We decided to spend Brandon’s post-deployment leave in Bali.
 |
| (In which there is a multitude of good lookin' doors.) |
I don’t even know where to start – it was that good. Actually we were so busy driving from one
sight to the next that I know we both could have used a bit more time to work
on our tan and appreciate some of the island’s nicer beaches. We barely had enough downtime to appreciate
the amazingly cheap spa prices. That’s
why we are already talking about our next trip there (a little delusional,
perhaps, but it’s too amazing not to visit again!)
 |
| Another good lookin' door. |
Maybe I should start with our hotel. We
decided to stay in Seminyak, which proved to be a good base from which to
venture out on daytrips. We stayed at a
small villa on the edge of town, just far enough from the main drag that we
could wake up to strange birdsong and not the metallic whine of the country’s
many motorbike commuters. I fell in
love with villa life the first time I was caught hanging out at the pool by one
of the awesome staff members. “Would you
like some tea ma’am?”
Why yes. Yes I
would. Forget cabana boys, it’s all
about complimentary afternoon tea. Especially
if it’s lemongrass tea, which is pretty much the thing to drink over there.
But where was I?
We didn’t spend as much time in Seminyak as I had
imagined. A quick look at Seminyak
Square (classy shopping) and the nearby Oberoi Flea Market (people trying to
sell you drugs and Bintang tanks) pretty much covers the daytime activities
there. At sunset we headed over to
Double Six beach to enjoy the view and the beach bars that set out cute
umbrellas and bean bags facing the beach.
Some even have live music and glow-in-the dark furniture. One night we went over to Potatohead, a
classy beach club with decent security and one heck of a cocktail menu. It was probably one of the nicest places in
Bali, but still pretty chill. Which
leads me to another point: unless you are staying at a resort or something,
best not pack your good shoes. After
Potatohead we headed down to Kuta, where the party is at, apparently. A party of crazy, dance-y Australians. One visit to Kuta totally sufficed.
Most of our time spent ranging out to different parts of the
island seeing the sights with a driver on daytrips. This is really the most convenient and
affordable way to get around and to basically have a travel guide. Because driving in Balinese traffic would
have likely led to my death or a psychotic break.
We watched artisans producing traditional Batik, watched
silversmiths at work turning out an abundance of jewelry, and even visited some
woodcarvers. The Batik was most worth
the stop – the goods you can find at a real gallery feature painstaking
hand-painted detail and a quality that is not comparable to the knock- off wares
we were bombarded with at the little flea markets all over Bali.
We also stopped in Ubud, but I found the market touristy and
uninteresting and really the Monkey Forest there was the main justification for
the trek out there. The monkey sanctuary
was pretty awesome, actually. There were tons of them! They were so ornery, I found myself thanking
God they weren’t intelligent enough to organize as a large group. Or plot.
They can get pretty scary when they’re mad, and very grabby. One started a tug of war with a lady and her
handbag, and they definitely seem to have some kind of intense hatred for sunglasses.
There were more monkeys in Uluwatu, which features a temple
on a very high cliff overlooking the ocean.
There we stopped to watch the Ramayana and Kecak (ke-chack) Fire Dance. Although the location offered an excellent
backdrop for this dance, when the weather decided to roll in it got a little
intense. Lots of people fled because of
the crazy winds, but it was totally worth staying for and it was the most
entertaining thing we saw there. Plus,
whenever I need to bug the husband, I can now chant “CAK CAK CAK!!!!” at him.
Uluwatu was a little west of our location, as was Jimbaran,
which is apparently where the backpackers like to frequent, and also those
seeking the prettier beaches. I
definitely want to check this area out more in the future. We stopped in another more rural area to take
in the sweeping landscape of rice terraces that lies a little bit more towards
the center of the island. When we
visited, the highway was particularly lively; students who had just finished
final exams were celebrating by tearing up and down the roads in huge packs of
motorbikes, flying pirate flags and donning their uniforms which they had
brightened up a bit with spray paint.
