Inland Bali

The transportation was really inexpensive in Bali.  I could have rented a motorcycle for the day for about $5 or a car for about $25, but it did not make sense when the cabs were so reasonable.  There were free-lance drivers where you had to negotiate your price each time or BlueBird Taxis which were all metered and tightly controlled.  Most trips were around $10 and we got taken to exactly where we wanted to go.

We met Made Edy Darma the first day in his BlueBird cab.  His English was good and he had been driving in Bali for about 12 years.  He took us on our trips to Ubud and to the dance shows and invited us to see his home and parents’ house in the northwest of Bali.  He offered to take us on his day off and spend the entire day exploring.  Since the Immigration folks were on their second week figuring out how to extend our visas another 30 days, we decided to take him up on his offer.  We met him at 9AM at the dingy dock and off we went.

 

We didn't see any forests, per se, but the rice fields stretched for miles without stopping, green as far as the eye could see, interspersed with crude scarecrows and little huts where rice-watchers stayed.  

Even on hills that seemed impossibly steep, rice grew on long, contouring terraces that looked beautiful (but seemed too much trouble for the amount of rice they produced).

 

The Balinese religion is called Agama Hindu Dharma, and is a unique blend of Hindu, Buddhist, Javanese and indigenous beliefs. The first thing you notice is all the offerings. Fire, water and flowers are all the basic components of an offering and once you know what to look for you will see them everywhere. The most common are small offerings placed in front of shops, driveways, and even on the motor scooters. They are made with small woven baskets of palm leaf, and are usually filled with flowers and a small piece of food (rice or Ritz cracker). Other small offerings are presented after cooking or before eating. It is hard to walk more than a couple of minutes without noticing some sort of offering or small temple. 

The most noticeable offering is called a penjor and is a large decorated bamboo pole. They are intricately decorated along the entire length of the pole, which gentle curves down at the top end and is finished with a beautiful palm leaf creation that hangs off the top. We saw several on our drive and made told us they mark important events like wedding and temple anniversaries.   

I felt rather strange when I first noticed the Swastika in a couple of very religious places. Little did I know it was the original Hindu swastika, which has been their symbol for safety, peace, happiness, and blessings for thousands of years. It was NOT the Nazi swastika, which is a rotated version of the same symbol.

We saw cages by the road each containing a rooster for their cock fights.  We were told that they were purposely kept by the busy road so that they would be accustomed to the noise and confusion during the fights.  

 

Many of the villages specialized in either stone carving or wood carving and we would pass 30 or 40 shops side-by-side displaying their specialty.  Another 10 minutes of winding roads and we would see the next village.  It’s hard to believe that they all can make a living since the supply of quality carvings is so big.

We saw the twin lakes area and finally met Made’s boyhood home and met his parents and extended family.  They raise coffee and rice and have some fruit trees.  We were graciously served hand ground, wood-roasted coffee and tea and offered to stay in their home for free on our next visit to Bali.  Emily made a few more Origami flapping birds and we had a grand time.  

The coffee was quite good and asked if we could buy some roasted beans.  We paid them a small amount for a bag of raw beans that we brought to a small business that ground and roasted the local coffee crop.  The established deal was that they weighed the raw beans and we received ½ of the weight in roasted and vacuum bagged beans without any money changing hands.  We wished we had bought more.

We saw wild monkeys on the side of the roads and several approached the car looking for food.  We were also amazed at how much the Balinese can carry on a motorcycle.  We saw one guy with about 100 dead, plucked chickens all stacked behind, around and between his arms.  He had so many in front of him, he could barely see over them.  We missed getting that picture, but captured another fellow with 21 live chickens in cages on his bike!

It was a long day when we returned to the dock after dark and we were glad to have seen some of the countryside outside the tourist areas and had some personal contact with these kind, gentle people.

Tom

Balinese Dances

Balinese dancing is world renowned and we decided to make an effort to see quite a bit in our short time here.  We traveled north to the Batubulan village to see our first dance performed in a dedicated theatre.  We had front row seats for the princely sum of $20 each for the hour long Barong and Kris Dance show.

Barong is probably the most well known dance. It is a story telling dance, narrating the fight between good and evil. This dance is the classic example of Balinese way of acting out mythology, resulting in myth and history being blended into one reality.

 

The barong, mystical dragon-like creature, is portrayed by two dancers wearing a huge sway-backed body with trailing hair and a curved tail. He is a symbol of good, associated with the right and white magical powers. His counterpart is Rangda, an evil panged which with long fingernails, pendulous breasts and a long flaming tongue. She is queen of evil spirits and rules the graveyards and the darkest night, specializing in black magic and evil. The Barong and The Rangda are parts of an eternal pantomime that represents the conflict between good and evil, and the symbolic play they enact is part of a purification ceremony that is designed to restore the equilibrium of these two forces, a means of strengthening the spiritual resistance of the village; maintaining the good health, physical and spiritual, of the community.

Here's a short video clip to give the essence of the movements.

We called around and found that the Grand Hyatt hotel hosts several buffet dinners with a dance show.  Our first one there was…

Legong Dance
In legends, Legong is the heavenly dance of divine nymphs. Of all classical Balinese dances, it remains the quintessence of femininity and grace. Girls from the age of five aspire to be selected to represent the community as Legong dancers.

