Bali-licious

One Being's Offering is Another's Lunch

We met an Australian tourist who said that the food in Ubud is terrible -- the portions are small and the noodles are ramen. After almost a cumulative month of amazing gastronomy in Ubud, we all looked at each other in disbelief. We have no idea where this guy was taking his meals.

Ubud is the heart of Balinese art, music, and food. Smooth, sweet, homemade white brem (unfiltered sake-like rice wine) served on ice with lime, bubur injin (black rice pudding with coconut cream), bubur ayam or soto ayam (chicken rice porridge or chicken noodle soup), crepes filled with palm sugar and fresh coconut, lamek, and babi guling (roast suckling pig) kept us all ecstatically satiated.

Many of the restaurants offer cooking classes. We took a class at Casa Luna, owned and operated by Janet de Neefe, an Australian immigrant who married a Balinese and is raising their four children Balinese style. The couple owns a guesthouse and two restaurants. Janet has also authored a couple of books. I read Fragrant Rice, her biography, which also includes recipes.

Morning Market

Our cooking class included a trip to the market. The slimy, gelatinous green drink below, high in antioxidants and not unlike primordial soup, is popular with locals, especially as a morning pick-me-up.

Mangosteens, Yum!

Palm Sugar Out of Coconut Shell Mold

In Which Eric Is the Only Volunteer to Peel Eels

Eric Woks It Up With Janet de Neefe

Balinese Cremation Ceremony

Death in Bali involves one of the biggest and most important of Balinese rituals - cremation. This way the body/soul is returned to the four elements of earth, fire, air, and water, and the soul is free to move on to its next life.

Cremation ceremonies are quite expensive. The body may be buried until it can be cremated along with richer deceased, until relatives have saved up for cremation, or until an auspicious day. Sometimes this means weeks, sometimes years. But when it happens, it is an epic, joyful event.

When someone dies, the family lights lanterns around the house to notify the community. Then they prepare food as usual and offer it to the deceased, to keep up their connection with the deceased. The soul remains with the body for three days. The body is then buried if not to be cremated right away, or taken to the temple and prepared for cremation.

For cremation of the buried, the bones are exhumed and sprinkled with holy water. All of the bones may be wrapped up for cremation, or just some of them and a wood carving symbolic of the deceased's soul. The body is brought to the temple and prepared as above, then placed along with offerings into the procession tower. The processional moves from the temple to the cremation grounds, where the body and offerings are moved from the tower to large papier mache-type bulls that will carry the souls to heaven. The bulls are burned along with the procession tower. After the deceased's bones have cooled, the family takes the bones (which may be ground by a priest) in coconut shells to be thrown into the sea, the final step in releasing the soul to its next life.

The whole community is invited to the cremation, including tourists. The intention is the more the merrier in order to send the soul off to heaven and its new life. All attendees wear sarongs to show respect for the occasion.

Waiting for the Procession to Begin

Selling Sarongs to Tourists in Front of the Temple

Blessing Offerings

Placing Bodies Into the Procession Tower

Family Emerging From Temple

Carrying the Tower

Bulls Will Carry the Souls to Heaven

Processions Were A Lot Easier Before Electricity Came Along

More Procession Pics

Offerings and Bodies Placed in Bull

Soul on Its Way to Heaven

Quintessential Bali (May and June)

Big Bali

Little Bali

Where do you begin to talk of Bali? With the epic mountains and volcanoes, the tinkling charm of the gamelan orchestra, the mesmerizing dances, the full canvas of foliage, the laughing children, the seaweed plots and rice terraces, the fragrant flowers popping with color, the succulent food, the ubiquitous, sensual art, the crystalline water and coral reefs, the air potent with chi?

What permeates all of this is spirituality. In their own unique blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, and animalism, the Balinese bring together the spiritual with the profane (or at least the practical) in every aspect of life. This is evident in the offerings they make and set out daily, everywhere, from homes to businesses to cars to boats to rice fields; one up high for the good spirits' protection and one set low to appease the bad spirits and maybe encourage them to be good. The offerings are almost always a small, handmade banana-leaf basket containing just rice or any combination of rice, flowers, incense, small foods such as nuts or small Ritz crackers, cigarettes, alcohol, and bottles of water. It is not unusual to accidentally trip over the offerings in doorways or on sidewalks, or for dogs or monkeys to sniff through them and eat the food. Not to worry! The energy of the offering is effective upon the intention and placement of the offering; what happens after that is of little consequence. The balance of good/bad yin/yang is also depicted in the black and white cloth Balinese wear and tie around sacred statues. Additionally, Balinese rituals can involve various forms of animal sacrifice, from baby chicks to water buffalo, and amulets, charms, and potions for everything from protection from volcanoes, to abundant harvests, to winning love.

Dark Bali

Light Bali