Bali

Hey everyone!

                I’m a bit late in writing about Bali, as I’m already in New Zealand…but better late than never right? Bali seems like a dream ago, but my tan lines and special souvenirs still remain with me as reminders (including the scar I now have after slipping on sand during a run and skinning my knee.)

                How was Bali? In a word, magical. Like, Eat, Pray, Love kind of magical (no, I didn’t fall in love…but it would be a great place to!) When I arrived in Bali I was coming off of about three weeks straight of sleeping in a different bed (or bus) every night. After a whirlwind zip through Malaysia, and 36 hours of travel (subway, bus, plane, bus, train, train, ferry, bus, taxi) because I wanted to do the trip overland from Jakarta, I was ready to CHILL. And chill I did.

                For three days I stayed off the Internet and did nothing but run in the mornings, drink pots of Bali coffee for $1 and eat fresh fruit while reading, take naps on the beach, swim, and walk around. I read five books and ate about as many mangos a day. The food was excellent, and very cheap – I had fresh fish, veggies, and Indonesian food for roughly $3 a plate, adding on a bowl of fresh fruit for another dollar. It was wonderful.

                However, I didn’t really love Bali until my fourth day there. I stayed primarily in Sanur, which, while perfect for chilling (and sunrises, being on the east coast), was pretty quiet and very touristic. I relaxed on the beach with retired couples and families instead of drunken partiers, which was a nice change. But, I hated always approaching the sellers on the side of the road as I walked by, hated always being asked if I wanted ‘transport?’, and hated always saying ‘no thank you’ to “madam, massage?” Plus, I didn’t feel like I was really experiencing the culture or learning more about Bali. I decided I needed to get out. On my fourth day I rented a motorbike for my second wheeled adventure – this time to Ubud, Bali, made famous by Julia Robert’s escapades in Eat, Pray, Love.

               Ubud lived up to expectations. It was adorable.  Getting there was a little more difficult than when I was in Thailand, due to busier roads and crazier drivers, but I made it. The whole drive took about an hour, and once I got off the main highway I was able to appreciate the beautiful scenery – palm trees, green fields, and fresh flowers everywhere. Ubud used to be the royal capital of Bali, and today it remains well preserved and a hotspot tourist destination, due to its beautiful temples, the former Royal Palace, and now its many adorable cafes, restaurants, and handicraft shops. It’s also quite popular for yoga enthusiasts, health retreats, and spiritual centers. Pretty hard to beat. My primary destination was to check out the used/exchange bookstore in Ubud, so after parking myself there and scoping out the titles, I walked myself around town to explore a little bit. I discovered the Monkey Forest, the Royal Palace, ate some yummy Indonesian food, and then took a more scenic route back on the bike – code for ‘I got lost but ended up seeing some really cool stuff’ – through the rice paddies and small little towns on the back roads of Bali.

I like to think back to that ride home, because that was the moment I really fell in love, as the sun was setting over the rice paddies and all I could see were rolling green fields, beautiful stone temples, and a colorful array of flowers everywhere I turned. It was like intruding in on some sort of spiritual Eden. A book I read (from the Ubud bookstore, no less) talked about how the Balinese culture is still very strongly influenced by Hindu traditions and rituals, and “for the Balinese, protecting the environment is a holy duty in applying the Hindu doctrine. People and the environment cannot be separated and always depend on each other.” As a result, everywhere is beautiful.

This spirituality is also evidenced by the effiges placed at every doorstop, front porch, and even taxicabs every day. According the same book, the Balinese take the words from the Bhagavad Gita very seriously: “Whoever wholeheartedly presents to me [the gods] the leaves, fruits or water, offering underlied by love and holy mind I will accept him gladly.” Therefore, every temple, gateway, even roundabout in Bali has some kind of spritual manifestation, from the black and white checked cloth draped on most statues, to the flowers that decorate them. I felt my role as a tourist/intruder more than ever during my time in Bali, just because they continue their traditional way of life with such respect and devotion while tourists bumble about, half clad and sunburnt, ruining their natural canvas of beauty.

I say that…but then I went to Kuta. Kuta was a world of difference from sleepy Sanur. To explain, when I say ‘Kuta’ to most Australians that’s like the equivalent of saying ‘Cancun’ to Americans. It’s party central. It’s loud, it’s full of backpackers, it’s an experience. I learned that Kuta is part of the old hippie backpacker ‘Golden Triangle’ of Ks: Kathmandu, Khao San Road (in Bangkok), and Kuta. I’d say it fits the bill pretty well. Now, you’d probably wonder ‘why would you go to a place like that if you could stay in Sanur?’ Well, besides the curious desire to see it, I had one main motivation to go to Kuta, and I’m afraid I’d have to say it was worth it…the beach.

