Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 34 of 58

the Setting for our Kajane Romance Dinner

February 10, 2010

Learning Moment: Bali, Indonesia

Romance can be bought. Richard Gere did it, so can you.

In Bali, however, it will cost you a lot less.

Angie and I had a great day. I got a lot of work done on 'SMART as Hell'. We had a great breakfast by the pool. We witnessed a temple festival in downtown Ubud (music, dance, prayer, sarongs, incense, shadow puppets, and throngs of people - Asia in an hour). We had a great lunch at Ary's Warung. We watched dance, while listening to a Bamboo orchestra (jegog). And then we had the romance dinner served to us at our villa.

Above, you can see the 'make-over' the wonderful Kajane staff did to our patio. Flowers strewn about. Colorful cloths draped across our furniture. Candles turned our pool into a reflection pond. Music filled the air (and mosquitoes did not).

The food was excellent, the service perfect, the weather Balinese.

The price? US$45.

Of course, you need a villa - and someone beautiful to sit across the table - first...

Don't You Dare Me...

As we were sitting at the dance festival in Mamallapuram on Saturday night, a ticket collector came around to check our seats.

"Here comes sour face", said the man next to me. "We've been coming here for 5 nights straight and she hasn't smiled yet."

Hmmm... I don't know a lot, but I know a couple of things. First, I'm pretty confident that I can make anyone smile at least once (it's easy if you're willing to make an ass out of yourself). Second, it isn't that hard to make an Indian smile.

"Really...", I said to him, as I turned around to her.

I would have placed a bet with him, but he'd already said he was spending US$16 a night on his hotel room - so, the stakes would have been too low to bother. This exercise would merely be to make a point.

Within three sentences, I got a smile out of her.

And no, I didn't have to do anything stupid.

"Wow", the guy said, "That's the first smile I've seen from her".

"Well, you had to challenge me", I replied, as he put up his hands in mock surrender.

She has a face built to smile. This photo is my proof and my reward.

The Bali of Dreams...

This is a picture of Balinese women preparing for a an odalan, which is the anniversary of a Balinese Hindu temple.

Today I added more than 60 of my favorite Bali images to my photo site at hues.smugmug.com.

This is a young monkey at the Ubud Monkey Forest.
Bali is one of my favorite places on earth. It's a target-rich environment for a photographer, filled with 'eye-candy'.

The heat forces you to slow down. The sheer volume of stimuli begs you to be present at all times. It's the antidote to civilization.

Hanging Out in Seoul

Here I am, in Seoul, with some new friends.
We're at a traditional festival at Namsan Park.

I think they're supposed to be old-time policeman, which means I'm under arrest.
Fortunately, it's bad publicity to beat a white man with those little clubs, so I got away with just a warning!

I also managed to be the token white interview for TV again.
In 2002, I was asked my opinions on the tradition of eating dog (for what it's worth, I don't have a problem with it... it's pretty hypocritical to eat cow, but say that dog is off limits) for a World Cup special.

This time, TV station KBS wanted to know about my thoughts on this festival.
I, of course, gave it a big 'thumbs-up'...

Iris, Iris, Iris (from Seoul, Korea)

Another image from the Dano Folk Festival in Seoul.

This one shows a girl wearing a Hanbok - the traditional Korean dress - and washing her hair in iris water. Apparently, this used to be a big deal.

My iris, looking through the camera iris, was more than happy to capture her iris washing.
I took about 350 pictures today, but this one may be my favorite.

Swinging in Seoul - Seoul, Korea

We arrived in Seoul on Friday night.
The taxi ride in was a bitch... 2 hours in bumper to bumper traffic.

We're staying at the Shilla Hotel, which is very nice, but English-challenged to say the least (at least, compared to the Westin Chosun, where we used to stay).

Saturday was rainy, so we spent most of the day in a book store.

Today (Sunday), however, was very nice.
We went to the Dano Folk Festival at the Namsangol Hanok Village.

We ate kimchee pancakes, made an appearance on the local news (I was interviewed, for my feelings on the festival by TV station KBS), mingled with the locals, and watched traditional activities.

One of my favorites was the Korean Traditional Swing, pictured above.
I can't tell you much about it, except that mostly women do it, and they seem to really enjoy it.

Anyway, it was a great day...

Exploring Culture through a Japanese Festival

Here's my buddy and co-worker, Martin Woodrow, exploring Japanese culture...

We were in Yokohama last August to lead some classes. On the weekend, we stumbled on a matsuri, a Japanese festival.
In the hot weather, the festival participants tend to dress lightly...

Martin, an expert at learning, decided to get a closer look. 

Do you think this is what Ed Hall meant by 'transcending culture'?

What did we learn?
Well, for one, you never know what you'll find around the corner.

Secondly, not everyone puts on their pants one leg at a time.

And finally, it's great to be the one behind the camera...