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