Road Trip to Regreen Bali

April 28, 2015April 28, 2015 / pakdavebali / Leave a comment

Kadek Gunarta tends to his newest children: 5,000 bamboo plants

Having fun and doing good…That’s a lesson I’ve learned from Kadek Gunarta. I joined Dek and his team from Bali Regreen on a road trip to a very poor village in north Bali where they are helping to improve the welfare of hundreds of families.

Dek talking to the head of one of the banjar’s at Songket B

The Bali Regreen Project is led by Dek and sponsored by the Bali Spirit Festival Team. It’s mission is to help improve the lives of villagers by helping them plant and then maintain and harvest bamboo which can be used for village ceremonies and as a cash crop. Also, replanting hillsides destroyed by lava flows and erosion helps to markedly improve the environment.

Dek with Ketut one of the Bali Regreen community organizers and Supardi from Kompos Pedang Tegal.

But the Regreen Project is as much about community organizing and empowerment as it is about planting. Dek and his team work closely with village leaders and farmers to plan the project, implement it and to maintain it. Dek’s Team provides the expertise on how to plant and maintain bamboo, and works closely with farmers over many months and years. The villagers contribute some funding for the projects, but most importantly provide the loving care to the bamboo that it needs to grow.

In addition to bamboo, the Regreen Project recently helped the Songket B villagers build a 9.6 km water pipeline to serve their village. One of the main reasons that this village is so poor is that it lacks adequate water supplies. There has been only 8 liters of water per day per household which is barely enough for drinking and washing with no water available to raise livestock or anything else. Dek put together a plan that included finding a water source, pumps, pipes, water storage, construction and maintenance. The pipeline was built in less than a month, and is now supplying water. When I asked how the water supply has changed their lives, one woman replied that now her family has enough water for everyone to have a bath, and she’s bought some pigs and other livestock which will add to the family’s income.

Taking a bath with water from new water pipe built by Bali Regreen

Of course no Balinese road trip would be complete without a lot of joking and eating. We made at least 3 stops for food at delicious local warungs and ended the day with a feast of Durian, the first time I ate this pungent fruit.

The mighty, fun-loving team from Bali Regreen

Best Massage in Bali

March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 / pakdavebali / Leave a comment

Felicity and I have been engaged in comprehensive, dogged research these past two years to find the very best massage in Bali. This project has taken us to every part of the island to fancy resort spas, therapy centers, street-side masseuses… you name it. Literally dozens of massages and hundreds of hours were put into this job. I’m exhausted just writing about it. Seriously, there are some excellent masseuses and spas in Bali…better per square kilometer than any place in the world.

After compiling our findings and running many analytics, statistical equations, meditating and praying, we have a winner: THE BEST MASSAGE IN BALI IS BY IBU KETUT of Subak Tabola. She leads the spa team at Subak Tabola on a beautiful hilltop in Sidemen.

Ibu Ketut, The Best Masseuse in Bali

Ibu Ketut is strong and well-trained. She’s worked as a masseuse all over Asia. She really knows what she’s doing, and after an hour in her strong hands you feel like a newborn baby. Ibu is also about the kindest person you’ll ever meet, and you’re part of the family after the first massage. Ketut has trained the other members of the Subak Tabola Spa Team so whoever gives you a massage, you’ll love it.

The Subak Tabola spa setting is also beautiful. It’s not the least bit fancy. The spa is the patio of an old Javan joglo that sits next to an irrigation canal and rice fields. While Ketut or Kadek works on you, you hear the water rushing and hear the birds singing. Afterwards, you can take a shower or bath outside, and then head off to the bar and pool at Subak Tabola or its sister hotel next door, Surya Shanti. You can book a massage with Ketut by contacting Ayu at Subak Tabola 081337597898. Subak Tabola website: SubakTabolaVilla.com Surya Shanti Website:

View from the Subak Tabola spa.

SuryaShantiVilla.com

I’m sure other folks have their favorite massages, and you’re welcome to add a comment with your favorite. But once Ketut has worked on you, you will be spoiled forever.

Canti,
Pak Dave

New Eco Club Joins Campaign to Keep Bali Beautiful

March 10, 2015 / pakdavebali / 2 Comments

Wearing our new Eco Club SMAN1 Banjarankan t-shirts

Thirty high school students from SMAN1 Banjarankan, Bali took a field trip on Monday to inspire them to become eco-educators at their school. As the SMAN1 Eco Club, it will be their job to operate the school’s recycling program and to educate their fellow students about the value of recycling.

