Island of the Gods: Bali, Indonesia

The concept of reincarnation is a central belief to many eastern religions. The soul makes its journey through life, tangling with the vices and virtues of the physical world before crossing over into the spirit realm for a time, eventually to be reborn, hopefully a bit wiser than before. The earth, at least in many Asian cultures, is kind of like a nightclub with a revolving door policy when it comes to existence. “Stamp your hand for re-entry”.

In Hinduism, each soul hopes to be reborn into a slightly higher caste, while Buddhist reincarnation has the eventual goal of achieving a state of enlightenment or “Nirvana” (Smells Like Clean Spirit). If you don’t feel like you’re making much progress on the path to total consciousness, fear not. It’s a slow process. It took Siddhartha 500 lifetimes of trying before he figured it all out and became the first Buddha.

On the island of Bali, all of these sundry beliefs come crashing together in an explosive cacophony of sights, sounds, smells and tastes. To the Balinese, the realm of the gods is not some distant, metaphysical place. Body and spirit are all part of the same continuum. The spirit world is very much present in everyday life and must be treated accordingly.

Flying to the island of Bali at night is a bit unsettling. Outside the plane window, the inky darkness seems to stretch on forever over the Indian Ocean. With no landmarks or lights to guide you, the journey takes on the feeling of suspended animation; constantly traveling but never moving. The low-pitched drone of the engines, dim cabin lights and the sleepy, half-closed eyes of the passengers around you make the plane a floating limbo, an airfoil womb speeding you towards tropical rebirth.

Slowly, in the distance, faint lights appear out of the blackness. As the plane descends towards Bali, the lights get brighter and lower on the horizon until it seems impossible that the plane won’t crash into the waves below. At the last second, the runway appears beneath the plane and the reassuring squeal of rubber on the tarmac welcomes you to this new world, Bali, the island of the Gods.

Molly and I got off the plane in the capital city of Denpasar and were immediately greeted by ringing chimes, the thick smell of incense and signs bearing skull and crossbones. Drug smuggling is taken VERY seriously in Bali. For those fool-hearty enough to attempt it, the Indonesian government is more than happy to arrange a quicker turn-around for reincarnation than most people would desire.

We made for the beach resort of Kuta, just a twenty minute cab ride from the airport. When we found accommodations we quickly realized that we had moved into a higher echelon of traveling than we were used to. Whereas in Sydney, we had to shell out $55 for two dorm beds in a bug-infested hellhole in the red light district, complete with transvestite prostitutes and (even worse) basic cable, here in Bali we could live like kings. Twenty bucks bought us an air-conditioned suite in a Balinese pagoda called the New Arena with a private bathroom and a balcony overlooking a horizon pool with a swim up bar. Truly the travel gods were smiling on us.

Wandering through the streets of Kuta, you realize just how present the gods are to the Balinese. While Indonesia is the most populated Muslim country in the world but it is not made up of a single, unified people. The country encompasses more than 17,500 islands scattered across the Indian Ocean. Many of those islands have their own language, customs, and culture. The island of Bali is predominantly Hindu, with a few Buddhists thrown in for color. According to Hindu beliefs, gods, demons, and lesser deities are everywhere. Each home, business, and crossroad, not to mention the  sacred trees and rocks, has a shrine to a protector deity or ancestor that must be appeased.

These gods are made happy by a sacred offering called canang. The canang consists of several parts. It is usually given in an intricately woven palm leaf that symbolizes the purity of the offering. Different colored flowers are placed in each palm leaf, and each flower represents a different deity; blue for Vishnu, red for Brahma, white for Isvara and so on. After the flowers, devotees will light several sticks of incense and include a few other “treats” for the gods. As far as I can tell, Hindu gods love cigarettes, Mentos and Ritz crackers. There are canangs literally everywhere you look. They are placed in front of restaurants, on the dashboard of taxis, and even in the middle of busy intersections. More than once I got a nasty burn from walking into a pack of flaming incense sticks.

