Indonesia – Traveling Noodles

The People Who Make Coffee

Published on September 5, 2015September 5, 2015 by Anju@TravelingNoodles2 Comments

Life at a coffee plantation can be arduous, laid back, dangerous and at the same time fulfilling. I haven’t lived at a coffee plantation but we got an opportunity to glimpse at this slice of life by visiting and staying at plantations in Coorg, Chikmanglur and in Bali (Indonesia). Most coffee plantations are situated remotely with coffee shrubs interspersed by tall silver oak trees. It is not unusual for the plantation to be visited by elephants, tigers and wild boars. The coffee planter would ideally have his bungalow in the middle of the plantation with the next neighbor about 30 kms away.

But if you look carefully, a plantation is not just the coffee planter and his wife and kids its a micro community of sorts with staff at the bungalow, permanent workers at the plantation, drivers, people at the plant, migrant workers, coffee pickers, people working at processing. If it is a large enough plantation then there would also be schools, creches, co operative shops and a whole gamut of people and services that running a plantation involves.

The stories that the people whose life revolves around coffee tell is very interesting. Living at a plantation is a different experience entirely as you get to immerse yourself in their world for a short while and see the world from their eyes. You would hear stories of being scared when confronted by a lone tusker, stories of catching a majestic tiger, coffee flowers blooming early or about coffee planters awaiting spring showers.

Stories by migrant workers from Bengal who would leave after the harvesting season is over to some other part of the country where work would be available. Childhood memories of helping one’s mother at coffee picking as wages are determined by weight and then skipping off to play once snacks had been brought for the workers. About the rare bird sightings and the excitement of that conjures. Greetings from a post master from the nearby town who connects the people tucked away at the plantation to the rest of the world.

School going children who are accompanied by their parents going to work for coffee picking or any of the other tasks that forms the life line of coffee. Younger children running amok among the rows of coffee shrubs lined with tall trees with their parents on the look out for a wild boar or a herd of elephants crossing their paths. People always on the look out for each other as life is tough and a friendly greeting or a timely warning can make a big difference in an otherwise simple life.

The life at a plantation rises with the sun and sets with it and follows a lifestyle hidden to the city dweller . The conversations revolve around coffee amidst the fragrance of coffee blooms while sipping a cup of the heady brew. Visiting a plantation is great for the body and soul with the fresh mountain air, wholesome food and friendly faces and smiles that one can earn just by being present in the moment.

WP_20131225_018 — Making New friends at a Coffee Plantation in Indonesia

Ubud Where Art Meets Worship

Published on May 18, 2015May 18, 2015 by Anju@TravelingNoodles2 Comments

Bali, Indonesia was the first time we plunged down the equator. We arrived on a stormy day in Bali and for lack of better things to do stood peering at the sink to see if water swirled in the anti-clock wise direction in areas below the equator. To my bewilderment I could not really ascertain if the water was taking any preferred direction as from what I could tell it seemed to be going only in one direction and that was down.

After one whole day of lazing around in the resort at Kuta beach and some afore mentioned hydro physics, we decided we could not spend all of our time in Bali waiting for the storm to blow over. So we hired a car for a day and marked out the places we wanted to go to. We would get in the car after breakfast and get back to the hotel by night. My then one year old seemed to thrive in this nomadic life, it always makes me wonder whether we should sell our house and live in an RV for his sake.

One of our trips while in Bali was to Ubud, Wenara wana and the rolling paddy fields of Tegalalang. Ubud seems to be where art and entrepreneurship thrives. Along with beautiful temples with amazing sculptures, Ubud is also home to the 21st century nomadic entrepreneur. Ubud is home to many co working spaces and start ups that house people from all over the world, working in the lap of nature must be reward in itself for these go getters.

Ubud is also home to beautiful wood cravings, glass work and exquisite furniture that is shipped all over the world. In fact we stumbled across a small cottage industry of wind chime makers in Ubud that had Jamaica written on the chimes and would be sold as souvenirs for tourists who visit Jamaica. This is what globalization has led to, when souvenirs for one part of the world are manufactured in another.