Sorting plastic at Bali Recycling

Olivier explaining how Bali Recycling converts plastic to products.

Kadek Donal makes Bali Recycling’s Managers honorary Eco Clubbers.

These very motivated and smart kids first received a tour of Bali Recycling in Mas where Olivier Pouillon showed them how the plastic, paper and glass they recycle at their school is converted into valued products. “Throwing that plastic away is like throwing money away,” said Olivier. “We will pay you for that plastic, and make upcycled plastic products that we can sell,” he said.

Even old gum boots are recycled for planters at RumahKompos

Su.pardi of Rumah Kompos PadangTegal showing us how they make compost

Our next stop was to see Supardi at the Padang Tegal Rumah Kompos. He showed us around this very efficient recycling and composting center across from Ubud’s Monkey Forest. He also explained to us how plastic pollution poisons our air, water, animals and ultimately ourselves.

Finally it was lunch time where the great cooks and wonderful chefs served a delicious meal, and then treated us to a Yoga Class led by Andrea and Levi.

SMAN1 teachers getting into the yoga.

Made Max, Iloh Averi and Made Junie deep into meditation.

Thank you Andrea, Levi and Yoga Barn for a great finish to the day.

Then back on the bus and homeward bound after enjoying a great day learning a lot and having fun!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIaZtepeC7g

For more information or if you’d like to help Keep Bali Beautiful, please complete this form:

Bye Bye Plastic Bag Movement Grows

February 2, 2015 / pakdavebali / Leave a comment

Isabel and Melati from Bye Bye Plastic Bag with Klungkung Eco Clubbers, Komank from Udayana University , Puji from Keep Bali Beautiful and Lucas from DASH

Isabel and Melati from Bye Bye Plastic Bag with Klungkung Eco Club Leaders Gita and Reny, Komank from Udayana University , Puji from Keep Bali Beautiful and Lucas from DASH

Bye Bye Plastic Bag (BBPB) the kid-run organization with the big mission of banning plastic bags in Bali organized a coalition of more than 100 organizations (including Keep Bali Beautiful) and individuals to assist their effort at a meeting last week.

The BBPB Coalition will be focused on educating schools, businesses and villages throughout the island about the problems that plastic bags and other pollution causes for the people of Bali, and what they can do to solve it.

At the BBPB Coalition Meeting

They will be organizing marches, awarding businesses that take the pledge to be plastic-free, delivering their message to the news media and continuing their campaign to obtain one million signatures to ban plastic bags.

If you would like to sign the petition to make Bali plastic bag free, click here. Or if you would like to volunteer to be part of the campaign to Keep Bali Beautiful click here.

University Students Take Pledge to Keep Bali Beautiful

January 25, 2015January 26, 2015 / pakdavebali / Leave a comment

During a leadership retreat at Ashram Gandhi Puri, nearly 100 student leaders from the Institute of Hindu Dharma pledged they would personally take charge of helping to solve the problem of plastic pollution in Bali. They will help create an Eco Club at their university to recycle plastic and Keep their Campus Beautiful.

These students bring a lot of enthusiasm, smarts and leadership skills. Their commitment to cleaning up their island is a big step forward. It’s part of our strategy to help provide these young people with the tools and infrastructure to help them achieve their goal.

Find out more at Keep Bali Beautiful.com

Where Does the Plastic Go After I Recycle It?

December 15, 2014January 12, 2015 / pakdavebali / 3 Comments

SMAN 1 Semarapura’s Eco-Club members run a very successful recycling program at their school. They recently asked me: Where does the plastic, paper and glass we recycle at our school travel to after it leaves our school? To answer that question we put on our new Eco Club T-Shirts, hopped on a bus and traveled to Bali Recycling in Mas, about 30 minutes away. Here we learned that 90% to 95% of the waste we send to them is recycled into products such as handbags, wallets, shoes, pallets, glasses, sweaters etc. The remainder that can’t be recycled is sent to the Temesi Landfill where it is responsibly managed.

Olivier teaching us about what happens to what we recycle.

Founder Olivier Poullion walked us through the whole process from when the material arrives at Bali Recycling through how he converts the garbage into pretty cool products. He urged us to think about our waste as a valuable commodity that with some creativity and technical know-how really does have monetary value.

Reycycled Paper for Bags

Beautiful bags from recycled plastic

Recycled wine bottles become cool glasses

Olivier recently won an award for a cool new application he is developing that will allow kids (and others) to sell recyclable waste directly. More about this when the program gets up and running.

