A Passionate View on All Things Bali

The most powerful element for me in Bali’s magnetism is the music. The gamelan orchestra is absolutely unique in its sounds. Indeed the Ariadnean threads drawing me to Bali are woven throughout of this music. Let me say if you have not heard a gamelan orchestra I dont think you have lived your life to the fullest. The sensation is delightful, strange, overwhelming, joyful, curiously sensual, even mysterious. The music is hard to describe! I havent yet made a post about it for that reason. Here, from his book ‘A House in Bali’, is Colin McPhee’s description of the music:

“They gathered together in the early evening, after they had bathed in the stream that ran by the house. Sometimes they rehearsed with the little dancers, but more often it was for the sake of the music alone, and for hours the air would ring with swift, chiming sounds that rose and fell above the agitated throb of drums.

At first, as I listened from the house, the music was simply a delicious confusion, a strangely sensuous and quite unfathomable art, mysteriously aerial, aolian, filled with joy and radiance. Each night as the music started up I experienced the same sensation of freedom and indescribable freshness. There was none of the perfume and sultriness of so much music in the East, for there is nothing purer than the bright, clean sound of metal, cool and ringing and dissolving in the air. Nor was it personal and romantic, in the manner of our own effusive music, but rather, sound broken up into beautiful patterns.

It was, however, more than this, as I was to find out. Already I began to have a feeling of form and elaborate architecture. Gradually, the music revealed itself as being composed, as it were, of different strata of sound. Over a slow and chantlike bass that hummed with curious penetration the melody moved in the middle register, fluid, free, appearing and vanishing in the incessant, shimmering arabesques that rang high in the treble as though beaten out on a thousand little anvils…

Yet without effort, with eyes closed, or staring out into the night, as though each player were in an isolated world of his own, the men performed their isolaed parts with mysterious unity, fell upon the syncopated accents with hair’s-breadth precision. I wondered at their natural ease, the almost casual way in which they played. This, I thought, is the way music was meant to be, blithe, transparent, rejoicing the soul with its eager rhythm and lovely sound. As I listened to the musicians, watched them, I could think only of a flock of birds wheeling in the sky, turning with one accord, now this way, now that, and finally descending to the trees.”

Bali exists on the Web in many incarnations. The site, ‘The Best of Bali’, though inclined towards the tourist in its pages, has several fascinating articles about Bali. In particular the following link, here, will take you to images of Bali from early in the 20th century, the ‘old’ Bali. They date as far back as 1910. They are simply fascinating to peruse. Kasi encourages you to take a gander at these images. From maps and engravings circa 1910, to some aerial images from World War II, including rice fields, sunsets, street scenes, and a panoramic view of the Denpasar markets from 1984, its worth the time you will invest. Here as well, by way of Bali Expat Forum, are more pictures of ‘old Bali’.

‘The Best of Bali’ also has a fasinating article on Bali’s reputation as a tropical paradise, by Keith Loveard, here. The following is a quote from his article ‘The Paradise Paradox’:

“In 1937, Miguel Covarrubias wrote the seminal work Island of Bali. In it the Mexican author reckoned that the isle was “doomed to disappear under the merciless onslaught of modern commercialism and standardization.” Years later, the American anthropologist Margaret Mead came to much the same conclusion. Today’s jet-fresh tourists might well, too. In Kuta, confused, sun-burned visitors are hassled by day by sellers of cold drinks, copy watches and sunglasses and by night by touts pushing sex and drugs. Here Japanese and Australian girls can find instant romances with bronzed gigolos. In Ubud, tourists buy batik hangings that are rolled out like so much wallpaper. In fact, if tourists have any interest at all in Balinese culture, it is usually limited to buying mass-market folk art or attending a dance show, often at their hotel. Kids, bored with the thought of visiting yet another temple, want theme parks and water slides, such as the Kuta Water Bom park…

Even well-heeled Balinese would rather hang out at Kuta’s Hard Rock Cafe than watch a classical legong dance. “There is a very serious middle class here with money to spend,” says Stuart, an Australian who has made a good living from the tourist trade for the past 10 years. “Jakarta has its Taman Mini theme park. So why shouldn’t Bali have its own? These are diversions, whether you’re talking about parks or prostitutes. It’s what comes with money.”

And in yet another article on Ubud, here, by Jamie James we find these meticulous observations:

“No place in the world could be greener than Ubud. Everything here is green: the young rice fields glow a fluorescent shade of emerald; the thick curtains of foliage appear all the greener for the scarlet accents of ginger and hibiscus. Things that began another color – brick walls or pebble walkways – soon become green with shaggy moss. Even the air has a pale-green cast: the moisture suspended in it picks up the pervasive glow of the verdure. The Balinese have long called their island “the morning of the world.” It’s an extravagant phrase, but that morning I had an inkling of what they were talking about.

