Thursday, January 24, 2013

BALI HOLIDAY - RICE PADDY FIELDS...


[ This is the fourth of several posts about this trip... to start at the beginning click here: ]

The quintessence of Bali's innumerable charms might be the beauty of the landscape, long cultured into the picturesque --  often arabesque --  rice paddy fields.

Although they have been photographed millions of times they begged being captured yet again inside our lenses... they are indeed improbable & fantastic! These terraces of heavenly reflections which feed so many people seem to form the best working symbol helping to explain this gentle culture carved from the residual bones of volcanic violence...

Our photos are intimate to our own eyes... beginning with this shot I made, on one of our walks along the road, showing my fascination with the light playing inside the rich tropical vegetation of the reflections of the sky... omnipresent connections between the upper & lower worlds. Water is the medium of this conversation. We humans live in a mystical layer of mythical mud celebrating these photographically visible entities.
 
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We humans live in dialogue by eating plants who thrive [or not]...
...sharing with the animals who live with us... 
inside this very thin Æconomie of ecology.

  
How do we find ourselves indulging in the "progression"... more like "procession" perhaps... holding a genuine appreciation inside our continuing  explorations.

Travel must confront itself.



We were blessed being welcomed by our friends Joel & Nirgrantha... then introduced into their community of American Ex-Pats... including a number of men we already know from the States who now live in Bali. Small world!

Joel was partnered with James Broughton [about whom Stephen has made his film: BIG JOY] for 24 years, until James' death. He met Nirgrantha, a retired psychiatrist, when they were both living in New York City.

We sojourned inside compounds built on the memories of what had earlier been Subak paddy fields, surrounded by their now possibly endangered sibling pad`dys. The Æconomie of the neighboring farmers is now based less on the historic community, or the water temple's decisions, than on the possibility of selling to who would own for ourselves rather than join that older culture we aspire to honor... even as we are obviously destroying it with our appreciation.

However well artists know that in order to create one must destroy... be it pristine paper or virgin stone... must still then accept the responsibility for the burden of that act in re-creation. This  often brings nostalgia for some improbable return to some imagined original state.

Æconomie plays similarly here in our own country... just as where huge corporate farms buy-out the small family farms in Kansas, leaving nothing supporting any possible fantasy containing Little House On The Prairie...

I can only imagine the correlate in Bali... I know that money makes the world go 'round... implying returning cycles.... perhaps measured in centuries. Travelers enjoy the deconstructed layers of many beautifully resurrected European cities... of sites further east more ancient yet. Nostalgia, part of travel's romance, is of course, both blessing & bane...

Along the route of our flights we briefly stopped in Asian cities like Singapore & Bangkok which are as immense as any, presenting faces enviably more modern than most in the US. Be it nostalgic procession or dynamic progress, one can only travel inside that larger flow...

The world is still big.
We are here...
Seedlings.


A nursery of rice seedlings
planted densely inside a temporary paddy field,
 dammed with black plastic sheeting
held in place with bamboo stakes...
ready to be planted
by patient hand
into the nearby paddy field
newly groomed
sanctioned to be saturated


The terraces are literally a topographical map of any local terrain...
designed to hold the water in place
on any particular farmer's land
for the allowed period of time
required for planting in
some really proper muck.




 


All through the paddy landscape are to be seen shelters & shrines of various kind...
farmers inviting Spirit, needing to become integral with their land.


On one afternoon stroll along the road we interacted with several boys on bikes who, after making casually playful & humorous connection with us, veered off onto a local path, out of sight...


Reappearing later... dancing their distant greeting!


Sunset came on rapidly, in tropic manner...


Just before I caught this woman winnowing the day's rice


To which I add the observance from our courtyard of a man collecting fuel... or fiber...


 One last view of paddy farms seen lower, carved in the riparian flats down close to the river,
seen from the construction site of the home of a new acquaintance.



A pavilion perches there... recently re-positioned, overlooking that vista...


With prayers of rice at its footing...


Blessed with rice!


Atmospheric bell sound floating atop 
 those foundational rice offerings... 


This is my muse seeing Bali... 
improbably lively expressions of creativity
 in every moment...
certainly completely romantic
yet also palpable.




Saturday, January 19, 2013

BALI HOLIDAY - TREKKING TO UBUD...

  [ This is the third of several posts about this trip... to begin at the beginning click here: ]

Feeling oriented at Villa Vajra we looked forward to exploring on our own while Joel & Nirgrantha hosted their regular Sunday meditation group.

Joel had introduced us, when we joined on his morning dog-walks, to an ancient foot path, paved with stones reminding us of those we used in Soundcliff's garden... reportedly Indonesian.