Eco Club Team with the Bali Recycling Crew

We also visited with Supardi the Manager of Rumah Kompos Padangtegal near the Monkey Forest in Ubud. His operation is really the whole package. They process more than 600 kg per day of waste from the residences, hotels and restaurants in their village.

Composting waste from the village

They compost the organic waste, recycle the plastic, glass and paper and what they can’t reuse, they send to Temesi. Kudos to the village of Padangtegal and Pak Kadek Gunarta of Yoga Barn for setting up and subsidizing this venture through ticket sales at the Monkey Forest.

Eco Clubbers with Rumah Kompos Padangtegal Crew

After viewing these two very positive examples of how Balinese are responsibly managing their waste, we also were exposed to a more negative garbage scene in a village near Ubud. Here an illegal dump is being operated.

Illegal dump near Ubud. Garbage has filled a riverbed more than 12 feet high.

Instead of paying the slightly higher cost of shipping waste to a responsible facility, it is being diverted into this riverbed where it is polluting the land nearby and will eventually deposit refuse throughout the whole length of the river and down to the sea. The SMA1 kids were appalled this was happening, and couldn’t understand what was wrong with the grownups who were allowing this to happen. Finally, we stopped for a very tasty lunch at Warung Mina where we discussed what we had learned. Our principal Pak Suamba said he was inspired to start a compost operation at his school to compliment the ongoing non-organic recycling program. The Eco-Club members were inspired, thinking about reaching out to middle schools in the neighborhood, and dedicated to keeping their school and island Beautiful.

Pak Dave with the talented staff at Warung Mina.

Keep Bali Beautiful!!! Head Cheerleader Pak Dave

Regreening Bali: One Bamboo at a Time

December 14, 2014December 18, 2014 / pakdavebali / 2 Comments

Murni Plantiing Bamboo in Songam Village

Murni Planting Bamboo in Songan Village

Many families in Songan Village B will get a lift out of poverty thanks to the efforts of Kadek Gunarta of the Bali Regreen project, and his team of skilled community organizers and agricultural experts.

Bali Regreen will plant more than 4,000 bamboo shoots donated by the good people of John Hardy Silver in Songan Village B. In seven years, the bamboo will grown into stalks wide enough to sale at the market. This is a huge opportunity for the farmers here who scratch out a living from the dry soil.

Songan Village B farmers

Even before seven years, farmers will reap benefits. Village leaders estimated they purchase about $3,000 a year of bamboo for ceremonies and other uses which soon will be avoided costs.

This program is much more than planting bamboo. It takes a whole village to keep this crop alive. Bali Regreen organized a seminar with the local farmers to teach them how to grow and maintain the plants. BR staff will check on the plants monthly, and provide ongoing seminars for the farmers.

Dhemy Revving Up the Crowd

A group of about 30 volunteers from Bali Spirit Festival, Yoga Barn and John Hardy helped with the planting. Some were better at it than others. At the end of the day, there were thanks all around.

Weak, but enthusiastic

New Zealander Andy with new friend

John Hardy crew

Klungkung Eco Clubbers Meet Bye Bye Plastic Bag Team

December 10, 2014December 10, 2014 / pakdavebali / 2 Comments

Eco Club leaders from SMA1 Dawan and SMA1 Semarapura traveled to Kuta today and were inspired by the Team from Bye Bye Plastic Bag, a group of middle school miracle workers whose goal is nothing less than banning plastic bags in Bali.

Bye Bye Plastic Bag and Klungkung Eco Clubbers

Their strategy is just as audacious as their goal. They are in the process of collecting ONE MILLION SIGNATURES on a petition to ban plastic bags in Bali. If they can meet their goal, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has agreed to impose the ban. If you would like to sign their petition, please click here.

SMA1 Dawan Eco Club leaders

Our Eco Club leaders and the Bye Bye Plastic Bag kids are planning to work together to solve the problem of plastic pollution in Bali. Stand aside grown-ups. Watching these kids in action, I have no doubt they will achieve their goal.

We were also able to sneak in a little fun too with a diversion to the beach at Sanur and to this silly tempat foto.

SMA1 Semarapura Students Take the Recycling Pledge

December 7, 2014December 7, 2014 / pakdavebali / 3 Comments

SMA1 Semarpura’s Principal kicking off our recycling education event

The Eco Club students at SMA1 Semarapura organized their first recycling event last Friday for the 11th grade class of 200 students. They created a very compelling powerpoint presentation. The school principal strongly promoted the event…and I did my thing as Head Cheerleader of Keep Bali Beautiful.

