Rice Terraces of Jatiluwih & “Da” Godfrey
Yesterday’s journey to the interior turned out to be longer than anticipated - not unusual as these trips have proven and while we were tired afterwards, it was interesting and satisfying. The morning started out with a stop at the BIWA, Bali International Women’s Association that Katrinka is a member of, for their annual environmental fund raising bazaar and would be there assisting all day. We arrived early with our replacement driver for the day, Ketut - sort of relative of Komang, our unavailable regular driver. We walked among the various booths selling everything and anything - clothing, food, electronics, used household items, drinks, you name it. We were here so David could give one of the opening invocations starting off the days event. The four major religions of Bali - Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Christianity are represented with a prayer given by someone in that community to start things off. David gave the Buddhist Mantra of Loving Kindness blessing and friend and neighbor Yvonne gave the Christian blessing along with the two other religions representatives. Most people were milling around even though there were chairs set up in front of the stage for the occasion which David said is typical - even in formal ceremonies such as the cremation I went to, there is a certain informality and casualness. A number of handicapped people in wheelchairs, mostly children, were lined up just below the front of the stage as though for a group healing - maybe so......all prayers can be helpful.
Mango Tea...
David’s Buddhist blessing....
Yvonne and others give their blessings....
Blessings dispensed, we saddled up and headed north by northwest in the usual heavy traffic through Denpasar towards Tabanan where we were originally going to go earlier to see the Ulan Danau Bratan Temple but we never made it - too exhausted at the time from all the other activities.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pura_Ulun_Danu_Bratan
Passing through Tabanan, an obviously higher end sort of city, still crowded but nice temples and lively feeling, the traffic finally thinned out as we climbed into the foothills of the looming mountains in the distance. Jungles and farm fields alternately mixed with little villages in between opened up before us and we began to relax and enjoy the much calmer rural atmosphere. The climbing terrain ahead became steeper, road narrowed, windier and as the switchbacks got tighter and the jungle denser with giant bamboo, ferns and banana trees, we felt as though we were entering the Jurassic Era and would perhaps meet face to face with a dinosaur 🦖 around the next bend. We could not see the mountain top ahead as it was shrouded in clouds and we started passing through bands of light rain showers, as the temperature dropped as well and felt the air become cooler for the first time since I arrived in Bali almost a month ago - a very pleasant relief.
The dense jungle finally gave way to brilliant green rice fields shimmering in the gentle breezes as the sun broke through puffy clouds, the curving and undulating paddies along the hillsides and flattening out in the valleys between as we continued the climb towards our final destination, Jatiluwih.
http://www.baliglory.com/2016/02/jatiluwih.html
This region is a tourist destination attraction and exemplifies what most people envision as the classic vision of rural Bali. Immediately, it is stunningly beautiful and a photographers dream where you can’t take a bad photo if you tried. I was surprised as we rounded a corner, to find a toll booth/shack manned by several brightly clothed men and women holding entrance tickets which we had to purchase to enter. The cost for both of us foreigners was about $5.00 - a lot by Bali standards but we were happy to contribute to the local economy, schools and the local hospital. The views were more spectacular as we climbed towards the small hillside village where we stopped to look over the terraced valley below and have some coconut water and a treat at a little snack shack.
Irrigation canal.....
Driving northward - Ketuts wife made offering for driving....
Bamboo used for everything in Bali....
Bali all purpose utility vehicle....
Now we move on to our final destination for the day before heading home - to track down friends Godfrey and Izumi, interesting artists, writers, surfers, world traveler, friends of the Chadwick’s. They live in a nearby remote village off the beaten path, exact location faintly remembered. David arranged visit beforehand but since we’ve been on the road we couldn’t get in touch - they’re not answering but we forge ahead anyway, trusting the travel gods will psychically guide us as they have mostly have done in the past 🤞🙏.
First we stop at a very nice restaurant in the countryside to eat lunch, Ti Amo Bali. https://tiamobaliresort.com/ They have stayed here before for several nights in the cabins and really enjoyed the quiet surroundings, a good place to walk about the rice fields, eat good food and to write. The manager was happy to see David again and she gave me a personal tour of the individual cabins and they are incredibly beautiful, each one a different design. Ti Amo Bali is owned by an Italian couple who clearly have very good tastes and have done a magnificent job with this popular, reasonably priced mini hill resort. The lunch was delicious and ready to move on with our quest, still unable to get Godfrey or Izumi to answer their phones, we asked the manager where they lived. Of course everybody knows everybody in these small communities, especially the few Bules that live this far into the interior, and she gave us directions so off we went.
There are pretty valleys that open up as we meander through the dense jungle, cultivated with complex irrigation canals for the rice fields and plantations of fruit trees, the pure water flowing from streams down the mountain sides where the moisture laden clouds back up and drop their wet loads.
Even with the directions, we can’t quite nail down the location of Godfrey, so we just stop and ask some workers beside the road and of course they know him as well and point us to the entrance. We walk into the recessed walled yard, wander around stacks of lumber and equipment, descend down a path around and behind the house built on the side of a steep ravine, dense foliage surrounding and hanging down about us - very mystical. The path ends at a raised back patio, great view down the valley below, big mountain in distance still shrouded in clouds - we walk part way up porch stairs hollering out and Godfrey appears from inside, somewhat surprised but unruffled, casually welcomes us with something akin to - what are you doing here, didn’t know you were really coming, thought a different time, another day, I don’t know where my phone is, hardly ever answer it anyway but good to see you and welcome Gregory. Like the guy already - calm, understated, present, different and clearly thoughtful and intelligent with some mischief ness. After the introduction and catching up pleasantries our conversations range over a broad range of topics that I can’t even recount and most likely we’d all seem like a bunch of kooks if I did but only to the “un-initiated” of course since we are all clearly highly evolved intelligent beings from elsewhere exploring planet earth, if you get my drift.......
Izumi is inside sleeping as she mostly stays up all night doing her art and sadly, I don’t get to meet her but Godfrey brings out a hand made bound book with some of her exquisitely delicate and detailed watercolor paintings, calligraphy, poems and musings all on a variety of crafted papers with different textures. I wished I had taken pictures but since this is her private work that’s not for publication I didn’t want to presume - pretty sure that with the very open conversation we subsequently had with Godfrey, they most likely wouldn’t have minded. I can’t say enough about how beautiful and sensitive her work is and pretty sure with some effort I might possibly scratch the surface in describing it but feel it is so special I will leave it unsaid and be grateful and honored to have seen it........would have liked to have seen her studio and other work she did, jewelry as well which Katrinka later told me was very unique and beautiful and not for sale - none of her work is for sale, interesting 🤔.
We three men of Orient are..........
Homemade Jamu Juice
https://www.annaliisakapp.com/recipe/balinese-jamu-elixir-recipe
With our driver Ketut saying goodbye in the rain....
David and Yvonne about to give blessings ....
Mango Tea...
David’s Buddhist blessing....
Yvonne and others give their blessings....
Blessings dispensed, we saddled up and headed north by northwest in the usual heavy traffic through Denpasar towards Tabanan where we were originally going to go earlier to see the Ulan Danau Bratan Temple but we never made it - too exhausted at the time from all the other activities.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pura_Ulun_Danu_Bratan
Passing through Tabanan, an obviously higher end sort of city, still crowded but nice temples and lively feeling, the traffic finally thinned out as we climbed into the foothills of the looming mountains in the distance. Jungles and farm fields alternately mixed with little villages in between opened up before us and we began to relax and enjoy the much calmer rural atmosphere. The climbing terrain ahead became steeper, road narrowed, windier and as the switchbacks got tighter and the jungle denser with giant bamboo, ferns and banana trees, we felt as though we were entering the Jurassic Era and would perhaps meet face to face with a dinosaur 🦖 around the next bend. We could not see the mountain top ahead as it was shrouded in clouds and we started passing through bands of light rain showers, as the temperature dropped as well and felt the air become cooler for the first time since I arrived in Bali almost a month ago - a very pleasant relief.
The dense jungle finally gave way to brilliant green rice fields shimmering in the gentle breezes as the sun broke through puffy clouds, the curving and undulating paddies along the hillsides and flattening out in the valleys between as we continued the climb towards our final destination, Jatiluwih.
http://www.baliglory.com/2016/02/jatiluwih.html
This region is a tourist destination attraction and exemplifies what most people envision as the classic vision of rural Bali. Immediately, it is stunningly beautiful and a photographers dream where you can’t take a bad photo if you tried. I was surprised as we rounded a corner, to find a toll booth/shack manned by several brightly clothed men and women holding entrance tickets which we had to purchase to enter. The cost for both of us foreigners was about $5.00 - a lot by Bali standards but we were happy to contribute to the local economy, schools and the local hospital. The views were more spectacular as we climbed towards the small hillside village where we stopped to look over the terraced valley below and have some coconut water and a treat at a little snack shack.
Irrigation canal.....
Driving northward - Ketuts wife made offering for driving....
Bamboo used for everything in Bali....
Now we move on to our final destination for the day before heading home - to track down friends Godfrey and Izumi, interesting artists, writers, surfers, world traveler, friends of the Chadwick’s. They live in a nearby remote village off the beaten path, exact location faintly remembered. David arranged visit beforehand but since we’ve been on the road we couldn’t get in touch - they’re not answering but we forge ahead anyway, trusting the travel gods will psychically guide us as they have mostly have done in the past 🤞🙏.