Another verbal extravagance, beloved of travel writers whose descriptive powers have deserted them, is the word “magical”; usually it’s just hyperbole for “especially pretty.” Yet there really is magic in Ubud. When Balinese people lose something, they consult a balian, a benign sort of sorcerer, who tells them where to find it. Balians can interpret dreams, cure sickness, go into trances, and speak in the voices of ancestors. And magic, in the form of the island’s unique religion, is at the core of Bali’s arts. A blend of Hinduism and nature worship, the Balinese religion is an ecstatic union of the spiritual and the aesthetic, reminiscent of the religion of ancient Greece. Bali’s famous trance dances, for example, suggest the rites of Bacchus: in one of the sanghyang dances two girls who are supposedly untrained in the dance’s intricate choreography go into a trance and, eyes firmly shut, move in perfect unison. The dance is named after the divine spirit that inhabits them.”

A post about biodiversity, miracles, and nature in The Morning of the World:

Truth often is stranger than fiction. Bali, and Indonesia included, that area of the world, seems to be teeming with life, and opportunities for life, in the same way only other so-called hotspots of biodiversity are; these hotspots, to quote the subtitle of biodiversityhotspots.org, sponsored by Conservation International, are some of ‘the most remarkable places on earth’, but these regions are ‘also the most threatened’.

The Komodo Dragons are found naturally only on four islands in Indonesia, within or surrounding the Komodo National Park. From Wikipedia:

“The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is a species of lizard that inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, A member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae), it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2 to 3 metres (6.6 to 9.8 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms (150 lb). Their unusual size is attributed to island gigantism, since there are no other carnivorous animals to fill the niche on the islands where they live, and also to the Komodo dragon’s low metabolic rate. As a result of their size, these lizards dominate the ecosystems in which they live. Although Komodo dragons eat mostly carrion, they will also hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals.”

They have been in the news in the last couple of years. The London and Chester zoos in England, in December 2006, saw virgin births of several dragons; to Flora at Chester and Sungai in London. And more recently at the Sedgwick County zoo, in Wichita, Kansas, hatched in February of 2008, were more examples of parthenogensis, or as its more commonly known ‘virgin birth’. There were DNA tests that confirmed the absence of ‘foreign’ DNA.

The phenomenon is hardly unknown in the animal kingdom. Bees, birds, turkeys in particular, snakes, fish, frogs, lizards, all have been know to give birth this way; still for vertebrate species it is a rare occurance. The array of parthenogenetic species continues to grow in snakes. Sharks and mammals had been left out until recently, in 2007, Biology Letters reported “Virgin Birth in Hammerhead Shark”. There is an article in Slate that continues this discussion here.

We stand at the edge of Nature’s Mystery! Worms divide into smaller worms. Turtles, and Komodo Dragons, can store sperm for years. Sea bass change their sex. Sharks fertilize their own eggs. Male ants clone themselves. Some species of lizards have reproduced for ages with no apparent contributions from the male of the species.

In the human realm virgin birth is also known as ‘Immaculate Conception’. Ordinary thinking sees this as a miracle. What is a miracle? A supernatural intervention in our lives; but we would side with C.S. Lewis and see this intervention as necessary, and perhaps in a sense that would strain our credulity, even common.

We have come a little ways from our original observations on Bali and Indonesia having never closed their back door on creation and Life. Lets see if we can wrap up all these disconnected thoughts and observations on biodiversity and Life in the next post… The desultory trail leads us back into the past but into the future as well.

A sketch of some meanings, effects, and reflections on biodiversity and life… Fist this absurd piece of news from The Daily Telegraph:

“A LIVE squirrel sent in the mail from Bali has sparked raids on two Sydney homes.

Customs and Quarantine officers raided two homes in Harbord on Sydney’s northern beaches after they intercepted a live squirrel in a mail package sent from the Indonesian island.

The rodent was found secreted in a sock inside a package marked DVDs by customs officers on December 2.

It died a short time later, Customs national manager of investigation Richard Janeczko said.

“On this occasion, the squirrel had suffered during its journey in captivity and died shortly after being freed, highlighting the cruel aspect of such smuggling attempts,” he said.

“Any smuggling of animals into Australia is also a concern for health reasons as it poses a high quarantine risk with the real possibility of introducing deadly diseases into the environment,” he said.

The maximum penalty for offences under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act is 10 years jail, a fine of $110,000 or both.”

The area with an epicenter in Indonesia, bounded by the Phillippines, New Guinea, and Malaysia, is the home to the greatest density of marine species on the Earth. Speculation is that although there was a mass extinction during the last ice ages in the Atlantic region the phenomenon spared this area of the Asian Pacific and left a richness and diversity of life unsurpassed by any other region on Earth. Sulawesi and Bali and the islands east of Bali- Komodo, Flores, and Alor among them- are also hotspots of biodiversity.

