A weekend in Bali? People go to
Bali to party and dive but also for yoga and culture. I visited in Oct 2017after a week working in
Indonesia in Surabaya, East java. I have
links with Indonesia because my grandfather was a water engineer there 1920-45. His passion was sewerage so I was pleased to
see many functioning toilets. Indonesian
food is a treat for me. My mother took us as a family to Indonesia (1985) to
see her childhood home.
I experienced the beach and party
vibe in Seminyak. My room had a mural of a skateboader. I spent 3 nights in
Ubud, Bali’s cultural centre and renown for temples and art galleries. Ubud readers
and writers festival was in full swing when I arrived. This was established to
encourage people to come to Bali after the terrorist bombings in 2007 and is
now a fixture on the Ozzie literary scene.
Highlights were the discussion on short story writing by a trio of female
writers from The Phillipines. Tibet and Brazil. The Pilipino writer talked about the
difficulty of writing as a lesbian in The Philippines. I enjoyed seeing photos
from Muhamed Fadli who over 3 years captured the history of Banda, the remote
nutmeg islands. A jeans wearing Balian
feminist talked about the challenges Balian women face daily with endless Hindu
rituals to perform. Senior journalists from BBC World service in Jakarta
and the E. Asia al jeezra head were energized by the communication revolution
from The Net. But verifying stories remains
a challenge and more stories have a human aspect. The lack of a free press in
many countries in the region was discussed. Sophal
Ear also gave a moving account of his flight from Vietnam in the 1970’s, now a
Harvard academic and working on human rights.
I enjoyed an interesting session of new Australian cartoonists. The festival had frisson of danger with the Agung
volcano threatening to erupt; we had regular evacuation drills, less stressful
when there are no walls and next to paddy fields. But this made visitors more welcome. Being at
a festival as a solo traveller is good because one talks to people easily. I tried out a bamboo bike, with a clunky
looking but nice pale wood coloured frame and metal wheels. The bike handled well and I could imagine
riding one in London.
I stayed in a beautiful hotel
with a large paddy field at the centre. The
architecture of the hotel was Balian. Food
in Ubud is interesting with the chefs trying out various Indonesian fusion
styles such as cucumber soup.
The Puri Desai museum is a world
class museum built in Balian vernacular style, it has a wonderful collection of
traditional and modern Balinese art with depictions of different scenes from
the ramayana and mahabaharta. The four
buildings each had beautiful stone carvings. I chatted to an elderly Balian artist
who was there selling modern pieces. He
had been on art fellowships to Austria as a UNICEF ambassador. Neka
museum gives a fantastic overview of Balinese art; with many modern works, and a
gallery of work by the Dutchman Arie Smits who spent his life in Bali, and
painted bright, colourful works. I
noticed that being Hindu liberated artists in Bali and they used art to explore
their environments with beautiful results.
This is a contrast with Indonesia where the Muslim prohibitions on art
inhibit such work.
I ran out of time in Bali and on
my last day could do either yoga or downhill biking which I did with Balibreeze
tours. We had a beautiful drive up past green paddy
fields and were driven to the highest point in Bali, here we breakfasted and
looked out over the Mount Batur volcano. We had a 3 hour downhill ride, my
fingers were stiff from holding onto the brakes. Religious practice is strong
here, all family homes have a temple in the courtyard . The women have many
religious temple duties including sourcing correct oil and flower offerings.
The rice fields were empty because everyone was preparing for a big 6 monthly
festival. The Banyan trees are wrapped in holy cloths. Higher up the mountain
veggies and spices were being grown and marigolds for religious ceremonies.
Lower down there were endless rice paddies producing 3 crops per year on this
fertile land. It was a beautiful way to
see the villages.
I finished my Bali stay with a
excellent fresh fish supper on the beach close to Denpaser airport.
I had an unexpectedly good time
in Bali. Hitting the literary festival
was perfect for me. I also enjoyed the art galleries and food. I was interested
to see how being hindu has realised people’s artist selves. I loved seeing the
rich green landscape on the bike ride. It also reinforced for me the strength
of religious practice there.
Oct 27-30 2017
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