There and Back 2005

Most people take an afternoon rest or nap and often during the resting time you see clusters of men gathered in a stoop or under a tree playing chess or a dominoes like card game. I imagine they must be master chess players since it seems so prevalant.

The women, as well as the men, are employed in construction and its truely amazing to see the loads of dirt and concrete that they carry on their heads. Just the muscle work needed to balance such a load seems unreal but to know they do this all day its humbling.

Most merchants are less aggressive here and will welcome you into their shop even if you just want to browse. Still, as soon as you ask the price of something you'd better really want it becuase that signals the opening of trade.

We've been quite sucessful in our haggling and typically are paying half but sometimes a quarter of the quoted price. Much of our luck is due to the fact that its the low season. For instance this morning we purchased a patchwork quilt for about $14US. At home a similar quilt I'm sure would run in the hundreds of dollars. The women was happy though becuase that was her first sale in a week.

There are a few beggers here and they are always a women with an infant and a toddler. They are very dirty and sad looking and its hard to pass without feeling very guilty. Apart from that, the Balinese people look very healthy, happy, clean and prosperous.

Dress is modest by our standards and many shop owners, men or women, wear sarongs and long shirts. Its just as common to see a man walking down the street in long shorts a t-shirt and flip flops as it is wearing a traditional sarong, shirt and hat.

The shops vary in apperance and size. Most are smallish and very similar to small shops at home. Some are large galleries and cater to the wealthy travelers, while some are very small recesses in a larger buildings. The best prices are found at the smallest shops and market place. That being said, there is no or very little difference in merchandise from the galleries to the small shopping carts, its all the same stuff.

All around are temples, from small temples within the compound of a family property to large public temples. The large temples are typically a coumpound with several thatch roofed, open air structures, and are brick with the supporting columns being intricatly carved stone. The carvings are of varies incarnations of the supreme god.

Although they are Hindu, the Indonesian Laws state that all religions must be monotheistic which possed a problem. The Hindu leaders conveniened and agreed that although they had many gods they are actually all just incarnation of the one supreme god and this was acceptable by the Indonesian government.

There are statues of gods all over the place and they are always clothed in a sarong and usually have a fragapani or hybiscus flower tucked in their ear. It gives the impression that the statues are alive which is such a contrast to our statues which so often look dead.

Offerings are given up to the gods twice a day in the form of small palm trays about 3" square filled with some rice, incense, maybe a cracker or a cigarette, and splashed with holy water.

I like watching the women as they place the offering. It seems like a very peaceful occasion. They place the offering, and calmly dip a frangiapani flower in a cup of holy water, and wave the wet flower over the offering.

The offerings are placed all over, not just at the temples, such as on street corners, in front of statues along the street, infront of your bungalow, on mepeds, cars and buses, basically everywhere. The burning incense helps to mask the odor of sewage in some areas so it has the two fold effect of air freshener and offering.

For all the beauty, there is a certain amount of dirtyness that is surprising to me. I find it impossible to drop even the smallest piece of paper on the sidewalk. I'll put it in my pocket until I see a garbage can. However, the people here are much less concerned. You can see massive trash heaps behind many buildings and especially near gullies and rivers. Piles and piles of plastic bags, food waste, paper, newsprint, and the daily refuse of life.

In addition, the drainage system is mearly a channel capped by removable concrete blocks that comprise the sidewalk. In many places the blocks have broken and are not present giving you a glimpse of the sewage water. The channel not only contains sewage but further refush, plasic, cups, and more.

This is such a huge contrast between Samoa, where cleanliness and sanitation was a very high priority. There, they recognized that their environment was the sole source for the economny. Although not as touristy as other Polynesian islands, Samoans new that attracting tourist was a great way to earn money and they were quick to point out how clean it was.

Bali on the other has no doubt suffered as a consequence of the pollution. I saw very few, if any, sea birds during our 4 days along the coast and the water looked very dirty. The tide line was littered with old flip flops, bottle tops, bottls, styrofoam and all sorts of other garbage. We went snorkling and found the reef to be extremely damaged but still there was many small colorful fish, nothing big though.

While we were in Darwin, we saw tens of Indonesian fishing boats impounded by the Australian Navy. At present there is extensive poaching by Indonesian fisherman in Australian waters and they are equiped with modern gps units and sophisticated inter-boat communications. One article quote an Indonesian fisherman when asked what he though about his boat being impounded, his response was [I don't care, it wasn't my boat, the Chinese own the boats, we just make them and fish them. We'll just go home, make more boats to sell to the Chines and go fishing again]. The coast of Indonesia is about 200 miles from Australia (I think) so its clear that their fishery is pretty exausted if they are traveling that distance to fish. Many of the impounded fishing boats were found with shark fins and other highly valued but endangered fish.

Even off Bali, I was astounded at the number of boats fishing. They leave port around 4 pm and return around 4 am. At night the lights from the boats give the appearance that there is a floating city just a couple miles off shore.

In addition to the fisheries, its obvious that the timber trade is huge here. On the outskirts of Kuta we saw countess furniture manufactures with massive pieces of timber stacked in the front. From huge root structures of rainforest trees to hunks of wood that could only have come from absolutely massive trees.

Most of the wood being felled is shiped in raw form Japan and China (in order of quantity), where it is made into furniture, paper and building material, in other words the value added is not in Indonesia thereby preventing Indonesians from truely reaping the benefits. What we saw being used domestically was just a small portion of the whole.

Anyhow, tomorrow we are heading to Sanur, back down south, and we'll be off to Thailand on Wednesday provided that we can get our ticket changed. It will be sad leaving Ubud, we both really like it here. The weather is perfect, the people are wonderful, and we'll miss it.