2018
Bound for Bali – again!
18 October 2018 - Sydney
A whole year has gone by since my last trip to Bali. The long-time readers of my Bali blogs among you must be wondering how those rice fields at Josh’s old place are faring without me there to regularly check on their progress. How I've missed sitting on the verandah watching the stalks lengthen before my eyes, the grains form, the ripening process begin, the harvesting take place. Alas, it is all happening without me now that Josh and Jasmin are no longer living in that beautiful house, instead are living with me back in Sydney. However, while I am there next week I am going to call by and see the place one last time. I wonder if Coco and Cookie, the stray Bali dogs who adopted Josh, are still in residence. I hope the new tenants have let them stay.
Yes, it is Writers Festival time again - my only remaining reason to visit Ubud, now the family are no longer there - (after 80 plus trips to Bali over the last 50 years I no longer need to go to Bali to see the dances or the tourist sights or go for the shopping!!) This will be Festival Number 15 and I have been to all of them. October in Ubud is my “April in Paris”. There will be a 15th Birthday Brunch which I feel I should go to! I will only be away for twelve days in all, with a few days before and after the festival to catch up with friends and visit Jasmin’s mum and the rest of the family.
Really looking forward to the festival, especially the politically-themed panels with the regular expert journalists and commentators. The issues around next year’s presidential elections in Indonesia are sure to be put under the microscope. Great line up of writers too, with the big names this year, Gillian Triggs, Fatima Bhutto and Hanif Kureishi. Gail Jones, Jane Caro, Clementine Ford are among those from Australia. Writers from all over Asia, lots of Indonesians of course, and a sprinkling from Europe and the US. I translated five of the 15 writers for this year’s festival bilingual anthology, some established, some emerging. One piece, in the form of a legend, was an in-your-face Freudian sexual fantasy on “holes” and a longing to reunite with the “earth mother”! (An Indonesian literary friend whom I asked to check my translation said my version made a lot more sense than the original Indonesian which certainly had me puzzled!) The next piece I did was an innocent tale, with a mild environmental message, of a little girl being driven a long distance across Kalimantan to see a dolphin show in a tent but arriving too late to get a ticket - the two stories could not have been in greater contrast! Wonder what the readers will think. (PS This latter one did not make the final cut of the book - too mild, I guess!)
Been busy too these last few months, with translations for various Indonesian publishers wanting to showcase works at next March’s London Book Fair where Indonesia will be the Market Focus Country as it was for the Frankfurt Book Fair a couple of years back. Great opportunity to introduce Indonesian literature to the world.
In Ubud I will be staying at my old haunt, Puri Saraswati in the heart of town, now I no longer have Josh’s home. Will be nice and central for evening events and for catching up with local friends. And no domestic duties for twelve whole days! (Josh and Jazz are still living with me in Paddington, but move into Josh's Randwick apartment at Christmas when the tenants lease runs out,)
With the recent earthquakes in Lombok and Sulawesi there will be something of a pall over the mood in Bali - this time last year Bali itself was waiting for Gunung Agung to erupt. The festival will be having a session on natural disasters and collecting donations for the relief effort. I have a good sum of dollars from family members to take up to the Bali-based agencies I know for support of the disaster in Lombok.
I will be going by myself this year but several friends from elsewhere will be there at the same time and a couple of them staying in the same hotel, so I will not be short of festival companions.
Yes, it is Writers Festival time again - my only remaining reason to visit Ubud, now the family are no longer there - (after 80 plus trips to Bali over the last 50 years I no longer need to go to Bali to see the dances or the tourist sights or go for the shopping!!) This will be Festival Number 15 and I have been to all of them. October in Ubud is my “April in Paris”. There will be a 15th Birthday Brunch which I feel I should go to! I will only be away for twelve days in all, with a few days before and after the festival to catch up with friends and visit Jasmin’s mum and the rest of the family.
Really looking forward to the festival, especially the politically-themed panels with the regular expert journalists and commentators. The issues around next year’s presidential elections in Indonesia are sure to be put under the microscope. Great line up of writers too, with the big names this year, Gillian Triggs, Fatima Bhutto and Hanif Kureishi. Gail Jones, Jane Caro, Clementine Ford are among those from Australia. Writers from all over Asia, lots of Indonesians of course, and a sprinkling from Europe and the US. I translated five of the 15 writers for this year’s festival bilingual anthology, some established, some emerging. One piece, in the form of a legend, was an in-your-face Freudian sexual fantasy on “holes” and a longing to reunite with the “earth mother”! (An Indonesian literary friend whom I asked to check my translation said my version made a lot more sense than the original Indonesian which certainly had me puzzled!) The next piece I did was an innocent tale, with a mild environmental message, of a little girl being driven a long distance across Kalimantan to see a dolphin show in a tent but arriving too late to get a ticket - the two stories could not have been in greater contrast! Wonder what the readers will think. (PS This latter one did not make the final cut of the book - too mild, I guess!)
Been busy too these last few months, with translations for various Indonesian publishers wanting to showcase works at next March’s London Book Fair where Indonesia will be the Market Focus Country as it was for the Frankfurt Book Fair a couple of years back. Great opportunity to introduce Indonesian literature to the world.
In Ubud I will be staying at my old haunt, Puri Saraswati in the heart of town, now I no longer have Josh’s home. Will be nice and central for evening events and for catching up with local friends. And no domestic duties for twelve whole days! (Josh and Jazz are still living with me in Paddington, but move into Josh's Randwick apartment at Christmas when the tenants lease runs out,)
With the recent earthquakes in Lombok and Sulawesi there will be something of a pall over the mood in Bali - this time last year Bali itself was waiting for Gunung Agung to erupt. The festival will be having a session on natural disasters and collecting donations for the relief effort. I have a good sum of dollars from family members to take up to the Bali-based agencies I know for support of the disaster in Lombok.
I will be going by myself this year but several friends from elsewhere will be there at the same time and a couple of them staying in the same hotel, so I will not be short of festival companions.