Connoisseurs hold the dance in highest esteem and spend hours discussing the merits of various Legong groups. The most popular of Legongs is the Legong Kraton, Legong of the palace. Formerly, the dance was patronized by local rajas and held in e puri, residence of the royal family of the village. Dancers were recruited from the aptest and prettiest children. Today, the trained dancers are still- very young; a girl of fourteen approaches the age of retirement as a Legong performer.

 

The story derives from the history of East Java in the 12th and 13th centuries: when on a journey the King of Lasem finds the maiden Rangkesari lost in the forest. He takes her home and locks her in a house of stone. Rangkesari's brother, the Prince of Daha, learns of her captivity and threatens war unless she is set free. 

Rangkesari begs her captor to avoid war by giving her liberty, but the king prefers to fight. On his way to battle, he is met by a bird of ill omen that predicts his death. In the fight that ensues he is killed. The dance dramatizes the farewells of the King of Laserm as he departs for the battlefield and his ominous encounter with the bird. It opens with an introductory solo by the condong. She moves with infinite suppleness, dipping to the ground and rising in one unbroken motion, her torso poised in an arch with elbows and head held high, while fingers dance circles around her wrists. Slowly, her eyes focus on two fans laid before her and, taking them, she turns to meet the arrival of the legongs. 

 The tiny dancers glitter and dazzle. Bound from head to foot in gold brocade, it is a wonder the legongs can move with such fervent agitation. Yet, the tight composure of the body, balanced by dynamic directive gestures-the flash of an eye, the tremble of two fingers blend in unerring precision.

We spent another whole day enjoying the Hyatt pool and shops and later enjoyed their buffet and saw 5 different dances in one evening.

Sekar Jagat Dance

Sekar means flower, and Jagat means the world.  This is a newly created Balinese Dance which means: "The Flower of the World". It is performed by a group of girls, carrying a bowl of flowers called "Canangsari". The happiness in welcoming the guest is presented through the graceful movements of the young Balinese Dancers.

Teruna Jaya Dance

This dance originated from North Bali area (Buleleng) which describes the moods of a young man as he moves from childhood to adolescent.  In this case, the performance was done by a lady.

 

The Cendrawasih Dance

This dance represents the freedom enjoyed by the beautiful peacock of the forest while they fly and splash in the water spring. Cendrawasih means 'Bird of Paradise', and the dance depicts the atmosphere surrounding the birds’ courtship display. 

Oleg Temulilingan Dance

This is a story of bumblebee male and female falling in love.

Satya Bhrasta Dance - This warrior dance is performed by a group of young male dancers, which illustrates a warrior’s prowess in battle. The theme is taken from "Bharatayudha", a Hindu Epic, in the scene where Gatotkaca is killed by Karna.

  

Along with the green layered rice paddies and cheap food, we will certainly remember the unique dancing as one of the highlights of visiting Bali.  

 Stay with us and we will show you some of the countryside we found by car in a later blog…

Tom

Bali-Ubud Crafts and Monkeys

Bali was so different from the rest of Indonesia that it could easily be its own country.  It has by far the most vibrant economy we have seen in Indonesia, and a very different, predominantly Hindu, culture.  Fields were cultivated instead of the lying barren or burned off like the hills we saw in Nusa Tenggara.  Roads were good, the infrastructure all worked, and the people didn't look at us like we were some kind of gods who'd arrived in our space-ships.  The Balinese people had their own lives to lead and, while polite, didn't really need us, which was nice.  Prices were so good on local furniture and crafts we might have to fly back to Bali and fill a container with all the furnishings and artwork we will need for our house.

 

Color seemed to be everywhere, even in the little offerings people left in personal shrines or on the sidewalk in front of their homes.  The traditional dress of the Balinese is layers and layers of ikat and songket in every color imaginable.

Ubud is a remarkable town in the middle of the island of Bali. For more than a century, it has been the island's preeminent center for fine arts, dance and music.  We headed there first to see the craft market and the Monkey forest.  The Ubud Monkey Forest is a nature reserve and temple complex.  It houses approximately 340 Crab-eating Macaque monkeys.  There are four groups of monkeys each occupying different territories in the park.  The forest comprises approximately 27 acres and contains at least 115 different species of trees.  

We fed the monkeys bananas and peanuts and had them climbing all over us. Kim thought that putting the bananas on top of her hat would be safe…and arm wrestled with one that climbed up her back and saved most of them!

 

The Monkey Forest contains the Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal temple as well as a "Holy Spring" bathing temple and another temple used for cremation ceremonies.   We gave a $2 donation for sarongs and sashes to be dressed appropriately for the temple.  The stone carvings were nice. 

They had really nice hand carved wood and bone pieces and we bought a few souvenirs.  Kim did not like the haggling but Dad really had the hang of it.  We bought a 10” (water buffalo?)  bone that was completely covered in intricate Balinese carvings.  It had to have taken over 1 month to carve it.  It started off at 800,000 Rupiah but after haggling and walking away 3 times (with him chasing me down the sidewalk), he parted with it for 50,000 Rupiah, which is about $5.50 US. 

We ended up with Batik pillow cases, bone and wooden chess pieces and some carved wood items for the wall before we had to turn back to the boat. We needed to rest up to see some Balinese dancing.  But that, Dear reader, will have to wait for another post…

Tom