Journey Home

We arrived at the airport in Denpensar to find that the Icelandic Volcano had finally effected our travel plans- it seems a large ash cloud had yet again closed the airspace in London and our options were to stay in Bali or take our chances and fly to Hong Kong- we were ready to go home and decided to go for it and if we got stuck, we would explore Hong Kong. Luckily when we reached Hong Kong, the airspace in London had opened and we were able to proceed with our flights home without further delay.
We arrived home to Newark, exhausted with head colds, luggage in tact, and so happy to be back on our home soil yet again! We will be posting our reflections of our journey and it's further impact on our lives in the weeks and months to come. So tune in from time to time to see how this experience continues to shape our lives, work and thoughts!

A Bali Picture Gallery

Bali Reflections

We asked several of our Balinese friends if they traveled much. Few of them had traveled outside of Bali, with the exception of one young woman who traveled to the US with a dance group many years ago. It seems that money for travel is not available, and when there is financial abundance, it is spent on family ceremonies and celebrations so that the entire community benefits and shares in the experience. It was a wonderful honor for us to spend time getting to understand this unique culture of people that live life with a very different value and belief system. We were struck by the feeling that life did not revolve around making money, that these people have great respect for their rituals and spiritual lives and a great deal of time, energy and love go into the making of beautiful art, caring for their environment, and the keeping of their ancient traditions alive. In a rapidly changing global community, we think it is quite extraordinary that one can travel to Bali and still feel a strong connection to the ancient traditions. Perhaps this connection to traditional values is why we never felt unsafe or threatened. What Bali gave to both of us (grander than any mask, wall hanging or memento) was the inspiration of creativity generated from true appreciation and gratitude.

Death and Dying in Bali

Bali was the most interesting culture we had encountered when it came to our discussions of death and dying. We found Bali to be a highly spiritual culture who celebrates the after death and daily blessings, offerings and celebrations of the present moment. There seemed to be little emphasis placed upon the dying process itself. There is no hospice like setting for those dying and they appear to have no ritual for the actual process of dying, however they have month long celebrations for cremations following death. Often the bodies are preserved until the most suitable calendar date arrives, then the cremation ceremonies of many of the deceased may take place.

Visit with a Balinese Healer

During one of our dance lessons our teacher Barbara, discovered that Jubie was a nurse and suggested that we visit one of the traditional Balinese healers living outside of Ubud. In Bali healthcare is private pay, so each individual is responsible to pay for each doctor or hospital visit. Because of this, Balinese still tend to use their traditional healers for most health matters. Jubie called Jakorta Rai , who is also a high priest, and set up an appointment. We were both excited, and a bit apprehensive, as we rode the 20 minutes or so outside of Ubud to our appointment. Upon arriving at the family compound of Jakorta Rai (our healer), we were led to an outdoor pavilion where we sat and talked to a few “students” who gather and witness the daily healings. These “students” came from various countries (Switzerland, Malaysia and Germany), as well as various professions (hypnotherapy, kinesiology, etc). It seems some individuals come for weeks, some for months and they spend hours observing, witnessing and sometimes asking questions or participating in discussions with Jakorta Rye and his clients. We were there only a few minutes before a serious-looking man in a white shirt approached us from the house. He had us sit with him under the pavilion and he asked his first question “Why are you here?” This should have been a question we were easily prepared for, however we oddly seemed to stumble for an answer. Jubie began with an explanation that we were traveling on an expedition of education, experience and joy. Due to the fact that we did not have much to complain about regarding our health, he offered to do a “scan” of our being. He began by sitting behind Jubie with his fingers moving skillfully from the sutures of her skull, around her head to her ears, neck and shoulders. Reminding her of the monkeys preening one another, Jubie instantly broke into giggles. The assessment was predominantly positive, except for a strong sense of sadness that he encountered while fingering the inside of her left ear. How ironic for this diagnosis of sadness to appear on the great joy journey! He further examined her while lying flat, and drew strange designs in the air over her, as well as applying pressure to certain points on her feet. There was no question that this healer-man held special power and energy in his abilities. A wonderful sense of calm, trust and ease seemed to permeate the encounter. Mary was asked to lie flat for her assessment, and Jakorta Rai scanned her feet first detecting a spot that elicited a VERY DRAMATIC response. Mary yelled “ouch” and practically jumped off the ground. It seemed she was “out of balance” according to the healer. He again drew unusual designs over her. Mary, incredibly relieved that it was only a re-balancing that she needed, felt a calm trust in the healer as well. Upon leaving Mary asked if we could "make a picture" with him for our blog. He happily agreed, and even set up a pose for the traveling duo.

