Bali Recap: The Village

Ok, this is the last Bali post, I promise! We saw so many villages there, but this was the one chance to go into a housing compound. A few families share one compound which is surrounded by cement walls. Inside they each have a 'house' which is comprised of little hut for a kitchen and then a hut for a bedroom/sitting space. Each compound also has a temple for personal offerings. 

We got to see how they really live.  Where all the floors are all dirt and the wildlife live in your room. There were so many beautiful things to take pictures of. I couldn't stop.

They have lots of poultry. One lady bought a live chicken in the market. Its legs were tied and she hung it from her wrist as she did the rest of her shopping. It was clucking quietly the entire time. Now that really is from the farm to the plate! But I just loved seeing them mosey around everywhere, I took SO many chicken photos!

I loved these towers of fruit at the road side stands. Can you see why? So colorful and perfect!

This is a 2 room house inside a housing compound. This is where the bedroom was and the second room had a stove and a small table no higher than a little kids table. The entire family shares one big bed. In order to all fit they have to lay on it crossways. Our guide said back in the day they would have 5 or 6 children and all live in this little space. Of course now with family planning they don't have as much over crowding, but still these rooms were so very small and they still have 2 children or so. Which means they are all crammed in together. It was no place to be living, thats for sure. As we stepped out of the house we left the door open and all the chickens went in! The man gently shooed them out and shut the door behind him. I can't imagine what he thought of all of us parading in and out of his home. I just hope he gets a really big cut of the profits of that little bike tour. Something at least to help his living conditions.

These kids lived in a different house in the compound. They were playing hopscotch with a few rocks. They had scratched the hopscotch boxes into the mud. Another woman from an even different family was weaving big sheets of bamboo which she sold for income. They were to be used for walls and roofs.

These kids were a riot. They LOVED having their picture taken and kept posing. For some reason this little girl stands like she's 20 and the little boy couldn't stop being, well a boy! Pretending to drive a car, making silly faces and throwing punches and kicks. Just like any other boy you would see somewhere else. This was the entrance into their family compound with a bag of rice at the front step.

This is the kitchen! It was SO dark in there. I have no idea how they cook. There was one lightbulb covered with dirt and grime strung on a wire that trailed out the door. 

This gentleman was on his way to somewhere else in the town. Some sort of food balanced on his head.

This is the bathroom. No, I'm not kidding. It's the shower and the sink at least and I think the toilet might be behind that little shack. (I was taking pictures at the time so I didn't hear where the toilet was exactly. I just really hope its behind a screen!)  But I know that is the water basin. They use if for all cleaning.

This is one of the men that lives in the compound. He is actually training this rooster for cock fighting. He lets the rooster approach the one in the basket and then roughs him up by picking at his feathers and tapping on his head. This makes him aggressive because he associates the physical prodding to the rooster in the basket and wants to retaliate.

 Technically cock fighting is illegal, but they can do it under the guise of religion. They believe in blood sacrifice as an offering to the Gods. Therefore the cock that dies, gives the sacrifice appeasing the spirits and there is a little gambling done in the process. Also, the police have other more important things to do than stop something that will just keep on going after they have left, so they don't really get behind the effort. 

 So there you have it. A day in the life of Ubud, Bali!

Unfortunately its been so long since we went that all the eloquence of the moments have dissolved so I have nothing interesting to say. And of course I have never great at expression, so this is all you get.

 It was an amazing experience and my memories and feelings of it will always be with me, but really there is nothing left to say. Especially after so many posts! I'm so glad I went. I'm grateful for what I saw and felt and what it meant to me in this stage of my life. It was the first step to loving my time here and for that I will forever be grateful. For that reason, Bali will always have a special place in my heart.