feeding the toilet cistern. 

Unfortunately it came away in his hand sending a jet of water across the bathroom and out into my bedroom.  He raced away to find the isolating valve but for 10 minutes, or more, water under pressure first flooded the bathroom (no problems there)  and then spread across the floor of my bedroom. 

I got everything up off the floor and watched as the water crept around then under the bed, under the cupboards, behind the desk, and so on.  Soon I had about 2 cm of water across the whole floor, more where the water poured from the bathroom.  Eventually the tap was turned off and a stopper fitted to the broken tap socket.  Then the 2 maintenance engineers and I spent an hour mopping up water.  Water under and behind large objects continued to seep out for a couple of hours after the bulk of the water had been removed.  It was not the way I expected to spend my afternoon.  The pump has now been repaired and water is flowing normally.

Reflections in the water on my floor.  Of course the floor slopes
away from the corridor doorway, so the water flows into the room,
and not into the corridor where it could be easily dealt with.

A bit of Sunday afternoon mopping up.

Mopping and bailing water from my floor.

Paul in Bali
26/09/2014