Well, after the disappointment of the camera and the licence I finally managed to get to Ubud where I decided to hold up for the rest of my holiday. After contacting a acquaintance who I’d met there a couple of years before I was set up with a very nice 2nd floor room. Actually it was my friends’ own room as he was in Thailand. The room was fantastic I had my own private outdoor living area and various other luxuries that would not have been so lavish in a standard Losmen accommodation.
Basically all my previous plans for this trip had gone out the window and I had to re think my entire holiday. Instead of travelling the length and breadth of the Island I decided to sit around and read books, attend the local dances and just enjoy the food and drink Bali copi. I found it difficult to relax as I do like to be on the move and found myself exhausted from doing laps of Ubud so I rented a bicycle and managed to save my feet.
Pernama Accommodation (the place I stayed) was directly behind a small temple which just happened to be having it’s annual ceremony and associated celebrations so there was plenty happening right outside my door! What a stroke of luck! I wanted to stay in a family compound so I’d be near the action and found myself at the centre point of the whole community! There was a procession on Tuesday that went all the way from the bottom end of Jl Hanoman all the way to a sacred spring near the river in Campuan, about 4km. Everyone marched and there were even a couple of columns of children who had important rolls to play in the proceedings and were dressed accordingly. A group of girls wore the traditional costume that you would see at a Legong dance and the boys were dressed as Baris, which is a kind of legendary soldier I think representing a column of soldiers. It was awesome.
The preparations took place all week and I often woke at night to hear people constructing things, cooking or bringing more stuff on the back of a motorbike. The music never stopped all week. There was a group of men who seemed to be playing gamelan or at the very least a drum, gong or recorder all day and night. Everything took place right outside my bedroom and whenever I peered over my balcony I would see something interesting happening whether it was ladies folding palm fronds or animals being slaughtered it was all right there.
The evening of the ceremony was fantastic the whole community were involved. I was given the appropriate clothes to wear and was free to enter the temple and to come and go as I pleased. I actually didn’t mind not having my camera. It would have just got in the way and I’m no great photographer anyway! The people were great this was no stoic lamentation it was a celebration full of love, family, community and inclusion complete. God would have been proud of such a display. Maybe some day I’ll write about the experience in more detail. Maybe….
While in Ubud I met an interesting fellow named Joel Dousset who happens to be a great photographer, I told him about the ceremonies and he came along to take photos, hopefully he will post them soon on one of the photo publishing sites he uses. If you're interested have a look at his pages on flikr, TreckEarth or PBase sometime. Seeing the quality of his photos made my decision to leave my disposable camera behind so much easier. Why bother? With no camera I was free to mix with the crowd and not worry about invading anyone's privacy.
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