Ubud, Bali Part 1 (2-6)

Tuesday I traveled from Pangkalan Bun, Borneo, to Ubud, Bali. The total trip took thirteen hours during which I was on three islands—Borneo, Java, and Bali—and changed times three times—up an hour, down an hour, and up another hour. Of the thirteen hours, I was on planes a total of three hours. Most of the day was waiting at airports. Then there was an hour and a half taxi trip from the airport to Ubud. I was glad there were no flight delays and I made both connecting flights.

At the airport in Pangkalan Bun, I met Oo-Oom (pronounced like this), a pleasant woman who was also going to Banjarmasin, the first leg of my flight. She wants to visit the U.S. some day but is concerned about how people would react to her hijab. I wonder if she could get a visa wearing one. She was also curious about why Americans lie on the beach in the sun. When I explained that some light-skinned people like to have tan skin similar to hers, she was surprised. She said that many Indonesians, like other Asians, want to lighten their skin. I had wondered if that was important here.

My treat of the day was a A&W root beer float at the Surabaya airport. I hadn’t had one of those in years and couldn’t resist it. While I was using the free phone charging station, I enjoyed chatting with a pleasant young man who drives speed boats. I pictured him driving speed boats that take people from island to island. But when he showed me photos, I realized that he drives tug boats. He’s proud of his job.

The homestay in Ubud is a traditional house, which is one of the main reasons I chose it. It’s lovely. The upstairs room I stayed in has a private balcony.

Wednesday I walked to a shop to buy water and got caught up in admiring the lovely, traditional buildings. I walked through two art galleries mostly to look at the buildings although I did enjoy the art in one. They are compounds with a few buildings and a temple area. 

Some of the structures look like memorials for the dead, but I learned later that they are altars, each of which has a different purpose. One building I was admiring turned out to be a private home. The door was open and I was drawn in, not realizing that it wasn’t a public building, as it looked the same as many of the buildings that have been converted to cafes or galleries and there are a lot of sculptures in the garden. A woman finally came out and motioned to me not to go up to the next section. 

Another such building is the home of a former sculptor and painter. The bonsai trees have been carved into sculptures. 

Many homes have bird cages, some of which are large and have roosters or chickens.

The Balinese Hindu religion has a strong presence. There is a temple every few blocks. Altars and offerings are a big part of life here. As I was in Thailand, I was fascinated by the altars. Every home and many buildings have an altar outside the entrance. Offerings are also made to special trees. 

Many homes and stores have small offerings on the sidewalk outside the door. Some shops have these offerings in various places inside. 

There are special baskets in which large offerings are carried.

Eventually I came to the Ubud market, which reminded me of Chatuchak in Bangkok. It’s huge and full of small stalls that sell everything. It has three levels. Sellers on the ground level are pretty aggressive, sometimes touching my arm to get me to enter their shop to look and then putting items in front of me to consider, always giving a special discount.

Walking down the street and at the market, I saw several women carrying things on their heads. I realized that this is an image I have associated with Bali, probably from paintings.

Then I decided to go to the Sacred Monkey Forest while I was “doing Ubud.” I wasn’t sure about going there as I’d read that the monkeys can be aggressive like the ones in China. The ones I saw weren’t, but a man leaving as I entered said someone had been bitten. I did see a monkey jump on a man’s shoulder when he was standing too close to the statue the monkey was sitting on, but it got down quickly. The forest has about 600 small, long-tailed macaques, known as Balinese macaques, that live in three sections of the forest, as they are territorial. The staff feed them bananas and sweet potatoes to bring them out for viewing. People can buy bananas to feed them, too. Since they weren’t aggressive, they were fun to watch. The forest is a lovely park. 

One special feature is the hugest banyan tree I’ve ever seen. 

Another is the cremation temple and cemetery. Bodies are buried, and every five years they are dug up for a mass cremation ceremony. 

There is also a 14^th century temple. The brochure informs visitors that they should respect the three relationships of the Tri Hita Karma doctrine: The gods blessed life and created nature and all of its contents; nature offers sustenance to support the needs and activities of human beings; human beings have an obligation to establish a traditional village structure, to build temples in which to worship, to hold various ceremonies, to make daily offering to preserve nature, and to solve problems together.

On the way to Monkey Forest, I encountered a man selling tickets to performances. I’d already purchased a ticket for show that night, but I purchased tickets for Thursday and Saturday, giving me a night life for the first time in a long time.

Wednesday’s show was a shadow puppet performance. They provided an English summary of the story, which is a Balinese folk tale. 

Before starting, they made an offering. The light for the shadows was provided by a fire in a pot. I enjoyed the puppets and the music. A few times during the show, they interrupted the dialogue for a small diversion segment in English. For example, one segment welcomed the audience. 

Afterwards, it was fun to see the painted puppets as they were being put away.

Ubud has certainly been discovered by the international community. I haven’t seen so many non-Asians/white people in one place for years. Or so much exposed skin. The streets were teeming with tourists. I heard people speaking German, Dutch, Spanish, French and English. I was glad that my homestay was in a quiet section of town, not in the popular area for tourists.

