Bali - Way of Life

Ok I promise this is my last post on Bali!!! During our many conversations with Suta, other drivers and general observations, we learned some interesting tidbits and cultural information which I wanted to share and note.

• First and foremost, the Balinese are very friendly and open about their culture.
• It's interesting to see how Hinduism is adopted in Bali. Although they worship some of the same gods, their form of worship, the way the gods are depicted, their offerings, pujas are so different.
• You can enter a temple with your shoes on, unlike in Hindu temples, where we bring fruits, flowers and coconuts, they offer small bamboo trays with flowers, bamboo sticks, food which could be meat, rice, or small pieces of fruit. There seems to be a Budhist influence in their form of worship.
• In front of every store, the first thing they do is light incense and then put the tray in front of a small shrine in the store and then the tray is placed outside of the store. Often, we would step on it by accident and this would disturb Sindhu as she was worried about being disrespectful. When the first purchase is made in the store in the morning, they touch a number of items with the money received and recite a prayer.
• They celebrate completely different festivals and have not heard of the festivals celebrated in India. Hanuman, Garuda, Ganesh, Saraswati, Rama, Sita, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva seem to be prominent plus they have another one named "Sri Devi" whom they pray to for wealth and prosperity, perhaps goddess Lakshmi?
• The Ramayana as I mentionned earlier is depicted in all forms of their art: paintings, batiks, stone carvings, wood carvings and their dance forms.
• As we were passing through the villages, I was confused as I thought each village had many temples but it was actually each home had its own shrine which at times was quite elaborate. Each village also has its own temple and is a place of congregation.
• The streets and areas were all clean and neat in Bali even in the villages.
• It seems the Balinese believe in cremation but since it is so expensive, they bury the dead in their village grave and after a few years, they do a mass cremation.
• Since many work in the tourism business and their salaries are small, they may work in the cities but most live in joint families and go back to their villages every night. A few like Suta rent apartments in the city so they can reduce their commute but would prefer to live in their villages if possible. Others commute 1.5 hours each way to their village as they can't afford to rent in the city.
• Suta, our driver, mentionned how even though Bali is part of Indonesia, they don't really feel a part of it as the Balinese culture and way of life is different from the rest of Indonesia.
• I asked Suta if arranged marriages were still the norm in Bali and apparently they are not and are considered to be an age old custom from the past.
• Bali itself doesn't have many resources, so for most of the artforms, the materials are brought from different parts of Indonesia or in some cases outside of the city itself.
• Rice is a staple and like Indians, they eat with their hands.
• I saw a few woman wear the Indian style of Sindhoor but most don't wear a bottu/bindi. What is more common is to see them put a few grains of rice as a bottu/bindi on their forehead.
• A couple of things that bothered me. Everyone smoked and it was a bit irritating to be exposed to smoke wherever we went. It particularly bothered Sindhu.
• The cost of the visa to enter and exit the country was expensive. I guess the plus point is that you don't need to apply for it ahead of time and they issue it on arrival.

So many little things I wanted to note down but this is all I can think of now. Aah... now I think I'm done with Bali.

Bali - Ubud

Ubud and it's surrounding villages are the cultural center of Bali. As you drive through the villages, it's incredibly exhilarating. There are so many interesting shops and I wish I had days and days to wander through the streets. We moved from the Westin in Nusa Dua to the Barong Resort and Spa in the heart of Ubud. Barong is a Balinese style hotel and is much smaller than the Westin. We had a cottage style room with a private sitout. The kids loved the Westin mainly because it's American style but Prasad and I liked both hotels. The spa and restaurant services at Barong were inexpensive compared to the exorbitant prices at the Westin. Being in the heart of Ubud was thrilling, even though we didn't buy too many things, I shopped and shopped and shopped mainly because it was raining for 2 days and we had nothing else to do. Every time we drove through a new street, I felt like stopping as I spotted more interesting things to see. On our way into Ubud, we stopped in Mas, a village known for its wood carving artistry. The prices marked on the items were outrageous, $1500 for a wood carving! We selected a few pieces thinking we will probably not buy even one but finally purchased a lovely Rama and Sita carving for 10% of the marked price! We went through a couple of other villages, we thought of buying a furniture piece as we always loved the Balinese dining tables at Crate and Barrel but unless you ship a large number of items, the shipping cost is too high for a single item.

