#36 - A Return to Asia: 1st stop – Beautiful Bali

We returned to Bali for our 3rd time in 10 years, and fell in love all over again with the island. Our trip included the Kelly family, who we met in Guatemala while we stayed in Panajachel, to make a travelling party of 13 people. The first half of our Asia trip will be with the Kelly’s: Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei; and then the second half will be just the 6 of us: India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Singapore.

Bali Highlights:

1. Incredible Balinese Architecture
2. Living Hindu Religious Practices
3. Downhill Bike tour
4. Waterfall Chasing
5. Eating out at Raw Vegan Restaurants
6. Dodging cars and pedestrians on a scooter
7. Attending church at the Bali Branch

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(Click below right to read more . . . )

Bali Highlights:

1. Incredible Balinese Atmosphere and Architecture – We headed straight to Ubud, Bali’s cultural center, and one of Tera's favorite places in the world. A place where you can be completely immersed in nature and culture: tropical fruits (think mangosteen, rambutan, mango, passion fruit, pineapple, coconut), the sunrises & sunsets, the warm tropical breezes, the Balinese style of Hinduism with their fragrant offerings and graceful traditions, the tropical flowers, the inexpensive Balinese massages, the local dress, the vibrant rice fields, the humble people who show true satisfaction in their modest standard of living and close-knit families and communities. In Ubud, we were welcomed into a 9-bedroom villa with a swimming pool. It was spacious and overlooked a jungle ravine. It was far enough north of the city to feel like a hidden local space, but close enough to Ubud to be near all of the delicious restaurants. The architecture of Bali is stunning and unique, full of carved posts and lintels and walls and rooftops. There is geometric design everywhere your eye looks, and each of the local houses are built like a large open-air compound, with their own family temple, and with the self-contained rooms of the house (bedroom, kitchen, family room) all placed very purposefully, with suggestions from the local Hindu Priest.
2. Living Hindu Religious Practices - Each village has its own village temple, and one sees ladies dressed in their colorful finery, carrying with a basket of fruit on their heads, walking to make their daily or weekly offering at the temple. Every house and business has it’s own altar or multiple altars, with daily offerings of woven banana leaves filled with rice, fruit and crackers reverently placed. At our villa in Ubud, a lady came each morning to place the beautiful offerings, a burning stick of incense, and, with a frangipani flower dipped in holy water, sprinkled graciously on the offering as it was placed. I’m sure a prayer was said with each placement. It is mesmerizing to watch, and it is ubiquitous to Bali, almost everywhere, in most houses, and most businesses, small offerings are scattered along each street and sidewalk.
3. Downhill Bike tour – Early one morning, we all got into cars and started driving north, stopping at a local coffee plantation to have breakfast and learn all about famous local Lewak Coffee.  The coffee beans are foraged by small indigenous cats called a civet, who digests the beans and then poop them out, after which they are cleaned and roasted. The Westerners may have cappuccino, but they have Cat-poo-chino . . . . (sorry, their joke, not mine). Then we continued to the Batur volcano overlook and then we hopped on mountain bikes and started our ride downhill, through local villages and rice fields. It was picturesque and charming. We stopped at a local house whose owner was a black bee keeper, harvesting honey from these “bees” which do not sting, but produce their honeycomb in little pods.  We stopped at a rice field harvest, and assisted the three local village ladies to cut the rice stalks, pound out the rice kernels, and sift the race chaff from the kernels.  It was a wonderful afternoon.
4. Waterfall Chasing – A few of us went out one afternoon and took a Taxi to the Kanto Lampo waterfall, one of many, many waterfalls in Bali that are worth the drive to get to.  It was a wide shower of water, cascading down over a series of rockfaces, with an accompanying river that was a blast to play in. The next day, on our way to the ferry, we stopped at a different waterfall, Tegenungan, which was a taller, more powerful cascade and played in the water,
5. Eating out at Raw Food Restaurants – We’re travelling with the Kelly family, and Jen Kelly is a raw vegan eater. She came to the right place, because Ubud is known as the raw food capital of the eastern hemisphere. There were so many restaurants to choose from, and we tried many of them right alongside her. Our favorite was the Clear Café, which served both raw and cooked food, so everyone left satisfied.  Zucchini pasta anyone?
6. Dodging cars and pedestrians on a scooter – We rented a scooter for a couple of days ($4/day), and joined in with the local gentry on the narrow, crowded roads as we navigated the city.  We got to drive on the left-hand side of the road, and fill the tank from the local gas station, which was a lady with a single serving of old water bottles filled with 10,000 rupiah ($0.80) worth of fuel.
7. Attending church at the Bali Branch – Although we misjudged traffic conditions and arrived 45 minutes late, we were able attend the Bali branch of church down in Kuta, filled with New Zealanders, Australians, French, German, and other expats. There were no local Balinese members, but some Indonesian immigrants to the island. We learned that one local Indonesian member had moved to Bali, and had been the first and only member in Bali for decades before being joined by other foreigners.  There are no missionaries on the island, but we did find very faithful and inspiring members.