Bali

The Project is sending me to the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation conference in Bali, so off we go! We’re also tacking on a trip to Japan to be groupies for Ra Ra Riot’s tour, and see Arthur’s best mate from architecture school (Milo), who’s their guitarist. And, then, a trip home.

July 16^th – July 23^rd

Christmas Island – Kuala Lumpur – Bali

If you’re flying north of out CI, then your only option is to go through Kuala Lumpur. We have an overnight there, and spend the evening walking through downtown, admiring the bright lights and city life. Our hostel is right by Chinatown, and not too far from the city center. We amble about (unfortunately, camera forgotten) and find a cool looking pub. It’s also happens to be a hookah bar, so we drink fruity drinks, watch World Cup highlights, and smoke the hookah. Then, the search for food leads us to a great Lebanese restaurant, and some gelato on the walk home. All in all a nice little slice of KL.

Next morning we fly to Bali, and soak in the big sandy beaches. Great little hotel with a funky pool and big, open balconies. There are three main restaurants right next to the hotel, and they all search cheap, delicious food. I’ve never dined so close to the ocean before, with my bare feet in the sand. They set up tables at the high tide mark, and just sink the table and chairs in the sand.

We have the weekend before the conference starts, so we head up to Ubud for a couple days. It’s supposedly a ‘spiritual center’ but currently it’s got more of a tourist-trap feel to it. Probably one of the coolest things is the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, an extensive preserve right in the center of Ubud. It’s a little surreal walking out of the busy shops and into the lush rainforest filled with hundreds of bold little long-tailed macaques running around.

And it’s also a great jumping off place to get out and explore the mountains and rice fields. So we sign up for a biking tour of the surrounding area. The next morning we’re up early and travel up to the Kintamani village and have breakfast overlooking Mount Batur, where the view is absolutely breathtaking. You can still see the darkened areas on the landscape of the old lava flows.

Next stop is a coffee plantation, where we watch them roast the beans and get the taster’s choice platter –the ginseng coffee is both our favorites. We also taste “Kopi Luwak” (Civet Coffee) which is made with the digested (pooped out) beans consumed by the Civet (blurry picture is picture of a civet sleeping at the plantation; clear picture is one taken off the ‘net). The Civet selects the yummiest coffee berries, and while being processes in the civet belly, its digestive enzymes start to break down the beans, removing some of the bitter flavor. The Civet feces are then collected, thoroughly washed, dried, and roasted. This extensive processing yields a coffee that’s unique with less bitterness than your average cup of joe. It was good, but not the best taste of coffee I’ve had – likely because “Bali coffee” is prepared by very finely grinding the beans, and then adding water. No coffee filter, no French press. Because you don’t separate the ground it’s a little gritty, and a little bitter.

Fully caffeinated, we hop on the bikes. We basically coast downhill for a few hours, which includes a sweet ride on a boardwalk through a rice paddy, and a stop to visit a Balinese house. Overall a great way to explore central Bali.

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention this sweet little funky crunchy coffee shop back in Ubud town. Great coffee, food, ambiance, and the night we had dinner some great live acoustic music, too. End up chatting with some blokes from the U.K. and we make a night of it, enjoying the local beers and finding our way across the street to this crazy third-floor bar that feels distinctly like you’re in a tree house.

Then back to Sanur for the conference. It’s a nice week of hearing talks and talking science, and then chilling on the beach. I’ve never seen a conference venue located so close to the ocean before (maybe 30 meters, max). My talk goes well, and am able to catch up some fellow ant-dorks I hadn’t seen in awhile. Ah, science.

Umpiring a bunch of cricket-loving Aussies playing a new game: Softball

Sunset from Isabel Beach, across the street from our flat, and next to the mine's cantilevered loading dock. 

Beach Birthday Breakfast

If you want a big breakfast here on CI, then you have to make it yourself. Or, have someone else make it for you. So that was the birthday girl request.

Arthur loaded up the cooler and made some juice, and off the cove we went. After some fancy grillin', we sit down to a meal with a view. Only a hammock could top off such a bountiful feast. Ah, the island life...

CHICKENS

Mid-December we go chook-hunting, and wrangle us up one little baby chick - couldn't have been more than a few days old. We set him up in an old drawer with some bedding, a hot water bottle, and some water and grains. He's a noisy for a little fella, peeing an awful lot. He seems to get cold pretty easy, which makes sense since he's all fluff and no feathers. We take him on a few field trips to the office, where he assists in neck warming and computer drafting. As his wing feathers start to come in, he's gets a little more adventurous, and spending more time outside, investigating some loose string...

A few weeks later we come across another little chook, and bring home George a little sister. Her chest bone is all wonky, so she becomes our little Chester. She's pretty skittish after her relocation, but quickly learns the ropes from her (slightly younger, but more domesticated) adopted bro. They seem to get along, and share their oatmeal and roosting space together. After a month or so they grow out of their drawer, and we put them in a slatted armoire in the front porch, with frequent trips indoors to keep us company in the kitchen. Our legs and arms are often their jungle-gym, roosting, and napping spots. Potted plants become sites for dirt baths. They even help us ring in the New Year, and Chester and I share a festive pseudokiss.

They keep on getting bigger, and we notice George's comb is getting redder. We (at this point) don't know if we have hens, roosters, or one of each. George generally seems more vigilant, less skittish, and more vocal. Find out that one definite character is roosters have spurs on their legs, and we can see little nubbins of spurs starting to grow on George's "ankles," but not Chester's. And then we hear George cock-a-doodle in the morning. They still spend extended field trips in the house, chilling in the front room, and getting their mugshots taken in the kitchen.

We whistle when we feed them, and they'll come running to us on command. They're getting a bit big for their quarters on our front porch, so we decide to relocate them to the communal coop in the backyard, already occupied by 4 full grown hens. Upon arrival, Chester starts taking a dirt bath, and George cruises the area. The top of the pecking order, a large white hen, struts up to George, and he waits for her to approach. She greets him by promptly jumping on his face, to which he responds by squawking and repeatedly running into the coop fencing. Welcome to the real world, Georgie! Two days later George and Chester break out (literally fly the coop) and we see them walking around the backyard, and at one point spy Chester on the roof outside our bedroom window. We whistle, they come, and we give them some kitchen scraps. Back onto the front porch they go.

After a few more weeks of growing, we put them back in the coop. This time George seems a bit more wary of his coop-mates, and both seem to respect the pecking order. This time, George and Chester seem to share their secret of escape, as all the chickens let themselves out. Fortunately, the whole crew hangs around the backyard and in the adjoining jungle, and George and Chester still respond to our whistle, running to the back door to get their share of scraps.

We invite them inside every once in a while.

Sometimes they even seem to beg outside the back door

The other chooks continue to learn from George and Chester, and soon are coming to our back door as well, often lining up on the retaining wall in the back.

George really seems to be coming into his 'roosteroscity' as he's working his way up the pecking order, now eating side-by-side with the top hens, and even starting to push Chester around a bit. And then one day hanging laundry, I see George mounting one of the hens under the neighbor's trampoline. Oh, they grow up so fast.