October 30, 2010
I went to reggae night again this week and you can see I had to fan myself off after a few dances. I’ve loved having this fan – I’m surprised I don’t see more here. At the restaurant/bar I met a Dutch expat who is 51. He loves living here and said it’s like living in a hotel every day. He and his wife hired a few locals to help and I guess they really get pampered. He said he feels a bit guilty about how low the pay is and each month when he pays them he can’t believe how little it is. He defended the low pay by saying “you have to pay the going rate” or it will affect other rates and intimated that it would be bad for the economy. I think he basically meant other expats might have to pay more too and other workers might start to get higher wages. Then the great advantage that people from developed countries have by coming here would be diminished. This justification didn’t sit well with me and just seemed to be a repeat of class struggles throughout history.
I splurged yesterday and paid for a tour that took me into the northern areas of Bali. I saw several cool sights and learned much from the driver so the outing was a success. We first went to a small coffee, chocolate and spice farm. They have the coffee that is comically featured in “The Bucket List.” The Pea Berry Coffee/Luwak Coffee is expensive because it is difficult to acquire the necessary ingredient – poop! A wild cat-like animal, the Paradoxurus (aka Luwak), eats the red, ripe coffee cherry beans and they ferment in the stomach and the chemicals do their magic. The Luwak then poops out the seeds whole. The Luwaks are caught and supposedly at this farm kept for a week and then released and another one is caught. I have a picture of the animal and the poop for you. :) The seed is cleaned and ground into coffee. Apparently, it has hints of caramel and chocolate. I say apparently because I did not try this delicacy. I tried their ginseng coffee, which was pretty good – even for a non-coffee drinker.
We then headed to the Ulun Danu Temple that sits on a lake (sometimes literally). The temple goes into the water because those parts at least are dedicated to Vishnu, the god of water and protection. It was a beautiful site and well kept. There are many different smaller structures when you are in a temple and they are for different gods and goddesses so depending on you need you might head straight for one structure. The northern area in general is mountainous as you can see in this picture. That also made the temperature more pleasant.
Our next stop was the Gitgit waterfall. It was pretty, but not one you could easily swim or wade in. It is the highest one in Bali. Fortunately, the heavy rain started after I snapped my pictures and began my trek back up the hill. And fortunately, I had my poncho! The driver said the story about rainbows here is that angels make them so that they can come to earth to swim. I told him our pot of gold story, but I like the imagery of his story better. I can just see angels sliding down the rainbow as the dive into the water.
We did a quick stop at the town of Lovina and saw the uneventful beach. In the morning there might be dolphins playing, but other than that it isn’t appealing. The water looked to dirty to swim also. The resort on the beach was our only option for lunch and it was a buffet for 70,000 rupiah! Most of my meals have been between 18,000 and 30,000 so this seemed ridiculously high. The couple also on the tour agreed so we skipped lunch. The driver had no other option for us. This was the only frustrating part of the day.
One of my favorite stops was the only Buddhist temple on Bali. I found the grounds beautiful and the architecture unique. There weren’t many visitors so it was pleasant and I wish I could have stayed longer.
The playful stop was at a hot spring. I used the changing room and saw the sign that you see here. The English word choice tickled me and especially the original spelling of it. But I’m grateful they had a sign! The waters were from warm to hot depending on the pool and they smelled of sulfur. I grabbed a cup of noodles here and downed it quickly because the others were waiting.
We passed many rice fields, the main crop here, and we saw this farmer on the platform protecting the rice. The birds were trying to eat the almost ripened rice so he was pulling on lines that went throughout the field. The plastic bag streamers on the rope would scare away the birds. I also saw scarecrows, but they seemed as ineffective as in the US.
The main benefit of the tour, aside from having transport, was that I learned a lot about Bali Hinduism from the driver. He said there are 3 main gods, Shiva is the main god and is the god of wind. Shiva is the creator. Then Brahma is the god of fire so is the destroyer. And Vishnu is also part of this trio. These are the same three main gods in Hinduism in general. He told me about the offerings and said though you can put them out 3 times a day, the morning one is the most important and the others can be left undone if you are busy. The morning one is made between making breakfast and eating it while the family is together. It is meant to be an offering of thanks, but can also bring good fortune. The basic offerings can be bought in bundles of 10 for 3,000 rph (about $0.35) or one with more cutting in the leaves could cost 5,000 rph just for the one. The colors of the petals (many are hydrangea) signifify the directions. The red symbolizes the south, white the east, yellow/orange the north, and black/purple/brown the west. Pink can be used as a replacement for red or black.
Major ceremonies happen every 6 months and just occurred last week with the full moon. Ceremonies occur in the main temple, village temple and family temples. Five different colored chickens are needed for the rituals and the main and village temples will also use a duck and pig. He said cock fighting is also part of these rituals because the blood is needed to keep the ceremony safe and to keep evil at bay. He said these fights usually last around 30 minutes and these are legal. The illegal cock fights are the ones for gambling. At these knifes are put on the legs of the roosters so these fights might only last one minute. Gruesome! I agree they should be illegal just because of the inhumane treatment, but I think it’s outlawed only because of the gambling aspect.
He explained that animal sacrifices for religious reasons were good for the spirit in that animal because they will then be reincarnated as a human and get that much closer to achieving moksha. Animals killed for food do not get this passage. He said the spirit has 7 reincarnations as a human and if moksha is not achieved by then the spirit goes into an animal. He said achieving moksha is difficult because you don’t know what your actions were in previous lives. He said you will not get a good reincarnation if you do not marry or have children.
I asked him about the unmarried woman getting jailed if she got pregnant and he said that was not right. So take that earlier story with a grain of salt. Maybe it’s true and he didn’t want to say, who knows. I also asked what he thought of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY). He really likes SBY and thinks he is a good man. He didn’t complain about the economy like others had. He didn’t seem to follow specifics of the political policies, but had faith in the man. He claimed that the protests are simply villagers hired by political opponents to make a show of opposition - interesting idea and a new twist on mercenaries, in a way. This might just be his conspiracy theory or maybe some are staged.
He did lament the modern construction styles being implemented here. The traditional Bali home is made of bamboo, wood and grass roof. He said it is safer than the modern concrete, stone and clay roofed homes if an earthquake occurs. The traditional home is flexible and can move with the earthquake where as these cannot. However, you see few traditional homes anymore.
I asked about the very long era under the Dutch. He said it was bad for Indonesians at the time. He did not see any benefits for the Indonesians living under the Dutch. He did say the new generation does benefit from the bridges, irrigation systems and dams built by the Dutch. The Dutch were mostly interested in exporting spices, particularly cloves. When the Japanese took over they were interested in exporting rice.
Last night I took two Indonesian friends out to dinner to thank them for being so good to me. We had fun as they played mind-twisting matchstick games with me. For the three of us it only cost about $8 and we had delicious food. It didn’t cost much more than if I’d had lunch in Lovina!
That concludes my history and culture lesson for today. I hope you enjoyed it!
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