The morning of our first full day I rented a surfboard and headed down to Kuta Beach. On the way, it is all you can do to avoid the gauntlet of hawkers selling everything from massages to surfboards to counterfeit NBA jerseys. “Hey boss! Yes, taxi, motorbike, t-shirt? Yes, boss, yes?”

The waves at Kuta Beach are spectacular. They are beautiful--- gentle swells about 6 feet high with smooth, even breaks and long workable rides. The water is warm so you don’t need a wetsuit. I spent most of the day bobbing up and down catching a wave here and there, just happy to be alive.

Kuta Beach

The next day, we drove to the town of Ubud, higher up in the mountains. It was in this town that we truly found our love of Balinese cuisine. The food in Bali is as much of a mixture as the people who live here. The island has always been at the crossroads of many cultures and each of them has left a mark on the food. There are spice laden Chinese and Indian cooking techniques and halal Muslim influences that mingle with tropical fruits from the Pacific islands and, of course, the delicious bounty of the sea. While most restaurants can serve you up a tasty treat day or night, some of the best food is found right on the street from vendors who can give you some of the most authentic tastes of real Balinese food. We found a nice restaurant by a rice paddy where we relaxed with cold beer and hot curry. Later, on the street we picked up some delicious soup called “Bak so” (meatball) and satay, which is basically skewered meat marinated in herbs, spices and coconut milk then grilled on a barbecue.

After feasting, we took a walk down to the monkey forest near our hotel. Animals are highly respected in Hinduism, with many species figuring prominently into myths and legends. Monkeys are especially respected for their loyalty and intelligence, and for helping mankind in his eternal struggle against evil. The monkey forest in Ubud is a giant shrine to these simian allies. There are stone temples, statues and bridges that snake their way through a huge forest filled with chattering troops of monkeys. At the entrance, women sell bananas to any tourist foolish enough to want to feed the little critters. Here’s a tip, if you go to the monkey forest DO NOT BRING BANANAS! The monkeys go ape-shit. They jump up on you, rifle through your pockets and basically mug you for any fruit you might have. We saw one tourist covered with about six or seven of those furry little bandits, climbing though his hair and opening his backpack looking for booty. Thievery aside, the forest was beautiful. Amazing stone masonry seemed to grow right out of the earth and intertwine harmoniously with graceful trees and clinging vines. Also, the baby monkeys are adorable.

 

Beyond the monkey forest lay miles and miles of jungles and rice paddies broken up by a small village here and there. Molly and I spent the afternoon walking along narrow paths that lead us through the fields. Outside their shops, wood carvers sat in the shade chiseling intricate masks and statues of all shapes and sizes. Many times we got lost and had to ask for directions, getting by with sign language and a few butchered words in Indonesian. When we got thirsty, we would simply stop at the nearest coconut tree where a local would shimmy to the top and cut us down a tasty treat--- Balinese vending machines.

 We arose the next morning and had one of the most quintessential Bali adventures--- Motor-biking around the island. It cost a whopping four dollars to rent a scooter for the day and with gas being less than ¼ of the price in New Zealand, we could afford to go anywhere we wanted. Traffic laws in Bali are more like guidelines than actual rules. Thousands of scooters jockey for position as they dart to and fro. Lanes are mere suggestions as drivers pass each other on blind corners and kamikaze motorcycles careen the wrong way down the street or up onto the sidewalk to weave through traffic. There is an old saying that there are no atheists in a foxhole, and the same can be said of people driving on the roads of Bali. Fortunately, early in the trip, a holy woman blessed us with holy water and rice while placing a canang on the front of our scooter for protection.

We drove higher up into the hills and traffic thinned out. All around us, terraced rice paddies had been carved out of the mountains, tracing the topography of the land like delicate stairways to heaven. We stopped at a little coffee plantation and decided to sample the local fare. The waitress brought us coffee, ginger tea, lemon tea, ginseng coffee and Balinese hot chocolate while we picked mandarins right off the trees and munched away. The little man who lead us around told us about all of the different plants that grew on the plantation before offering us the “special” mongoose coffee.