Kuta Beach is one of the best coastlines I’ve ever seen. It’s stunningly beautiful, with warm blue-green waters, soft white sand, and though I’m not a surfer, even I could tell that the waves were fantastic. I had a happy beach session just laying in the sun, watching the surfers (I saw a guy do a headstand on his surfboard!) and enjoying the beautiful scenery. My peace was shattered when I got about 20 feet away to the beach road by all the sellers and taxi drivers calling out, but by then, the day before I flew out, I just started repeating to myself “I’m leaving Asia tomorrow. I’m leaving Asia tomorrow.”

And then, tomorrow came. It was my last day in Kuta, my last day in Bali, my last day in Asia. At first, and when the sellers were being particularly annoying (‘darling, I give you good price!’) or I had to face a squatter toilet, I was glad. But then, looking back, I was also sad to leave – I had a wonderful two years and three months in Asia. I traveled far more than I could have ever imagined I would, I made amazing friends, loved my job as a teacher, and, most importantly, I learned. I learned so much, about myself, about my country, about the world, about Asian history, culture, lifestyle, food, you name it. Asia was the commencement of my ‘world education,’ as I like to call it, and it was a great place to begin. From start to finish, it was an exciting, liberating, educational experience that I’ll take with me forever, in more ways than one. I can’t begin to decide what my favorite country was, or my favorite part, but I know I want to go back to every place and see things I didn’t have time for the first time around…which I definitely won’t have time for in my lifetime, but I can always keep dreaming.

Bali was a fantastic way to end my time in Asia, and that’s also what made it so special for me. It was a culmination of some of the best elements of Asian culture, set in one of the most beautiful islands in the world, and filled with a sense of Balinese vs tourist, tradition vs modernity, East vs West. To me, especially all of my Asian historical studies, that’s the prevalent question regarding modern Asia – how far can or should Eastern culture go to emulate Western culture before it disappears? Should parts of Eastern culture be changed to Western culture? Is one better than the other? From a traveler’s perspective, I have come to respect Eastern culture the more I learn about it, at the same time becoming more frustrated because I realize what can’t be changed.

But I can’t just discuss this from a tourist’s point of view. From a global citizen’s perspective, I have seen firsthand how more serious elements of East vs West need to be addressed. Effects of Western colonialism and imperialism, issues such as women’s rights and protection (basically nonexistent in parts of Southeast Asia and South Asia), poverty, disease, and hunger are all major issues that become more complicated when factoring in the embedded Asian cultural elements, such as male dominance, that not only contribue to these problems, but make them more difficult to solve. For example, how can you stop an arranged marriage if marrying someone richer will help the daughter provide for her parents and siblings and fulfill her duty as a daughter? Or a father selling his daughter to traffickers posed as ‘job agencies’ if he is doing it to feed his family and he truly believes his daughter is going to have a better life than he can provide for her?  Is it the duty of the West to step in and ‘rescue’ these people, at the cost of changing their traditions and lifestyles? Will we destroy the diverse differences between East and West to impose Western culture, even if the imposition is in the name of basic human rights?

These are difficult situations and questions – I get it. And they’re not fair for anyone involved. But they’re very real for millions of people - issues I’ve become more aware of and have kept in the back of my mind while living in and traveling through Asia. Now that I’m leaving I hope to continue to search and learn in order to find the answers.

Never stop asking questions, never stop seeking answers, and never stop learning.

                To end this post on a lighter note, and jump back to the tourist perspective, I’ll share a list with you that I started compiling in Southeast Asia, probably during particular moments of frustration or annoyance. I kept it on my iPod, and even though I’m about three weeks too late, I’ll share it with you now.

Top Ten Signs I’m Ready to Leave Asia*:

*Please note how many of these involve using the bathroom.

10. I automatically put the toilet paper in the bin instead of flushing it down the toilet. I get confused when there is no bin.

9. Squatter toilets don’t phase me. Western toilets excite me.

8. The words ‘same same’ and ‘America’ are a part of my everyday vocabulary.

7. If my bus arrives or departs on time I’m pretty skeptical.

6. When I order black coffee and receive an Americano I just sigh and accept it. Just like when I bite into something thinking it’s chocolate and discover it’s red bean paste.

5. When I speak English it’s reduced to grade school level. Example: “In Korea, I was middle school.” Translation: "I taught middle school in South Korea."

4. I don’t feel the need to take a picture of every spelling error I see anymore because there are just too many. If things were spelled right it would be weird.

3. I get excited when I don’t have to pay to use the bathroom. Or if there’s soap. Or if the door shuts properly. For that matter, I get excited when there actually is a door.

2. Toilet paper is a novelty – something worth announcing to other English speakers upon discovery in the bathroom. Needless to say, I have become a stealthy napkin hoarder.

1. I’m so, so, so sick of white rice. Bring on the bread!