Abelard & Heloise, loved playing into the dense grass growing tall enough to hide them before the narrow ridge dropped rather precipitously to either side. This is literally the high road!


Here I am  striding its easy surface, happily absorbed in the views across & down into the deep river valleys with Joel...


These are the backsides of the properties with entrances along the motor road, resorts or homes, often replacing the very rice fields which we all come to see...



Although I doubt these lower steeps were ever farmed... I see no evidence of the necessary irrigation system.  That lowest pavilion seems obviously most desirable for the reward of its hard-won seclusion after an endless flight of steps...

The path follows the crest while cars must traverse a more winding route down through the river valley, snaking along the side of this ridge. A pleasant half-hour trek brought us to Ubud town, which has long held the reputation of being an art center.



It is often said there is no word for art in Bali because everything is made beautifully with care... this bit of organic graffiti grabbed Stephen's eye...  as if proof, perhaps.



Along the way there was a temple being rebuilt, giving me opportunity to observe construction techniques.


Bamboo scaffolding, of course, & some great timbers curing at the ready... Stephen has come to accept my curiosity about such mechanique... I'm always looking at functional design, studying how things work, fascinated by tools & hardware...


This  cement mixer, obviously essential to all the incredible brick & stone work,
still looked a bit out of place...

We met up again with the auto traffic down at the bridge over the river leading into town, where we became "millionaires" again by the exchange rate making $100 almost that much in Rupia. We had a leisurely breakfast of fruit, granola & blended fruit drinks... with pots of the good local coffee.

They are rebuilding their market...bamboo scaffolding on a  scale larger enough to work concrete... the metal framing surprised me!

 

 

There was still a section of the old market, 
functioning in trade for fruits, vegetables & daily necessities.

 

 Plus carved wooden masks which were touristy, yet seductive... echoing Venice a bit.

 
 Such attention to  exuberant detail exists almost everywhere one looks... The gates & doorways were constantly fascinating. The first one shown has a ramp for wheelbarrows... 
or motor bikes, more likely!







When we'd bought nice batik-ed shirts on the first day, but saw other interesting shops while Joel gave us a driving tour, which we wanted to visit having more time. We ambled, shopping & soaking-up the local life along the wildly eroded sidewalks of narrow Hanuman street while the sun got hotter... soaking our new shirts in turn.

Here, an interesting man was placing one of the offering baskets along the street side, inside a tender moment of obvious devotion inside this traditional practice... under his bleached hair!


The utility of such poignant futility
becomes curiously palpable
to our culture of digital backups hoping protection
from the demons we fear


A beer with lunch helped to cool us off. On our way to visit the nearby Monkey Forest... the shop of an ikat weaver & her husband, who made her wonderful patterns into clothing absorbed us. They were intriguing enough to inspire us to return before the end of our trip for more shirts, understandably more expensive, but we rationalized that some will become gifts later on.





While monkeys were not seen generally, the Monkey Forest is a preserve containing several ancient  temples... lots of Macaque & almost as many tourists... sometimes ourselves acting a bit like monkeys!


This one posed playing  peek-a-boo, with a wrapper!


A rather sudden rain squall soaked us as we scrambled into a shelter already crowded with Japanese families & a clutch of Balinese children, one of whom asked where we were from, wanting to practice her already good English. One of the forest's residents joined the human pack, grabbing a bag of chips which he proceeded to devour close to Stephen while hanging on to a banana he was hoarding for later.


He began acting more aggressive & peed on the platform, rapidly clearing most of the crowd while a ranger came along to manage him with a more playful, mocking aggression & some kind of favored leaves.




I grabbed this shot of one aping the pose of a sculpture... 


Deeper into the forest ravine was a bridge with two fierce stone dragons for its sides...


Deeper yet were more sculptures... Komoto dragons, [part of the fauna of the next island east from Bali...] which seemed to be part of the water course through a ritual bathing temple above.


Stephen had fun making a couple of portraits of us that day:



We walked back along the main shopping street to find a taxi to drive us home after a tiring day on foot... we passed on the opportunity to have the dead skin on our feet nibbled by fish...


But one piece of jewelry caught my eye for its nicely crocheted wire design...


I'll leave us as with some of the holiday decor we'd encountered, beginning with a tropical tree wrapped in festive Mylar... inviting me to think toward doing that to our apricot next holiday season for Open Studio...


Then... a street-buffering garden [was it temple or restaurant?] subtly enhancing its agave's spines with blown egg shell ornaments... I'm quite certain, egg lover that I am, I won't copy this amusement!

 

This bit of visual cacophony seems better than those... 
traditional festive banners dancing with power... 
Bali!