Rain, Rain and more Rain!

Although we reached Bali at the very beginning of their dry season, we experienced a great deal more rain that even the Balinese expected this time of year. During the first week there was an occasional and brief shower each afternoon. During the final two weeks, it was much hotter (we heard many locals remark about the intense heat) and most afternoons included a torrential downpour or two, some lasting most of the afternoon and into the evening hours. We walked in the rain a great deal and saw the front of the villa flood many times, as you can see in the pictures. We truly felt as though we had entered a tropical rain forest during the second half of our trip.

Mysterious and Magical Monkeys

One of our favorite parts of each day in Ubud was our walk through the Monkey Forest to get into town. There is something almost magical about the feeling that the Balinese are “living with the monkeys”. They are everywhere and we wanted to devote one entire entry to Monkey Forest and it’s monkeys. You will see Mary feeding one of the monkeys, what you will not see is what happened directly after the picture was taken. The very same monkey, looking for more, scaled up the front of Mary and took the remaining portion right out of her hands! Yikes!

Visienne from Belgium

We made a friend who is staying in the villa below us. Visienne is a doctor from Belgium traveling around Bali alone. The three of us woke up early one morning to visit the “early” Ubud market, also considered the Javanese market. The village market was full of local Indonesians buying essentials and surprisingly… offerings. Throughout the day the Balinese set out offerings of food and flowers in a variety of simple, woven containers. We had thought that each person created their own offerings every day, but it turns out that they buy these offerings from the market in large quantities.
That evening Jubie and Visienne attended an Ashtanga yoga class at the Yoga Barn. The yoga barn is an open-air high ceiling villa that overlooks the lilly ponds. One of the most beautiful places for yoga. Interesting to note, there was not one Indonesian present. It appears they are "living meditation" without the need for a special class.

Ah yes- NATURE!

Returning home from town we witnessed another Bali national geographic moment in the form of a snake dining upon one of our friendly villa frogs. At first sight we were uncertain as to whether we should interfere, but we chose to let nature be and photographed the event instead.

Balinese Dance Classes

We had decided to take several traditional Balinese dance classes from our Shakti dance instructor, Barbara. Barbara has studied many years (and moved to Bali 20 years ago to study) under the direction of a still bright and spunky 90 year old teacher,
Barbara even showed us pictures of she and her teacher dancing last week. The traditional Balinese moves, we both agree, are complicated and complex. We get a chance to stretch even our eyeballs. The steps are often small and intrinsic, but full of intention and energetic focus.

Roaming Barong Groups

The day after Galungan day we saw many roaming barong groups of children performing in the streets, hoping for sweets and treats.

A New Generation to Celebrate!

Whahoo!!!! What exciting news we received this week. Benjamin Smith (weighing 8lbs 6 oz) was born on May 3rd to beautiful Amanda and beloved son/brother Jared. We even got to Skype the little fella. So we pay Galungan tribute to ancestors and new generations alike.

Galungan Celebration: Ubud

We were greeted like long, lost family by our sweet group of Indonesian caretakers at Puri Asri (even offered another welcome “home again” watermelon drink). With Jubie requiring rest (and restrooms) frequently, we took time to witness and participate in the Balinese celebration of Galungan days. The Galungan celebration is a ten day period wherein families must welcome and entertain, with prayers and offerings, their deceased ancestors. Preparations begin weeks before the actual day. We watched as “penjor” (long bamboo poles decorated and hung with offerings) were constructed and erected in front of every family compound and storefront. On Galungan day itself we joined the villagers at the Monkey Forest Temple for prayers and blessings. No businesses were open and the streets were quiet of tourists, but the local children were everywhere hanging out in large gangs laughing and teasing one another. We even tried to help Puri Asri with the penjor decoration, but we were never quite timely enough. During the afternoon rains (which happen every day despite that this is the beginning of Bali dry season) we took time to reflect on our adventures and pay tribute to our deceased ancestors.