That first night, Sindhu and I went to see a Legong and Barong dance program. Barong is dragon character and two people handle the costume and dance. I and Sindhu could not relate to the dance and didn't find it too interesting. Legong on the other hand is a form of a dance drama and it depicts scenes from Hindu mythology and has multiple characters all dressed in colourful costumes. At the beginning of the program, they handed out sheets explaining the various acts in the play, the sheets are available in multiple languages, English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese. We spent the next two days shopping along the streets of Ubud and at the Ubud market. The market was a disappointment, most of the items were of poor quality and the same items were found in every store. We picked up a couple of t-shirts and a few painted wicker fruit baskets. The baskets had a retractable net to keep the fruit flies away, I thought it was a great invention and especially useful in India!

On our 2nd day in Ubud, Shobha and Prashant surprised us at our hotel, we knew they were going to be in Bali, but we were not sure we would meet since they were staying at the Westin in Nusa Dua and we had already moved to our hotel in Ubud by then. We spent a few hours chatting, eating and shopping. It was a perfect way to spend a lazy rainy day.

Our last day was sunny and warm. We took a walk through the Monkey Forest in the morning. As you can guess from the title, there is no dearth of monkeys in that forest. The monkeys have laser eyes as Rushil would say and could spot a banana a mile away. Many people bought bananas to feed the monkeys and the monkeys would jump on them to take the banana away, it was quite frightening to watch. Even though, there are plenty of monkeys in India, it was still fascinating to watch them, especially the babies, we saw one mother with newborn twins carrying them with ease. Next we went to the Elephant Caves. Till now, we had not seen a fully operational temple and we heard from Shobha and Prasad that this was a good temple to visit and they were right. The caves themselves were a small component in the whole experience. The compound was bustling with temple activities. It was poornima, full moon day which is extra special in Bali. They perform special rituals and have more offerings for the gods. The men were preparing elaborate offerings, the women were weaving decorations out of bamboo, the kitchen was busy with the food preparations and everywhere you looked, they had the tiny bamboo trays, with flowers, food and incense being offered to the gods. Inside the elephant caves which is the temple shrine, they had statues of Ganesha, Bhairava and the Siva Lingam. It was a very interesting experience, Prasad had to cover his legs with a sarong before entering and we had our last tender coconut juice before we had to headed to the airport.

Bali - Day 3 and 4

Day 3 , we went white water rafting. Rushil and I were apprehensive, I because I wasn't sure if it was safe and I thought it would be too hot and Rushil because it is something new and he wasn't sure what to expect. Sindhu and Prasad were of course dying to go! Sutra from Bali Bagus Travels drove us to the Agung River and we had an interesting discussion on Balinese culture on the drive up. Nyoman was our happy go lucky white water rafting guide and had proper life jackets, helmets and a proper protocol to follow when we went down the grade 1-2 rapids, we felt pretty safe. Rushil was initially scared when we went down the first rapid but eventually, he got used to it and enjoyed the rest of the ride. We stopped along the way for coconut juice and drinks. The stone was carved with scenes from Hindu mythology along parts of the river and it was quite impressive. The carvers started 5 years back and and they were still continuing to carve the stone along the river. It was an exhausting rafting trip as we did quite a bit of rowing although Prasad counted me as only a 1/2 rower but I beg to differ. There was an excellent vegetarian lunch waiting for us at the end of the trip. The walk down to the river was 400 steps and Nyoman joked how we would get a discount on the walk back up, only 200 steps. After we reached the river, my legs were shaking but later after the rafting was over, going back up, I realized how out of shape I was. The kids and Prasad easily made it to the top but I huffed and puffed my way up. I had to listen to Nyoman explain how his wife who worked at the lunch place walked up and down the steps till she was 8.5 months pregant! On our way back to Nusa Dua we visited a few of the Ubud artistic villages. We visited Celuk, a village specializing in silver/gold, Batuan for traditional painting and Batubulan for batik clothing. Sindhu really enjoyed visiting the villages as they had the artists show us how they made the jewelry, batiks and paintings. We found the prices were exorbitant. Bali art in general was pricier than I had thought it would be. We purchased one painting and bargained it down to less than 40% of the original price and later thought we could have gone down even more. That evening, Prasad and I craved Indian food (after only 3 days) and ordered in from a restaurant in Nusa Dua called Indian Dhaba, the food was pretty decent.

