Life in the village...Bali Homestay

After five relaxing days in Sanur we drove two hours north into the area of Tabanan which is much more rural and a lot less touristy than the beach area. As we drove along there were lots of motorbikes and crazy traffic, compounded by everyone driving on the left side of the road! 

As we went through different areas the driver pointed out that each area specializes in some type of craft, such as these shops which make garbage cans out of recycled materials, even they are colorful here....

There were others areas making bricks, tiles and others religious articles for the many temples here...

When we arrived we met our host family headed by Wayan who greets about 150 visitors a year into his home from all around the world. His family lives in a compound with four other families and not much room. Each family has a number of little buildings, including this one where they store their rice...

In the top level is the best rice saved in case of a drought, he has some from 1950, and in the second level is a little over 1 ton which does his family for six months. It is designed so that the field rats cannot easily access the rice. Under this structure is where we eat...

Nyoman, the wife and cook extraordinaire prepares fabulous food for her guests...

Banana pancakes, watermelon and the best fruit juices I have ever tasted!

Corn fritters and chicken steamed in banana leaves...

This building is the young house where the children live until they leave the family, but only if you are a girl as boys in Bali must bring their wives back and become the head of the family. They then move into the master building and their parents move into the kitchen building.

Families in Bali are small, about 2 children and if a family does not have a son then the son of a brother can take the place of a son and move in to care for the parents.The parents will then pass on all their assets to this person. Another interesting point is that all the land in the village is communal land belonging to all! You cannot buy or sell land as it is passed down through the generations. 

Since this is a rice producing area we spent one morning with Waynan and his sister walking through the rice fields learning about its' production and seeing the many different plants that grow here.

As we walked along we saw cloves, lemongrass, chamomile all growing wild. Mangos, bananas, coconuts and many types of plants we did not know. We also stopped and sampled as we went.

Our host gave us coconut water to drink...

I was sampling star fruit...

Cocoa also grows wild here, inside are pods that are very tasty and the seeds are then dried to be made into chocolate...

As we walked we saw the different stages of the rice production, where it takes about four months for a crop to come to harvest.

First they clear the fields...

Then they plant the seedlings which they cut into bundles from where they are growing in the water...

Then they measure out the land and plant them...

After that they continue to cultivate them, thinning and ensuring they receive enough water which is brought into the fields through an irrigation system with water from the mountains. Mountains in Bali are considered to be one of the most holy places because they provide the water which grows the rice and sustains life here.

Here Allie and Surya are looking towards the source of the water.

Some pictures of the rice fields...

Each family has their own plot of land and they all belong to an organization which works to ensure the operation runs smoothly. The grandfather of this house is the head of this organization. Most of the rice is sold and consumed locally.

All through the fields there are shrines and temples where offerings are placed twice a day...

We met a number of women walking to place their offerings...

This lady showed us her offering which included grilled chicken...

Later on in the day they will come back and take the food and eat it themselves.

When we walked back through at noon, we could hear music from the temple and the fields were empty as the workers had gone to pray...

Later in the day we were given a lesson in making the holders for the offerings, they are made with young coconut leaves. Children in Bali learn the craft in school and these holders are made everyday to use with the offerings...

Don was pleased with his holder for sticky rice...

Nyoman and I showing off the dancers offering...

After some time to rest we were off again,this time to the markets, first the wet market and then the night market..

Again we sampled the local fruits and foods...

No, this is not an egg but a delicious fruit...

Beautiful produce everywhere...

And flowers which are grown for the offerings...

Lots of seafood including eels...

We sampled some local food including Terang Bulan, which is a thick pancake stuffed with bananas, cheese, chocolate, peanuts and drizzled with condensed milk. Sounds gross but it was tasty...

Can't you tell?

Some other sights from the night market...

We tried this as well...grilled chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce.

This man was doing fried chicken...

And this lady just wanted me to take her picture...

I love this picture of a man and his son in traditional dress...

This little girl and her mom were picking out new shoes, she liked the pink ones...

So many new sights, sounds and tastes everywhere! 

We ended our day by having the family dress us up in traditional clothes and it was a lot of fun! Don and I took the biggest clothes they had!

Now Don has the clothes to go with his pedicure!

I thought that Don looked hilarious!

It was a long day but we enjoyed it to the fullest as we felt fornunate to be here in this part of Bali where there are few tourists, in fact the locals were taking pictures of us!