My Bali Experiences

The Rice Terraces

            Greetings my lovelies. For the past few days, my friend Margarida and I have been fortunate enough to travel around Bali! Thursday and Friday were spent in the Ubud area where a lot of cultural adventures were to be had. The first stop was to the rice terraces. I don't think I've ever seen anything so green! It was practically a hike to get around to different parts, but we took plenty of pictures. Actually, we took way too many pictures during these past few days in general. After that, we made our way to the Batur Volcano. We thought that we would be able to hike up the volcano, but it appears that you can't really do it without getting in contact with a tour group. We had to settle for a pretty view. 

            But that's ok! We ended up doing something really fun: coffee and tea taste testing! Bali is apparently big in the coffee business, especially for a very... special kind. Basically, they feed the beans to an animal called a Luwak and the beans are fermented by the... cycle. And then they, uh, deliver (?) it to the humans when it done and ready for cleaning. It's poop coffee. Apparently delicious and a delicacy. We didn't try it, but the free taste testing cups were really good! I bought two small bags of a coffee and a tea. I highly recommend this if anyone gets the chance, it was so much fun!
            We went to more temples than I can count, all were very cool to see. All of the visitors had to wear a sarong (a very long scarf) to cover their legs while being inside any of the holy places in Bali, you can imagine how that didn't help the humid 90 degree weather! One our last big activities was the trip to the Ubud Monkey Forest, which was both amazing and frightening because those monkeys will jump on you, take your food if you have any, and potentially fight you if you accidentally agitate them. But they were pretty cute too.
            That's enough with the recount, because I actually have some specific things I want to discuss. While in Macau, I've felt relatively safe being driven around in taxis despite the fast paced, complete and utter chaos and disorganization of traffic. Actually, I feel slightly more confident about getting to my destination without an accident than I would at home. After my first few days in Bali, I think that I've figured out why. Bali's lack of traffic organization is very similar to Macau, with mo-peds, cars, pedestrians, and semi-wild dogs everywhere on narrow streets. But it's precisely because of this craziness that the drivers are experienced enough to avoid any potential accidents. They know it's crazy! They expect the crazy around every corner! So while you may not realize it, they are observing everything that's happening and are constantly prepared to defend against it. This is real defensive driving! I just find that so interesting, I'm sorry.

Canang Sari

            Another thing I've noticed is how different Indonesian culture is from anything that I know of. I still don't understand many of the "what"s and the "why"s, but I do know that it's very rich in religious and cultural beliefs. One of the most obvious examples are these small offerings that are outside of most buildings called canang sari. They are small baskets woven from palm leaves and are filled with flowers, incense, and rice. The baskets are made by hand, and they are put outside and replaced a couple times a day. They are supposed to appease demonic spirits.
            Little did we know that a couple of days ago was actually a holiday in Bali called Tumpek Landep. This one was very interesting. Margarida and I were sitting outside of our guesthouse waiting for our ride one morning, and out comes a couple people who begin washing their cars. Ok I guess they like to be clean. But then, a couple of others come to help put out very large offerings on top of the hood and tie palm leaves to the grill! Needless to say, we were pretty confused. We later found out that this holiday is meant to bless metal items and hope to put them to better use in the future. This purpose probably made a lot more sense when they blessed weapons instead of vehicles, but it's still pretty cool.
            We are now traveling around Nusa Lembongan which is a small island off of the main Bali island. We have already done and seen so many amazing things here! But I think that will wait until next week where I probably end up recounting some of the major parts of the trip. I'll be back at school (😖) by Saturday, so be prepared for a lot of stories!

再见！

TL;DR: My vacation in Bali has been going very well, we did most of the cultural attractions in Ubud, including temples, the Monkey Forest, and learning about coffee made by animals, and I have gotten an idea about Balinese religious beliefs.