20th Aug:: Day 12 || Artsy Day

Waking up to my ceiling fan & attap roof top. No air con, but the air is chilly enough (:

Outside my room: ducks already had their bfast in the padi field


Today is my last day @ Ubud... I should walk around & discover the other corner of the village

Today is the Galungan festival. The guest house made more elaborate offerings


Bfast: after my last banana jaffle, pack up & I'll be out the whole day for my discovery tour. Decided to take the path less travelled & cut into our neighbour's mini padi field instead of walking the main path. I was rewarded with some interesting sights...

Morning dew: nourishes the little lives & fades into thin air. How short-lived!

蓝色蜻蜓

The Wall

This is a wall at the path entrance. I sensed that it's not only a wall... it's more than a wall =.='

... so I jumped up & began the 1st part of my discovery tour. On the wall, I found pretty 喇叭花s...


Omg* ... the wall is actually part of the irrigation system 0.0" ...


... channelling water across the road. I look weird running up & down that piece of canal, so I came down & continued my journey, satisfied that I've made one interesting discovery for the morning ^^

The sign board said it all... lucky today is the last day of my stay (most shops will be closed for next 2 days *pengz*)

This is Campuan Bridge, the landmark of the village. It means 2 rivers meeting together. This area is quite near the end-point of white-water rafting

Quite an old bridge with lotsa holes... right down the valley =.="

Wah... look at this! Personal musuem 哦... The compound is located at a hill-slope & it's so big I found it a hassle to climb up to visit =.=" I should have one of this next time: "tc's life, tc's works, tc's dreams, tc's reality" ^^


Along the way, more galleries. Today shall be an artsy day (:

.
The Alchemist: I was reminded of the book's character when I saw this painting

"All in this life is just a beginning... nothing is Perfect... but, is always Beautiful..."
Philosophical, but I din understand what it means

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Crazy Boy: located at the far corner of the village. After 30min walk, I finally found it :)

Stylo pose by Crazy Boy

This is Crazy Boy. His real name is Necky. This's the 2nd painter I chatted with in the morning. His background is quite 坎坷 (like, angsty?) ... Borned in Jakarta, parents died when he's v young... he grew up on the streets. Did not attend mainstream arts school, he's a self-taught artist.

That's why you can see that his works are pretty emo... with broad messy strokes which reflect his emotions. He called himself crazy boy 'cos he's so obssessed with painting. He painted through the nights when it's more quiet & slept only for a few hours in the daytime & then start painting again. What a workholic. If only I can conduct my financial advisory work like him =.="

He's quite philosophical about life. Like the painting on the left, a perfect picture is obstructed by something. His motive is to make people think deeper: a picture is perfect, but why is it blocked by something...? It activates people's mind, to realise that this is not a normal picture; it's blocked by something & you have to shift your vision to look at it...

I spent 45min asking him questions & he happily & openly shared what he know, even though I'm not buying his works; artists like people to ask them questions, esp about their works. It's here that I learnt what is acrylic paint, how artists can use different styles to obtain different effects -- paint brush, scrapping or roller ... that's how he created the angsty effect.

I classify Crazy Boy as one of those esoteric painters. Not many people appreciate his works; his work are not meant to be appreciated by everyone.

In a way, my practice in wealth mgt is like a painter. I have my own style & philosophy. My work is appreciated by select groups of people; & I do not intend it to be accepted by the mainstream. What should I call myself? An artist? A practitioner?

Aint' we all artists? Each of us have our individual works; we constantly strive for Perfection in what we do. Unless we don't.

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Along the road, there're many different gallery setups. Like this one, which I believe is more chic & caters to the main stream (Visa accepted too)...

... for this one, the sign board says it all.

Lunch: I found a path up a slope & decided to venture inside. I found what I thought was the famous Made's Warung *yehhh* ....

It overlooks another neighbouring padi field. This place is full of padi fields ^^

Ordered another veggie dish, with fermented bean as satay

Zen design inside

As I made payment at the cashier, the man intro-ed his wife as Made... ok, that's it... this is not the original Made I read in the mag. First, Made wun be so young, & her hubby is an ang moh, not a local... & the dish wasn't that fantastic. Hmm... 'Made' is just too common a name here heh heh

After lunch... walked further into another village. Saw a banner on the opening of an art gallery & decided to find it (:

And lucky me, just as I was about to lose my way (again)... I stumbled into it 误打误撞: Manacika Art Gallery *yehh*... another artsy event. I had more arts in a single day in Ubud than in 1 yr in Spore ^^

This's actually a place to show case up & coming modern Balinese artists. Again, this is another different class of arts compared to Crazy Boy's... same artist, but different life.

Had a very warm welcome from the local people (: in fact, most attendees are ang mohs; I'm the only yellow-skin tourist there *so proud*

Local boy with big eyes

Snacks: local wine (forgot what it's called) & finger food

Omg... artist painting while the woman performed. 1st time seeing an artist in action...



Got bored & started wandering around... other artists in action...

Oh, I like this painting... painting of traditional Bali scenes. Look at the close-up details...

... the whole painting... looks very real, with reflections & different shades of light

More of the gallery

2nd level: the artists almost completing his work... alas, my stay there ended before I could see the whole completed work. Attending the opening really made my day, as well as talking to the artists (: no way I can do that in Spore; the gallery owners here are too atas to talk to ppl who dun buy =.="

That's about the end of my day in Ubud.... went for internet cafe to do some MSN... walked around somemore... was supposed to go to another jazz cafe, but realise jazz only on Tue. Today is wed =.=

Ended up in a restaurant selling indian cusine instead *pengz*

Well, at least I had my Bali orange to company me on my highly uncomfortable flight home (:


Thank Bali for the short stay. In Ubud, I obtained much insights into my own inner self. To be able to go with the flow, that's how I stumbled into so many of the wonderful things over the 2 days here. Am glad that I came here (:

All good things come to an end; same for bad things too... for now, it's time to go back to normal life.

