A House in Bali
Ubud, Bali, 2012-03-23 12:00 by Laerke


I was reading Colin McPhee’s book “A house in Bali” while we were living in a house in Bali. Much had changed since McPhee’s time, but we were still surrounded by rice fields and the distant sounds of a village gamelan orchestra practicing would float through our windows as dusk approached, now and then a motorbike would wind its way past our house on the narrow dirt track and would momentarily drown out the frogs and the cicadas. My mother and my two younger brothers were visiting us for 2 months, and we travelled together through Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. All this travelling can be exhausting and we had decided that two weeks in a house in the rice fields in Ubud would give us a chance to slow down and unpack the backpacks for a little while.


We made friends with a strange fellow who lived further down the road selling beautiful Balinese paintings to tourists, he showed us a way down to the river where we could swim. You had to pass through his property so it was very private down there, it was a fantastic place – the river snaked its way through tall stone wall and the surrounding jungle was crawling down the step walls. The water was wonderfully cool and there was even a miniature waterfall, we spent some great hours down there! At one point we saw a snake in the water, but it didn’t bother us to much, now thinking back I find it a bit worrying but I guess at the time we had almost gotten used to seeing snakes here and there. Living in the rice fields with all the lovely water around us full of frogs meant that there were a lot of snakes around. The boys thought it was cool but my mother is pretty scared of snakes, but still she did not flip out, I got to say she managed the situation superbly :)


We soaked up all the good stuff Ubud offers, and we were lucky enough to be there for Galungan which meant lots of festivities in the temples and free dance shows, plus the crazy ogo-ogo parade. Galungan marks the beginning of the most important recurring religious ceremonies in Bali. The spirits of deceased relatives who have died and been cremated return to visit their former homes, and the current inhabitants have a responsibility to be hospitable through prayers and offerings. The most obvious sign of the celebrations are the penjor - bamboo poles weighed down by offerings suspended at the end, and the massive amount of Balinese people out and about in their finest sarongs and kebayas making offerings, visiting temples and just having a good time it seems :) There are several important days around the Galungan/Kuningan period itself they all have special names, with particular activities being organized.


We enjoyed seeing the beautifully dressed women in their sarongs and kebayas walking through town with offerings on their heads.

Nyepi marks the new year in Bali, and this is an island wide silent day. No one is allowed outside their house on this day for what is supposed to be a day of silent contemplation and fasting. But I asked a few Balinese, and they laughingly replied that these days families are more likely to hole up at home with loads of snacks and play video games all day.
Electricity is supposed to be turned off, so no music, no tv, no internet and no light at night (in theory). Nobody is allowed on the streets. Even the airport is closed. Only in Bali!
We holed up in our lovely house and spend the day watching dvds and experimenting with home cooked Balinese food – it turned out to be a wonderful day of rest.
On the eve of Nyepi, there are parades all throughout the island of ogoh-ogoh made by local villagers. Ogoh-ogoh are papier-mache effigies of gods and creatures taken from Hindu mythology. They are paraded through the village to much fanfare before being burned, symbolizing cleansing and purification from evil.


The Ogoh-Ogoh madness is fun for all ages in Bali, it is so cute to see the very young kids proudly parade a small ogh-ogoh down the street. The Ogoh-ogoh are supposed to look really scary, but we did see one group of small kids who had a Sponge Bob Ogoh-ogoh :)


Balinese dances are a very ancient dance tradition that is a part of the religious and artistic expression among the Balinese people. Balinese dance is dynamic, angular and intensely expressive. The Balinese dancers express the story of dance-drama through the whole bodily gestures; fingers, hands and body gestures to head and eyes movements.


There is a great richness of dance forms and styles in Bali; and particularly notable are those ritualistic dance dramas which involve Rangda, the witch and the great beast Barong. Most of dances in Bali are connected to Hindu rituals, they are mostly sacred dances than invoked spirits that believed to possess the dancers in trance state during the performance.

Bali dancers learn the craft as children from their mothers as soon as they are born, in the womb they are played the Balinese music and are taught to dance with their hands before they can walk. Official training as a Bali dancer starts as young as 7. In Balinese dance the movement is closely associated with the rhythms produced by the gamelan, a musical ensemble specific to Java and Bali. Multiple levels of articulations in the face, eyes, hands, arms, hips, and feet are coordinated to reflect layers of percussive sounds.


Finally here are a few pictures of the house and surrounding area.