#423 : 1st and 2nd day in Ubud

This post is a story about my first and second day in Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2010, which took place in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. Very nice experience! But, please forgive me for not that good pics provided along my journey, because i couldn’t bring my digicam (my dad brought it to another place), so i just relied on my crap phone camera :p

5 Oct 2010

Yesterday, 5 Oct 2010 was quite a day for me. There were a lot of new experiences, such as

• It was the first time I managed my driving license extension, since it will expire on 10 Oct 2010 and that day will be monday. So, rather than take a risk, I had chosen to extend it yesterday. The procedure there (at SIM Corner in Tunjungan Plaza) quite easy. You need to take the queue number. Then, if you get your number called, you just need to give the copy of your KTP and old SIM (Identity Card and Driving License). After that, you will receive a form that you should fill in. Finish with the filing in, pay the administration fee, collect the form to the officer. Just wait until your name called to get your photo taken. Well, just wait about 5-10 minutes (mine only took less than 5 min), then your new SIM is available. Great!.. Total time taken (for me yesterday) was 40 minutes only.
• Yesterday was also my first time traveling alone. This is related to Ubud Writers and Readers Festival which I really want to see and participate :D.. The flight itself was quite fast. Only took 30 minutes more. But, the time taken to wait the luggage is just the same with the flight, even longer!. After that, I went to my Inn (yes, this is literally an inn :(, quite simple and modest, but somehow a bit scary in evening).. It took almost 1.5 hour from Ngurah Rai Airport to Ubud, a location where the UWRF done :D..

So, after checking in, I just repacked for a little, then decided to look the venues for the UWRF, of course with the map.. But, the journey was a very long journey. Oh my god.. It was written only took 5 minutes by car. But really, I took almost 10 minutes just only to reach the half way. I decided to go back and look for a restaurant, since I had not eaten anything since lunch.. Phew..

I ate at The Paon International Restaurant. Well, for the budget journey, I looked for the cheapest food haha.. Not always the cheapest, but the medium rates lah.. I ate Soto for 40 thousand rupiahs.. Oh my god.. It’s just 2 times from the regular delicious Soto in Surabaya. But hey!, This is Bali. LoL.. everything counted with US$ :p.. Besides, last month, I’ve been here too, so I’m not too surprised with the food price. But i can say that the service here is really good and polite 😀

After having dinner, I decided to go back to my room (with Aqua, water is the source of life! LoL).. and well, the miracle happened, I don’t know why, but my AHA connection went very well. I’ve tried to use it the previous 2 hour, but it couldn’t download or get any pages. Crap. haha.. So, chatting til late. LoL.. This is what I called being connect, although you’re in the middle of rice field.

6 Oct 2010

The second day.. I woke up with the nature alarm, SUNLIGHT!.. LoL.. and decided to take pictures of rice field.

Rice Field 1

Rice Field 3

Rice Field 4

Well, if you want to know my very modest inn 🙁 , these are some photos (the real photos, not like promotional photos that tricked me! haha)..

The Bed

Chairs and Table

WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONER AND TELEVISION !! haha.. oh damn.. well, just to be grateful and think positive :(.. Besides, it’s one of the cheapest package and i just need a place to sleep :p

Some more rice field scenery here

Rice Field 5

Rice Field 6

After finishing my breakfast, I just went to the main location, to get all my pre-booked tickets for some workshop. Well, as Indonesian people, I was late for the 1st workshop LoL.. only 5 minutes late :p.. but, really, for the first time i came into the room, i just shocked. At first, I think ‘Oh my god. This is a small room workshop, while i expect quite a lot of people join. Only about 15 people. And the worse, almost all of them are foreigner with blonde! and they are all real authors!!!.. oh really my god.. I just think to get out from there. But in the end, i decided to stay, hoping i will get something LoL.

WORKSHOP ‘GO ON, SHOW US YOUR LINE’

This workshop title is ‘GO ON, SHOW US YOUR LINE’. Well, this is really about self-editing your writing. Normally, authors will bring their manuscripts/writings to the publisher and the editor will try to edit it as maximum as they can. But, from this workshop, you will know the critical points that editor want you to know.

here are some review from UWRF:

The old adage Show Don’t Tell is enough to drive a person crazy! That is, unless they get the thrill of scenic splendour that comes from doing precisely that! This is one of the most heard about and (probably) least understood elements of writing. Join prominent editor Shelley Kenigsberg and author and editor Selena Hanet-Hutchins for this comprehensive workshop that will help you get the gist of what it is and how to apply it to your work (fiction, non-fiction, long pieces, short pieces). Is it always true that we should show not tell? Is it okay to sometimes tell what’s happened or will this just give the reader a ‘blueprint’ of the novel? How does ’Showing’ and ’Telling’ relate to scene-shaping and word choice, or dialogue? How can it help a writer craft a marketable novel or non-fiction work? All these questions will be answered … and more.