Ubud and Bali also offers some great batik prints and batik sarongs are quite amazing. We also visited a showroom that sold some exquisite designs in silver that were truly intricate. Wood carvings and other such art forms are dying art forms as youngsters look for other glamorous job prospects and move to the cities. There is a distinct hierarchy that is followed in the workshops where these crafts are still practiced and the quality of the work can also be distinguished between master, expert and apprentice. We were lucky to see this art that is revered as worship.

Another noteworthy temple to visit is Wenara Wana which translates to monkey forest. The temple is dedicated to the monkey God and is a haven for mischievous monkeys. This is a sanctuary for monkeys and contrary to what businesses selling food for the monkeys say, it is better to go inside without any food items or bags. The temple is surrounded by thick trees and laced by a sparkling stream. The entire place gives the aura of being at peace with itself. There are certain rules to be followed while visiting temples in Bali from wearing a sarong that can be rented to not entering certain temples with young children.

Our last stop for the day was Tegalalang which is home to step terraces of paddy fields. Some of the farmers make an extra buck by posing for pictures or taking you through the paddy fields. We chose to stand at the edge of the fields and admire the young green of paddy and the versatile artworks that had blessed this small island where every temple and stone seems to have been touched and uniquely crafted by thoughtful hands.

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What I Miss Most When I Travel – My cup of coffee

Published on March 30, 2015March 31, 2015 by Anju@TravelingNoodles6 Comments

The taste of coffee is very personal and unique to each individual, it depends entirely on which family you were born to and what your tastes are like. In India coffee is synonymous with South India with most North Indians being inducted to coffee drinking only after spending a few years in cities like Bangalore or Chennai. It is said that the best way to disrupt the daily life of a South Indian family is to hide the coffee filter. South India prefers the chicory blend coffee which is part of the legacy that the French brought to this land below the Vindhyas.

Coffee Tray with Steaming Chicory Cofee — Coffee Tray with Steaming Chicory Coffee

I was born in a part of South India where the reach of coffee was not as strong and is populated mostly by tea drinkers who could say. ‘chetta oru chaya’ with flourish. But the anomaly here was my mother whose tastes were slightly more sophisticated than the rest. She is a coffee addict in a land of tea drinkers. The ritual of filter and chicory coffee is hence very familiar to me though we kids were given only milk which I despised for the entirety of my childhood. Occasionally my mother would add a tiny bit of coffee to the milk and make the white liquid palatable. Coffee like alcohol was for the adults only.

The problem with being the only coffee drinker in the midst of chaya drinking folks was that my mother’s favourite brew in the right proportions of decoction, milk and sugar was hard to come by especially when visiting relatives. Coffee excites interest as an exotic drink much like the story of the introduction of coffee to the Indian sub-continent. Coffee was sneaked into the country by a sufi saint Baba Budan in the form of seven seeds strapped to his chest on his return journey from Yemen to the hills of Chikmanglur.

Those seven seeds lead to India becoming one of the major exporters of coffee in Asia. Tata coffee is one of the exporters of coffee beans to Starbucks, hence if you order a tall cappuccino at Starbucks in the United States, chances are that you might be drinking coffee made from beans produced at Plantation Trails in Coorg. We had the opportunity wake up to freshly roasted coffee at one the Tata Coffee bungalows and we realized how a few beans from this plantation has the power of setting the tone of someone’s day from half way across the world.

Coffee is prepared in different ways all over the world. Cappuccino is one part coffee and two part milk, an expresso is black coffee and crema and an Affogato is coffee plus vanilla ice cream. Irish coffee I am told involves a dash of alcohol and coffee that you get high up on the Swizz Alps is black coffee with rum which I have had the opportunity to indulge in. Every different continent that we have visited, the one thing that I yearn for most is ‘my familiar cup of coffee’. Though each country has a unique preparation and taste, the cup I want to wake up with can only be found at home.

The most expensive coffee in the world is Kopi Luwak which comes from Indonesia. Luwak is a small cat like animal called a civet which is found in the forests of Indonesia. The civet eats the coffee berries and eventually poops out the coffee beans. The civet eats only the best coffee berries and the beans undergo some processing in the gut of the civet which makes it an expensive and elusive coffee. On our last trip to Bali we made sure that we brought home a small sample of this expensive coffee as a gift for my mother. Though she decided that the Indian chicory blend of coffee with two spoons of sugar and a dash of milk was the best concoction ever and I agree.