bali

four seasons jimbaran

our room was attended to twice a day, and, almost more important to me than the bi-daily repositioning of the mosquito net was the provision of fresh fruit just as often. i enjoyed mini bananas, small apples, passionfruit, and salak. we arrived to a bottle of chilled champagne and a bathtub filled with tropical flowers. our villa had a sleeping area, a separate, covered outdoor living room, and our own private plunge pool. we didn't give the outdoor shower a try.

seattle to san fran to hong kong to singapore to bali

family temples

the top priority for almost every home in south bali is to build a temple in the north-east corner of the compound, a location relative to the island's highest mountain. we were able to walk through two villages, and we saw the tops of the family temples peeking out over each property's tall walls, but only on one half of the road, since the north-east corner doesn't face out onto the street for the row of houses on the opposite side. in this photo below, the girl is setting out the offering and you can see the tops of the temples on the left.

galungan

we had unusually lucky timing for our trip to bali, as wednesday august 20th 2008 marked Galungan, a 10 day celebration that occurs every 210 days, commemorating the day of triumph of good (dharma) over evil (adharma). during this time, the balinese hindus believe the balinese gods visit earth, and leave on the tenth day, kaningan.

the streets of every village were lined with these amazingly tall Penjor - bamboo altar-poles. they curve over at the top to form a tunnel-like appearance over the street and proclaim an ancient victory of dharma over king mayadanawa, an evil king who once controlled bali.

hinduism

in bali, offerings of incense, flowers, and a small food item lined the sidewalk infront of every storefront, home, and even every villa at the four seasons resort. these were placed in a handmade box of palm leaves and were put together and set out to the gods twice daily. it was immediately apparent that the balinese people had strong religious ties. we soon learned that bali is 93% hindu. 5% muslim, 1% protestant, and 0.5% catholic. despite those odds, i met two catholic locals (although to be fair, one of them had grown up on the island of java). even a&w had an offering on their front counter - see the onion rings?

good morning, bali. we easily woke up at sunrise every day, around 6:20am, but every morning we were greeted by clouds near the eastern horizon. if there were ever a st*tchp*x*e design in nature, this image on the left would be it. the evenings usually made for prettier sunscapes, but being close the equator, as i recently learned, the balinese never have the 15+ hours of sunlight that we enjoy here on the westcoast. sun sets at around 6pm, and 7pm at the very latest at certain times of the year.