The Engleson Files

Instead of glorious sunsets, almost every night around 5 o’clock the skies would turn dark, the clouds quickly rolled in and then rain would absolutely pour down for an hour or so. It was one of my favorite times of the day. I just loved how the colors of blue came to life in so many different contrasts and also loved the feeling of rejuvenation the rain provided after a long, hot day under the sun. Even while it rained, it was still fantastically warm outside and many times Magnus and I would go out and swim in the storm-filled water - it was great!

Some days this was my most difficult decision.

Once Svea was strapped on the bike we snuck out the back way of Coral Beach 1 and rode into town through the hundreds of trails that intertwine Gili Trawangan in order to find our wood guy. These trails are tried and tested by the locals and very rarely did we see other tourists on them; yes, I got lost a few times but I usually had nothing else to do so did not worry about it too much. Svea just loved riding the bike and enjoyed looking at all the cows, goats and lizards that mulled about - and she also loved singing Frosty the Snowman as well! Everyday this was our commute to a beach, or dinner, and what a great way to spend the day; riding these trails was a lot of fun and great way to see how life was lived on Gili Trawangan.

So, hop on and take a ride with Svea and I as we ride in to meet Dean (our new Trawangan wood guy) for a progress report on the projects…

So the congklak board did not get completed on time in Senggigi and a very complex Plan B had to get established since we were to be down on Gili Trawangan: 1. the board had to get finished, 2. Wok and Arpah were going to have to find a way to Bangasal an hour away, take a boat over to Trawangan and deliver the goods to me there. Before we left Senggigi we had no idea where we were staying so everything had to get established after the fact by cell phone. This was a huge leap of faith in the boys since I had paid them already and did not have anything in my hands; but my worries were quickly dashed and the Senggigi boys delivered the goods in fine form!

So, as you can see by the picture above that two other pieces were made as well - croquet mallets. Why? Not too sure what happened but I woke up in a cold sweat one night in Senggigi dreaming about croquet and figured it was divine intervention telling me something; so I had my congklak guy fix me up a couple of mallets as well. The charm and beauty of these mallets (in my opinion) is the wood that it is created from: a Jack Fruit tree. The color you see before is the pure, natural color of the wood and I think it is just gorgeous.

Once the guys arrived on the island and the pieces were unveiled to me I was disappointed on two fronts: 1. my mallets were a little too big (especially in the diameter of the handle - my fault), and 2. the congklak board had been painted over. I asked for both pieces to be stained but they must have mistook that for paint instead; all the natural beauty of the teak wood was lost and it just looked very plain and boring - and this was simply unacceptable. So, the Trawangan phase officially had its duties - somehow get rid of the paint on the congklak board and find a way to fix the size issue of my mallets. So, without hesitation I grabbed Svea, hopped on our bike and headed right down to the “Chillin’ Out Bar” where I just knew I would find someone who would be able to help me…

One of the huge highlights for the family (Svea excluded probably) was the snorkeling on Gili Trawangan. It was a highlight for a couple of reasons: it was Magnus’s first time ever doing it and the area in which we explored was as good as anywhere in the world. The island had many different areas to explore with thousands of different marine life to watch. At the main beach area the drop off was literally 15 feet from shore and was all lined with gorgeous multi-colored coral (my pictures do not even come close to portraying their beauty); the water easily went down 60-100 feet at the drop off. I was not sure how Magnus would take to all of this and thought he might be a little scared of how deep the water was and what lurked down below; but he took to it the very first second he tried! We were all so proud of him. Together, Magnus and I snorkeled everyday for two hours (at least) and became completely addicted - even so much he dragged Kristin out and taught her how to do it as well. On a couple of occasions the family hired a boat and went out to some other key areas - I was so impressed with how our little 5 year old handled himself out in the middle of the big, wavy ocean! Without question our biggest highlight in the water came on three occasions when we got to swim with turtles; I cannot describe what a special feeling it was to watch these gigantic, beautiful creatures swimming about in their habitat and just doing their thing. It was such a fantastic time and it is my hope/dream that Magnus will always remember his first time out snorkeling at Gili Trawangan.

Again, sorry, I only had a film camera underwater and lost a lot of quality in the scanning.

