2010
Greetings from Pondok Langon
16 October 2010
Greetings from Pondok Langon, Alex and Yoga's little patch of paradise amidst the rice fields, in their lovely wooden guesthouse, just south of Ubud. A massive downpour, out of what ten minutes earlier had been a clear starry sky, has brought out all the frogs.
I came here today with my friend Joyce up from Legian for the day to visit me with her partner, Elyas. Met up at Josh's for morning tea then a lovely lunch at a warung nearby, then on down here for the afternoon. Joyce and Alex have known each other from both being interpreters at previous festivals, but this year Joyce was working and could not take part - a great loss to the festival. “Ibu”, the kids' grandmother, is here too, on a visit from Samarinda in Kalimantan. They have had visits from their Australian grandma Fleur, me (Nenek Ton-"Granny Toni") and now Ibu, all in the same week. We all call her "Mother", even her grandchildren, as she is the family matriarch. I have met her several times since our first meeting thirteen years ago at Yoga and Alex's wedding in Australia. Sadly Ibu has mis-timed her visit as Yoga is away on a work trip and Fleur had just left after the festival when she arrived. But I am delighted to catch up with her again. Last time our visits coincided was Jasmin's 2nd birthday here in Bali.
I came here today with my friend Joyce up from Legian for the day to visit me with her partner, Elyas. Met up at Josh's for morning tea then a lovely lunch at a warung nearby, then on down here for the afternoon. Joyce and Alex have known each other from both being interpreters at previous festivals, but this year Joyce was working and could not take part - a great loss to the festival. “Ibu”, the kids' grandmother, is here too, on a visit from Samarinda in Kalimantan. They have had visits from their Australian grandma Fleur, me (Nenek Ton-"Granny Toni") and now Ibu, all in the same week. We all call her "Mother", even her grandchildren, as she is the family matriarch. I have met her several times since our first meeting thirteen years ago at Yoga and Alex's wedding in Australia. Sadly Ibu has mis-timed her visit as Yoga is away on a work trip and Fleur had just left after the festival when she arrived. But I am delighted to catch up with her again. Last time our visits coincided was Jasmin's 2nd birthday here in Bali.
Last night was very special. Josh's friend (and mine), Janma cooked us a multi-course Indian banquet - her thank you to me for translating her little girl's birth certificate so she can apply for an Australian passport to take Lili on a visit back to Oz this summer- the best payment I have ever received for a 1-page translation! She brought the whole dinner over to Josh's - two vegetarian curries, cucumber raita, chapattis (cooked fresh at Josh's), a pineapple chutney, spicy dhal, and for dessert, a sweet rice pudding and gulab jamum. We ate it off banana leaves seated on Josh's Indian carpet out on the verandah. Gab, and Janma's son, Puri were there too, and Zion came late and polished off the leftovers. I was so glad I had skipped lunch! Janma had lived in Bengal for four years at some time in another life - all her older children have Indian names.
Almost time to come home - I leave Ubud tomorrow afternoon- still have one more adventure after that- meeting up with old friends arriving from Hong Kong at their holiday place in Sanur for a few hours before I go to the airport. Marg and I seem to manage to meet up in all sorts of places fairly regularly- last time was Singapore in April.
Trying to spend as much time as possible with Jasmin, but it's not easy to arrange - she will be coming to lunch with us to a friend's place in a while, but then has a classmate's birthday party this afternoon, so can't come back here with us as we'd hoped. Tomorrow morning we'll take her out swimming. Have been visiting her at her house as much as possible after school this week, and took her to Alex's one day, but Josh's hand is only just now well enough to ride anywhere to take me there - I have needed to find lifts or call transport to get around most of the last 2 weeks.
The rice crop will be harvested in a few weeks - will have to rely on bulletins from Josh as to how it progresses until then!
Last night with the trivia mob at the Fly Cafe till next trip - we won the "Quickie" round but were pipped at the post by another team for the main wine prize. The beer prize for the "Quickie" is better than the very average quality wine anyway.
Thanks for following my Ubud stories from the rice fields.
Trying to spend as much time as possible with Jasmin, but it's not easy to arrange - she will be coming to lunch with us to a friend's place in a while, but then has a classmate's birthday party this afternoon, so can't come back here with us as we'd hoped. Tomorrow morning we'll take her out swimming. Have been visiting her at her house as much as possible after school this week, and took her to Alex's one day, but Josh's hand is only just now well enough to ride anywhere to take me there - I have needed to find lifts or call transport to get around most of the last 2 weeks.
The rice crop will be harvested in a few weeks - will have to rely on bulletins from Josh as to how it progresses until then!
Last night with the trivia mob at the Fly Cafe till next trip - we won the "Quickie" round but were pipped at the post by another team for the main wine prize. The beer prize for the "Quickie" is better than the very average quality wine anyway.
Thanks for following my Ubud stories from the rice fields.