We took the bike to the top of Mount Batur. The road is breathtakingly beautiful as it traces the edge of the crater of a huge volcano. We stopped at a roadside dive and went in for lunch. The place was packed with people, none of whom were tourists, which is always a good sign. They only served one dish, which is an even better sign. That dish was deep fried fish with chili sauce that the locals were literally pulling off the bone like a school of piranhas. That was the best sign.

We sat down and asked how much it cost for lunch. They waiter and cook chattered away at each other for a few minutes after we asked. That’s never good because you know that they are trying to figure out how much they can rip you off over the local price. Fortunately the “rip off tourist price” that they came up with was two dollars. Okay, I’ll pay. It was the best food we had on the island.

After lunch we snaked our way down the volcano to Besakih, the largest temple complex on Bali. Hindu temples are set up very differently than churches. In Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions there is only one god so their holy places are all set up around a central altar and everyone worships there together. Hindu’s have many gods, deities, and castes so their temples are set up accordingly. Besakih is like a miniature city spread over dozens of acres. Thousands of tiny shrines and altars are set up in courtyards all over the complex. The higher the ground that the shine occupies, the greater the status of the deity with the most revered commanding a position high above the rest of the complex. We climbed all the way to the top and rested  against the walls of a temple as we looked back down over the green hills that rolled towards the sea. 

That night we attended a dance performance. The text was taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana. It is the story of Rama, his wife, and his servant. Written by the Indian poet Valmiki around the 5^th century BC, Ramayana and is much like the Greek poem “The Odyssey” in scope, and it is one of the great epics of early Indian literature. The performance itself was mesmerizing. The “orchestra” was made up of more than one hundred Balinese men seated in a circle around a pillar of flames. Throughout the dance they would sing and chant in unison emphasizing a strange syncopated chittering sound which created a trance-like state for both the performers and the audience. The dancers themselves moved with the slow fluidity of a dream. It was truly remarkable.

The next morning we took a shuttle to the village of Padangbai. Renowned for its snorkeling, Padangbai is a sleepy little town that has amazing seafood and an abundance of temples. We arrived on a Hindu holiday and were greeted by thousands of worshipers gathering on the streets, beaches, and cliff-top temples outside of town. Most of the women carried offerings of fruit and incense balanced on their heads while they weaved through the vendors who crowded the streets selling everything from satay to cell phones. I could not help but laugh when a child walked by holding a cartoon baby Krisna balloon. He’s like a little baby Jesus, but BLUE! We spent a day snorkeling at the Blue Lagoon just outside of town before heading back to Kuta.

We had been in Bali for over a week and we had yet to find the perfect beach. Kuta Beach had great waves and a party atmosphere but it was very crowded and a little dirty. We needed tropical seclusion and we needed it IMMEDIATELY. Again, we hopped on a motor bike and, with a quick prayer to the gods of the road, we zoomed off to the Bukit Peninsula. This tiny strip of land jutting off of the southern coast of Bali is home to some of the best surf breaks in the world. Waves rolling in from the Indian Ocean smash up against giant volcanic sea cliffs creating some epic swells. Surprisingly, this part of the island is sparsely inhabited. We drove for hours through dense jungles and up steep hills overlooking the gorgeous cerulean water. If you are traveling to Bali, do yourself a favor and spend a few days on the Bukit Peninsula. I highly recommend the beaches around Padang Padang. Just go and get lost. It is inevitable that you will end up on some of the most amazing beaches in the world. Molly and I turned down an unmarked gravel road and ended up on a beach in the village of Bingin that defies description.

Bali is known as the Island of the Gods for good reason. Traveling around this amazing place, you cannot help but feel the power of the divine. The air around you is thick with the smell of incense and the sound of prayers on the wind. Forces of nature here are larger than life. The tropical sun can gently warm your body or burn you to a crisp in minutes. The ocean is calm and tranquil at one moment and a roiling tempest the next. Images of gods and demons guard every home and stand tall alongside the capitalist deities of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. The delicious food here warms you to your very soul and the presence of god can be felt in the warm smile of everyone you meet. It is my sincere prayer that we can all meet up and share a drink in Bali in this life or the next.