traveling is so interesting on so many different levels I’m not sure where to begin. But since this blog is about balance, I’ll begin there. Traveling in our modern age is the most unnatural thing I can think of. The airplane, the sudden change of climate, time, food, etc is a complete shock on the system, and it’s a wonder any of us choose to do it at all. Still we’re curious and adventurous, and that compels us more than the negative aspects, and so we go.

I’ve wanted to visit Bali ever since I was in college, and first heard Gamelon music. It’s so haunting and beautiful, and I just love it.  And of course there’s much more to Bali than music. We visited temples, and beaches, and museums.

But it was my first time seeing rice fields. They seem to be everywhere terraced throughout the hills. And since they have three crops a year, I was able to see the rice in all stages of production. I saw soaked paddys with fresh new sprouts coming up.

I saw the rice more fully matured, but still green and standing straight up. And I was able to see the browning rice bending over and getting ready for harvest. ( becoming more yang)

 

Then the farmers harvest it by hand in the traditional way by grabbing a handful and using a hand scythe cutting off the stock a handful at a time.

Next it’s whacked on a box to release the rice from the stock, and then laid out to dry in the sun for two or three days.

And as we drove throughout the countryside we saw large plastic sheets on the side of the road with beautiful rice spread on it to dry.

 

Now that’s what I call local, seasonal, and organic.

We didn’t just stay in the island of Bali, but we went to other parts of Indonesia too. We went to Nusa Lemongan for the beaches and discovered that one of the local industries is sea weed farming. It looked like wakami, and it’s farmed in the shallow parts of the ocean.

 

thanks