Back home again

We got home on Saturday and now have time and internet connection to add images! Below find pictures of the following: The group with Nia and Ismoyo, our contemporary batik instructors, after lunch at a tea plantation. The lovely ladies at Mankunagaran Palace in Surakarta, Java. With our Balinese drawing instructor, Ketut Lisbet and his assistant. At a performance venue in Peliatan, they let us go on stage after the event ended. Sunrise in Amed, Bali. The ladies in front of the orchid garden at the airport in Singapore.

Last Day in Ubud

After our wonderful painting workshop where everyone tried their hand at modern Balinese painting with bamboo pens and brushes we finally had two days off in a row. On their days off everyone was finishing up projects and doing their last shopping in Ubud. Tomorrow we leave for the coastal town of Amed for some snorkeling and presenting to each other all that we done for our classes.

This morning we had our last workshop which was making the traditional Balinese offerings.  Balinese make offerings every day in a huge variety of sizes and designs. Even the most basic offering proved to be quite a challenge for us. Balinese women can spend many hours a day preparing and giving offerings in their home and for temples nearby. Most start learning these skills when they are six years old.

Back in Bali

We are back in Bali for the last days of our trip. The day before yesterday we visited the Neka Museum to see contemporary Balinese Art and had a jewelry workshop in the afternoon where everyone was able to make all these lovely treasures.

Yesterday was another busy day where we visited two ancient temples, the puppet and mask museum and had a fun stopping at a mask carver were we got to try on his excellent masks.

Temples in Central Java

We had a magnificent morning in Prambanan  last Thursday. We woke up early and beat the crowds and heat of the day and had an excellent tour of the ancient temples with our guide Tis Lingga. Prambanan represents the full glory of the royal power of the Hindu kingdom of Mataram at its peak.

In contrast to the glories of Mataram, yesterday we traveled high into the mountains above the city of Surakarta to see the last of the Hindu temples in Java, Candi Sukuh and Candi Cethu. Here we had, Pak Juno, an expert in the temple history and symbolism, give us a tour of the temples. Candi Sukuh, he explained, was not built to honor any Hindu gods, rather it was a return to the ancient animism that existed in Java before the arrival of Hinduism. These last temples of the Majapahit kingdom are linked to the Hinduism in Bali. Remnants of the kingdom fled to Bali and established cultural practices which have been passed down in Bali to the present day. 

Learning Indonesian

During our time here, we have been attempting to learn some of the language.  Indonesia has over 700 indigenous languages, such as Balinese and Javanese, but the national language is Bahasa Indonesia.  Important phrases we all know are good morning, (selamat pagi),good day/early afternoon  (selamat siang), good later afternoon (selamat sore), good evening (selamat malam), Maaf (I'm sorry), and terimah kasi (thank you).  We are slowly working on learning to order meals, count, and ask simple questions. ("Apa" is "what", and we can all count satu, dua, tiga, from people taking photos!!) 

Brahma Tirta Sari studio workshop

We had the lovely experience of visiting Nia and Ismoyo, two contemporary batik artists, in their studio.  They demonstrated contemporary batik chap (stamping) and batik tulis (handrawn) resist techniques.   They dyed our batik samples for us, but we didn't get to take them home with us.  This morning we are going to meet them at Candi Sukuh.  We will get our pieces when we meet them.  

Papermoon puppet workshop

We were thrilled to learn contemporary puppet making techniques from the gang at Papermoon. For many of us, it was our first time making puppets. We used crumpled paper and tape to sculpt the faces, then covered that with paper mache. We are waiting in anticipation to bring them to life!