The lecturers are : (copy paste the info from the http://ubudwritersfestival.com)
Selena Hanet-Hutchins

Selena

Selena Hanet-Hutchins is an author and freelance editor who runs Texture, a broad-scope editing business celebrating the capacity of words to enrich our lives by supporting the development of writers’ and editors’ skills in publishing, small business and community. Selena has worked in publishing for nearly ten years, freelance and as Allen & Unwin’s submissions editor for unsolicited manuscripts (’slush pile’) and agency editor and sub-agent at Selwa Anthony Author Management Agency. She was program coordinator and associate director of the AVIP Popular Australian Readers’ & Writers’ Festival. Selena’s poetry, spoken word and plays have been performed in Sydney, Wollongong and Melbourne, including the Festival of Australasian Student Theatre, the Overload Poetry Festival, This Is Not Art/Newcastle Young Writers Festival, and the first Cockatoo Island Festival as a core member of the spoken word group Citizens of Language. Her most recent book is Mariella and the Stars (ABC, 2009).

Shelley Kenigsberg

Shelley

Shelley Kenigsberg is a prominent freelance editor, writer and trainer who works with writers and publishing houses in a range of genres. As proprietor of S K Publishing, in Sydney, Shelley has mentored many authors, edited a range of books and been a panellist and presented courses at literary festivals and writers centres in Australia and in Indonesia, Japan and South Africa. She has also coordinated the Macleay College Diploma of Editing and Publishing for the past 20 years. Her newest venture (with Selena Hanet-Hutchins) is Editing in Paradise — an editing masterclass retreat for writers. Shelley has been an active member of state and national editing societies (President, NSW society 2000–03; VP 03–06) and a founding member of Professional Editors Association (NSW) Inc. Shelley regularly delivers training at state and territory writers’ centres (including two upcoming workshops in Darwin on Business Writing and Structural Editing).

Well, Selena and Shelley are really good friends and lecturers for us as participant. They are very kind, and did a lot of sharing. The others were quite active too. Well, I was very passive today, busy translating what they’ve been saying LoL. But, I enjoy this session. The main point was this session teach us to be our self-editor. But, please do not forget that writing is far different from editing. So, when you need to write, use your writing brain and release all the imagination. If you’re editing, use your editing guidelines, critical point, etc.

Some of critical points that editor should notice are: (these works mainly for English writings)

• reduce the use of adverb, the one ending with -ly
• reduce the using of ‘with … ‘, or ‘ had … ‘.
• make sure that every scene has 5 W and 1 H, although it’s not necessary explicit

Well, get a lot of exercise from this session. the paper/memo given was almost 10 pages! LoL.. will read more in Surabaya, I guess.. and maybe, after reading it, i will be able to tell you more about this stuff 😀

Session Break

Finish!

The one talking with the white-shirt lady is Selena, while the one talking to black-t-shirt man is Shelley..

Then, after finish with workshop, I went back to inn, and of course, taking some photos.

Kori Ubud

Kori Ubud, the workshop venues 😀

The ticket box office, where you can buy and take your tickets

Festival Box Office

Indus, one of the venues of main programs starting from tomorrow

Indus

I also wanted to attend cultural workshop called ‘Heal The Masses’, an event provided by spiritual Bali healer to analyze your current condition (i thought i can have the answer for my insomnia). But, the time is limited. I needed to prepare myself to the Gala Opening on the evening, and i haven’t had my lunch. So, well, I missed the healing session :p

I got lunch at Cafe des Artistes, one of the crowded cafe near my inn.

The Cafe

Interior Side of the Cafe

Chicken Cordon Bleu for my Lunch with Baked Potato!

Well, after that, i just walked around the street, to look for nice pics.

The Gala Opening of the Festival would be held in Ubud Palace. So, in the afternoon, I took a look of them. Some of the event entertainer were doing general rehearsal.

Rehearsal of the Dancer

Then, had a walk to Ubud Market..

Ubud Market

Well well.. That’s about the walking-walking 🙂

Just jump to the Festival Opening then 🙂

Many speeches from famous people were happened in that opening event, such as from UWRF Founder, Janet de Neefe, Bali Governor Mr Mangku Pastika, Citibank Manager/Director for Asia, Ubud Palace representative, and etc. Also, there were poetry readings by Sutardji and Sitor Situmorang (one of the Indonesian best poets from 45 generation/angkatan 45). Later on, Sitor Situmorang also awarded Life Time Achievement by MasterCard, given Saraswati Award for his dedication in literary of Indonesia. Well, I sat in the very back line, without any good camera, so I couldn’t provide quite much good pics. Besides, this event was hold evening. It event made my pics worse, without capability to take nice pictures in dark place!.

Before the Opening

Welcome Dance

The most beautiful attraction was in latest performance, where there was Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Dance, showing some (about 6-8) traditional dances from various place with each own cultural songs. Such as Piring Dance, and then the Aceh Dance (i don’t know the name), then Papua Dance, West Java, and Jakarta Dance. quite many of them. In the end of the event, many tourist wanted to take a photograph with all the dancer 🙂

Gamelan Player

Gamelan

Blurr

Very Blurry Pics of some dancers

And that’s the Festival Opening

After that, having dinner at Miro’s Cafe.. Very romantic place, so dark with candle light in each table, surrounded by garden atmosphere.. I had Nasi Campur Bali as my dinner. And guess what! it has almost 10 different kind of dishes, but small portion. Such as rendang, chicken meat with sauce, dadar jagung, egg, serundeng, satay. Oh my god.. really love it!.. and the rice was made into small Tumpeng shape.. Well, i took the picture of that, but really dark!

Nasi Campur @ Miro's Restaurant

Thats all my first and second day in Ubud, 5-6 Oct 2010.

Well, it took me quite a long time to finish this post. Will add more of my Ubud Writers experience!!

See you in another post