Bali's North

On Monday (September 18th) we went north. Thanks to Gojek, not a big problem! Our journey took us through lush greenery, uphill, rice fields, downhill, tiny winding roads to Sudaji.

Our journey took 4 hours for a route that was actually stated to take about 2 hours.😵‍💫 Unfortunately, our driver didn't know his way around very well and we lost the location signal a few times in the mountains, so the navigation didn't work. Oh well!😅

Sri Schultz was already waiting for us. Yes… Schultz. Sri was married for a long time to a German man who unfortunately died 5 years ago and lived in Germany (near Bremen... how small the world is) for 7 years. We were so lucky with our homestay here. Sri, her brother and the whole family took such good care of us. The big one celebrated the pool and the chickens and the little one celebrated the food (bananas, dragon fruit, mango, Balinese oranges, fried rice with vegetables, peanut sauce on the side)… everything was considered good.🤤

Since we were fairly rural, Sri organized a driver for us to explore the area with us. Budi drove us safely to the Wanagiri Waterfalls, the Pura Gubug Water Temple and the Baturiti Luwak Coffee Center. Yes… cat fart coffee. David tried it and even bought a small bag.😺🙀 At the end of the day there was a quick stop at the local fruit market on the way back.

On our last day we were able to take part in a Balinese burial ceremony (Naben/Palebon). Everyone was on their feet and a colorful, happy and loud procession led through the village. Since death ultimately only frees the soul from its material shell, there is not much reason for mourning. It is assumed that the material shell, consisting of the five elements, must be dissolved as completely as possible after death in order to give the soul free rein. This happens through combustion. Of course, such a ceremony costs a lot of money, which only very few Balinese can afford. The dead are often buried temporarily until another wealthy citizen's cremation ceremony takes place, in which one then simply takes part. So several “funerals” are celebrated at once. It was really impressive to see that.

Tomorrow we will continue east to Amed. But we will miss Sri and the homestay here.