YA LEUM. 34 — The Bali world’s dream
By: Patricia Assis
Tags: Travel, Bali, Diary, Books, Indonesia

In the last post we did a motorbike ride for three days around Lake Toba. We pitched the tent, we fell off the bike, we slept on a Batak house and we met a very nice man from Timor who let us sleep in his stand…

We just landed in Bali!

We spent a month in North Sumatra and it has been one and a half months since we last saw a tourist. North Sumatra is a green magical island, steeped in the Batak culture and barely any Occidental culture.

Thus, landing in the airport of Bali was like returning to Europe. The West reigned in the air, from the travelers to the bathrooms. The body travels faster than the mind and we were still on that empty island that lived on a volcano’s crater.

The lights, fuss, animation, and luxury excited us. After all, we missed seeing our western brothers, who we did not see for so many weeks. It is good to have the home feeling sometimes

Waiting for us was our host, which we found on Couchsurfing. Coincidentally, he was passing by the airport and called us to know if we needed a ride. What a nice gesture!

I did not know how this person was because Mathieu was the one who organized this part of the trip. I was wondering about it, when I realized that right at the airport entrance there was a very elegant man, aged around 40, with a sports jeep with its trunk open, ready to welcome us.

This trip made surprised me countless times! “But, is this man, that looks like he just closed an important business deal that is accepting long-time travelers in his house, without charging a penny?”

“What is the catch?” — I thought to myself…

We crossed the bling-bling Bali and he started to share his story.

He was a Bulgarian, happily married, with 2 children, and a beautiful wife. He did not like Bulgaria during the Winter so he spent half of the year in Bali. He worked remotely and had a small business selling traditional Balinese furniture to Bulgaria. He was talkative and cheerful! It was a 30 minutes car ride with good energy and happiness in the sports jeep of a businessman who, apparently, has a passion for backpackers.

Let us find out why!

We parked the jeep in the garage, took our backpacks out — which had spent more time on the floor than on our back — and we were in front of an amazingly worked wooden door with Balinese ornaments. “Are we going to stay inside a temple?”, I thought.

He opened the door and we entered in a true postal card that could make even a person who does not enjoy traveling, jealous.

In the courtyard , there was a fountain of running water as the soundtrack, surrounded by an immense tropical green that we can only see on SPA photos. In On the courtyard, there were also typical stone and wood sculptures that so perfectly defined the Balinese beauty. We were still just at the entrance.

The house was elegantly decorated, with a new kitchen and a dream living room. Yet, the better really was the garden.

We entered the garden and the soundtrack changed. Besides the birds, we could hear the music of the bells, flutes, and other as relaxing instruments that blended with the Zen atmosphere of the place

The pool also seemed like it was taken from a luxury SPA and the other travelers looked as cheerful as us.

He showed us the room in the upper floor. A mattress and air-conditioning? After nearly two months of sleeping inside a tent, on an old mattress, or a mat, I nearly felt bad for accepting it!

Well, it did not last long! The first thing I did was to enjoy the clean bed and the artificial fresh air that feels so good in these tropical paradises.

Bali is in the bucket list of many people. There are many people who dream about the free, adventurous, and exotic spirit that one can live in Bali. It has in a culture full of colors, dance, and music that mixes the Hindu-Buddhist religion with the Balinese traditions. People smile openly and everything is quite beautiful.

This was the Bali we wanted to see. Also, enjoy the taste of being closer to home, since the Western world is quite present there too.

For those who are spending a short vacation exploring deep Indonesia, it can likely be disappointing. Yet, for us that only traveled to meet the depths of the places and people, Bali was like a fresh breeze.

It has delicious food and much entertainment, restaurants following the best vegan trends, corners that would inspire any aspiring artist … that is what we experienced for a few days. We went to the beach to get that checked but other than that… it was all about resting.

Furthermore, we were in such a beautiful house…

During the time we spent at that house, we enjoyed talking to our Bulgarian host! I was quite curious to find out about his story and what made him welcome travelers from all over the world without charging a single cent.

Who are these people who offer without looking for anything in exchange?

“I’m passionate about underwater fishing. I have a friend who owns a boat and every once in a while, we look at the map, and point to the most inhospitable island between all 17,000 Indonesian islands. Then, we pack a small bag, a little bit of food, and there we go… discovering the sparkling reefs of this country.”

“Once, we planned poorly and t could not return to Bali on time because of a storm. We were caught unprepared, with not many clothes and little food. The island where we were also had not much too offer. Yet, a local resident, who did not properly understand our situation but merely, out of sympathy invited us to his house to have some tea. While talking to him, he understood we were stuck on the island until the storm was over and he offered us his home for that period. He gave us a place to sleep and food for two days. He did not ask for anything at all in exchange. I was surprised to see that someone so poor was so happy for offering what he had. That’s when I thought that I had to repay it somehow…”

The conversation was long and our host shared this and many other stories. This Bulgarian businessman seemed to be in peace with life. His family called every once in a while, and his guests would say hi to his children and wife. During one of our conversations, he mentioned that he was quite famous in Bulgaria and that he had a strong network in the television world. My curiosity doubled! I went directly to Google to understand what he was saying… and that was when he appeared on the cover of magazines as an ex-contestant of Big Brother Bulgaria. When we think that life is funny, it still manages to further surprise us!

We stayed at his home for a few more days and then decided to go South. He offered to take us there because he had to go visit some friends in the same area. The south of Bali is the area of the beaches and we wanted to explore it a little bit. We understood that he was going to stop in his other house to visit his friends and then he was going to drop us wherever we wanted. It sounded perfect for us.

When he parked at the entrance of his house, the three of us left the car and he asked us “So, aren’t you taking your backpacks?”

“Our backpacks? Why?” — I asked, feeling lost.

“So, I told you that you could stay in this house to visit this area and then you can drop the key to my friends of mine. If you do not want, there is no problem at all, of course”, he said in a very practical tone.

“If we don’t want?! Of course, we want!” — we thanked him for nearly 10 minutes.

And that was how he helped us rent a motorcycle, showed us around, and told us what we could do before returning to his postal card.

We stayed there for a few days, on our own, exploring the area before we returned the key! We exchanged a few messages to check how he was doing.

Then, we went to Ubud. This place is located in the uplands of Bali, a place to Eat, Pray, and Love, known for its rice fields, art galleries, countless temples, and the perfect vibe for fashion hippies.

We met some locals in our guesthouse who invited us to a Balinese wedding! They even lend me some clothes, so I could look more traditional.

The experience itself was fascinating.

We arrived at the temple feeling very shy, the place was full of man and women organizing the flowers, offering waters, sitting the guest. There was a band of men from 12 to 40 years old playing the Balinese instruments. The bride and the groom were seated, receiving the blessings from the Hindu master. People were not always paying attention since the blessing ceremony seemed more private than to the congregation. There was music filling the space and everyone look happy. The bride and groom were stunningly impeccably dress, with traditional customs that made me transport to a romantic exotic movie.

We could not understand a thing of the ceremony, but I managed to get emotional.

Bali was a full of surprises but I did not planed for none of that!

If you ask me how my experience was it, I must tell you:

Bali was this Bulgarian man who taught me that a book must not be judged by its cover!

October 2017,

Patricia Assis