B-Ahhhhhh-li

I just got back to Sweden after my trip to Bali with John, and before I call anyone and tell them about it, I figured I'd write something. You know how you lose momentum in telling a story after you've repeated the details a couple of times? Well, here you're gonna get my first-take impression of how it went.

In a nutshell, the trip was breathtaking. My gorgeous husband, tanned, lean, surfing his ass off and gleefully downing tropical fruits like he'd never see them again. Stunning vista after stunning vista—the ocean beating against the cliffs of Jimbaran, ridiculously luxurious accommodations complete with hand-carved furnishings and infinity pools, gardens bursting with jasmine, frangipani, passionflowers, azaleas, oleander, mango, bananas; fluorescent green-terraced rice paddies, scuba diving among psychedelic coral reefs, anemones and nudibranchs...

And the Balinese were so gracious and good-natured, with huge smiles and intense spirituality. They make small offerings to the gods each day at home and at their workplaces—even in taxi cabs and on the deck of the scuba-diving boat!

There seemed to be ceremonies happening every day we were there. Our stay overlapped a special festival that happens only every 30 years, as well as the monthly full-moon festival, a wedding, temple blessings and several other occasions I couldn't begin to decipher. One night in Ubud, a guy named Kadek who worked at our hotel invited us to join him and his family at a special temple ceremony. I wasn't feeling well so I rested at the hotel, but John participated in the Hindu worship service dressed in the required ceremonial attire (which is pretty amazing considering he sputters sulfurously at the very suggestion of going to church). He said the ceremony was beautiful and lively, and he shared a meal with Kadek's family in their home.

That was a really interesting thing about Bali: it's possible to experience the island like you would any other tropical locale (some people never leave the resorts or the bar-lined streets of surfer towns like Kuta and Seminyak), but it's also really easy to get a close view of how the Balinese actually live—they're more than happy to show you. On one of the most memorable days of our trip, John and I got a ride to one of the towns around the crater of Mount Batur—an active volcano near the center of Bali—and then we rode bicycles 30 kilometers back into the town of Ubud. Our guide was a sweet 19-year-old kid called Jering, and along the way he showed us how coffee was roasted at a coffee plantation, and then we dropped in on some ladies harvesting rice (I helped out with a little threshing), a family making bamboo ceiling material, a traditional woodcarver, and Jering's own family. They were all shy and welcoming and as curious about us as we were about them.

But the weird thing about generously being invited into these people's homes was experiencing their poverty in a very personal way. Tourism is Bali's most important industry, and the Balinese are acutely aware that their relationship with foreigners must be positive and symbiotic—and being good hosts is part of the Balinese culture anyway. But yet, as in any third-world paradise, there's an uncomfortable socio-economic gap between the visitors and the locals. The most dramatic example of this was on the island of Lembongan, where we spent several blissful days playing in the calm ocean, swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. We stayed in a lovely, simple hotel perched on a cliff over the Indian Ocean, with our own spacious little ocean-view hut—for $90 a night, which we thought was a pretty good deal. But as soon as you stepped off the hotel property, the immediate next door neighbors were a seaweed-farming family who slept in a three-walled shanty with dirt floors, a collapsing roof, and no electricity or running water. They had a sweet ocean view but they were living in abject poverty. Our $90-a-night "bargain" room represented a lifestyle far outside their reach, but was just steps from their front door.

I was moved by Bali and I had an amazing time there, enjoying the beauty, the delicious Indonesian food, the opportunity to unwind and be responsibility-free for a while, and the company of my husband, who I don't see nearly often enough these days. Even so, I think it's pretty impossible to go to a place where people are struggling so hard to get by and not feel confused and grateful and a bit guilty about my own circumstances, which were illuminated in sharp relief against theirs. We did our best to be responsible and conscientious visitors, but I was left with the compulsion to do more. I always wonder what responsibility I have as an outsider once I've traveled to a new place and had an intimate view of other people's difficult lives. One possibility is to give to nonprofits that help business owners in places like Bali. My favorite is Kiva.org, which arranges interest-free loans for people in developing countries. The idea is that the loan-granter (say, me) gets her money back once the business is established, which is a matter of pride for the loan recipients, who probably wouldn't qualify for a traditional bank loan but don't want to rely on straight-up charity. I've placed an ad for Kiva right here on my blog, so you can click on it if you'd like to try your own hand at microlending.

Anyway, the last thing I'm going to say about Bali is that I couldn't have wished for a better honeymoon. John and I hadn't seen each other in two months, and we'd been planning this trip since last year. It was an incredible balance of relaxation, adventure, culture, and romance. We'll have photos to post as soon as John uploads them: he's still traveling home to Santa Fe today. Big-time kudos to my fella for doing the scheduling and creating the perfect pacing for our trip. And many, many thanks again to Mom and Dad for starting our journey off with an amazing wedding gift. Can you feel the love? Can you feel it?



Kiva update: After I finished posting this, I visited Kiva.org and found that they've partnered with an Indonesian microlender called DINARI that grants Kiva loans to Balinese entrepreneurs. They don't have any new businesses listed at the moment, but I'm subscribing to the RSS feed so I can keep track of any projects coming up and see how the current entrepreneurs are doing. Also, the Kiva volunteer in Bali has a pretty good blog.