It’s been nearly 3 weeks that I’m in Bali. I was planning to stay something like a week. But whenever you arrive in Bali, you don’t wanna rush, you feel in every body cell that Bali and rush don’t fit together.
Before going to Bali you generally think of it as one of the most aweful touristic spots in Asia that you should avoid. That is indeed the case for Kuta and area, but this is not Bali at all. Bali is an authentic complex, artistic, beautiful and highly spiritual culture focusing on impermanence, on the present moment and on transforming the way you see things so you are always in a positive mindset. Balinese have their own unique way to live Hinduism. There are at least 3 to 7 temples in every village, and every home has its own little temple. Offerings made of flowers, bamboo and other plants are made several times a day literally everywhere. Balinese live their spirituality through art (dance, theatre, etc) and its been a real gift for me to have been able to assist to a real traditional Barong ceremony in a temple in Padangbai, in the middle of the locals – this was not a Barong performance only for tourists. The more I learn about Balinese culture (thanks to a French guy who has been living in Bali for 25 years), the more I want to stay and feel the magic.
Traditional offerings (canang)
Ceremony in Ulu Watu Temple (purification of a location before they move a statue there)
Barong Ceremony in Padang Bai
After I finally got my Open Water diver certification, I left Nusa Lembongan on a big rhum hangover which needed the car traveling to Ubud to stop so I could puke the two bananas I had for breakfast. Not the best way to leave this little paradise where I met so many amazing people.
Seaweed drying in Nusa Lembongan
Nusa Lembongan
Nusa Ceningan
On the boat from Lembongan, I met a Swiss woman traveling with her two boys (3 and 6 years old). 3 people and they are traveling with less stuff than me. I was impressed. They were traveling for 4 months in Indonesia but she was not feeling that Indonesia was meant for them and was looking for something else. Anyway, we took the same car to Ubud, and since I had two positive answers from couchsurfers to stay at their place, I asked to one of them if he could host Lina and her children. This Norvegian guy met us in the restaurant where we stopped and not only was he able to host the family, but one of the first thing he told us was that he was planning to go to a Rainbow Gathering in Tasmania (an intentional community gathering for a few weeks or months were people are living in self-reliance, bonding with nature, etc). Lina’s eyes widely opened: that’s exactly what she was looking for and while she started traveling first. She was supposed to go to a same gathering in Costa Rica but received an answer too late. Yesterday she emailed me from Melbourne – they were all waiting for the ferry to Tasmania. So incredible how life goes. I started to talk to her because I saw her bag from Coop (grocery store in Switzerland), and indirectly I helped her to find exactely what she was looking for. I got the feeling that’s the kind of magic you only find while traveling.
Traditional offerings (canang)
I stayed in Ubud area for a week. There is two sides in Ubud. It’s a real paradise for organic-bobo-hippie expats for sure. Yoga classes, organic food, retreats, Tibetan chanting bowls, etc, everywhere – I was for sure attracted to all this shit but didn’t want to spend all my money on that and hopefully I was not living that close from the centre! Ubud is “the” cultural and artistic centre of Bali. It is also a lovely little slopy city surrounded by fertile jungle and rice fields. Well not only surrounded, but literally inside the city. There are cool and slow vibes in Ubud that make you feel you wanna stay for a long time. This week has been marked with hanging with a lot of different friends, some traditional dance and massage, live music, exstatic dance with 150 people, really tasty food, a lot of bicycle, temples, holy springs, rice fields, visa shit to deal with, my birthday, monkeys, happiness and serenity.
Temple around Ubud
Rice sowing in Tegallalang
The day of my birthday I was kindly invited by Sasha, the amazing Canadian friend I met in Lembongan, to join his parents and him on a temple tour around Ubud and South. We went to Gunung Kawi, where Hinduism in Bali originated, Tanah Lot and Ulu Watu. While we were quite overwhelmed by the intense energies of Gunung Kawi, Tanah Lot and Ulu Watu are mostly two big touristic spots where you cannot even access the temples (one in the sea, the other one on a cliff). Ulu Watu’s highlight was not the temple but the monkeys who are living there. They are glasses (and other stuff) pickpockets. For real. We saw at least 3 people whose glasses were stolen by the monkeys. Hopefully, our guide (really amazing, enthusiast and willing to share and learn by the way) warned us about these sneaky creatures, thus Sasha and I were walking all the way holding our glasses with one or two hands. We looked really stupid at first, but not as much as the poor tourists whose glasses were stolen in front of our eyes. Imagine walking around dozen of macaques, holding your glasses and trying not to look at their eyes. Quite an adventure I garanty. Then in the middle of this mess you reach the end of the cliff where a group is peacefully doing tai chi or qi gong. The contrast is pretty surreal. We didn’t see an amazing sunset at Ulu Watu but this monkey adventure was worth the trip.
