Monday, September 04, 2006
The Rice Story
As I said, we were living in a farming village where rice was the crop. Hunter and Maclean - you may be interested to see mum's pics of rice growing and being harvested. I have some of rice 'grass' in the paddies, close ups of the rice seeds/grains on the 'grass', rice being harvested, being threshed (that is the rice grains being banged off the 'grass'), winnowed (the grains being thrown in the air in a seive to use the breeze to separate the rice grain from the dust and other foreign materials). Then rice drying in the sun on the footpath being readied for husking. I' ve also got shots of the ducks in the paddies.
Great view from a restaurant
Already forgotten the name of the restaurant. But went to this great place further along the gorge to us. The European owner had built this fantastic restaurant over looking a world class view - especially late afternoon. We had a lovely meal and took some atmospheric shots of the early eveing over the gorge and of the mountains. Tammy signed up for a cooking school at this place - it has a sister restuarant in Ubud. Cheated to keep the cost down and snuck our own gin in (in plastic water bottles - cheaky I know) - added to their soda water and lime and presto!
Crocodile Geckos
If you think our geckos are big - wait it you meet the Bali ones - we nicknamed them snappy lizards. They are at least as long as your hand and about half as wide as your hand. Look like a gecko but with red spots. Very pretty but aggressive and they bark a bit like a quack. Tammy thought she'd try and touch one and he bit her - hence the nickname. Didn't break the skin but gave us both a fright. They ran up the walls and ate insects but jeaz - Iwouldn't want one ofthem to fall into my hear or jump on my bed in he night - you'd hear me all the way back in OZ!
Markets
There were lots and lots of markets and I had to get back into the bargaining swing. Bit rusty but we started doing well towards the end. Took turns at playing good-cop and bad-cop. Sometimes we won and sometimes we lost but even then we still did better than home. Makes Rusty's look like a Hilton!!
28 August 2006
Tradional Dance performance
Went to a traditional dance show tonight after grabbing some Balanese/Indian takeaway. This was interesting and the costumes were very Thai looking. Lots of gold and detail. Very beautiful. All the 'good' characters were played by women/girls and boys and all the 'bad guys' were played by men. Excellent characterisation by the baddies - as monkeys, sultans, etc. The monkey characters were particularly good. All performed in the dark around a lit candle tree out side a temple. The village that put it on use the whole community (there are only 700 residents) and the chorus (all male) had great vocal percussion - the guy who kept the beat would have been a tremendous didge player with his breath control.
As I said, we were living in a farming village where rice was the crop. Hunter and Maclean - you may be interested to see mum's pics of rice growing and being harvested. I have some of rice 'grass' in the paddies, close ups of the rice seeds/grains on the 'grass', rice being harvested, being threshed (that is the rice grains being banged off the 'grass'), winnowed (the grains being thrown in the air in a seive to use the breeze to separate the rice grain from the dust and other foreign materials). Then rice drying in the sun on the footpath being readied for husking. I' ve also got shots of the ducks in the paddies.
Great view from a restaurant
Already forgotten the name of the restaurant. But went to this great place further along the gorge to us. The European owner had built this fantastic restaurant over looking a world class view - especially late afternoon. We had a lovely meal and took some atmospheric shots of the early eveing over the gorge and of the mountains. Tammy signed up for a cooking school at this place - it has a sister restuarant in Ubud. Cheated to keep the cost down and snuck our own gin in (in plastic water bottles - cheaky I know) - added to their soda water and lime and presto!
Crocodile Geckos
If you think our geckos are big - wait it you meet the Bali ones - we nicknamed them snappy lizards. They are at least as long as your hand and about half as wide as your hand. Look like a gecko but with red spots. Very pretty but aggressive and they bark a bit like a quack. Tammy thought she'd try and touch one and he bit her - hence the nickname. Didn't break the skin but gave us both a fright. They ran up the walls and ate insects but jeaz - Iwouldn't want one ofthem to fall into my hear or jump on my bed in he night - you'd hear me all the way back in OZ!
Markets
There were lots and lots of markets and I had to get back into the bargaining swing. Bit rusty but we started doing well towards the end. Took turns at playing good-cop and bad-cop. Sometimes we won and sometimes we lost but even then we still did better than home. Makes Rusty's look like a Hilton!!
28 August 2006
Tradional Dance performance
Went to a traditional dance show tonight after grabbing some Balanese/Indian takeaway. This was interesting and the costumes were very Thai looking. Lots of gold and detail. Very beautiful. All the 'good' characters were played by women/girls and boys and all the 'bad guys' were played by men. Excellent characterisation by the baddies - as monkeys, sultans, etc. The monkey characters were particularly good. All performed in the dark around a lit candle tree out side a temple. The village that put it on use the whole community (there are only 700 residents) and the chorus (all male) had great vocal percussion - the guy who kept the beat would have been a tremendous didge player with his breath control.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 1:53 PM 
