| Embraced
By Bali Page Two |
| By Robin
Sparks |
| Embraced By Bali - Photos
& Essay by Robin Sparks Reporting From Bali |
| But lest I
make Bali sound like it's 100 percent paradise, I should probably mention
that instead of them piping in New Age music during my massage, I was treated
to the sounds of a neighborhood cockfight just outside the window. Cockfights
are a regular occurrence here - no shame in it - the locals see it as fun
and games AND a handy little blood sacrifice to the Gods. All part of the
dichotomy that I'm discovering is Bali, and besides what did I expect for
$9?
Later that
week, my neighbor Made drops by for a visit. She's trying to talk me into
leasing the plot in front of the house I'm renting. Amazing what you can
own and live in for under $40,000. |
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| "But what
about that cow out there?" I ask her. She says to me, "You make
building, cow gone. No problem."
She stands
up to leave and runs a hand through my hair. "Robin, maybe you marry
nice Balinese boy. I have older brother," she whispers. "He not
married yet."
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She jiggles her
eyebrows a couple of times and giggles conspiratorially. "My brother
very gentle," she says. "I tell him come meet you, and you make
pretty, ok?"
It occurred
to me yesterday that I haven't worn "proper" clothes for over a
month now. |
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| My toes
haven't seen the inside of shoes and my skin has been left largely bare
to the sun and warm breezes. I love living in harmony with nature.
Leaving the windows open. Wearing few clothes. - and never being cold.
What will I wear when I return to San Francisco? Black? Closed toe shoes?
A coat, Lord forbid?
Just now, a
large bumblebee enters the open doors where I sit outside by my pond. OK,
stay calm. This guy is the size of a hummingbird and as furry as a cat.
He hovers over me and my computer, BZZZZZ. I am allergic to bees). I get
up calmly (on the outside) and say to the bumblebee, "Excuse
me, I think I'll just go outside for a moment." I set my laptop on
the bottom step and move cautiously outside. A year ago, I would have shrieked,
dropped the laptop on the tile floor and dove into the pond. Yes, I'm getting
there. Me and nature in harmony. |
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Offshore
Resources Gallery
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| Two nights
ago, I walked home shortly after the sun dropped out of the sky (in
the sudden way it does near the equator). I hadn't brought a flashlight
along, but I followed the sound of a clear high voice singing while she
did dishes. I saw a flicker of light and a shadow next to my house. I focused
my eyes and saw my neighbor placing 2 sticks of burning incense on the
shrine between our homes. I entered my house happier, more peaceful than
perhaps I have ever been. Each day in Bali outdoes the next. That night
as I lay in bed I looked up at the peaked ceiling and a tiny green light
flashed on and off. My guardian lightbug. All is well in Bali.
As I sat on
my white tile terrace this morning and watched the gold, yellow and brown
fish swim around in circles, and heard the reverberating clang of a vibraphone
in the distance, the high clear ringing of the xylophone, felt the warm
sun on my face, and while I felt myself falling in love, I knew that I
was experiencing a moment of wonder. Bali is that. Wonder. Magic. Mystery.
Beauty. A slow, swaying, circling dream. Maybe there was something
to that Medicine Man yesterday afterall. He put his love magic on me and
since then two hearts are moving towards each other, circling round, enjoying
the mystery and the discovery of finding something so magical and unpeeling
it, layer by layer. |
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| I am in a
dream land and a dream state.
Bali is pretty.
Bali is soft. Nepal is a silver toenail polish town - Bali is light
pink. Bangkok is a man's town - Bali is a woman's island. One of Bali's
most revered gods is the goddess Dewi Danu, Goddess of the Lake and provider
of irrigation water, the lifeblood of Bali. Even Bali's elected president,
Megawati, is a woman. I've asked men in Bali about the female spirit of
the island and they concur. Without a doubt, Bali is female and they don't
seem to mind one bit. While all around, the world is yelling "Fight!
Fight!", Bali is going about its business of being beautiful, soft,
and feminine. It is the yin to the Islamic yang of Indonesia. I think I'll
hide out here for awhile.
Bali nourishes
and offers up little resistance. It coddles and pampers the body, soul
and spirit with salons (where you can be pampered and massaged beyond your
wildest imagination for just a few dollars), holistic healers and alternative
medicine of varied forms, yoga classes, and meditation centers and retreats. |
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| It is easy
to Be in Bali. In almost every way the island supports life and supports
it abundantly. It costs so little to live here, and food grows with
minimum effort. Ease. Even the language, Bahasa Indonesian, is considered
one of the world's easiest to learn. The Balinese are an easy people to
be with, kind and carefree, with a spirit that is communal - no division
where yours and mine are concerned. And no sense that foreigners are impinging
on "their" island. They seem to say, the earth is abundant; there
is plenty to go around. Come and share it with us.
Bali is graceful.
You can see it in the way the people move. In the design of their gardens,
their homes, their clothing.
Flow.
In Bali, life flows in a lazy hypnotic cycle. Water, prana, chi, the life
force of the island is on the move everywhere, at all times. And
always there is a breeze caressing your skin, music gracing your ears,
art pleasing your eyes, and life all around unfolding, flowing, naturally,
with grace. It's been said that the Balinese envision heaven as a place
very much like Bali. Naturally.
I receive a
none-too-welcome jolt "back to reality" from the tenant renting my apartment
in San Francisco:
"Hey Robin-
Just so
you know, your upstairs neighbors are putting a roof deck in. The
construction workers are busy daily from 8:00AM ripping up the tar roof
and laying a wood deck. On the down side, we get an 8AM wake-up call
daily because the work is loud. On the up side, I expect the work
will be done before you or your next tenants come in.
Hope things
in Bali are still great."
In one month,
I will have to return to the United States. After 8 months away, I am more
comfortable than ever living outside its borders. However, the Unreal World
beckons...
This paradise
called Bali. It is within me. Was all along. It just took being here to
remember it. And going into the void (like Harry Potter) to find it. I'll
be back. Because Bali is no longer just a dream; Bali is home.
Epilogue
8/19/02
Even as
I sit this morning writing this story, two months after arriving in Bali,
the beauty, the peace, and the magic of this island blow me away. I
hear children singing Ole, Ole Ole Ole from a nearby soccer field. A rooster
crows. The cow in my front yard moos. The smell of nasi goreng wafts through
my window from Mades Warung. My neighbor is playing his guitar on his porch
and singing folk songs. The birds are in concert as usual, a cool breeze
rattles the papers on my desk, palm trees do their usual dance, and white
fluffy clouds hang in the sky, barely moving....And this is Monday! Does
it get any better than this?
"Come now
Robin," I can hear you saying. "There must be something wrong with
Bali." And yes, there is a shadow side which I will address in next
months' story along with what it takes to move to Bali and to live
here, the cost of real estate and what business opportunities if any there
are. And I'll introduce you to some fascinating people, the expatriates
who live in Bali. |
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Article
Index ~ Indonesia
Index ~ |
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