Many places in Bali are so overrun with tourists and hawkers that it's uncomfortable to walk down the street, avoiding the watches and sarongs and hats for sale as much a chore as watching your step on the uneven sidewalks. The tourist areas, however, are a stark contrast to Bali's quiet country roads, where rice paddies and traditional homesteads dominate a landscape that is nothing if not verdant and peaceful. Balinese Hinduism defines every aspect of life on the island. One thing that you notice immediately upon arrival is the plethora of offerings to the gods that lie at every crossroads and threshold, usually small palm or banana leaf plates with rice, a flower or two, and some burning incense. Everywhere, Art Traveling around the countryside, you see that each village and each household has a temple or two, and that each rice plot has a small shrine to the goddess of the harvest.
Religion is truly a way of life and permeates every part of Balinese culture.
It is hard for us to imagine living in a culture where demons are a part of daily existence, and offerings a way to placate them, doorways built as corners to confuse them on entry to a home or temple. Stretching our minds into Balinese culture, however, is an experience like none other. The people are among the most kind we have encountered thus far, taking our fumbling Bahasa Indonesian with a smile and welcoming us into their homes and temples. In our travels in Bali, we have had the chance to see various craft workshops, ceremonies, and dance performances. The polished presentations by dancers, the graceful regularity of the ceremonies, and the sheer abundance of crafts are all astonishing.