So once we landed on Gili Trawangan we had to go and find a place to stay. High on our priority scale was to find a place that was cheap and right on the beach. So we grabbed a horse cart, packed all our gear inside and gave the man our list of demands. He took us to a couple of places but they were in the main village area and not quite what we wanted, while other places he took us to were a little out of our price range. Slightly despaired, we then went outside of the village center and headed straight out into the Trawangan boondocks. Gradually houses and people became more sparse and we were getting concerned that all of our options had run out. I was tired of sitting in the horse cart and banging my head against the roof so I decided to get out and let Kristin take care of everything. She continued back into the unknown and then came back a half hour later with a big grin on her face - she found it! Way out of the way and quietly nestled at the far eastern corner of the island - map - sits the Coral Beach 1 bungalows, and let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, it was exactly what we wanted! Right on the beach, stunning scenery, completely laid back, cheap, clean, friendly - it had it all. So we booked our room, ran out and rented bikes for the whole family and hunkered down for 10 fantastic nights at the Coral beach 1 resort - if you are ever going to Gili Trawangan give this place a go, you will not be disappointed!

After we had our fill in Senggigi and the family was well rested we then set sail to Gili Trawangan, which is the biggest (and closest island) you see on the picture above - if you scroll to the satellite photo on the previous post you will see the Gili islands on the upper/mid left side. Simply put ladies and gentlemen, Gili Trawangan is a tropical paradise that we were absolutely thrilled to have spent 10 glorious days on. One of the charms of these islands is the fact that there are no vehicles allowed on them and you could only imagine how much of a stress relief that was. The beaches were brilliant, atmosphere was great and everyday was jam packed full of sun, surf, sand and snorkeling - we absolutely loved it!

Well, for me the trip really started to get going when I got the idea to get a good old fashioned project on the go. During my research on Indonesia I read about what their national sports and interests were and stumbled upon the game of congklak (pronounced - Jone Clak). I read about how congklak is the traditional game of Indonesia and also discovered that the games origins could be the oldest in history. Many know the game as Mancala and those in the know figure the game originated in Africa some 7000 years ago - and then must have come to Indonesia soon thereafter; if you would like any more detail on the game click here.

Anyways, I thought it would be kinda cool to get one of these boards made; and since we established a fairly non-hectic travel schedule I figured there would be enough time in each location to get it done. One thing I absolutely love about projecting is how it forces you to dig deep within a location and find people who are skilled in whatever it is you are doing - and I often find that it is these people I like hanging out with the most. Every location we traveled I had a guy to chum around with to share in the process of creating - it was a huge highlight of my vacation!

So, on our first day in Senggigi I immediately asked the guy at our front desk where I could find someone to help me. He then put the buzz out to one of the workers on staff who then asked his friend who sells souvenir trinkets on the beach, and then about a half an hour later - viola: I had a congklak guy! Soon after, I walked over to the beach, shook the man’s hand, asked if he had lots of teak wood hanging around and then began to draw out what I wanted done. There was only three days to get the base forged out and then I figured I would take the board to our next stop and find some other guy to put his magic touch on to it as well - Arpah (my congklak guy in Senggigi) said, “no problem, it will get done in time. You have my promise.” I also asked if I could come out and watch it being made and take a few pictures- again, “no problem.” Two days later Magnus and I had our motorbike chauffeurs waiting and then went on a wild ride into the countryside and watched our guy make our new congklak board; every single ounce of this board was hand made.

It was from this moment of starting the project and talking to everyone involved where I learned about the deep, and highly skilled, tradition of wood carving in Indonesia and just how important it is to many. For the next three weeks I would meet a handful of people who all helped greatly and added their own beautiful touch to my Indonesian project. I hope you will enjoy watching the stages with me and I know you will all be amazed at the final product(s). Here are pictures of the opening process…

P.S. - sorry for the poor quality of these pictures, I had these scanned from my film camera.

Photo courtesy of jbaiden

One thing you learn very quickly on Lombok is the power that Mt. Rinjani has over the people. Spiritually, emotionally and practically, Mt. Rinjani is king; and when you look at the satellite image below it is very easy to see why. Simply put: the reason Lombok is there in the first place and continues to thrive today is because of this huge volcano. Rising some 3,726 m (12,224 ft) above sea level it is the third highest volcano in Indonesia - and already has a third of it (at least) blown off. The first historical eruption occurred in September 1847 while the most recent occurred October 1st, 2004. The 6 km by 8.5 km oval-shaped caldera at the summit is filled partially by a lake (and hot springs) and is estimated at being some 200m deep. Also, inside the caldera another new, smaller volcano is growing inside - click here for a picture.

When looking at the map below (and seeing the lush area around) one thing you notice very quickly is all the tributaries that run down from the mountain. The highlands of Rinjani are forested and underdeveloped while the lowlands are extremely rich and highly cultivated. Rice, soybeans, coffee, tobacco, cotton, cinnamon and vanilla are the major crops grown in the fertile soils below; and this is all a direct result of the volcano. The people rely on the water from the springs to maintain their crops and have built highly intricate aqueduct systems throughout the island to ensure that all can utilize it. I asked if there was ever any problems with not having enough water and the answer was very simply “Never. Rinjani never lets us down.”