From Michael Bode’s site on Sulawesi:

“Sulawesi has been separated from the asian mainland since the ice age. So animals and plants could develop here, which are not found anywhere else on this world. 90 % of the mamals in Sulawesi are endemic, among them the Babi rusa, a mixture of deer and wild pig, 3 species of dwarf buffaloes and the smallest monkey of the world, Tarsius spectrum.”

You can see this same page for the disturbing picture of a man partially swallowed by a large python in Sulawesi. Perhaps a comment in itself on one meaning of biodiversity.

… Just as if I was escaping the minotaur of the so-called modern world, not really traveling back in time, but more like stepping sideways, across some threshold that distracts our ordinary attention from the direction where the real world stretches off into eternity, and discover at my feet many threads leading off into the distance, beyond the maze of ordinary life, so I seem to find more and more people enamored of the many splendors of Bali, each finding their own way back to Bali, following their own thread out of the maze. I can almost hear the gamelan as if it was next door… Here are three gems recently discovered on the internet:

Bali Art Blog- BaliArtBlog contains “Musings about the Balinese arts of music, dance, sculpture, painting, and the ephemeral arts of offering making in preparation for the Asian Art Museum’s Bali exhibition in summer 2010″

…His House in Bali - “Blessed with what must be one of the most spectacular views in the world, the “Walter Spies House” in Iseh has has been a magnet for artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, ethnologists, politicians and royalty for nearly seventy years.”

Murni’s in Bali- “Ask for Murni’s when you arrive in Bali and your driver will know right where to take you. The only thing he might ask is whether you want a place to stay or eat or shop — or if you just want to meet Bali’s most gracious living legend. There is a Murni and every day she’s in Ubud making new guests and old friends feel welcome.” See her photo collection here.

The minotaur is always close, we can usually see him. The real world is closer, often too close for comfort, but again so close we usually miss it.

Indonesia, and of course Bali, are part of the so-called Ring of Fire, an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean. Some 90% of the world’s earthquakes, including at least 80 % of the very largest ones, occur along the Ring of Fire. Part of Indonesia, from Java to Sumatra and through the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and into the Atlantic, this region, known as the Alpide belt, is the most seismic next to the Ring of Fire. Indonesia sits in the middle of these seismic belts. So its not unusual for this the area to experience earthquakes and eruptions; it is a common thing.

Just recently, yesterday, the alert level for the Karangetang Volcano in Indonesia was raised to its second highest level 3, after an increase in activity. There are no people in a 100 km area of this volcano- the GDACS alert level is Green. Following is the Global Volcanism Report courtesy of the Smithsonian:

“CVGHM reported that on 28 November seismicity from Karangetang increased and indicated rockfalls. White plumes rose from summit craters I and II to approximate altitudes of 1.8-2.2 km (5,900-7,200 ft) a.s.l. On 29 November white and brownish plumes rose to an altitude of 1.8 km (5,900 ft) a.s.l. Incandescent rockslides from the main crater traveled 250 m S towards the Bahembang River, 250 m W towards the Beha Timur River, and 500-1,000 m S towards the Keting River. Thunderous noises were reported. On 30 November, fog prevented visual observations; the seismic network recorded 160 rockfalls. On 1 December, incandescent rockslides traveled 250 m S towards the Bahembang River, 750 m W towards the Beha Timur River, and 500-1,500 m S towards the Keting River. On 2 December, the Alert Level was raised to 3 (on a scale of 1-4) due to the continuation of elevated seismicity, run-out distances of incandescent rockslides, and height of incandescent material ejected from the summit. Based on analysis of satellite imagery and information from CVGHM, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 2 December an ash plume from Karangetang rose to an altitude of 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted W. Geologic Summary. Karangetang (also known as Api Siau) lies at the northern end of the island of Siau, N of Sulawesi, and contains five summit craters strung along a N-S line. One of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, Karangetang has had more than 40 recorded eruptions since 1675. Twentieth-century eruptions have included frequent explosions, sometimes accompanied by pyroclastic flows and lahars.”

Bali has two volanoes, Batur in northeast Bali, is one of the most breathtaking calderas in the world, home to Batur lake as well, its last eruption in 2000, and Agung, the highest peak, is on the eastern side of the island and was last heard from back in 1963, when the eruption claimed over 1000 victims.

