5 days to go...

The Power of Bali ...

I started the day refreshed, and with a fabulous view on lush vegetation and rice fields on the other side of the narrow valley of the Oos river. Nature and art are never far away when I’m in Bali, and especially here in Ubud.

I arrived late last night in the dark, and this morning I felt that I needed to move. So I shifted to the cottage (here called villa) next to mine, which felt more “fit” to me. It was so luminous, as if a generous spirit was there to welcome me.

The room boy asked me what I did, and I told him I am becoming a writer. This seemed entirely normal to him, and he referred to his brother who’s work as a painter is sold in galleries in Singapore.

It was the first time that a stranger acknowledged my statement to be a writer. And if he wondered why a writer would stay in his resort, he made no mention of it. Being an artist in Ubud is considered normal.

I wrote in longhand in my journal while waiting for breakfast to be served in the open-air restaurant, and it felt so good! I even felt the beautiful wooden table to be alive.

My villa is full of frangipani and bougainvillea flowers put there by the staff. Their fragrance is present. Each villa has its own little altar affixed to its outside wall where staff makes offerings every day with a flower and incense.

I rented a car for the week, and my expedition started with the search for super glue to fix my fave sandals. Each sandle decided to come loose at the same point this morning.

Then torture started. I joined the fun run to raise money for saving Orang Utans in Sumatera. A small crowd gathered on Ubud’s football field, and off we went on a 5 km run through Ubud and then up and down through the verdant ricefields surrounding the town.

I quickly realized the true status of my physical condition, and I panted myself along, through the exquisite scenery, occasionally meeting Balinese farmers carrying their produce or rice stalks on bicycles on the narrow path. Now I can attest that my body is “open” for whatever further experiences this week.

The fun run was followed by chats with equally satisfied runners over bottles of water and a glass of beer offered on my forthcoming birthday. I decided this morning to be open and observant today, and I met several people with an interesting story.

Kees, a lean truck driver from Holland who spends six months on the roads of Europe and the other six with his family in Ubud. He looked very fit and came in second in the run.

Peggy and Dick, a couple from Canada who turned 50 last year, and who buy handicraft from Ubud and other locations in Asia to sell it during a world bazar in Canada lasting just a few weeks each year. She does the buying, and he manages the finances. Interestingly, as he was about to turn 50, he left a career as financial manager of high-tech electronics companies in Canada. He’s now looking for new business opportunities, and is happy to work as a husband and wife team importing handicrafts in the meantime.

Rucina, a dancer from the US living in Bali for a long time, who was kind enough to put me in touch with the organizers of the fun run by email on where to buy the tickets. She emceed a performance after the run to raise money for the orang utans in Sumatera.

I also met lots of Balinese dogs while running, and to my surprise not a single one barked or yapped, as would be the standard in the other places in Asia I ran, including in Thailand and the Philippines. They appeared calm.

My outing ended, or so I thought, with listening to live music in Ubud’s Jazz Café, featuring Madama and his Planet Bamboo band. He told me during the break that although he hails from Yogyakarta in central Java, he has lived in Bali for the past 20 years. His music was an example of the fusion of cultures going on here. Although there were some classical motives, it was evolutionary in form and delivery.

Since I had no dinner, I stopped at Casa Luna for cappuccino and apple crumble on the way back to my hotel in Payangan, 15 minutes driving from central Ubud. When I returned to the hotel, the manager Surya greeted me warmly. Standing next to a yoni-lingam statue in the hotel garden lit by torches, we talked about spiritual development, the world beyond form and how that world expresses itself in Bali, and what it meant to each of us personally to be spiritually alive.

Sipping a delicious Grand Cru Saint Emilion which I brought from Manila to treat myself, I reflect on Surya’s words tonight that the power of Bali lies in its harmony between the gods, people and nature. From personal experiences, he knew about the powers in the unseen world, and it had convinced him about the need to live in harmony. I knew deep inside that he was right.

The final word of the day was the wishing card laid out on the bed. It quoted Robert Louis Stevenson in saying: “A Friend is a present you give yourself.” By being open today, I made new friends.

Photographs: Bath tub in my villa (top), the start of the Fun Run to save Sumatran Orang Utans (second, before I started panting), a child Orang Utan on stage in the show (third), and Ganesha in Casa Luna (bottom).