Sunday, October 30, 2011

Bali - Island of the Gods

October 30, 2011
Hi there folks and happy end of October....what a crazy month this has been, especially this past week....first there was the international food festival (what an array of amazing dishes from around the world provided by members of our school community), then we had parent-teacher conferences (they went fine), UN Day (one of my favorites of the year - will send along pics in the next update so you know what i mean),  my shipment from croatia arrived (WOOT!!! and only one thing broke just a little bit, but its already fixed) and last night was a halloween party with work folks and others at a fun bar close by my place.....and that's only this past week....the up-coming week looks to be just as busy......


yes, it is definitely a change from croatia....there never seems to be enough time to do everything i want to...like today was a beautiful day, but i needed to grade....i would have much rather been out wandering the streets of shanghai....maybe next weekend.....keep your fingers crossed....but what i really wanted to accomplish this weekend was writing this update about bali.....wowowowowowow... what a place.....nicknamed the island of the gods.....and hopefully the attached pictures will do it some justice....i had no idea bali was so big and had so many different things to see....i thought you went there to hang by the pool or on the beach....which i did, but i also got an amazing tour from a friend of friends....the guy is balinese and amazing.....anyway....let's go to the tape (okay, really the pictures)....enjoy :)

the shot below is what i entered when i went into my room upon arrival...how cool were those mosquito nets....and they worked...no bites....the room was huge and the bathroom was even bigger...way too much for one...but i enjoyed the space...i had my own bungalow....
 

as i stepped out of my bungalow, this is what i saw....a plunge pool....this was not the main pool, just one i could jump in and out of...and that little bungalow thingy is for getting massages by the pool...pretty swank....the place was owned and run by balinese....they shared a beachfront with a resort next door and served tasty breakfasts that were included with the room...plus they were just off the main street in sanur....one the small towns not too over crowded with tourists.....



i also had no idea how religious bali is....the main belief is hinduism....90% of the population....which is quite strange for indonesia....most of which is muslim....on bali 5% of people are muslim and 5% are buddhist.....so hinduism is everywhere and VERY present in every day life....these are the offerings to the gods you will find in front of every house and business.....they are put out at the beginning of the day to help ensure a safe and protected day.....and at the end of the day they are thrown away....things you will see in the offerings - flowers, food, money, tobacco....all in a palm leaf holder.....very cool....
 

as i wandering the town of sanur i came across one of the community temples (pura - this what a temple is called)...as i learned from my guide gusti - every house must have three shrines, every community must have at least three main shrines/temples and then there are the most important temples where everyone is required to go twice a year on a specific day to them...anyway, i came across one of the community temples in sanur and the doors were open and no one was there....so i went in....the top most portion was really cool....as you can see from the carving below, these are where the shrines to gods are located and on those shrines are these type of stone carvings...not really sure why look like this, but i really liked them....they're on every corner of the shrine and up and down it as well....when they are carved....
 
This was one of the guys guarding the entrance to where the main shrine was....he is a protector and you can see they have an offering to him as well...notice the relly big knife...you definitely would not want to mess with this guy....
 
And along the street was this shrine to ganesha, the elephant god....you can see a local woman putting out her offering for the day and it's in the middle of the street....they put the offerings out there three times a day....bali is one of those places where they drive on the left side of the road....so you always have to watch when you cross the street....the cars are fine, but the amount of motor scooters is INSANE....almost as bad as shanghai....
 
this was the beach at sanur and these are the main fishing/snorkeling/tourist boats run by locals...i love that they look like spiders on the beach...albeit very colorful spiders....they have a sail and seem to balance quite well on the water...they are a type of sampan....
 

this boat caught my eye as it was peaking around the tree i was walking next to...i love the way it looks like it is smiling....the balinese seem to be pretty happy and laid back people....their island had a huge set back with the bombings there nine years ago...but they have rebounded and gusti told me that the revenue was almost back to the same amount it was before the bombing....the week after i was there was the ninth year anniversary of the bombing....security was beefed up many places because of that....


along the beach was this boat...i wasn't sure if they meant to be beached and were waiting for the tide to come in and take them out and i never made it back to the beach to see if they were gone...but i thought this was a cool shot of this beached boat and the clouds behind it....the weather was very warm while i was there - shorts and tshirts every day, plus flip flops....but it did rain a bit....i guess it was just starting to be the rainy season....i did see the sun....and made sure to be outside then....
 

the next shot is from one of the main large temples in the center section of bali - Taman Ayun Temple in the town of Mengwi....all large balinese temples have these amazing gates to enter them...all hand carved...if you are not a worshipper, you are not allowed in....but they do allow you to walk around the outside and observe and take pictures....the grandiose-ness of the doors reminded me a lot of the carvings on the temples of angkor wat in cambodia...just incredible and so much amazing work!!!!
 

the roofs you see are called merus and they always have to be an odd number...the more roofs a shrine has within the temple, the more important it is...i think the maximum was 11 roofs....very cool and they are soooooooo thick with woven fiber...plus you can see many more carvings on these shrines...and an offering for the day on the outside wall, which is what we were walking along...

