Alex and Chrissy go to Asia

The second to last stop for Alex and Chrissy was a less touristy village in Bali called Buwit. Here, they stayed in a bamboo pod next yo a tiny waterfall. Alex and Chrissy felt like they were part of yhe movie, A Bug’s Life (not a musical, but the jury may still be out). The Ulaman Eco Lodge is a relatively new resort so some of the main parts weren’t quite finished yet, however, this did. It detract from the experience.

One day; Alex took advantage of early morning yoga and the next day Alex did an early mourning cycling tour of the nearby village. She was the only one on the tour so got to learn a lot a see a lot of the Bali see culture. The Balinese man who took her around , Despar, explained the farming and religious culture around here. Most families out here farm for food for themselves, and only some with more land will sell their crops. The tour guide, Despar, had grown up in this town, works at the government building to create marriage licenses and other things, and is also and active member of his template so as he biked Alex around, all of the villagers would say hello or wave to him. Alex felt like she was being guided by the town mayor (and maybe she was!)

The first stop was at a home where the farming tools and knives for religious ceremonies were made. An old man sat watching a woman welded the metal for a knife as a man pounded the iron to create some kind of cap. Despar explained what the different iron tools were used for in the rice fields. The woman wanted to invite alex in for food, as it is Balinese culture to feed or have coffee with guests of your home. The family was interested in how old Alex was and where she was from. If Alex had more time, she would have wanted to ask the old man about his life and how Bali has changed since he was a boy.

Alex and Despar then continued their ride through the rice fields. It happened to be in the middle of harvest season so when the rice crops are brown enough, they are either manually or mechanically harvested to get the seeds. The seeds are then laid out to dry for about 2 weeks. Some people have places inside their homes for seeds to dry, and if you don’t have space inside, the seeds are put on tarps in the front of your house covering some of the road. Despar took Alex to one bigger rice farm that was owned by a woman who stopped by to say hello. Here, Alex learned what a “dry” seed looked like and was able to pull off the outside to see where the rice was! One piece of rice is encapsulated by 3 “leaves”.

Alex and Despar then made their way past Despar’s family fields and Despar pointed out his dad in the blue shirt manually harvesting their rice! There are two rice harvests per year, and when the fields are not being used for rice, they will grow soybeans or fruits until it is time to grow more rice.

Alex also stopped by Despar’s temple where he described the main 3 gods, the one who creates, the one who protects, and the one who eliminates. The plain stone statues outside the temple entrance are supposed to be ugly to capture the bad spirits and keep the inside of the temple sure and food. When someone dies, there is a long process and custom to honor and capture the spirit so it can be reincarnated. the spark notes version is that the whole town comes together an honors the body and cremates it. The ashes are spread in an ocean or river and a couple days later, the family goes back to that ocean or river to collect the spirit from the air. The spirit is then taken to the temple at home and honored and released, and it’s the hope it will be reincarnated.

Despar was describing how he knew that his son was the reincarnation of his grandfather. His family went to a “paranormal” where they talk with someone who can translate from our world to the spirit world. If the paranormal gets into a trans (you can tell because they may sit like the spirit used to, or they may cough like the spirit used to) the family then starts asking questions to determine if the soul that the paranormal is harboring is legit. They ask 3 general questions such as “what illness led to your death?”, “how many siblings did you have?”, “who is in the room today?”. If they get a question wrong the family knows it is not their spirit and will find a different paranormal. But Despar knew that his son was his grandfather because the spirit answered all the questions correctly. Now when Despar gets angry at his son, he thinks about how he would want to treat his grandfather and that calms his anger.

The final stop on the ride was at Despar’s schoolmates house who’s husband was building a Bali Bali. It took 3 men 3 months full time to carve the wood for the structure. The import paint and take a month to put it together. Walking inside the house, Alex was greeted by the family dog (most families have one dog. Dogs are good creatures who watch over the house during the day when the family is at work or school). There was also a bird as a greeter. The craftsmanship of the Bali Bali was so meticulous and ornate. There is a house for the kitchen, a house for the rice to dry, a house for the family to sleep, and this bali bali will house the ancestral spirits and only the parents and adults can sleep in it. There is an ornate bird that will be put in last to the watch over the family. The nearby shrine acts as the transfer of the spirits from the air to the Bali Bali.

Overall in this village, there are ~3,000 people, 600 in each section. The people here live until the are about 80 or so years old (~500 people of the 3,000 are >80). People choose who they will marry and go to a priest to see what day is a good day to marry. There may be a month where there is no good day so the engaged couple will wait until the next month to marry. Every morning, people put offerings in front of their entrances to the gods. Once a month, everyone goes to the community temple for a service where they offer fruits, cake, and chicken skewers to the gods. You can tell the economic status of a home based on the entrance.

Their final night here, Alex and Chrissy decided to take their previous driver, Buda, up on his offer to take them to Tanah Lot. First they stopped at a coffee plantation where they got walked through the coffee and tea making process and got go taste test 14 different teas. They even tried the coffee made from the beans in animal feces!

Tanah lot is the well known spot to go to watch the sunset over the temple Pura Tanah Lot. The views did not disappoint, and to get into the temple, Alex and Chrissy had to wash their face and hands and get blessed with rice. It seemed like an Ash Wednesday ceremony except instead of ashes, it was rice.

Following the gorgeous sunset, Alex and Chrissy watched a Balinese fire dance. Luckily, there was a pamphlet telling the folk tale because the story itself was very hard to follow.

After dinner by the water, Alex and Chrissy went back to their pod to pack and prepare for their final stop in Bali.

Next stop: Seminyak

Highlight of Buwit

Alex – cycling tour of the nearby village

Chrissy – living in the pod