Hübsches Bali

My excitement about Bali was extremely limited. From all directions, I heard that Bali is overcrowded and already resembles more of a Western standard. While it's nice to meet fellow travelers from time to time, my main intention is to get to know the local culture and people. So, following the advice of a few people, I had myself driven to Ubud, which is located a bit further inland and is touted as the cultural center of Bali. And I was pleasantly surprised by Bali... or was it because my expectations were so low that they were more than met? The first night I slept in a hostel, but due to high occupancy, I couldn't extend my stay. While renting a scooter, I casually asked the gentleman next to me if he could recommend a place to stay. And it was a stroke of luck. I settled in just around the corner with a family who offered 4 accommodations in their house for guests. There, I had my own bed, toilet, air conditioning, and a fantastic breakfast, all for the same price as the hostel, plus I had extremely friendly and warm hosts.

Bali is the only island in Indonesia where Hinduism is practiced as the main religion and is therefore shaped by it. A faith that I came into contact with for the first time, and I must say that I was very impressed by the people and the associated culture, which is perhaps more specific to Bali. So, every house has its own little temple or statues that are adorned with small offerings three times a day, such as incense sticks, sweet little flower arrangements, or some rice. There are short prayers where people express their gratitude for what they have. The statues and small temples are all handcrafted in a very artistic way. But this culture must not only have many very artistic stone carvers, but also many people who beautifully decorate wood, making all the entrances resemble magnificent palace gates. And all the artistically built houses, combined with the green and lush nature, gave Ubud and its surroundings a captivating image that I could hardly get enough of.

The scooter gave me wonderful freedom and I explored the surroundings of Ubud. There are countless waterfalls, villages where, in addition to the pretty houses, there are several temple complexes, the countless rice fields that adorn the landscape in terraced forms, and of course the food stalls with all kinds of delicacies. I made it a mission to visit 1-2 waterfalls every morning and then just drift. In a museum, I met Made, an artist from a nearby village who was painting a picture. Made is a very common name in Bali, as it means 'second-born'. The next day, he invited me to his village, where he accompanied me on a visit to a waterfall and a walk through rice fields, and introduced me to his friends who were carving and decorating a beam.

On another day, after visiting the waterfall, I visited a famous temple with holy water, and then I drove through the countryside and found a huge egg farm where up to 2 million chickens were supposed to live. The people living there proudly showed me around, while I was not so thrilled about the conditions. And then I was recommended a coffee plantation with a tasting. When I parked the scooter, I was greeted by a guide who took me to the tasting. Along the way, there were coffee plants, plants from which tea was made, and cocoa trees. He explained the production process and other gimmicks to me. The attraction was the Luwak coffee, where a raccoon-like animal is fed with coffee beans and then the excreted beans are roasted and processed into coffee. Probably extremely strong and tasty... I let him know right away that I was less interested in coffee, and even less interested in that. He showed me more and showed me how they grind the coffee by hand with equipment, and an old woman was roasting the coffee. It was impressive to see how everything happened in a traditional way there. Then he prepared my sample for me, and suddenly he presented me with 14 cups of coffee, tea, and cocoa. I didn't have that much thirst, but a gift horse... When I finished, he took me to the sales point, which made me a bit suspicious: how could this old lady roast so many beans, and where were all the plants they needed for the entire production? He assured me that everything happened right there on site. The prices were then somewhat alarming, so I had to disappoint him and say goodbye. Not even 500m further, there was the next "coffee plantation". So I stopped and took a closer look. And it was a copy of the previous one. Then I asked the guide how it could be that all the products offered here supposedly grow in this small garden and that the old lady roasts all the beans. And she admitted that there are large plantations further north with industrial processing... it's wonderful how they deceive people there. The coffee there was more than half the price, but still too expensive for my taste. So, I thanked them and left with a pretty full bladder.

Another activity was to do some yoga. There are several studios there and many very well-trained teachers. At Juliane's recommendation, I tried Kundalini yoga. And I must say, it demanded a lot from me. Not only did we do many small but very strenuous movements, but we also had to breathe heavily and quickly. So it requires a lot of practice, but even though I was probably far from performing it accurately, I felt a very relaxed overall mood afterwards. The background of this yoga is the activation of the 7 chakras, which must be opened from bottom to top to allow the energy to flow well... I am sure that I could certainly open 1-2 chakras a bit.

Another small highlight in Ubud was a small monkey forest in the middle of the city. There were a few long-tailed macaque families that attracted crowds of people and mischievously played with them. When you buy the entrance ticket, you are warned not to bring food into the forest and to lock or secure your bags and other valuables. I hadn't been in the forest for 2 minutes when a monkey snatched a woman's handbag and fled towards a tree. A few guards tried to chase him, but he jumped from tree to tree. They took out their slingshot and shot at him... I didn't follow the spectacle any further and don't know if the woman got her handbag back. A few meters further, a macaque stole chips from a passerby, and even further, a macaque attacked another woman and tried to snatch a bag from her... and so it went on. One had to constantly be on guard that a monkey would attack and try to steal something... amusing as long as you are not affected yourself =).

Then I met Arta, also a name that exists very frequently: it means 'last-born'. She is an architect from Bandung in Java who recently moved to Bali to turn her passion for painting into a profession. We went on a waterfall trip together, and she was my personal Indo-guide, telling me many details about the culture and people. But the most exciting thing was that she knew the great-grandson of the famous Balinese artist named Lempad, whom the family believes to be the reincarnated Lempad due to his artistic talent. We visited him, his friends, and family, and he was in the process of creating a large bull for a funeral ceremony where the body was to be cremated. His uncle still lives in Lempad's birth house, which we then visited and were able to admire the master's old artworks. And it was so crazy how open and friendly the people were and how they let me, a stranger, glimpse so deeply into their privacy.

Then I headed towards Medewi, located a bit further southwest on Bali and a surf spot that is said to be less crowded than those around Denpasar, the capital. I found a surf guide who had very good reviews on Google and came to Medewi with high expectations of improving my surfing skills. Initially, he checked my skills and had me surf in whitewater. I liked the analyses and his tips, and I had hope that I would make progress and finally learn to surf properly. But in the following days, it was his cousin who assisted me in the water. Unfortunately, he didn't speak English, and he was only there to tell me when to paddle and give me a push at the end so I could catch the wave well. So disappointing. Ali had another student, so the nice but unfortunately not very helpful Angus stood by my side. Well, in the end, I occasionally had the pleasure of riding a nice wave, but due to being constantly pushed, it felt less self-determined and honest... maybe similar to saying you can ride a bike but still have training wheels on. But yes, in the end, my paddling skills were not the most developed due to slight shoulder pain, so I was grateful for the pushing assistance. But it was beautiful to see other surfers hitting their hooks in the waves with short boards, local Balinese people catching waves with cigarettes in their mouths, or surfers with longboards performing a kind of dance on the waves. Well, my joy primarily came from watching others, while I will probably give up my surfing career and focus on less technically demanding and shoulder-intensive sports.