Tenganan- The Ancient Traditional Village

As Mary and Jubie lay in bed the second night in Amed (we ran out of things to do around 7pm) they looked at each other and both agreed that they wanted to go home, well shall we say the most recent place that felt like a home, Puri Asri. So they called up their friends at Puri Asri and said they had run out of things to do at the beach- and Jubie and Mary were happily welcomed back!

The next morning Made arrived and off they went toward Ubud, with a stop to the traditional village,Tenganan, along the way. We again felt rather trapped as tourists here as it was set up (seemingly to us) as yet another way to sell stuff to the tourists. I suppose we should expect this, but somehow it is always disappointing. Nonetheless we enjoyed seeing the weaving, the making of the triple icot fabrics and the making of the lontar-leaf books and calendars. The lontar- leaf process is done with tiny etching and the etchings are colored with macademia nut. Many of the fabrics from the village are dyed in the old ways using nature. We heard that buffalo were allowed to roam freely in the village, but if they were there, we didn’t notice, it was pretty quiet overall. Mary and Jubie met the village musician who introduced them to some of the very old gamelan instruments which were tuned with a seven note scale as opposed to the more common pentatonic or five tone scales.

Mopeds and More!

After Jubie’s moped lesson and a nice ride in the countryside, we stopped in a Mama’s Warung for a little dinner. We had fresh fish and shared a large Bintang beer after which we both felt very relaxed. Jubie wanted to drive the moped, Mary agreed as she was doing very well throughout the day. After a few photos with the guys from Mama’s Warung, Jubie climbed onto the Moped, Mary got on the back, and Jubie gave it a little gas and as she was trying to get to the left side of the road, forgot where the brake was and off they both went, across the road and into a tree (at about the slowest speed one could imagine possible). You could imagine the shock of our new friends at Mama’s Warung as they witnessed the rather hilarious event! The moped was unscathed, however Jubie and Mary sustained a few abrasions in the incident. Mary drove home and encouraged Jubie to drive one more time the next morning, the old “get back on the horse that threw ya concept”. It worked and the next day Jubie had a much more successful drive- we are certain it was the Bintang!

The sights near the volcano mountain were quite amazing in the early evening mist. We stopped at what looked like someone’s house to buy petrol that is sold by the liter and is stored in plastic water bottles. It cost us 10,000 rupiah (or $1.10) to fill er up! No wonder they use mopeds. Everyone drives a moped. We saw drivers as young as 12 years old and we also saw entire families on one moped- Dad driving with baby in front of him, child behind him, Mom at the back. No one had helmets on- you wouldn’t see this in the USA!

Bali belly strikes

The next morning we had breakfast on the beach, and it was after breakfast that the dreaded “Bali belly” hit. Jubie had to return back to the hotel for a few hours of gut rest. Bali belly is actually a pretty hard core virus that tourists sometimes get, we think Jubie may just have the less severe “travelers belly”. Either way it means that “gut rest” is required after eating, and often activities are time limited due to fatigue. Unwilling to let this setback shut the day down completely, Mary rented a moped (yes, she is an experienced motor-cyclist) and taught Jubie how to ride her first motor-bike. What exciting liberty to have the wind in our faces and the open road ahead (the Indos do drive on the left)! We were able to explore the tiny villages along the coast-line, as well as the winding roads towards the mountains inland. In the villages, we observed the strange sight of elderly men stroking and cuddling their roosters. These roosters were then typically returned to individual wicker cages. Mary had been puzzled and scratching her head over this image for days. What we found upon questioning the locals, is that “cock-fighting” is the most popular gambling pastime. Even in the most gentle, creative and spiritual cultures there is an edge of violence.