Bali's Remotest Island

We just got back from a trip to see Nengah's family in Nusa Penida. How great is their front porch wall paint? 

Nengah's whole family was there for the ceremony. It was great to meet everyone and Theo was so happy to play with Nengah's little brother and two cousins again!

The whole island of Nusa Penida is a bird sanctuary. It is one of the few places in the world where you can see the Bali Starling in the wild. I learned at the TED x Ubud conference that there has been a lot of work to build up the economy in Nusa Penida and encourage people to become protectors of the rare birds. The Starlings used to be poached for about 1,000 US$ a bird but there survival in Nusa Penida shows the efficacy of conservation work. We didn't see any Starlings this trip but we did see these unfortunate birds who had been caught by some locals. We also saw lots and lots of chickens.

The next day Nengah's brother took Michel and I on a long motorbike ride, up steep inclines and around gravel covered blind turns through the mountains of the Island. Nusa Penida is a beautiful little island full of palm trees and Balinese who are still generally surprised to see foreigners. There are no hotels, westernized restaurants, souvenir shops or even spots to rent motorbikes on  Nusa Penida. We arrived at a beautiful beach. We had actually seen the beach before, from the boat when we were scuba diving off manta point. It's an amazing beach; white sand, strong current and empty apart from a few cows being taken for a walk and several locals headed to a nearby temple.

Friday we woke up at 4am to catch the boat and head back to Sanur. We saw a beautiful sunrise, drank some sweet coffee (chocolate milk for Theo) and michel was thrown up on by a sea sick Balinese baby. I loved the boat we took back does't it look like we are all on John Lennon's Yellow Submarine?

TedxUbud

Adi's Wedding

 

Our friend Adi was married on Friday, we were so honored to be invited! The ceremony started in the morning at Adi's family house which was beautifully decorated in leaves, offerings and colorful textiles. I was surprised by how similar a Balinese wedding and a western wedding is. Sure the clothing, language and religion is different but the nervous bride and groom, smiling family, delicious food and excited children was all very familiar. Theo had a blast being pulled around by beautiful Balinese girls. He is still a very slow and deliberate walker so it was pretty funny to see him dragged around by both hands, head down a little exhausted he was still very happy to see the pigs and be included in the young fun. We had a great time talking to Adi and are thrilled to hear he and his wife plan to have a baby soon, another friend for Theo!  

Beach Front Restaurants in Sanur

There are lots of places to eat on the beach in Sanur but my favorites are the little locally owned warongs. Sure there isn't as much choice (lots of variations on nasi goreng and calamari usually) but there is always delicious watermelon juice, Bintang, soft sand and the ocean! My go to is probably Warung Pantai Indah because its so close, just across the street and through the cow field. They play great electro mixes, are generally laid back and the california chicken is pretty good. There are also plenty of local warongs south of the Bali Hyatt. I love Beach Warongs especially with Theo since he can play in the sand and if we are taking ages and he starts to get bored a quick walk on the sea shore always cheers him up.

Gorrilaz in Bali

Urbanite Asia organized this years Embassy Club’s Playground Festival. This is the most celebrated dance/indie music festival in Indonesia. For the past four years it has been held in Jakarta however this year it was put on in Southern Bali at  the amazing venue Garuda Wisnu Kencana. This place is a massive park with an outdoor stage encircled by large stone cliffs. Definitely my favorite outdoor concert venue so far. 

The show was great. Gorillaz Sound System consists of a DJ, a percussionist, a drummer and a visual director. The whole concept of the virtual band revolves around a fictional animated universe displayed on huge screens and gigantic natural limestones at the epic Garuda Wisnu Kencana venue.

Sadly this could be the final show where you’ll see 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodles, and Russel Hobbs together live as there’s been talk of killing off the characters. To top it all off, the event also featured a Silent Disco area with 500 wireless headphones with selector switches to three different DJs playing simultaneously. The headphones feature three different light colors indicating which DJ you and your buddies are listening to. Additionally, other top DJs performed on stage before the Gorrillaz came out at midnight. These DJ's included the breakbeat mastery of James Zabiela, George Fitzgerald’s electronica, Marc Roberts’ eclectic style and local favorites: Mahesa Utara and Trigg*r Production’s DJ Mikey Moran and Stan.