Rice paddy trek....

March 24
I was up at the crack of dawn....headed up to reception to join in the rice paddy trek. With a guide, we headed up to the village. She explained that each home has little temples where the family prayers daily and performs two ceremonies, usually after breakfast and in the evening. Flowers and rice are placed outside of their homes followed by family prayers. Balinese home are usually decorated with beautiful doors, three buildings.....a prayer room, a room where they receive guests, and their family dwelling.

We visited an elementary school. The students help clean their school.

This is the village temple. All ceremonies take place here.

The village getting ready for Nyepi day

The rice fields are owned by a co-op. Rice is grown and harvested in 3 months.

The irritation system is managed by big rocks. A rock is put in place to divert the flow of water.

A papaya tree

It was a great way to start the day....a 2 hour walk in the rice paddies!

I spent the rest of the afternoon poolside.

On the way into Bali, the driver told me to try babi gulping while in Ubud. A restaurant called Ibu Oka, which is arguably the most famous place to order babi guling, Balinese style roast suckling pig. Babi guling might sound like an unusual dish to find in Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim majority population in the world (and pork is usually forbidden in Muslim countries), but the predominant religion on the island of Bali is Hinduism. In Bali, babi guling is a celebration meal, served at rites-of-passage ceremonies like, weddings. But it is also available in warungs (traditional roadside eateries) all over Bali. Babi guling is prepared by stuffing suckling pigs with basa gede (a fresh spice paste made of things like shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, fresh turmeric, bird’s eye chilli, black peppercorn, salt, and shrimp paste), rubbing the skin with turmeric, then hand turning them on a spit over an open fire, basting them with coconut water throughout the 6 hour roasting process.

So I headed into town to Ibu Oka for Babi guling.....I was not disappointed.

Residents of the restaurant

On the way back to my room, I noticed this gentleman working in the fields. I saw him after my rice paddy trek (around 9 am). It was now 6 pm and he was still working. He's definitely over 80 years old... bare feet. At one point he had to use the stick to pull himself up. He smiled at me and pointed to his back. Sure did out life into perspective.