Ubud, Bali

[1peacelover]

[size=10pt]One of the most interesting places I have visited was Ubud, Bali. A couple of years ago my globe trotting friend & I decided to go to a "Spiritual Convergence", _http://www.balispirit.com/, of people including The Honorable Bishop Desmond Tutu, Activist Marianne Williamson, etc. The conference was held for two weeks and it was awesome. People came with exhibits from all areas of the planet. It took a couple of days for me to adjust my thinking a bit. Ubud is the artistic & cultural center of Bali and if you want to experience a culture where the spiritual meets the physical, this is the place.

2 days out of the 15 were spent at the conference which was cool, but I longed to interact with the people of Bali, so what else could I do but ditch the conference. My friend and I got to know a local taxi driver and at first we did some of the touristy things, but after a day of that, we requested to go to the places the Balinese People go to & do the everyday things that make up their life & culture.

In the mornings no matter what part of Bali you rested your head, the smells of incense and charcoal wafted through the air and in the distance there were drumbeats. People were tending their fields and gardens and the birds tweeted through the tree tops. One early morning before the sun rose, our guide Ketut "Leroy" took us on a sunrise tour and the first stop was the market. The place was packed with people, food, fruit, animals for sale along with all types of flower offerings. It was overwhelming, but amazing. We were also treated with having breakfast with his family at his home. We met his wife, children, Parents, Brothers, Sisters-in laws and we were given a lesson in culture. Such as picking your teeth in company is frowned upon, extending your left hand to another person is an insult, women can't go into the temples if it's "that" time of month. Sons bring wives to live in the family's compound and so on.

Some of our adventures, seemed other worldly. Like watching any of the volcanoes or waterfalls, or fields upon fields of rice or flowers or monkeys, or listening to Balinese music, or sitting in the stillness of any one of the numerous temples, or watching a group of 100 men perform the fire dance or even marvel at the talent of turning stone, wood, cloth into magnificent works of art. The food is GREAT! I probably enjoyed it even more because it was a truly spiritual experience for me. If you are seeking an example of heaven on earth, Ubud, Bali is one of those places, I continue to dream about.

This is not an advertisement, but the staff at Alam Shanti treated us like royalty, but the also perform this service for all who stays with them. _http://www.alamindahbali.com/ The owners Wyan & Ketut treat their staff like part of the family and in doing so the staff treats the guest as they too are family. :P[/size]

 

[foofighter]

People came with exhibits from all areas of the planet. It took a couple of days for me to adjust my thinking a bit. Ubud is the artistic & cultural center of Bali and if you want to experience a culture where the spiritual meets the physical, this is the place.

I went to Bali a month ago, and was blown away by the quality of the paintings. Bought a lot, and would have gotten even more if the budget had permitted it. But, while the balinese certainly seems to have a lot of religious overtones in their culture, and very much alive traditions and rituals, I'm not sure what you mean by them being "spiritual"? To me it seemed no better nor worse than any other place. Judging from their religious icons and crafts I would definitely think that there are LOADS of "windowfallers" in that area, but that's not necessarily an indication of spiritual awareness.

Some of our adventures, seemed other worldly. Like watching any of the volcanoes or waterfalls, or fields upon fields of rice or flowers or monkeys, or listening to Balinese music, or sitting in the stillness of any one of the numerous temples, or watching a group of 100 men perform the fire dance or even marvel at the talent of turning stone, wood, cloth into magnificent works of art. The food is GREAT! I probably enjoyed it even more because it was a truly spiritual experience for me. If you are seeking an example of heaven on earth, Ubud, Bali is one of those places, I continue to dream about.

I agree with you that Bali has all of those things, but to say that it qualifies Bali to be "heaven on earth" is a superficial view on it. Like I said, Bali seems neither better nor worse than any other place, with its fair share of hustlers, psychos, poverty, childlabour, etc. Just the "welcome" at the airport with the "tourist tax" (aka "instant Visa") and the bribery that you can do to "smoothe things out" at every point you turn (although I was too naive to know when to do what) was a big turnoff for me at least.

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time there, and I'll go again. But I have no illusions about it or the people there being any more special than any other place I've been too thus far.

 

[1peacelover]

Greetings Foofighter,

Thank you for your perspective.

“Judging from their religious icons and crafts I would definitely think that there are LOADS of "windowfallers" in that area, but that's not necessarily an indication of spiritual awareness.”