from the temple we were off to have very special balinese coffee....can you guess what it comes from??? i bet you can't (unless you have been there of course)...in the picture below is a woman who is 87 (yes i asked) and she has been roasting coffee ever since this style of coffee became famous...it is called kopi luwak and is produced from an animal....yep....an animal - a relative of the mongoose....actually the animal eats the coffee beans and then excretes them out...undigested, but cleaned of the unwanted "shell" of the bean....these beans are picked from the droppings and then are roasted....yes, you really are reading this correctly...this prized coffee comes from the droppings of a civet cat....crazy....it was not my favorite coffee of the bunch they served me....but of course i had to drink it because its a great story and one of those things you have to try....just once....


so this is me....having the coffee...it just cracked me up where it came from and that this is considered prized coffee....great for the tourists and definitely worth a joke or too....especially for middle school science teachers...they really did have some great lemon tea and balinese coffee...not from a mongoose like animal and its droppings...


i had no idea bali was such a big island or had so many different regions....plus it has volcano...who knew...not me...in the center of the island the main food produced is rice...there were tons and tons of rice paddies...and they were beautiful and went on for miles....i guess they grow two main kinds of rice....jasmine and balinese....the balinese rice is brown...i never did see how it was different, but it was the wrong growing season for it....here you see some of the beautiful terraces of the rice
 
after visiting the rice paddies we were off to another temple...this one is called the ulun danu bratan temple and is located on bratan lake...so water surrounds the edge of this one....they had just had a festival the previous week and these were the faded and withering flower pieces that were made for the temple as an offering....this is another large community pura (temple)....and every one in the community has two specific days they must go and pray and give thanks....
 

on our way away from this temple we went through an area where you can feed monkeys....i didn't feed them but we did stop by and say hi...i loved this one with his mohawk...they came right up and asked for food...in monkey language of course, and i had to let them know i didn't buy them any....they got bored and went off to ask another tourist for something....they were cute...in a monkey kind of way :)


after leaving the monkeys we walked down to a nice waterfall....paved all the way with stalls where you could buy stuff...not a very brisk business was going because i guess tourist season really starts in earnest in november....lots of aussies go to bali for their holidays...as you can see there was a temple at the waterfall....i love all of the white and yellow of the temples...they are the purity and luck colors for bali....
 

and then i got really lucky....as we were driving to hot springs we went past a funeral procession...i did not see the body and that could mean it had already been cremated or had already been buried to wait for when cremations were done for free...that happens on the island every five years....having a funeral pyre is very expensive and some families cannot afford it....so they bury their family members until the "free burning" month comes...i know that sounds weird....but for hindus, the body must be cremated so they can be reincarnated, if necessary....i love that the women in the picture below, are carrying everything on their heads....and all of them can do this effectively (reminded me a bit of ghana!)....and don't you love all of the colors....so amazing....
 

the picture below is of my favorite temple....tanah lot....it is located right on the water and can only be entered when the tide is low enough....it is one of the seven sea temples of bali....and crazily there is a fresh water spring coming out of the bottom of this temple....i visited it and gave a donation and because of that they gave me a prayer and some rice on my forehead....they feel the gods and goddesses are in everything, and rice is their main staple and gods are definitely found in rice....this temple, as well as the other sea temples, is where ashes of people who have been cremated are thrown into the ocean...watching the processions to this temple from all over the island were amazing...we were hoping to be there at sun set, but the day we saved for that was rainy....so when i go back i want to see this amazing temple at sunset along the beach....


this is gusti at the sea temple....this is after we went to the freshwater spring at the base of the temple, hence why he has rice on his forehead....such a nice guy and what a tour guide...he knows all of the best places....we had some amazing meals and saw some amazing things.....rockstar gusti!!!!
 

of course i had to end with my traditional shot.... me with bintang...the local beer....this is when gusti and i went out for traditional balinese food...lots of seafood and rather spicy...it rocked...
 

so there you have the island of the gods...i was definitely there for too short of a time and i really hope i get to go back....i had such a blast and there is still so much to see...the volcano, the artisan town of ubud, the elephant sanctuary, the west coast temples and the main beautiful white and black sand beaches....so much to do, so little time....hopefully you enjoyed this little explanation of this amazing island and all of its rich traditions....and again...another place you should think about visiting because it is incredible.....


okay....i hope you enjoyed this update...i certainly enjoyed this trip, if you couldn't tell.....the next trip i am taking is to japan with the watts for xmas...my third xmas with them...we are going to osaka and kyoto together and then i am headed to tokyo to see our mutual friend randy....i will be there for new years.....so exciting...i hope all of you are well and happy....i hope those of you on the east coast of the states who got the freak storm are okay and dealing with the insane weather....it has gotten chilly here, but is still really rather nice...although i have been told the weather should become frigid soon...but then again, what's cold after antarctica....lots of folks says it gets cold here....we'll see....

get in touch if you have any questions or want to make comments....
thanks for reading....happy halloween and all soul's day.....
have a fab day :)
dani 

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