Bali: I try and telescope my visit into one journal entry by just letting my mind freely conjure up some images. Here I share those specific images that for me gave Bali its distinct flavor:
Beautiful, aesthetic, graceful, ethereal but not in an other-wordly way; a sense of serenity within the daily drudge of life; a calm but bustling island; friendly faces with a welcoming style as one is greeted by the word “selamat” everywhere;
Tropical; colorful yet muted; art and batik; wood carvings and stone carvings; vistas of seas, sands, stretching shorelines, and spectacular sunset skies across the horizon; banana trees with their large green leaves fanning out in every courtyard; palm fronds and coconut trees interspersed with paddy fields; rice terraces on every available inch of land as in the case of one rice terrace carved into a small open area between two modest homes along a busy street filled with people, cars and motorcycles; volcanoes and lakes; rural and urban; nasi goreng and cap cay in a warung, or pizza and pasta in a restaurant; bintang and boutiques; local and global;
Temples and beach bars; graceful architecture with carvings, gateways with flourishes on roofs and pillars; monsters and barricades at compound entrances to ward off evil; gods and alters everywhere in homes, massage parlors, schools, offices, stores, warungs and cars, and on the roads; a Hindu island in a Muslim dominated country…
Bali - a soulful way of life cradled in amazing human, terrestrial and spiritual landscapes; where warmth exudes from earth that is green and fertile, air that is pregnant with moisture, and human hearts that are hospitable and welcoming.