Now THAT’S the way to celebrate finals week.
We also visited the Bali Zoo, because Brandon ABSOLUTEY HAD
TO ride an elephant. Also there was a
baby lion that we got to pet, so that was pretty awesome. The U.S. has too many rules.
Along the roadsides we kept seeing billboards with a strange
looking little animal. When I inquired,
I was told it was a luwat. The luwat is special because it “makes
coffee.” You can probably guess the
process on your own. This coffee sells
for like $7.00 a cup over there. So we
went to a luwat coffee plantation to check it out. We were given a tour of the plantation, which
really struck me as more of a garden than a plantation, because they grew
several herbs and spices too. They
explained the whole luwat thing, and gave us a tea and coffee sampler. They do tea a little differently over there,
pounding it into a fine powder to mix into a drink rather than steeping it. There is something very cool about sipping fresh tea and coffee surrounded by the same
plants that produced it, chatting with the people roasting it over a simple
fire and grinding it by hand in a giant stone mortar, and even meeting the luwat
who….um… produced it. There was a bat
about the length of my arm in a cage next to the luwats, and I had to ask what
it was exactly the bat had to do with things, which got a laugh, but thankfully
he was just being kept as a pet.
Of course we visited our share of temples, including Tirta
Empul, which is a natural spring considered holy by the locals. I am OBSESSED with the orange/poppy color
used so abundantly in the architecture over there. There is so much detail put into all the
stone and wood carvings. And in the
temples, same as everywhere, there are multitudes of offerings- little leaves
folded into small squares that hold flowers, incense, and perhaps a snack. They are all over the sidewalks, in front of
houses, businesses – in random corners where you would never expect to find a
little offering of flowers. They leave
these offerings three times a day!
Of course our most special visit to a temple was on Friday,
which marked the full moon on the calendar, which meant it was time for a Hindu
ceremony. I asked our driver very nicely
if we might be allowed to observe a ceremony, and he was kind enough to oblige
us. So that morning, he took us to his
family home out in the countryside, where we met multiple generations of his family. He and his wife let us borrow an extra set of
the traditional clothes that must be worn inside the temple. The grandmother, who was ancient, came into
the courtyard with a massive bundle of banana leaves and set about trimming
them with a hand-scythe, for use in the feast later that evening. We learned a lot about Balinese life that
day, and while I won’t go into all the details it was fascinating and for me
the most interesting part of the trip.
Festivities can last all day, which we did not have the energy for, but
we did stay to watch their priests give out the blessing. Even though we were decked out in traditional
clothes, there was no chance we were blending in, especially with a massive
camera hanging around my neck. I had
assumed that due to the ‘cultural tourism’ phenomenon inspired by Eat, Pray, Love that we wouldn’t have
been such a strange sight to the people of that village. But as touristy as Bali is getting, it was
clear that we had found one space that was still very authentic and traditional,
and would remain so. Brandon asked if
tourists often came out to view these ceremonies, which had to be clarified a
little – ‘people like us?’ -- No, no people
like us in this particular village.
While I was not inspired to go on a yoga retreat, seek
spiritual advice from one of their wise men, or convert to Hinduism, I did find
myself admiring the importance which the Balinese gave to their religion. I’m sure tradition and habit are a big part
of that, but I did find myself thinking that I could be doing a lot more to be
expressing gratitude to my God for giving me one more day to live. In a country where the poverty is so real,
you do see a few beggars, but more than that you see how much they are willing
to offer up as thanks, and how central their faith is to their life and their
communities. Most Balinese spend about
one third of their income on ceremonies, and while I could find
more practical uses for income (education, healthcare, roads etc.) there are still
aspects of that which I can appreciate, coming from a Christian perspective
where investing a lot of time in money into religious observance has become somewhat outdated.
Anyways, the trip was legit. And it's really nice to have my husband back. :)
