2008
Househunting in Ubud
15 October 2008
The writers festival starts tonight with the Gala Opening at the Palace - as a volunteer translator my name is down for it apparently. (Tickets for the uninvited are very expensive). A VIP dress-up occasion, but in reality a bit of a bunfight as it is invariably very crowded. Am planning to meet up this afternoon with John McGlynn, the publisher from Jakarta who is finally going to talk to me about editing the novel I translated for Lontar and handed over nine months ago - he has emailed me the first seven pages, edited to make the stolid prose of the opening chapter of the original a bit more readable. It was not chosen for translation for its literary style - rather the extraordinary story being told of a child taken to the remote Banda islands in the Moluccas as a nutmeg slave. As a translator, I did not feel I could make huge changes to what was being said in the original Indonesian, but the publisher now has the author's permission to rewrite the story where necessary, to improve its readability for an English readership - not sure where I come in with such a process.
(The kitten Gypsy, rescued from the jaws of a neighbour's dog when I was here in August, keeps walking over the key board and creating an array of letters that are probably just as interesting for you to read as what I am writing.) The main sessions of the festival start tomorrow morning and then I won't be coming up for air for four days. Occasionally I hope to be able to slip down the road to see Jasmin at her mum's house for an hour or so if there is nothing of particular interest on - and will have a swimsuit with me for a quick dip in Petra's pool to cool off. The weather is really oppressive - hot and steamy and still, building up to the start of the wet season. The sort of weather that drove the colonials mad! Sitting in the pitch dark, enveloped by the sticky, black night (another blackout!), with nothing but the sound of the myriad insects that want to come in from the jungle outside and eat you alive, is the stuff of madness!! I attempted to stimulate Josh and Gab to do some story-telling as would have been the case on such nights with our primitive ancestors, but we did not get very far - probably to their relief, when the lights came back on.
Josh and I, after our morning visits to see Jasmin (who is slowly improving but still very fragile after her measles), have been doing a lot of driving on the bike around the back blocks of Ubud looking for "House to Rent” signs and stopping to ask people if there are any empty places in the area - have seen a few, but nothing suitable yet. (No such thing as a real estate agent except perhaps for high-end properties - all word of mouth or what you stumble across.) They have to be out of this place in Pejeng (to the east of Ubud) by 1 November, so it is getting close. Ideally we should be starting to pack up by now. The best possible place of the ones we have seen, is not yet finished being built and the owners are waiting for a tenant so they can use the first year’s rent to finish it. It looks quite livable in parts and has some lockable rooms. More western style than Balinese - tiled roof, not thatch. The main drawback is it only has a narrow muddy track the last 30 or so metres into it. Would be a drag getting home at night, especially in the wet (not to mention moving furniture in there) - but it has a lovely garden and faces endless rice fields. It is located just at the turning at the end of the road Petra lives on, a bit past the Neka Gallery for those who know Ubud. Josh will take Gab to see it. If they were to take it Josh would prefer to hold the first year's rent and finish arranging the building himself, to his taste. Before making a decision they will need to see the rooms that were locked when we went - bathroom, bedrooms – as yet no kitchen. It is close to the main road south from Ubud, for Gab to get to work- and just five minutes by bike to Jasmin's mum’s place.
(The kitten Gypsy, rescued from the jaws of a neighbour's dog when I was here in August, keeps walking over the key board and creating an array of letters that are probably just as interesting for you to read as what I am writing.) The main sessions of the festival start tomorrow morning and then I won't be coming up for air for four days. Occasionally I hope to be able to slip down the road to see Jasmin at her mum's house for an hour or so if there is nothing of particular interest on - and will have a swimsuit with me for a quick dip in Petra's pool to cool off. The weather is really oppressive - hot and steamy and still, building up to the start of the wet season. The sort of weather that drove the colonials mad! Sitting in the pitch dark, enveloped by the sticky, black night (another blackout!), with nothing but the sound of the myriad insects that want to come in from the jungle outside and eat you alive, is the stuff of madness!! I attempted to stimulate Josh and Gab to do some story-telling as would have been the case on such nights with our primitive ancestors, but we did not get very far - probably to their relief, when the lights came back on.
Josh and I, after our morning visits to see Jasmin (who is slowly improving but still very fragile after her measles), have been doing a lot of driving on the bike around the back blocks of Ubud looking for "House to Rent” signs and stopping to ask people if there are any empty places in the area - have seen a few, but nothing suitable yet. (No such thing as a real estate agent except perhaps for high-end properties - all word of mouth or what you stumble across.) They have to be out of this place in Pejeng (to the east of Ubud) by 1 November, so it is getting close. Ideally we should be starting to pack up by now. The best possible place of the ones we have seen, is not yet finished being built and the owners are waiting for a tenant so they can use the first year’s rent to finish it. It looks quite livable in parts and has some lockable rooms. More western style than Balinese - tiled roof, not thatch. The main drawback is it only has a narrow muddy track the last 30 or so metres into it. Would be a drag getting home at night, especially in the wet (not to mention moving furniture in there) - but it has a lovely garden and faces endless rice fields. It is located just at the turning at the end of the road Petra lives on, a bit past the Neka Gallery for those who know Ubud. Josh will take Gab to see it. If they were to take it Josh would prefer to hold the first year's rent and finish arranging the building himself, to his taste. Before making a decision they will need to see the rooms that were locked when we went - bathroom, bedrooms – as yet no kitchen. It is close to the main road south from Ubud, for Gab to get to work- and just five minutes by bike to Jasmin's mum’s place.
We also saw a house very close to here - a notorious house where the Australian owner was murdered 6 or so years ago and has stood empty since. A crime of passion for which no one was charged. It is in a bad state of repair - too much work to be done - and I don't like the idea of Jasmin finding out about the stories and possibly being freaked. Janma, Josh and Gab's good friend, lives between them and that house - she'd like them to take it on as she really wants them to stay in the neighbourhood. She knows the whole story - was the one to clean up the blood, take in the teenage daughter, and to translate for the witnesses to the police. Was the concocted tale of a botched robbery a total fabrication? The police say they did not have enough evidence to charge anyone. It must have been quite a scandal at the time and kept Ubud buzzing for months. I know Alex went to look at the house once when they were looking for a place to live.
I'm moving up to the centre of town today to stay with friends so I can get to and from the festival at all hours without relying on Josh and the bike. Pejeng is too far out of town.
I'm moving up to the centre of town today to stay with friends so I can get to and from the festival at all hours without relying on Josh and the bike. Pejeng is too far out of town.