We relaxed most of the next day, kids hung out the pool and Sindhu and Prasad went snorkeling in the middle of the sea. Initially Sindhu was scared and refused to go into the water but after watching Prasad do a few rounds around the boat, she obliged and later admitted it was one of the best parts of the trip. For dinner, we went to Bumbu Bali. They had a vegetarian section in the menu, big bonus!!! but found the restaurant to be a bit pricey compared to some of the other local restaurants.

Lost Two More Teeth in Bali

He has no idea when he lost his first one. He thinks it was when he was eating an apple or maybe it fell out when he was jumping from one bed to another pretending to be Ben 10. Sindhu told him to write a note and sat him down and composed one for him. She then told him, I was the fairy anyway so nothing to worry about, he would still get something. Rushil was thrilled the next morning that he received some money from the tooth fairy. He badly wants to believe there is a tooth fairy but Sindhu keeps telling him otherwise so he is grappling with whom to believe. The next day, he lost a 2nd tooth and this time around he carefully put it under his pillow in a ziploc bag. I forgot to put some money under his pillow the next morning and he was really upset. We made up for it by sneaking in something after breakfast. What's funny is that the spacing gaps are making it difficult for him to pronounce a few words. He has a hard time saying "taste buds". Interesting as I never noticed Sindhu having trouble saying anything.

Bali - Day Two

Our first morning, we nearly missed our breakfast as we hardly slept the day before and Bali is 2.5 hours ahead. The first highlight of the day was Prasad's Balinese massage. There is a SPA at every corner in Bali , I hear that you can get $5 massages but I doubt I would enjoy one of those. The hotel was offering $60 massages but we decided to call an outside SPA which was 1/2 the price. In Bali, pretty much any restaurant or SPA will pick you up and drop you off for free to and from their establishment, gas seems to be very cheap here even compared to the US. It’s an excellent perk which Prasad took advantage of for his massage. That evening, we rented a car with driver to go to Uluawtu Temple. The company we chose was Bali Bagus Tours . Suta who is the owner arranged a mini-van (just like our Toyota Innova) with his sister as a guide, her name is Shanti. She was a young woman probably no more than 19 or 20, unmarried and very sweet. She was still learning to speak English but she went out of her way to make sure we were well taken care of. We were initially confused as we had only expected a driver and with Shanti, we were concerned they would charge us for a package but they stuck to our initial agreement. Rather than going for tour packages, I would recommend hiring a car/driver and customizing your own tour.

Uluwatu temple is an old temple situated on a cliff overlooking the sea. At the entrance, they provided sarongs for men and women who were wearing shorts. Uluwatu has spectacular views especially at sunset. We were warned multiple times about the aggressive monkeys, I took off my earrings and necklace and others were warned about glasses and purses. At one point, we were taking some photographs and leaning on a ledge and one monkey came from behind and took Prasad’s glasses. I started chasing the monkey and one of her friends hissed at me and I backed off screaming! Our guide, Shanthi talked to someone and he bribed the monkey with an egg and the glasses were returned! The monkeys know they can barter the items they take from the tourists for food. Later we watched helplessly as a monkey tore apart a pair of glasses that he took from another unfortunate tourist.

After sunset, we watched Kecak Dancing, a dance drama depicting portions of the Ramayana. It is a very popular Bali dance with a troupe of 50 people and is quite impressive and is equally entertaining for children too. Many hotels offer $35 dinner/dance packages but it’s only $5/person at Uluwatu and $4 in Ubud and given we’re vegetarian most of those dinner packages are not worth it for us. It includes a scene with Hanuman caught in a fire in Lanka and him putting out the fire with his feet. Rushil was wondering if the Hanuman in the play had special powers and didn’t understand how he put out the fire with his feet since this was a play and he was not the real Hanuman. Rushil and Sindhu watched the show with avid interest and since they knew they story already, they could relate to the scenes with minimal explanation. Rushil was thrilled as later he got to take a picture with Hanuman carrying him. They had the same program at our hotel a few days later and Hanuman was in the lobby and both Sindhu and Rushil got a picture taken with him again.