Candi Temple of Gunung Kawi
Glasses stealing monkeys of Ulu Watu
Another highlight of this week was the walk in the beautiful rice terraces of Tegallalang, 15 km north Ubud, and just after a visit to the holy springs of Tirta Empul. As soon as I heard there was a temple with holy springs in the area, I felt I needed to go there. I went there with a friend on his motorbike. Balinese people were bathing in the springs – water is pouring from 12 different places inside a pool. While the only Western people around were staying outside taking pictures, I felt the need to go inside. I knew that each of the 12 places had different functions but couldn’t learn anything about them. I was only told not to go to the two last ones, as they are related to death. So I went inside, only Westerner around Balinese people, and what followed is hard to describe. All I can tell is that I had an intense experience and could really feel that this water was special and carrying some important purifying energies. Clear, fresh, beautiful water. I felt so clean and purified when I got out. A highly emotional experience, even though I did not experience it the “right way”, through a whole ceremony. The important thing is that I could reach what I was looking for: a new beginning. Because a lot is going on with the sailing journey I’ve been planning for months. Long story short, I might not join Liberty and backpack in South-East Asia, living the own personal journey I feel I need to live right now in my life. On the motorbike on the way back to Ubud after this visit to the holy springs, completely wet (you don’t go naked in the holy springs of course), I was feeling really happy and free, feeling that I was exactely where I had to be at this precise moment.
Rice terraces of Tegallalang
Holy springs of Tirta Empul
Finally, after an awesome barbecue evening in the nice community where I’ve been couchsurfing for a few days, I joined for my last two days and nights in Ubud “Not for Sale”, a recycling artists community outside of the centre, located in the middle of rice fields – invaded by white herons at sunset and sunrise and by fireflies (even inside the room) at night. In the evening, children were wandering around with flashlights looking for eels. They showed us what they got, small eels wriggling inside a bucket, which would end up cooked. An amazing big organic garden is neighbouring the community. These Indonesian guys, coming mostly from Java, are painting or recycling materials like tyres and glass, protesting against the sale of rice fields and land to the tourism industry. It was nice to live with a bunch of Indonesian guys for a few days, since I’ve been mostly staying with Western people before. At the end of my second evening, after 5 hours, I ended up with dreadlocks made by one of the guys from the community. It was quite painful, but this night I felt so blessed, being in this amazing part of this amazing country, in a dreadlock process under the stars, in the middle of Indonesian artists, rice fields, fireflies and frogs (and mosquitos).
View from the house of Not For Sale community around Ubud where I couchsurfed
Not For Sale community
I’m currently in Padangbai, a nice little bay where ferries leave for Lombok. Another nice chill place where you come for 1-2 days and stay three times more at least. I joined my friend Chrys from Switzerland who I met in Lembongan. We are planning to travel together for a while. I’m sleeping in a really cheap dorm without walls, with direct view on the sea. Yesterday we went snorkeling close to the shore. So many beautiful and colourful fishes again, only a few meters off the beach!! I’m not sure about my plans yet. It keeps changing everyday. I won’t have my passport back until Wednesday (10 days for a visa extension because of Chinese New Year) and I have to go back to Ubud to pick it up. I was planning to go to Lombok as soon as I would get my passport back but I’m feeling so good here. I’d like to travel a bit more in Bali. What a nice feeling to be free and have time 🙂 Two months ago I was not planning at all to travel in Indonesia. It was not even on my “top list” of the countries where I want to travel. And now it seems I might travel around this country for months. I love how unpredictable life is 🙂
Padang Bai
Miliberty 