Thursday I went on a bicycle tour advertised as a downhill ride. My companions were two Australians, mother and daughter. On the way to the starting point, we stopped at a coffee farm. We didn’t actually see any coffee being grown, but we did see turmeric, pandan, and snake fruit. This is where I learned that the fruit I’d eaten on the riverboat was snake fruit. The farm features animal coffee, made from coffee beans that are eaten by civets/mongooses. They eat the fruit and the rest is eliminated and collected to make the coffee. The Australian woman said it’s sweeter than normal coffee. The coffee at the farm is roasted and ground by hand. We were given a small cup of coffee or tea to sample and then taken to the shop. These farms are common and are advertised as agro farms. The road we were on had many, as did another road I was on later.

After traveling for an hour, we arrived at the viewing point from which we could see Mt. Batur and the lake. The mountain is an active volcano. Although it hasn’t erupted since the 1950s, it often lets out steam. At the restaurant/viewing point we were given a few fried bananas.

Then it was time to get our bicycles and helmets and start riding. Several other groups had also arrived for the ride. We started on the same road, but different groups took different routes after that. We met two other groups at the temple and met one group at the end, but otherwise each group was alone. The van followed us closely.

As advertised, the ride was mostly downhill. However, there was a section with a few steep hills to go up. I only made it half way up those. And there were a few other less steep hills. At one point we rode through rice fields. I walked, as I don’t ride on narrow paths with a drop off. I’m just not comfortable with that. There were altars in the fields.

The trip included two stops. The first was a traditional village house. There we learned about traditional Bali houses. Inside the gate there is a short wall to keep out the evil spirits. I remember from Chinese temples that evil spirits can only travel in a straight line; so the wall prohibits them from going into the house, as they would have to go around it. There are usually four buildings: one for ceremonies, one for the older generation, one for the younger generation, and a kitchen. The house for the older generation has three steps while that for the younger generation has only two in order to show respect to the older generation. The building for ceremonies is used for weddings, birth ceremonies, cremation ceremonies, and other such special occasions. The kitchen has an electric unit in one room and a wood fire in the other. Most cooking is done on the fire. Outside the house, there are pigs, cows, and a vegetable garden.

The older woman was putting out offerings, and the guide explained how that works. Each morning food offerings are given to each altar and to other special places. The woman put five small pieces of banana leaf with rice in the center of the open area. One is for the center and the other four are for the four directions. 

She also put an offering beside each of the four stones marking the burial place for children’s placentas. When a child is born, the father takes the placenta home and buries it. The place is marked with a stone and is considered to be an import place for the household. Since the first three months are important, large offerings are made for the first three months; then they can be smaller. A ceremony is held when the child is three months old. Babies are not allowed to touch the ground for the first month or leave the home for the three months.

All bodies are cremated. Like at the Monkey Forest, bodies are buried until a community cremation is held, which can be several years. Sometimes the community has a determined interval; sometimes the cremation is when the graveyard is full. Ashes are taken to the sea.

When I asked about the altars, the guide explained them. I’d wondered about them when I saw them in houses on Tuesday. Each house has several altars. One is for the family’s ancestors and is usually outside the area where the others are. One is for the priest who does the ceremonies. One is for three main Hindu gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. One is for the main Bali Hindu god. If there is a carved figure, it is a representation, as they have no image of god. Others are for other gods. Offerings are given to each altar every morning. At homes, the offerings are food and flowers. In other places, they are usually flowers but may include things such as small candies and cigarettes. Although offerings are usually made in the morning, they can be made later in the day.

We stopped briefly at a village temple where we had our group photo taken. 

Since we had the guide, I asked about the meaning of the big altar carvings. The three animals at the base are two dragons and a turtle. The turtle carries the world. I have encountered this myth in China (but my students seemed mystified when I mentioned it) and find these connections fascinating. In the middle there are representations of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. At the top is the representation of the Bali Hindu god. The shape represents the world. I realized that it is the shape used shadow puppet show. It looked like a fan and I couldn’t figure out why they had a fan. Now I know it was the world as the background of the story. 

When I mentioned this to the guide, he said I probably also saw the two figures guarding the altar, and, when I looked at them, I realized that two of the puppets were these characters. He explained that they represent figures who give good advice.

About three hours after starting to ride, we arrived at our destination—the restaurant for lunch. The guide had said we would ride 30 km/18 miles. Since most of it was coasting downhill, it wasn’t a difficult ride. After lunch, I was delivered to my homestay and the other women were taken to their hotel in Kuta, another 1.5 hours away.

After relaxing in my room for a few hours, I headed out for dinner and my evening show: a dance performance accompanied by gamelan music on traditional instruments: drums and something like a xylophone. 

The group performed six dances. It was really interesting to see the Balinese traditional dance style. The dancers’ eyes are heavily made up and are an important part of the dance. They move back and forth and stare ahead with wide eyes. 

Hands and fingers are also an important part of the dances. Their movements reminded me of Thai dance hand movements that my hands don’t do; however, Balinese use their fingers more. They also do the side to side neck movements that Turkish people do.

Observation: School girls wear their hair in braids.