After Uluwatu, most people go for a seafood dinner at Jimbaran Bay but we opted to go to Kuta so we would have more variety and also get a chance to see South Kuta. Unfortunately we decided to go blind and just a pick a place but our driver and guide had a lot of trouble finding a place as they didn’t seem to know where all the restaurants were situated. We found one vegetarian place but it was one of those hole in the wall places and Sindhu didn’t find the menu appetizing. We finally picked a place that had a live band that played English music although Sindhu claimed she couldn’t understand their English. We had some trouble explaining our needs as we always need to be careful with Rushil’s food allergies but so far, the Balinese have been wonderful in accommodating our request.

Raining Cats and Dogs

It's been raining non-stop for the past two days and it doesn't look like it will let up anytime soon. I'm thankful for the 4-5 days of sunny weather we had and that we picked a local hotel in Ubud so we can walk back and forth between our hotel and shops. Nothing else to do but shop so who is complaining?!? When we first entered Ubud, all the shops sent me into a zone, I just could not believe how much fun we would have. Ofcourse the kids didn't see it that way, after about 1.5 hours or so of shopping, they were begging to go back to the hotel. The kids loved staying at the Westin and don't really like the Balinese style hotel we're staying in but I love it! We're in the heart of Ubud in a tiny oasis, with a private sitout and tons of greenery. We're leaving tomorrow, we need to come to back Bali one day, we missed seeing a few sights due to the rains.

Bali - Day 1

We were welcomed at the Westin in Nusa Dua after a 7.5 hour flight with a stop in Bangkok on Thai Airways. We were greeted by two lovely dancers who offered us flowers and drinks at the reception. A member of the Kids Club gave Sindhu and Rushil a tote bag full of goodies while we waited in the lounge to register. Their check-in is excellent. The hotel was operating at 60% occupancy so the pools and restaurants were not full. Nusa Dua is a resort area and not accessible to locals and only hotels and resorts are located in the area. Given that I didn't put much thought into the reservations, just an hour or two of net browsing and we didn't buy a travel book on Bali, I think we could of planned the itinerary a bit better. I'm really not the Nusa Dua type, maybe a couple days is fine but we really craved the real Bali. I had originally scheduled 5 nights in Nusa Dua and 2 nights in Ubud, but after some net reading, changed it 4 nights in Nusa Dua and 3 nights in Ubud, I probably could have done 3 nights in Nusa Dua and 4 nights in Ubud, most of the places to see are in and around Ubud.

Bali is amazing and I would love to go back one day as we won't be able to cover everything in one week! Bali's biggest asset is its people, they are just wonderful and their culture and way of living is very interesting. They are so proud to be Hindu and one of the first few questions they ask us is about our religion since we are Indian. They also identify with the Indian culture through Bollywood movies and are quite familiar with the Bachchans and the Khans. We had some insightful conversations with our guides and drivers,.

Our first day, the kids and Prasad had a swim and we ate at a nearby restaurant called Ulam, which I would recommend if you stay at the Westin. They serve Balinese food and we had the typical Nasi Goreng and Mi Goreng dishes which were pretty good. Prasad and I also had fresh coconut and were surprised to see how large the coconuts are in Bali! The coconut was however very tender and delicious! Even though there are tender coconuts being sold at ever corner in Bangalore, we’ve eaten more of it here in Bali! Being vegetarian is a bit of a problem more so because it's difficult to explain what we would like to eat and we're slowing getting "Gorenged Out!" The fresh fruits are amazing, We have tried interesting and delicious fruits I have never seen anywhere else in the world, They have some unique citrus fruits or at least they seem to be from that family as they smell somewhat like oranges but taste very different. Rambutans (like lichees) are in season and Sindhu is loving them!

Off to Bali tonight!

Bali has eluded us multiple times. My sister lived in Indonesia for 9 months in the mid 90s and I never took the opportunity to go. We wanted to go for our honeymoon but Prasad had an Indian passport and they were estimating 2-3 months to get a visa at that time. We considered Bali when we were planning our India trips but it didn't happen. Then in 2002, we booked our tickets, got our visas but the Bali bombings happened a couple of days before we were to fly out and we had to cancel and re divert our trip to Darjeeling. In retrospect, it was probably a good idea since I was pregnant with Rushil so a cooler destination was more suitable. So here we are 7 years later giving it another go. Rushil complained of a stomach ache last night and this morning moaned and groaned that he was too tired to go to school. Hope he isn't coming down with something that will last a week :-( I'm off to the pharmacy to stock up on lactobacillus acidophilus and other medicines just in case.