2012
The Fun Begins Again
2 October 2012
I have now left the newly planted rice fields behind for the big smoke of downtown Ubud but have Puri Saraswati's peaceful gardens and pool as compensation. This time I am here with an old school friend Anne S. and Pam Osmond is back with her friend Hilary. And for the duration of the festival we are all staying in town after Anne and I spent a week at Josh’s.
The 2012 “party” has well and truly begun. Writers are pouring into Bali at a great rate (all of whom must have passed through the ghastly traffic jams round the airport!) Seeing I am a speaker on the main program this year, on a panel on translation, I have invitations to all the special writers' parties - my festival pass has a generic term "writer" on it so I feel a bit of a fraud and have to explain I am not actually a writer but a translator. Last night's welcome events may have been minus the big names (did not catch sight of Ramos-Horta, Pilger or Eugenides) but there were a couple of hundred lesser mortals partaking of the Bali wines. (Yes, Bali is now making its own wines - not bad either - had some delicious rosé. Grapes from Margaret River, WA, flown in and the wine made here. Flew in the winemaker too! The second event had wine from grapes grown up in north Bali - champagne no less! Don't think France has anything to worry about just yet. Met lots of Ubud friends and some wonderful new people - two couples, originally from South Africa - refugees from apartheid long ago. One of the brothers, a journalist from northern NSW, interviews both here and at the Byron Bay festival. Have heard him there several times. The other couple are long time volunteers at this festival. The cocktail party was held at Indus restaurant, one of the main festival venues. Their savoury canapés were exquisite - not much room for dinner after! Pam came with me for that one as Anne was very sick all day yesterday - Bali belly laid her low, alas and the day was not much fun for her at all. Much better by evening but not up to coming to parties as my guest. Pam O enjoyed meeting people and sipping wine at sunset overlooking the ridge from the Indus balcony. She did not come on to the dinner though, as Hilary had booked tickets for a dance performance. So I went to that alone, but by then I had met people to mingle with.
The dinner was at an over the top grand hotel aptly named the Mansion House, vast gardens filled with draped pavilions and Bali flags, ornamental pools when Bali simplicity would have sufficed. The path we entered by was lined with beautifully dressed dancing girls all bowing to us with the Balinese gesture of palms together. Lovely but embarrassingly over the top too! Dinner was a served plate of nasi campur, bits and pieces with rice, none of which had any sauce to moisten the rice, and all very spicy. I did not each much. Nice mini Indo jellies for dessert. Richard Glover, (a much loved Sydney radio presenter and humorous newspaper columnist) was at the next table with five female acolytes, none of whom appeared to be Jocasta (the name he uses for his wife in his writings). Dances performed all evening but a bit far from where we were sitting.
I took Jasmin and Anne to the kecak (monkey dance) the previous night - Jasmin had never seen it before, can you believe it? No one had ever thought to take her! I have seen it at least a dozen times. She loved it and stayed awake the whole evening. Josh was a year older than Jazz when he first saw it and joined in the sounds and movements of the monkey army throughout the whole performance. Jazz did a bit of monkey whooping too! But she preferred the fire dance which followed it. A huge pile of coconut husks were ignited (with a bottle of kero!!) and when glowing good and hot, a barefoot man in a trance scooted through it with his hobby horse many, many times, unscathed. Very dramatic - and quite unfathomable why anyone would do this, especially for the entertainment of tourists!
With Anne and Pam to Bali Bird Park yesterday. Not a good idea for Anne to come along as her Bali Belly got worse while there, but Pam loved it. Felt strange going there without Jazz who is a great bird enthusiast.
Later.
Now Hilary is down with the Bali Belly. Has not appeared today - hope it is just a 24 hour bug like Anne's appeared to be. We have just stayed local today - shopping and coffee with Josh and Curtis Levy (famous Australian doco film maker to whom I gave private lessons years ago.) He is here just as a “reader”, and thinking about his next film set in Indonesia. And to have some more language lesson here. He will be the first to admit he never concentrated in my classes! We always had so much else to talk about.
Opening ceremony tonight at the Palace. Then a special dinner at Casa Luna and tomorrow the fun starts, with the first of the four-day program's from 9 am ending with a book launch each evening and some night event as well. You may enjoy the respite from these emails - when will I have the time to write? My session, the panel entitled "Found in Translation" is just after lunch tomorrow. Will no doubt be very nervous tomorrow but too busy to think ahead just now.
The dinner was at an over the top grand hotel aptly named the Mansion House, vast gardens filled with draped pavilions and Bali flags, ornamental pools when Bali simplicity would have sufficed. The path we entered by was lined with beautifully dressed dancing girls all bowing to us with the Balinese gesture of palms together. Lovely but embarrassingly over the top too! Dinner was a served plate of nasi campur, bits and pieces with rice, none of which had any sauce to moisten the rice, and all very spicy. I did not each much. Nice mini Indo jellies for dessert. Richard Glover, (a much loved Sydney radio presenter and humorous newspaper columnist) was at the next table with five female acolytes, none of whom appeared to be Jocasta (the name he uses for his wife in his writings). Dances performed all evening but a bit far from where we were sitting.
I took Jasmin and Anne to the kecak (monkey dance) the previous night - Jasmin had never seen it before, can you believe it? No one had ever thought to take her! I have seen it at least a dozen times. She loved it and stayed awake the whole evening. Josh was a year older than Jazz when he first saw it and joined in the sounds and movements of the monkey army throughout the whole performance. Jazz did a bit of monkey whooping too! But she preferred the fire dance which followed it. A huge pile of coconut husks were ignited (with a bottle of kero!!) and when glowing good and hot, a barefoot man in a trance scooted through it with his hobby horse many, many times, unscathed. Very dramatic - and quite unfathomable why anyone would do this, especially for the entertainment of tourists!
With Anne and Pam to Bali Bird Park yesterday. Not a good idea for Anne to come along as her Bali Belly got worse while there, but Pam loved it. Felt strange going there without Jazz who is a great bird enthusiast.
Later.
Now Hilary is down with the Bali Belly. Has not appeared today - hope it is just a 24 hour bug like Anne's appeared to be. We have just stayed local today - shopping and coffee with Josh and Curtis Levy (famous Australian doco film maker to whom I gave private lessons years ago.) He is here just as a “reader”, and thinking about his next film set in Indonesia. And to have some more language lesson here. He will be the first to admit he never concentrated in my classes! We always had so much else to talk about.
Opening ceremony tonight at the Palace. Then a special dinner at Casa Luna and tomorrow the fun starts, with the first of the four-day program's from 9 am ending with a book launch each evening and some night event as well. You may enjoy the respite from these emails - when will I have the time to write? My session, the panel entitled "Found in Translation" is just after lunch tomorrow. Will no doubt be very nervous tomorrow but too busy to think ahead just now.