Getting Silly for a Good Cause

Our message was simple. The plastic and other trash from 4 million Balinese and a like number of tourists is killing this beautiful island. It’s poisoning the air and water, killing the animals and will eventually destroy the economy as the tourists opt for cleaner places to vacation.

We then ask who can solve this problem. The students looked around at their teachers, their principal and finally at one another. We told them they are the solution to Bali’s pollution problems and they could Keep Bali Beautiful.

Having Fun and Learning About Recycling

They believed, and took this pledge:

Saya Berjanji Untuk Jauhkan SMA1 dan Bali Indah

Dengan Daur Ulang Sampah

“I promise to keep my high school and Bali beautiful by recycling plastic, paper and glass garbage.”

Eco Club Co-President Reny making her case

Our Eco Club leaders will go on a field trip next week to see where the garbage they collect is taken to be recycled, and to see a legal and illegal dump….We’re making progress here one high school class at a time.

If you’d like to help please, go to Keep Bali Beautiful.

The Summit: Leave it to the Gods

November 19, 2014November 16, 2014 / pakdavebali / Leave a comment

Only the five best climbers were chosen from our group to challenge the summit. I must have been number six. I missed the cut and was bitterly disappointed. But, the summit climb is very rugged and dangerous. Two days before some hikers were literally blown off a ridge top. When Wyasa told me he had tried the summit, but had to turn back I didn’t feel so bad since he’s about ten times stronger than me.

So instead of getting killed, I spent the day at the hot springs. Thank God for being Number 6.

At the moment this photo was taken, I had this perfectly warm spring all to myself. Minutes later I was joined by 25 villagers from central Lombok. These villagers were Muslim and dirt poor. They had brought some food, a few plates to share and a pot to boil their rice. They were planning to catch fish at Anak Laut to supply the bulk of their food. They were ecstatic about their upcoming vacation. Of course they were surprised to find a white guy occupying their spring. But we talked and joked for an hour.

Drying fish

In America I might have been ticked off that 25 strangers invaded my space. But after living in Bali for 2 years, I’m used to the lack of privacy. It was fun in camp. Everywhere I went people invited into their tents for coffee or a cigarette. All these conversations started out exactly the same. For the first five minutes it was all about exchanging information: Where did I live? Where was my wife? How many kids? Where was my wife? When was I returning to Bali? Where was my wife? Did I like Lombok? Where was my wife. This is all pretty normal. Indonesians want some basic information on where to place you. Read Indonesia, Etc. by Elizabeth Pisani to get some funny insight on this.

But even though my language skills are still weak, I could have some conversations. I talked to a young architect about the techniques he uses to prevent his buildings from falling down in an earthquake. I asked everyone if they liked Indonesia’s dynamic new president, Jokowi. Most did not. 80% of Lombok voted for Jokowi’s opponent. I talked to a man who holds down two jobs as a teacher and hotel employee, and wants to learn the Hindu slokas (chants). I talked to a young couple who brought their eight-year old daughter with them on the trek. They are middle class, but still stressed about the basic economic needs of putting food on the table and sending their daughter to school.

Our final ceremony involved two fun events. First, a group of brave young men jumped into the chilly lake. They retrieved two stoppered bottles that had been placed in the lake the previous day. The mystery would be to see if these bottles had filled with water. Miraculously, as they do every year, the bottles returned filled with holy water (tirta). We cheered.

Counting the coin and jewelry offerings

The second ritual involved collecting coins and jewelry amounting to several hundred dollars which would be given to the Gods of the lake as an offering. We cheered again as another group of brave men swam out to give this gift.

Then we went to bed early for a 3am wake up call. 4am prayers…and 5am hitting the road.

The way out started with a two kilometer climb to the ridge top. Wyasa and I started early, and avoided the traffic jams. At the top one of the old guys yelled down: Stop Smoking and Keep Walking. That’s because almost all of the young men would walk like rabbits for about five minutes and then stop for a cigarette break. They are “Smoking Bunnies”, he told me.

Just five minutes before the end, the rain started. We had achieved one of our key goals. Our prayers had been answered. It rained all the way back to Mataram, and I’m not sure if the rain has stopped since. These guys really know what they are doing. Places suffering drought, like California, might want to consult them.

We hopped back on the bus. Smoked a couple of clove cigarettes. And then the young guys dropped off to sleep sprawling across each other. They may be Smoking Rabbits, but at that moment they reminded me a lot of puppy dogs.