To strive for perfection in what I do. To create a life while making a living. To be the best artist in very own craft. To connect with very audience I am created for. To live my own life to the fullest.

Hope you can too!

May you be always be secure...

19th Aug:: Day 11 || Reflectionz

"Happy Bday tc...?"

I find birthdays an irony.

Thru social conditioning, we somehow expect to have ourselves at the centre of attention on this day. We expect some big-bang things to happen, to be showered with gifts & wishes (if not, we'll be unhappy), aka, eh... why u nvr wish me happy bday? U not friend >< *faintz* Truth is, on this fateful day, our moms - the ones who gave birth to us - put their own lives in gravest danger to pop us out. It's said that to give birth is to put one leg into the grave; the other might just follow. Current moms or moms-to-be will appreciate that. Probably that's why I'm not into hoo-haas on such days (I dun have so many friends too hoo-haa for me any way)... It should be right that we dedicate this dangerous occassion of our births to our parents, to reflect on ourselves and be grateful that we're able to reach this stage in life only because of our them... to people who still bear grudges of me not wishing 'em happy bdays... well... get real!

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Anyway, to give myself a treat, I booked myself a half-day cycling tour (35000RP) ((:

Padi field bfast: banana jaffle (bread stuffed with my fav fruit) ^^

8am: pick up by Bike-Baik Tours (my guest house told me they also have such tour, but includes a visit to Sacred Monkey Forest too... which I thought is quite optional). The owner of Bike-Baik actually worked with the other cycle tour organisor, but left to start Bike-Baik... I can sense some competition.

1st stop: drove 1hr++ to have bfast at this cafe by the hill-side, overlooking 2 volcanos - Mt Agung (tallest) & Mt Batu. I believe liJEN & others who did cycling few days ago had the same thing ^^

Bfast again: with volcano view - Mt Batu

... and Gunung Agung, tallest volcano in Bali

After bfast: visit to plantation - growing kopi & other plants...

蛇皮果: the one which tara_tang bought in huge lots before returning so Spore

Free: different types of kopi & tea (3rd cup - ginseng kopi, supposed to be aphrodisiac)

Selling other colorful fruits too...

After shopping @ plantation (spent like S$50++ for 2 bars of choc & a pack of ginseng kopi *faintz*), the cycle tour got started... it's an easy cycle through the padi fields (which I've seen yesterday)... through the villages with friendly folks.

Kids ran out & shout "hello!! hello...!!" ... & stretch out their hands (we're supposed to hi-5 them); lucky my bike skills still ok, nvr crashed into the kids when I hi-5ed them ^^

The old folks will stand around, look at you & nod with reserved smiles. I felt like Lance Armstrong in Bali (:

Tour de Ubud

Festive decorations

Toilet break @ one family house. Ended up eating their festival satays. So friendly 哦

Lunch stop: Owner, Wayan, hosted us at his house. Plus some intro to traditional Balinese house.

Wooden ducks

Split gate at Wayan's family temple. All balinese family has a temple. So god loving

Inside family temple

... and that's the end of my happy-bday Ubud cycle tour (: I wun say it's really-really great, but it's smth enjoyable heh heh...

Back to guest house, bathed, slapped my new friend with some life-saving Mopiko & out for dinner. But not before making a stop @ the freight-forwarding shop to post my post-card painting... if not they'll close shop for the next 2 days for the festival *eeeww*

One of the many chic-looking eating restaurants along the road. It says "not cheap"

And many art galleries too

Namaste!!! ... surprised to find a Nepalese shop here ^^

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Bikin kibin: Arts for Living

Lamps: 70% glass, 30% crystal for strength, much thinner than normal glass lamps

This is one hell of an interesting shop - its sells lamps. And its owner is more interesting. Initially, I wanted to just go in & take a snap run off, but ended up chatting with the owner for 30min... this's the kinda thing I like about Ubud. I take time to sit around & talk to people ^^

Owner is a friendly Ethiopian-Italian chap (how exotic)... who does lighting design for people such as Thai King bday & owner of Four Season's etc... & used to design lighting for our Orchard Rd too. But closed up his biz & shifted to Bali. Has a very global background too - educated in Swiss, now sending his kids to study in India (they dun like Spore education system). So wow...

When I walked in, he was just squatting outside smoking & I don't even bother a second glance... thought he's some shady taxi driver waiting for biz *ops*!!.... don't judge a person too early.

~~ as we talked... an ang moh buyer dropped in, saw that he's got nice lamps which she wanted for her new house in Bali... then commissioned him to do bigger ones =.=" price wasn't mentioned in the conversation, hmm... who do we have here in Ubud?? ~~

As he closed shop, I found out that his gallery only opens when he's got appointment. Lucky me yeah ^^ next time, I shall work by appointment only.

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Next, dinner: Jazz Cafe

Cozy litt corner with live band. Cover charge 20000RP (S$4) to support the artists. I thought this is a nice concept; if we're willing to pay a litt to support musicians, we could have a more vibrant artistic culture here too...

Band was quite good. Environment was not bad too... & the main hall was fully packed. But I had a nice litt table by myself with 6 pillows at the side pavilion. What a nice way to end the day ^^

Main hall: reservations advised

Poor lighting. Listen to the jazz...

Quiz: why take pizzas in alternate manner??

Fell asleep a few times on my 6 pillows. Just as I was leaving, they did an encore (: That was the real highlight of the evening:

Blocked by the crowd

After dinner: back to guest house. Decided to venture out into the padi field & steep myself in the darkness & silence of the night... & saw fire-flies flickering in the padi field. Nice (: