Confrontation

"Your tennis teacher is temperamental like an animal not like a human being.  Many people are very upset.  Enemy is coming from the mouth."

Lynn and I read these words in a text message from Dewa.  We had just finished a tennis lesson given by our American tennis teacher, whom I'll call Will.  We have been taking tennis lessons at a nearby village that rents out its tennis court by the hour.  Will rides his motorbike an hour each way to meet us at the court.

We had no idea what was going on.  We had never received a message like this before from Dewa.

Dewa's text message began:

"Excusme...  I just want to let's you know...  About your tennis teacher...  Wow many people is very up sad...  Because he always talk with really no good word and emotional he just angry with the bus driver because of throw out rubbish on the street.  I know that is not good but your tennis teacher is tourist here in Bali normally he must be say thank for to do business and make money in Bali... Enemy is coming from the mouth.  If speak more polite maybe people will say thank.  ...I hear somebody say if he do a second time bad luck for your tennis teacher."

The message ended with:

"Paradise and hell coming from the mouth.  If speak good that is make many people smile and happy  and if speak no good directly is make the people mad and angry.  Bali people like peace and love.  Thanks"

We asked Dewa what had happened.  He told us that before our tennis lesson began, several buses full of students on a class outing had parked on the street opposite the tennis court.  The bus drivers and teachers, upon exiting the buses, had instructed their students to take all their trash that had accumulated during the bus ride and to toss it over the side of the road into the stream below.

Upset by this, Will, who speaks no Indonesian, had confronted them and told them in English that they shouldn't be teaching their students to litter but instead should be teaching them to throw away trash properly. (This is not an isolated problem.  The Balinese dump plastic trash into rivers all over the island.  Trash disposal is a complex social problem in Bali that we are aiming to address in another post.)

Even by Western standards, Will is a passionate guy who can come off as a bit of a hothead.  He is a well-meaning guy, committed to excellence in his tennis instruction and very good with the girls.  We like him.  But observing social formalities isn't his strength.  Indeed, this is likely the reason he travels so far to give us lessons rather than teaching at his former job as a tennis pro at the swank country club near his home.  He mentioned at one point that his personality had clashed with the refined manners of those who ran the country club.

Will's behavior, which would be a little out of the ordinary in America, is very extreme in Bali.

As Westerners, we are taught to speak up -- and do so with varying intensity and decibel levels -- if we see a wrong being committed.  We believe in "power to the people" and taking matters into our own hands.  We feel free to confront strangers over a parking space, over smoking where they shouldn't, over whispering in the theater, or if we think they are endangering their children.

The Balinese are non-confrontational in the extreme.  Expressing anger in public is shameful behavior, and only reflects badly on the one expressing the anger, not the one at whom the anger is directed, even if the anger is justified.

According to the Balinese, unless you are in a position of authority no one has the right to tell someone else what they should be doing.

Will thought he had done the right thing: calling the adults to account for instructing their students to throw plastic trash in the river, which is contributing to destroying the beauty of Bali. 

But Will's behavior in aggressively confronting the Balinese bus driver was seen as grievously insulting, and brought the warning from Dewa that Will should be careful because it might provoke some of the people he confronted to try to harm him.

Shortly after the incident with Will, Dewa had an unrelated incident with a Green School parent who confronted Dewa and chastised him because the parent thought Dewa had been driving way too fast.  Dewa said that he felt very upset.  He added that it was his worst experience as a driver and that if he had been a woman he would have cried.

He was also quite angry.  He said that it was a good thing he had had eaten breakfast that morning and was able to keep his calm, otherwise he might have sought out someone who knows black magic, regardless of the bad karma that would have brought upon Dewa, and made something bad happen to the Green School parent.  (In yet more drama, we later learned the identity of this parent:  our next door neighbor.  This made for a slightly awkward conversation, but it was entirely amicable.  We were, in fact, glad that he voiced his concerns.) 

The Balinese do not respond in kind to verbally aggressive behavior.  They are constrained by their code of behavior from yelling back or getting in the person's face.  But if they react, they might overreact by trying to covertly harm the person that confronted them.  Often this seems to involve turning to practitioners of "black magic."

All of the Balinese we've talked to where the subject has come up believe in magic, including Dewa.  It may not be Harry Potter-style magic.  But they believe that certain people have "extra energy" and have undertaken extensive lessons in magic, learning how to use it for good and for bad.  Those who know black magic can use it to make people sick.  To be a master of magic one must study and know both black magic and good magic.   

I am naturally skeptical about all this talk of magic.  But we know a Green School family who went to a Balinese healer and experienced her extraordinary healing powers first hand.  They wrote up their experience here.   There may be something to all this talk of magic after all.  I wouldn't want to test it out by being on the receiving end of some black magic.

The Menjangan - West Bali National Park

Our destination in north Bali was The Menjangan, an eco-resort located within West Bali National Park.  It is a 75 square-mile park situated in the northwest corner of Bali, covering 5% of Bali's land area.  It is quite dry in this part of Bali.  The trees and plants around the park reminded us more of North American forests in fall than the lush rice paddies of central Bali. 

The Menjangan is the only hotel within the park.  The buildings are quite spread out.  The bedrooms, the reception area, and the main restaurant/beach are each around a 10 minute drive from each other along bumpy, dusty roads.   Alongside the roads, we'd frequently see herds of deer or troops of monkeys.

We arrived shortly before sunset

View from five stories up at Bali Tower -- Menjangan island in the distance (center right)

Reception was at the base of the five-story Bali Tower

The little van that drove us around had seats on the roof and a flimsy handrail along the side.  The girls had a lot of fun sitting on the top seats.  Nothing like that would be allowed in the US, as the rollover protection was non-existent.  That didn't stop a couple of Aussie teenagers from standing up on the roof for the duration of one of the rides, narrowly missing frequent bonks on the head from overhanging branches.  Their behavior made a big impression on Alexa.

the pool with our room in the center rear

The Menjangan houses a small sanctuary for the critically endangered Bali Starling

Shortly after we checked into our room, a family of five checked into the room across the hall from us.  They were from Jakarta, by way of Malaysia and Australia.  Their kids are around the same age as the girls, and the parents were quite welcoming when Charlotte crashed their dinnertime family game of Uno and promptly decided to make Aleph (the boy) her best friend for the duration of our stay.

We wound up having the same schedule of activities so we spent much of our time together.  We went out together on a snorkeling trip to the nearby island of Menjangan, a half-hour boat ride from the resort. 

Snorkeling the vast coral reefs around Menjangan Island was the highlight of our trip.  In the morning, we snorkeling at the "Cliff," a coral reef that abruptly ended with a sharp drop off into the depths.  We could see the divers below us and swim through their bubbles.  After lunch, we snorkeled at the "Coral Gardens" a vast bed of coral just a few feet below the surface.  Both locations had thousands of fish in dozens of varieties swimming just below us.  The girls did great, snorkeling for much longer than they had on previous snorkeling trips.  Unfortunately we don't have any snorkeling photos to share, as we discovered that our waterproof camera has an innovative "not actually waterproof" feature.  The reefs were truly spectacular; we've been told the snorkeling here is better than the Great Barrier Reef.  And the water is much warmer which is a plus.

Our last morning we went on a family horseback walk through the forest trails to the beach and back.  The horses made frequent stops to munch on leaves.  Nat's ill-tempered horse decided to go for a roll in the sand while Nat was still on him a few seconds after the photos below were taken, but luckily he managed to jump off in time.

Lynn suggested that on the trip back to Ubud we stopped at the nearby seaside village of Pemuteran for lunch.  The poor, remote town of Pemuteran is the unlikely site for cutting-edge research in coral reef restoration.  Pemuteran's formerly world-class reef had been destroyed by short-sighted fishing techniques of dynamite blasting and cyanide dumping.  Led by a couple of U.S.-based scientists, with support from local owners of hotels and restaurants and other village leaders, Pemuteran is rebuilding its reef by running low-voltage electric current through underwater wire frame structures.  The electric current stimulates growth of the coral and speeds reef building by a factor of five times or higher.  The reef is growing back and the fish are returning.  The project has won numerous awards and received global recognition as a model of community-based conservation.  The fishermen who formerly helped destroy the reef have been hired to help restore and safeguard it, as there is now general recognition that the reef is much more valuable as a long-standing tourist attraction than as a one-time source of fish.

on the beach in Pemuteran

Happy Birthday Alexa!

Alexa turned 10 on July 5, and we spent two weeks celebrating this double-digit milestone!  The festivities started on June 23 with a party for her school friends that we hosted at home.  Alexa was happy that almost all of her classmates were able to come.  It was "a bit awkward" (for Alexa) at first when a car full of 7 boys was unloaded at our house.  But the girls arrived soon thereafter.  They kicked off the fun with some swimming and poolside horseplay.  One of the boys had the good sense to put away the water blasters after it got too rowdy.

Dewa and Putu helping us decorate for the party

We then enjoyed an interactive African drumming, dance and martial arts performance.

Nat and I had a great time hosting the parents, and Ibu Desak, one of Alexa's teachers, who decided to join us for dinner while the kids continued to play.  We enjoyed a delicious meal catered by Dayu Warung, a small place in Ubud owned by a lovely Balinese couple, featuring organic salads, satays and Indonesian food. 

The girls watched a movie and stayed over.  They evidently did not appreciate having "Mirror, Mirror" interrupted by this photo op.

Our two cakes -- one vanilla with mermaid decorations and the other with chocolate and caramel -- were a big hit!  

On July 5, our whole family was exhausted from a full day of July 4th festivities at our friends Wendy, Walker and Kyan's house, so we enjoyed a relaxing day at home and celebrated with a cake and a few gifts.

Charlotte delivered breakfast in bed

Lynn baked a delicious birthday cake

Charlotte's birthday card

We offered Alexa a choice of birthday activities the following day.  She opted for an overnight at a hotel on the beach down in Nusa Dua.  The highlight for Alexa was bike riding around the hotel property and along the beach.  Charlotte had fun with lawn chess and Kids Club activities such as water polo.   

Alexa had a big year, at home and in Bali.  Happy Birthday Alexa!

Posted by Lynn.  Photos by Nat, Lynn and Charlotte

Updated July 17th

Journey to North Bali

Trip to North Bali

We hadn't yet explored north Bali, the more remote, less densely populated, more arid, and less touristy part of the island, but we had heard many stories of its beauty and its peacefulness.  Shortly after Green School ended we set off for a four day trip to explore north Bali for ourselves.

We climbed in elevation as we headed north of Ubud.  After a couple of hours we came upon a vista of terraced rice paddies stretching out into the distance.  It's known as the most beautiful area of rice paddies on the island and has been given UNESCO world heritage status.  It wasn't as green and lush as it usually was as many of the rice fields had recently been harvested and the dried stalks were being burned off, but it was still a marvelous sight.

The rice grown here is different than in the Ubud area.  Red rice is mainly grown.  The plants are taller.  Only the tips with the rice grains are harvested which are then arranged in small circular piles, unlike in the Ubud area where tall stalks of rice are harvested in bundles which makes it easier to thresh by hand.

A little later, we stopped by the side of the road to watch a flower harvest.

We ended the day in Bedugul, a couple of hours north of Ubud in the foothills of the volcanic mountains near large lakes where it was much cooler.  One of the main attractions is an extensive botanical garden.  We walked quite a ways, visiting the orchid house, the cactus house and checking out the large, scary sculptures.

Then it was on to our hotel, Strawberry Hill, recommended by our friends Tracy and C'liff, who had stayed there earlier, to watch the fog roll in and pick strawberries.  The girls loved running around the paths and getting to eat their hand-picked strawberries. 

The next morning we headed back to the botanical garden to Treetops, a zip-line and high-wire adventure center located in the garden.  The girls had a great time and were quite fearless.

After checking out of Strawberry Hill, we headed north and soon arrived at Pura Ulan Danu Bratan temple located on the shores of Lake Bratan.  It's a special place, and it's is easy to see why the temple is one of Bali's iconic images, even on a foggy, overcast day.  A ceremony was in progress when we arrived.  Then a boat carrying the priest, a few men, a duck and a rock paddled out into the lake.  The duck and the rock did not return.

 

Then it was back in the car for another hour or so, heading steadily west and north.  We pulled off on the side of the road and took a 500 meter trail down the side of a steep hill.  We arrived at the bottom of a towering waterfall that plunged into a wide and shallow river.  We were the only ones at this spectacular sight.

Heading back up the trail from the waterfall.  We thought it was too steep for motorbikes.  We were wrong.

An old man and his wife lived in a small wooden house and tended a plot of clove trees beside the path to the waterfall.

We then continued our drive to the northwestern tip of Bali.  We drove around hairpin turns, along narrow ridges with drops of hundreds of feet on either side, over rickety temporary bridges built of bamboo, and eventually wound up behind this truck.  The large logs were unsecured and the truck looked like it was about the break apart under the weight of the logs.   The middle one wobbled precariously and seemed likely to tumble out if the truck hit a decent sized bump in the road.  Dewa said 'very dangerous' as he continued to tailgate the truck. 

Moments later, we heard sirens and the "polisi" appeared and pulled over the truck.  Dewa said the driver of the truck was likely facing a huge fine, as special permits were required to be able to cut down and transport large trees.  Given the slipshod way these logs were being transported, the driver almost certainly lacked the necessary paperwork.

That peril averted, we soon arrived at our hotel, an eco-lodge called The Menjangan, located on the grounds of the vast West Bali National Park.  (to be continued...)


Slideshow with additional photos.  Photos by Lynn, Nat and Alexa.