As for “windowfallers”, while editing the videotape of the Bali trip, in a matter of 2 frames an unidentified object appeared. The only reason I discovered it was because the object appeared and disappeared on one side of a 20 ft statue and disappeared on the other side”.

“Just the "welcome" at the airport with the "tourist tax" (aka "instant Visa") and the bribery that you can do to "smoothe things out" at every point you turn (although I was too naive to know when to do what)”,

Thankfully, through my encounters for the time I was there after the second bombing helped establish strong bonds with people I am still in contact with today.

Before I stepped on Bali soil, I knew no one. Since I chose to dump the conference, for two weeks, I was part of someone else’s family. We talked, laughed, ate, shared and exchanged questions about the things we do where we come from, etc., disagreed into the late hours of the night with family & extended family members. I felt like I was home where I live on a tiny dot in the Caribbean on this planet even though I was on the other side of the world.

As a person who was born in a place designed for tourism with no say so from the people who inhabit the place, I understand many paradoxes external & internal. I find that traveling outside my own boundaries and entering another requires respect. Whatever the culture/traditions, I give respect, whether or not I agree. In preparing for the journey I usually find out as much as I can about a place’s culture/tradition/language so not to cause offense. It is not my place to offer judgment or opinion, unless it will prevent bodily harm. When people visit my home I expect the same treatment. Many times when people travel, for some reason they expect those hosting to acquiesce to whatever the guests desires are with no consideration or respect for the hosts, more so when they are from a different culture. Treating people the way I would like to be treated, is very important, even when a person demonstrates they could care less.

During my travel in and around Bali I saw exploitation, but I only after leaving, realized the shear size of it and who was doing it. When I got back to the US, to my surprise, I didn't gave to got to Bali at all because in the US some of the exact same pieces on sale in various store for sale sometimes upward of 200% of what the original purchase price was. As for the material things, I bought two T-shirts. The memories will last forever.

“Bali seems neither better nor worse than any other place, with its fair share of hustlers, psychos, poverty, childlabour, etc.”

Where I live in Paradise has all of the things you list below, but this is where my ancestors have been since time before, but to me many who come to partake of our beauty, hardly ever think about or even want to get to know someone who actually resides here. In spite of all the seemingly unjust things that take place, my home too is heaven on earth, So, I guess it is about perspective.
Thanks for the dialogue.

 

[RAJAWANG]

:) I am happy to see that Bali got into the cassiopaea.org page, because I am an Indonesian ( Bali is an island in the Indonesian Archipelago ) and I also was educated in the US. Of all places an Asian student could pick in the USA, I ended up in Socorro, New Mexico. !
Bali, however, still offers that heaven on earth feeling, in a few of the otherwise commercialized and touristy sites.. Actually all over Bali, the way of life is pretty much still centered around the Hindu Religion and its Rituals, blended into the unique Balinese style of artistic interpretation and making it a very heavenly place to visit and maybe live-on. The beaches, the cheap food, the laid back and yet very hard working women, the paintings and sculptures, rich and cool mountain villages........and most of all, the friendly indigenous people will make any tourists feel so welcome.
For readers' information, Indonesia is the fifth most populous nation, after USA, and with 95% moslem, making us the biggest moslem country in the world. There are other islands as unique as Bali, such as Papua, Celebes, and the Orang Utan home: Borneo, each unique in it's own right, but all exploited beyond repair by business and yes, the oil and mining giants already planted their feet as early as the 1930s.....
I would definitely pick Bali as my older days place to anticipate any coming wave and learn my way toward smoother transition to 4th density (?) We have the pigmy neanderthals skeletons, the komodo dragons, the single horned rhinos, the birds of paradise, elephants and tigers, the palm-size primates and the coelacanth fish... then the most volcanoes and earthquakes, one recently that created the deadliest Tsunami in Dec 26, 2004..? All in Indonesia..... I know there are portals to the 4th density, somewhere on my island which is Jawa...... It's also a creepy country, ancient airport on top of a vulcanic mountain, deep deep caves with mythical beast, even JFK is quite famous amongst the elders who believed he made a pact with our first president to secure all the gold (wealth) of the world' nations
Two of our super volcanoes shook the whole world : Mount Toba and Mount Krakatoa.....more to come..?

