Reflections on Bali: Living a Life of Calm

While there are many parts of the Indonesian archipelago that looked fascinating, we decided to stick to the island of Bali, and find two places on the island that would give us different peeks into the lives here.  For our first week, Ubud was an easy choice. Ubud is well regarded as the cultural center of Bali, and while one could argue that it is becoming a little *too* touristy, there is still a lot to learn about the Balinese way of life by spending time in Ubud and its surrounding villages.

We chose to stay in a guesthouse called the Swallow Guesthouse outside of Ubud, in a village called Pesalakan Pejeng.  This guesthouse is in the midst of rice fields (we were pretty much the only house in sight), so we were able to see normal village life go on all around us.  We also relied a lot on Wayan and Putri, the fabulous hosts/managers of the guesthouse to show us around and teach us about life in a Balinese village.

And while I don't want to go all Eat, Pray, Love here, I must admit, there is an extreme sense of calm, kindness and beauty on Bali that really is a joy to live amidst.   I believe this is, in part, a result of two factors: the devotion to Hinduism, and the reliance on rice.

Hinduism is practiced by (I believe) approximately 95% of the Balinese. As a contrast. the rest of Indonesia is predominately Muslim, so Bali really is it's own island in Indonesia, both literally and religiously.   Bali is known as the island of the gods for good reason - the number of temples and shrines is mind-boggling.  Each family in a village (where most Balinese live) lives in a multi-generational family compound.  In their compound, each family has a temple that they use many times daily. Each village has 3 more temples, and on Bali, there are an additional 9 main temples (one pictured here).  

The most noticeable aspect of Hinduism to the outside eye is the amount of time spent daily making offerings to the gods - for pretty much everything.  You find offerings, both large and small, everywhere: on the ground, at the entrance to homes, on the sidewalk outside of stores, by cash registers at the grocery store, in small shrines by the rice fields, on the dashboards of cars, etc. Each one has a purpose - but they are all to thank the gods for what they have been given - prosperity, health, good harvests, family.....the list goes on.   Rather than bemoaning all that they don't have (and Westerners would find plenty for this list), they are grateful for what they do have - and they show their gratitude all day, every day. 

The other piece of Balinese life that I believe leads to a spirit of cooperation and harmony is the reliance on rice.  The morning after we arrived (late at night), we wandered the rice fields around our house.  We were happy to discover that day was a special day in their village, where each family was making offerings on their rice fields, and as we wandered slowly, we watched offerings being made.  

When we first started walking around, we assumed that rice was important because it is each family's livelihood - growing and selling (and exporting) their rice must be how each family makes money.  We learned, however, that each rice field (every family in every village has their own rice field) is actually for the family's rice consumption, as they eat rice at every meal. Wayan told us that his family goes through more than 2 kilos (almost 5 pounds) of rice each day.  Families don't sell rice - they eat it, thus they are reliant on their rice fields for their daily nourishment.  Rice fields are set up with an intricate irrigation system (developed in the 14th century, and is still used today - as Brian noted. sometimes you don't need to build a better mousetrap!) for each village that distributes the water for the fields based on size.  Each family relies on every other family to guarantee that the water distribution, rice planting, and rice harvesting will be beneficial to all - and it seems this spirit of cooperation and interdependence spills over into their daily lives and behavior, too.

Our experience on our last day in our guesthouse was a perfect example of the Balinese spirit.  Keep in mind, to get to our guesthouse, you have to park on the main road, and then walk 400 meters on a somewhat winding, paved walkway (surrounded on both sides by both the fields and the irrigation system) to get to the entrance of the house.  Bicycles and motorbikes often travel the walkway, but NEVER cars (I'm not good at suspense....you can see where this is going).  Wayan arranged for us to go white-water rafting (more on that later, but one of the best days we have EVER had!).  We offered to wait for the tour guide on the main road, but because the Balinese are so nice, Wayan insisted we wait at the house so that we would't be standing on the side of the road if the driver was running late.  Fifteen or so minutes after our arranged pickup time, the driver showed up at our house, looking a little flustered, muttering (in very broken English) about the walkway.   After we turned the first corner from our house, we saw it: he had driven on the walkway. And not just 10-20 feet in. He had actually turned off the first walkway and on to the second - which was about 2 inches wider than the width of the van. And driven for about 50 meters there. Until he got stuck. Really really stuck. And that is how we found the van.  Brian attempted to instruct him in the finer points of backing up, to no avail. The car looked about half an inch from falling into the rice field next to it.  Lots of onlookers showed up - all in disbelief as NO ONE has EVER tried driving on the pathway.  No one got angry or upset - they all either just watched, or offered to help.  Luckily, Wayan showed up after just a few minutes. With a smile on his face the whole time, he managed to back the van up (with help from Brian, the driver, and a bunch of village men) after about 30+ minutes of very careful work.  After that, smiles all around, and we were on our way.  

When we got back to the guesthouse later that day, we walked by the 10 foot piece of walkway where the van was originally stuck - and it was ruined! Concrete pieces everywhere, big chunks missing, clearly in need of a complete renovation. When I asked Wayan what would happen, he just smiled, shrugged, and said, "oh, we'll just fix it." They weren't angry with the driver (who was clearly told NOT to drive on the walkway), nor were they planning to make the tour company pay for the repairs, nor did they seem the least bit frustrated that they would have to fix something they didn't break. We were floored. I tried explaining to Wayan and Putri that in America, people would be upset by what happened, and the tour guide or company would be responsible for fixing the walkway....they just laughed, and shook their heads at the silliness of blaming someone for a mistake.