There are a number of expatriate sites on the web. Bali Pod is one of them. A forum for Bali expatriates from all over the world it is home to some fascinating exchanges and comments such as the following from Py:

“… To live here is to ‘be’, that is to ‘be’ who you are as a living, breathing creature between birth and death, and always in response to your immediate environment. To visit here is to live a delicious but fleeting moment as a joyous construction of ones own fantasy. It is also a compressed absolution of a pent-up back-log of incrementally built up frustrations. The expatriot inevitably sees the ‘groping’, ‘ignorant’ and ‘gormless’ tourist as ‘lightweight’. In turn, the visiting tourist sees the ‘holier than thou’ expat as willfully standing between them and the ‘real Bali’ they strive for, all the while reminding them, school bully style, of their reduced status. Not pleasant or desired. They are both, in mutually distinct ways, threatened by one another. Certain things on this forum will appear absurdly inappropriate to the more casual Bali visitor. Those that partake regularly on this forum right now, are for the most part somewhat isolated in odd and far flung corners of the province. Zontius, for example, lives on the Island of Nusa Lembongan and god only knows how remote that must feel in the off season. Gloria and Bert both live in the north, not exactly a hot bed of international exchange. I, in turn, live in my studio and often kick around the www. waiting for paint to dry. We are all to some degree displaced twice and though we have chosen this diasporas life, there is ‘always’ a need to create a society and a culture of sorts. Some need to write, some to kvetch, some just be heard in a familiar cultural language.”

This quote is just a glimpse at the fascinating material on this site. I would recommend to anyone truly curious about the experience of living in Bali.

Another comment from the Bali Pod forum about the ’smells of Bali’, this time from Roy:

“I agree, the most predominant and consistent smell on Bali is of burning incense.

I don’t know why, but even the incense I bring back from Thailand, or Singapore smells different when it is burned here in Bali. Maybe it’s the mix with the air, or maybe something else, but incense on Bali, regardless of where its from is distinctive in its aroma when burned.”

Another site, informative on Bali in a different way, belongs to Misty Tosh. Here is her comment re The Green School:

“One of the coolest places on the face of the planet has got to be the new Green School on the Indonesian island of Bali. In short, it’s a brand new school for local kiddies and expat children who live on the island…and has the most amazing campus you’ve ever been on (this coming from a girl who was at OW’s Leadership Academy in South Africa when it opened). It’s all green–with a huge water vortex from the Ayung River that creates energy; all organic fruits and vegetables grown on-site; and every single thing on the campus made from bamboo. Truly a beautiful spot.”

The expatriate sites offer intriguing glimpses into the real Bali.

Kite Flying is a very popular pastime in Bali. Its not unusual to find huge kites secured by large guage strings and wire. They are also the cause of numerous power outages and believe it or not constitute a threat to aviation as well. So much so that Air Bali helicopters have had to make emergency landings when their blades were entangled with kite strings.

The Kites of Bali are not your usual kites- not what we fly when we go fly a kite here in the United States. The Kites of Bali are not simply big but HUGE! They can be up to 30 feet long or longer with tails stretching out for over 400 feet. Some of them seem more like air sculptures than kites! There is a religious background to kite flying in Bali. The god Indra is supposed to have amused himself with this pastime during his leisure as well as teaching others the sport.

Bali kites cover the gamut from red vampires, fish, reptiles, to multicolored aircraft, motorcycles, or monsters and literally anything and everything in between. Building one of their huge kites is complex enough to require not simply one or two people but an entire village. Everyone becomes involved as a kite builder, or perhaps launching engineer, a specialist in transportation taking care of materials etc., or as cheerleaders on the sidelines. A priest may be included to aid in determining the best launch date; but there are also blessing rituals involved. Typically the frame is bamboo with plastic and cotton for the skin. The skin is literally sewn together.

The kites of Bali, once airborne, make strange humming sounds… but here is an unexpected treat from another site on the Bali Kite Festival. At the bottom of the page you can “… click on the frog paw and hear the sounds of the night chorus of frogs from the Ayung River valley north of Ubud…”

Where else but in Bali could kites bring helicopters to the ground for repairs!?

Thanksgiving is, of course, primarily an American holiday. Canada does have a version of it but its not our Thanksgiving. There are perhaps 30,000 expatriates living in Bali from a variety of countries. The estimate is that maybe 10% of this number are Americans. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there in Bali!!

The nearest thing the Balinese have to our Thanksgiving is probably their New Years Day- Nyepi Day. It falls on the day following the dark moon of the spring equinox, in March. The streets are quiet and no one goes about their normal activities. No traffic is allowed. People stay home. Love making too is meant to be beyond the pale on this day.

Visitors to the island have no choice but to follow some of these patterns. Airports and bus terminals are closed and local offices keep a tight rein on people venturing outside. There are rites observed both before and after Nyepi Day. The day for the Balinese is a time for reflection and is also known as the ‘Day of Silence’.