First we stop at a very nice restaurant in the countryside to eat lunch, Ti Amo Bali. https://tiamobaliresort.com/ They have stayed here before for several nights in the cabins and really enjoyed the quiet surroundings, a good place to walk about the rice fields, eat good food and to write. The manager was happy to see David again and she gave me a personal tour of the individual cabins and they are incredibly beautiful, each one a different design. Ti Amo Bali is owned by an Italian couple who clearly have very good tastes and have done a magnificent job with this popular, reasonably priced mini hill resort. The lunch was delicious and ready to move on with our quest, still unable to get Godfrey or Izumi to answer their phones, we asked the manager where they lived. Of course everybody knows everybody in these small communities, especially the few Bules that live this far into the interior, and she gave us directions so off we went.
There are pretty valleys that open up as we meander through the dense jungle, cultivated with complex irrigation canals for the rice fields and plantations of fruit trees, the pure water flowing from streams down the mountain sides where the moisture laden clouds back up and drop their wet loads.
Even with the directions, we can’t quite nail down the location of Godfrey, so we just stop and ask some workers beside the road and of course they know him as well and point us to the entrance. We walk into the recessed walled yard, wander around stacks of lumber and equipment, descend down a path around and behind the house built on the side of a steep ravine, dense foliage surrounding and hanging down about us - very mystical. The path ends at a raised back patio, great view down the valley below, big mountain in distance still shrouded in clouds - we walk part way up porch stairs hollering out and Godfrey appears from inside, somewhat surprised but unruffled, casually welcomes us with something akin to - what are you doing here, didn’t know you were really coming, thought a different time, another day, I don’t know where my phone is, hardly ever answer it anyway but good to see you and welcome Gregory. Like the guy already - calm, understated, present, different and clearly thoughtful and intelligent with some mischief ness. After the introduction and catching up pleasantries our conversations range over a broad range of topics that I can’t even recount and most likely we’d all seem like a bunch of kooks if I did but only to the “un-initiated” of course since we are all clearly highly evolved intelligent beings from elsewhere exploring planet earth, if you get my drift.......
Izumi is inside sleeping as she mostly stays up all night doing her art and sadly, I don’t get to meet her but Godfrey brings out a hand made bound book with some of her exquisitely delicate and detailed watercolor paintings, calligraphy, poems and musings all on a variety of crafted papers with different textures. I wished I had taken pictures but since this is her private work that’s not for publication I didn’t want to presume - pretty sure that with the very open conversation we subsequently had with Godfrey, they most likely wouldn’t have minded. I can’t say enough about how beautiful and sensitive her work is and pretty sure with some effort I might possibly scratch the surface in describing it but feel it is so special I will leave it unsaid and be grateful and honored to have seen it........would have liked to have seen her studio and other work she did, jewelry as well which Katrinka later told me was very unique and beautiful and not for sale - none of her work is for sale, interesting 🤔.
Entrance into house , hat blocked - ah, the things that goon in there 🤔?.....
We three men of Orient are..........
Homemade Jamu Juice
https://www.annaliisakapp.com/recipe/balinese-jamu-elixir-recipe
With our driver Ketut saying goodbye in the rain....
Maybe you are wondering about the meaning of Post heading - “Da” Godfrey. Well, it’s just a little humor on my part that I’m sure Godfrey would smile at ☺️or at least, give a smirk 😏. In our aforementioned far ranging conversations we touched upon the era of the “Guru Trail” we and our generation had travelled on, the interesting personal stories we had in our questing, teachers we met, the rise and usual fall of some gurus or teachers - funny, sad, beautiful and profane.....
One of those teachers I hadn’t thought about in years but had read some of his work and knew a few of his followers, came up in conversation and for whatever reason Godfrey reminded me some of Da Free John https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Da - thus, the “Da” monicker. I’m sure Godfrey might be scratching his head reading this about that but he’ll have to have me come back in another lifetime to explain, which I’m pretty sure I couldn’t explain the inexorable but I’ll just say this - he looked the part with his hair up 🤷♂️ . Guess I’m just as shallow as the next guy....... By the way Godfrey is his last name, which most people call him, Jim being the first name, so maybe you understand the further connection to “Da Free John” ......mysterious man living in mysterious jungle in mysterious Bali 🙄.
Heading towards the car, we said our goodbyes incrementally as we haltingly moved to the car, unable to stop talking as there’s always a “did you hear about.....” moment that we would then launch into. Birds of a feather.......hard to beat, hope to see him again but if not......... 🙏
The temples we missed in Tabanan were Tanah Lot and Taman Ayun (not Pura Ulun Danu which would have been another hour further than we went. Wanted to go to the Bali Butterfly Park in Tabanan too. Next time. Good lord - that was enough for one day. Good time was had.
ReplyDeleteJust made the time to time trip through the complete "gregchron" saga. I am wonderfully altered and awash with observations of your observations. And, your evolution. God is great, yes?
ReplyDeleteThanks Goyo. 🙏