Ubud; February 2009

I enjoyed tremendously the trip to Ubud, Bali. :) I went with the NUS gamelan group which I participate in. Basically, we had group practices learning Balinese gamelan every morning, and in the afternoon I had gender wayang lessons, and in the evening we would go watch performances. I wish I had time to take Balinese dance lessons too, but perhaps another time. :)

Balinese gamelan music is faster in general than Solonese gamelan music. It has kotekan/interlocking. I was at the reyong for one of the Gilak pieces we learnt, and it was really fun! However, I hope that the teachers we had, Mas Kadek and Mas Wayan, were not too exasperated with my not-so-quick speed of learning the polos part for the interlocking. They were really patient, and never gave up on me. :) I finally got my polos part in the end by heart. Somehow, my musical brain fixes itself automatically with time and patience. However, it wasn't actually that musically difficult nor fast....blush blush....haha ;) Thomas, who was playing the sangsih part, got it so much quicker, and he is great at rhythmic notation! My rhythmic reading/notation is as wonderful as my number conceptualization. ;) The gender wayang lessons were interesting too, except that my brain shut down completely on the third day of intensive lessons....haha....I do not remember a thing now, and I only had to learn the polos part.....Yikes I hope Jan, who learnt both the polos and sangsih parts much faster than I did, is not reading this....we are suppose to play one of the pieces for the upcoming March performance....hopefully my brain will fix itself before then ;) I wish I had time to learn dance. ;)

It was all rather sad when it was all over, and it was the last day of lessons. The teachers gave us each a CD of rebab and suling playing as a souvenir. How sweet ya? I must remember to obtain their e-mails from Precious, my wonderful roommate, and e-mail them to say thank you. :) They are really friendly. :) I notice that in Bali, circular breathing is used to play the suling.

Besides all the amazing music, culture, dance, musical learning etc, we had some time to do some sight-seeing. I loved the Monkey Forest and Pura Ulun Danu. The monkeys in the Monkey Forest are really adorable and very gentle. They seem to be posing for the cameras at times. :) Most sweet! Pura Ulun Danu is beautiful! Except that I had car sickness getting there...thank goodness I had only eaten a little for lunch. When we were at Pura Ulun Danu, it was raining, and due to the elevation, it was cold. Since it was raining, it was muddy and a little flooded, so all of us were walking around bare-footed in mud......that was rather fun.....haha ;) We went to Gunung Kawi and Tirta Empul too ;) I am not too great with the car-travelling thing....haha....although it wasn't so bad after discovering that sitting in the front seat makes it better.......but it was fun!! :) We also took a walk in the sawah. That was nice, not difficult, but it was a little tiring for me....and I walk very slowly......eeks I sound a little old.....haha.....We stopped at an organic shop on the way, and the salad and drinks there were amazing and very fresh! Yummy!! :)

As for the babi guling and bebek, which is the famous food in Bali, they were yummy too. I do not drink coffee, but my friends say that Bali coffee is delicious too. I also did some shopping....got wooden cats for my piano students etc. ;) Bali is famous for celuk/silver too. I got a pair of earrings because mine dropped and lost itself as I was walking one day, but I think I am slightly allergic to silver. I love ceramics and pottery.....got a bowl or two.....they sell many green leaf-coloured ones there :) Got a piece of green batik........haha I guess I do like the colour green, don't I? ;) etc etc Anyway, shopping is fun as always, and shopping with Helena, friend/student, was fun. ;) Helena gave me a cat with bells which I now hang on my phone. ;) How sweet ya? :)

Nice memories...........I do want to go back to Bali again sometime! :) However, it is a very romantic place I feel, and I cannot help feeling that it would be perfect to be there with someone special and the memories created would be magical and lasting....just a thought ;) For now, I miss Sala/Solo.....I want to go back there to learn more gamelan, singing and dance....... ;)