Can some one enlighten me where in Socorro is the base of the Lizzies ? I always thought my college ( New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technolgy) was right at the front of the base. No wonder I was drawn to the school......

RAJAWANG-

 

[eliansito]

I have lived for 7 years now in Bali and this are my insights,

When one arrives one feels all of what is described above, people smile all the time and are kind and gentle.

After 3 years, you start realizing that there is a fasade to all of that and that actually it is difficult to be regarded as another human fellow being, instead we BULES (literally translates albinos, the term we are commonly and despectively referred to here..) are seen as...money. The other more polite word for foreigners is "TAMU" which is guest, and also "CLIENT"....no further comments.

The many colonial occupations left an impact in indonesia difficult to erase, and the smile and yes sir are a left over of those long years, I have observed to my amazement how children learn at a very young age to smile automatically to any foreigner, the smile often dissolves and depending on the area it dissolves with a witty or funny comment about those crazy tourists.

I am not implying that your experience was not genuine, those experiences do take place, but the language barrier is a big one here too, and 2 weeks is a very short time. My background is the tourism industry and I have witnessed the same phenomena in every other touristic destination. A sanitized genuine experience for you to take back home in your digital camera...while they are left there hoping to have made a good impression and that you will send them a friend to contribute to the family income. Maybe not so bluntly, maybe a friendship and that is all, but it goes in degrees, in the worst cases, soon the touching story of an ill relative follows.

Your account is surely tainted by a bit of idealizing, holidays are perfect times for that.

Balinese are indeed laid back and generally welcoming and sensitive. But they are also very proud, short tempered and are quick to make any misunderstanding a matter of bali vs. foreigner.

The balinese culture and religion puts women into great strain and pressure, and they are not regarded as equal than men, and often bluntly and openly disrespected. a husband will leave his wife if she is not able to give him a male son, and families of 3 daughters strive economically and are forced by family and culture to have another try to get a son. Man who only have daughters are mocked as weak, and women who live in the husband compound have to endure pressure from all of the husband family members to have a son.

I haven't even gone to the caste system...

All the cere-'monies' that make bali 'such a special place' in the eyes of the visitor, are draining the regular balinese family of resources and social pressure makes them unavoidable, even questioning is impossible and they don't even contemplate on questioning.

A Balinese will tell you that Bali is so blessed because of all that praying, offering and ceremonies. On a big day, you can see trucks, yes trucks fully loaded with people, women children and elderly under the sun on the way to the beach or the temple...40 people on the back of a truck all dressed up for the occasion under the blazing sun, 10 trucks in a row on a traffic jam is quite a sight...

After the ceremony has left, the beach is trashed with paper cups, plastic bottles, newspapers, cigarrette packs and all of the offerings which consist of bambu coconut and fruit and others, some of which have been modernized and come in the ubiquitous plastic bag, or staples. All left behind.


One of the biggest (and thus most expensive) ceremonies is the ngaben (funeral) and every balinese fears that day for the strain it puts on a family economy, old men often portray an expression of fear in their eyes I have assumed that that is the cause of it. Those ceremonies are often performed on a mass scale maybe years after the dead of the individuals to circumvent that expense, it is a kind of a shame and it is more and more common, there is a certain pride on what one spends on ceremony, all linked to status and cast. It is not odd to read about a suicide where a note is left saying to the family, "you dont need to do the ngaben for me" which of course causes greater distress becuase if the ceremony is not performed, it is believed that the soul will not rest...

I surely might have a rather negative image about spirituality in Bali. In the old days, balinese men, who are the heirs of the land of the family and thus, generally rather lazy, had no other occupation than creating and experimenting with art, which still continues to this day, most of the times fueled by business. There are still those who carve wood and paint for the creative joy, but what the tourist encounters is mostly the business side of it.

In Bali food and water has never been an issue and thus men could do that while women worked, and all was organic and all was paradise, heaven on earth... modern times though have brought the need for work, before you just cut the bambu for the ceremony, now you have to buy it, before you use a bit of 'lidi" stick to join together the leaves for the little offerings, now you just staple it. But you still have to do it, everyday, 3 times a day the small ones and other staggering number of different ceremonies throughout the year which is the nightmare of any employer...

Hope my picture was not too grim and I repeat, I don't intend to discard your experience of being not genuine, it is just that sometimes all that shines is not gold.

My 2 cents.

R