Being that close to an active volcano was a really neat experience and to see the importance it plays on the people was just as fascinating. One day I would love to hike to the top and see down below in the depths of the mighty Rinjani of Lombok.

While in Senggigi we rented a van and had a guy take us all throughout the island and then up north to Senaru and Mt. Rinjani National Park. Here we were able to enjoy the countryside and see how the people function on a daily basis; and it was here where you could really see the importance of Rinjani to the people. The countryside in Lombok is absolutely gorgeous with thick, lush jungle and beautiful rice terraces - everywhere you looked was another spectacular image.

In the park itself, normally it is possible to organize treks up to the summit of Rinjani, which usually takes 2-3 days, but since it is the wet season those tours are no longer running. A summit trek was never in our plans but we did go for a little hike at the base and saw many of the beautiful waterfalls that cascade the volcano. The whole family was not able to venture in deep because it was too difficult, but Magnus and I were able to trek in for a couple of hours or so. We had to hire a guide (standard procedure) and as we ventured closer to this one huge waterfall it was easy to see why. The ground was extremely slick and there were many areas where we needed help crossing slippery bridges and rivers (if only Kristin knew!) I was able to go in for a swim but Magnus was too scared - I don’t blame him it was pretty violent waters inside the pool. It was a great day exploring what we could of of Rinjani and seeing what else the island of Lombok is all about. I would go back in a second!

With Plan A officially out, we were caught off guard a little and not quite as prepared as we needed to be to figure out other options. We knew that Lombok was in the plans so we just figured to get over there and see what new inspiration it would give us; one thing we knew is that we had to get away from Kuta! So, we grabbed our gear and hopped on a local ferry to island of Lombok - the fast boat was 650 000 rupiah/person, slow boat was 40 000 rupiah/person ($1 CDN = 9400 rupiah). The total distance between Bali and Lombok is 25 km and the ferry ride took us close to 5 hours. The never-ending question of “are we there yet” became a hundred times more infuriating in the equatorial heat and Magnus had no idea how close he came to being thrown overboard! But once we approached Lombok you could just get a sense that things were different there; less touristy and way more laid back - I fell in love with it from the very first second! So we stopped off for three days in Senggigi, found a nice hotel with a pool for the kids and just relaxed and took our time to figure out what exactly we were going to do next. Here, Magnus strapped on his snorkeling gear and learned how to use the equipment in the pool, while Svea was content to just sit on the steps of the pool and watch her big brother. The town of Senggigi was nothing much of note but it served our needs perfectly and got us all back on track and ready to go on with Plan B.

So after three grueling days of flying down south of the equator the family landed at Dempasar International Airport in Bali, Indonesia. It was roughly 12:30am when we arrived and we were all completely spent - with no hotel booked either, ooops! It took us about an hour to find a place and during that time I quickly realized that the Kuta beach area in Bali is not a desirable place to be at all. The entire area looks like an American city with all the Western amenities - all at outrageous Western prices as well - and I just did not like the vibe there at all; there certainly did not seem to be much of Indonesia that’s for sure! We weren’t planning to stay long, but we were still all quite sick and just needed a couple of days to unwind. So we shacked up at the Melasti Hotel and rested our weary bones.

Magnus enjoyed the pool, Kristin and Svea enjoyed the sunshine and I tootled around trying to find us some plane tickets in order to go and see the Komodo dragons in Flores, which is where our next disappointment came. It seemed that all my research was for naught because the ticket prices were double (at least) from what I had been seeing on the internet. From place to place, I quickly realized to fly our family to Flores was going to cost roughly $500 CDN - and that was not even coming back! Fast boats were expensive, slow boats couldn’t go, and basically throughout the course of the day it was abundantly clear that we had to say goodbye to the Komodo’s - and that broke my heart. I had been pumping these guys up for a long time and we were all really excited to see them (or at least Magnus and I were!) So, there we were, in Indonesia (but not really), plan A out through the roof and all tired and jetlagged - a lowly beginning indeed.

But after our second night in Kuta, we set a plan to set sail for Lombok and that is where our whole vacation took shape and got us back on track…

Whew! The Engleson clan is officially back home after an absolutely wonderful time down in Indonesia! We had many highlights (and a few lowlights) and after all the jetlag and fatigue has subsided I will fill you all in on our time just south of the equator. Hope all of you guys are well - stay tuned for the holiday report!