Aug 25th: Ubud

This morning I woke up and had tea and banana pancakes on my porch again, for breakfast. Then I headed down to the tourist office for my tour. It was me, two other lone woman travelers, one from Japan and one from Belgium, a German couple, and a Russian mother and son. Lots of countries represented in our little group. Our guide, Agung, drove us to several temples first. The famous and quite nearby Goa Gajah, the Elephant Cave Temple. Of course because we're in Asia like all sites it involved lots of stairs. It was a cave and a temple in the jungle, basically. The Japanese girl and I got a bit lost trying to find a temple and were late to meet up with our group.

Next we went to Pejeng. More temples. You must wear a sarong to go into all these sites, by the way (guys and girl who aren't wearing long pants. If you wear pants you must wear a sash.). After that we went to Gunung Kawi, which was an amazing experience. You climb down the stairs, and as you go down the hills you descend into gorgeous rice terraced scenery, with a river trickling by. You go down and then you hear this captivating, haunting music from the ceremony- both gamelan and singing. It was truly beautiful. You pass women carrying offerings down to the temple on their heads.

The temple had a ceremony for the full-moon, so the temple was busy with people preparing food and fruit for offerings.

After I climbed back up I arrived before everyone else, so I began chatting with our guide. I learned that it was his birthday today! I asked him what he would do to celebrate and he said that he'd just have a small celebration with his family. They would make a large offering to the gods and then eat their dinner, decorated with flowers on the plate. He explained to me how Balinese people make the offerings daily because they want to. Their day feels incomplete without prayer or offering.

It was a pretty fascinating conversation as we went on to other topics. He commented how prices keep going up and the guidebooks don't keep up, so everything is more expensive than the books claim. In just the last six months, for example, the entrance fee for the temples has doubled. Also, like everywhere, electricity and water have become more expensive.

I asked him where most of the tourists who come to Bali are from. I was surprised at first that people didn't see many Americans- usually Americans seem to be everywhere when I travel. He said in July and August they get a lot of Europeans. September and October are mostly Japanese, due to the holidays, and Australians for the Christmas holidays. Apparently the quietest time is from January to April, because no one is on vacation, I suppose. He attributes the lack of Americans to the bombings and fear of terrorism. However, the word around Bali is that after the “Eat, Pray, Love” movie comes out, people will see how gorgeous Bali is and want to come.

He told me that Balinese people feel discriminated against, since they are the minority within the whole of Indonesia (a 95% Muslim country). I got the idea that he was conveying the message that Balinese, like Americans, fear Islamic terrorist attacks as well. He told me that he feels that Balinese people have no power, despite the fact that their tourism generates a lot of income for Indonesia. For example, the airport tax all of us visitors pay does not go to Bali but Indonesia. Balinese must pay for school and health care but according to my guide, Islamic Indonesians get all that for free. He told me that the Balinese really appreciate the tourism, especially after the bombing when it suffered a lot. According to my Lonely Planet, some people think that Bali relies too much on tourism. After what I've seen so far, you can see how Westerners would get entranced with Bali. It's “charismatic,” as Agung my guide said.

Bali is really special and you can feel the pride they have for their culture. It's amazing that you look at paintings from a hundred years ago and much of Bali looks the same- it's not being modernized in the same way much of China is, although it certainly is to some degree. Balinese attitudes remind me a bit of Hong Kong or Taiwan: HK or Taiwanese people definitely say they are NOT from China, and they have a certain amount of pride about their differences, much like Bali from Indonesia. Also being small places overpowered by a larger, overseeing country.

Next we headed to Tampak Siring, the Holy Spring Temple. It has a bubbling Holy Spring and a temple. There was some kind of professional filming going on of an older Western lady getting blessed by a local priest, I presume. I later saw the same people filming, coincidentally, at the dance performance I went to.

After this we headed to a coffee plantation. I really enjoyed this section of the tour. This is part of the “agro-tourism” all over Bali. Our guide pointed out cacao, kopi (Balinese coffee) beans, cinnamon tree, and other herbs and spices that the plantation grows. Then we learned about the “poop coffee.” Yes, a mongoose can apparently find the best coffee beans, and they make a fancy-schmancy coffee from these beans. Then we saw how they make the coffee. They roast the beans over a fire and grind them with a stone and pestle. No machinery. It's all organic and natural.

We got a free taster overlooking the jungle. Ginger tea, lemongrass tea, Bali kopi, hot chocolate, and the delicious Bali kopi with ginseng- our guide told us they call this “Balinese Red Bull.” It was all really good, and then of course we did our shopping.

After that we drove to a restaurant for lunch, overlooking the volcanic Mount Batur and Mount Agung. It was gorgeous. I ate with my fellow female travelers and we discussed our world travels. You always meet the coolest people when you travel Asia.

We went to view the rice terraces last. They are so beautiful. The color green is so bright, it's unreal. Much different than the Chinese terraces- of course they're very tropical and lush. There are “rice terrace” restaurants on the patios overlooking it all. My camera once again failed to properly capture the beauty.

The tour was over and I got dropped off at my home. I decided to attend the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance at a venue on the street I live on here.

First was another version of the Ramayana epic- but instead of a gamelan instrumental orchestra, there is a chorus of men who chant and sing, circling the performers. Second was the trance dance. Two young girls dance with their eyes closed while men and women chant behind them. Occasionally they fall down on the floor and are lifted back up. They don't open their eyes 'til the very end.

Finally and most dramatically is the fire dance. An ancient man dumped out a load of coconut husks, lighter fluid, and then lit the thing on fire. The men chant and another man rides a horse puppet around the bonfire. Suddenly, he dances in the fire, kicking it about. Everyone in the audience gasped in shock as the man danced in the embers.

Tomorrow, my only planned activity is the Balinese music lesson I signed up for. Only $7 US to learn gamelan, in a private lesson. I could hardly pass up such a cool thing.

I have to admit, I'm slowly but surely falling in love with Bali. I'm already thinking in the form of, “When I come back, I'll do this...”