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.

Hello Bali

Our kindly Balinese driver, Made (named for his birth number #2 in a family of four siblings) waited the full three hours for us to emerge from Immigration, we were ever so happy to have this luxury yet again of someone to meet us from our hotel, this time with a sign that said Mary on it. Made told us a bit about Balinese culture as he drove the 90 minute trip to Ubud. Regarding population, Made told us the Indonesian culture is trying to embrace fewer births (stopping at two), but couples continue to keep trying for “the boy”. Now before this sounds too gender biased, remember that in most southeast tribal cultures the male carries on the name and the children belong to the male family clan. Jubie had never been to Bali, but fifteen years ago Mary had spent a month in Ubud and she was struck by the changes she saw in Denpensar city. There were McDonalds, KFC, surf shops and many new malls. Mary wondered if Ubud would also seem so different to her. Upon their arrival in Ubud, Mary was happy to see that town looked very much like she remembered, apart from the fact that now internet cafes were scattered throughout the town. She remembers the single international phone that people would have to line up to call home.

We were escorted by the proprietor’s shepherd dog (her choice, not ours) up the long winding path toward the upper ridge of the gorge. We met, and cautiously crossed paths with several chained up watch dogs along our route, forcing us to find large weapon like sticks in the event of attack. Mary was happy to employ some of the simple “establish a power role with a strange dog” tricks that she had learned from the Dog whisperer (not terribly effective with these dogs). Later we found out that these guard dogs were situated so as to keep the sheep and goats from wandering away from their owners region. Later that evening Mary and Juliet went into the town of Kissamos and had the chance to hear yet another version of Cretan music, this time a much more contemporary version of the traditional songs.