The Real Bali Adventures

The best way to enjoy Bali is enjoying every ‘adventure’ which can be experienced on the road, on the beach, and in various occasion. After leaving your comfortable Bali villa, you will face exciting ‘adventures’ which may make you bad mood or more enthusiastic depend on how you figure them out. No panic is needed. Some tips provided to make your life in Bali little bit better.

• A Dog Attack

Rabies though not an epidemic in Bali, there is still some cases of it. The local government has tried to give vaccine to dogs but as human being we have to be careful when we meet any dogs on the road. So when you get barking dog in front of you on the way back to your Bali hotel show no fear, bite your tongue and show it to the dog or whistling. The dog will not bother you anymore. But if the dog bites you, get anti-rabies serum immediately in the hospital. Don’t wait until tomorrow.

• Getting Sick

People who have visited Bali could suffer from some problems on their stomach like diarrhea because of gastronomical delight. No need to worry because Imodium which you can get it in the local pharmacy will cure you within a day. If you are in the medical prescription just bring your medicines. When you travel alone and suddenly get headache or diarrhea, ask for help from Bali hotel’s or Bali villa’s staff. They will be very helpful.

• Traffic Jam

Unquestionably Bali is more crowded. However local government has realized one solution lately by operating Bus Trans Sarbagita. This bus will drop and take you in the area of Sanur, Kuta, and Nusa Dua. And you don’t need to spend 10 minutes trapped in the jam. However, compared to Jakarta, Bali is considered vacant. Personally I have no problem with normal congested road in Bali.

• Annoying Street Vendors/Beach Hawkers

Pushy beach hawkers can be so annoying. When you are lying on the sun bed and the hawkers come to you, close your eyes and pretend to be asleep. How to bargain is also important when you are keen to buy their product. If they ask you to pay IDR 50.000 for nail polish for example, bargain it at half price. If they refuse it, increase your price gradually. Keep bargaining until they agree with your price. If at the stage they are so persistent try to leave them. If they call you back then you can get what you want based at the price you asked. If they don’t then the price of the thing you want is indeed a normal thing.

• Tourist Invasion

Rent a private Bali villa can be a good solution. You will have serene surrounding, private facilities, and no need to share them with other guests. To get utmost satisfaction, Bali villa will be an oasis and the gate leading you to the peaceful home away from home.

• Getting Ripped-Off by Taxi

Once you are getting in the taxi, the first thing you should check is the taxi meter. The starting point for taxi in Bali is IDR 5.000. If you notice the taxi meter shows more than IDR 5.000 ask the driver to reset the meter before driving. If you want to go to a far place load yourself with information of standard fare from staffs at your Bali hotel or Bali villa. So when negotiating with the taxi driver up front, you can judge whether or not the taxi driver offers a fair fare.

• Being Chatted-Up with Unwanted People

Sometimes, when you relax on the beach, a group of students come to you. What they want is just train their English. Well, you can have a chit chat for a couple of minutes, help them in understanding English is such a good thing. But when they take many time and you feel bothered just be honest to them that you want to relax.

• Getting Lost

Getting Lost in Bali? Why don’t bring a map with you? Or install GPS on your mobile phone?

• Spending Unnecessary Money

In Bali it is very easy to spend money by buying nice clothes, yummy food, great liquor, even when a cute girl come to you and you treat her drink. No tips for this except controlling yourself.

• Flat Tire

On the way back to your Jogya villa or Bali hotel, you just got flat tire. The world seems so dark and your mood turns to bad. Well, don’t be panic. Ask the local about the nearby machine shop. Or if you get flat tire on the night call the rental company to discuss what should you do with that rented motorbike. For this reason you have to make sure that you carry a phone number which can be reached after office hours. Voila!

source:http://blog.baliwww.com

Read More

Makepung: Bull Race

Makepung or bull race is the only spectacular crowd-gather event that is held in Jembrana Regency. Even the regency itself is nick named after this sport event, Bumi Makepung or Land of Bull Race.

The origin of Makepung is quite a mystery, some say it began as nothing more than rivalry between local farmers; others assume that it is introduced by Madurese migrants to celebrate the end of the rice harvest.

This ancient competitive race takes place on a race track about 800 meters long situated outside Negara, the capital city of Jembrana. The races are usually held three times a year, in August, September, and October.

trekearth.com/members/simplyoga/

Only the handsomest, sleekest water buffaloes are chosen to compete. Once a bull has been chosen as a racer, it receives endless care and attention from its owner. It lives in luxury unlike its unfortunate brother or sister which works the fields. Potential champion is housed separately in comfortable lodging and fed special protein diet full to enhance its racing performance.

The Makepung starts in the morning and by mid-day it’s all over. Early in the morning, 100 water buffaloes decorated with colorful silk flags, ribbons and jangling bells are led into the race track by their owners. Hundreds of spectators are already gathered, mostly men and boys. The owners parade their buffaloes on the race track before the crowd of spectators. This prelude may take an hour or so.

trekearth.com/members/simplyoga/

After the parade session is over, the buffaloes are striped off from their ornaments and a pair of buffaloes is teamed with a brightly clad jockey. The paired buffaloes are yoked to a rickety, gaily decorated two-wheel chariot. Two pairs of water buffaloes or more compete in each race. To gain speed, the jockeys twist the bull’s tail and lash their backs with whips. These heavy, awkward looking, clumsy and meek animals transform into galloping juggernauts, capable of tremendous speed (60 kph). Entrants are judged not only for speed but also awarded point for strength, color, and style. The winning bulls are used for stud and fetch up to twice market value when sold.

trekearth.com/members/amadeusbee/

A variation of makepung is the magembeng, in which a pair of bulls is harnessed together and decorated with elaborate ornaments. Huge wooden bells (gembeng) are hung around their necks, making distinctive sounds as the bulls race across the field dragging the colorfully dressed jockeys behind them on the skids.

source:blog.baliwww.com/

Read More

Subak Irrigation Management (III)

In order to produce an optimum quantity of rice a complete farming tools is necessary. Balinese farmer has a wide selection of farming tool based the activity in the field. For example:

1. Land preparation
Land preparation is first step of rice growing phase; these are the tools which are used for land preparation:
a. Hoe (with one tooth, two teeth, four teeth, and six teeth)
b. Sorok (spade)
c. Tulud (leveler)
d. Penampad (long knife)
e. Tengala (plow)
f. Lampit (leveler pull by bull)

  

  

  

2. Seed plantation
After land preparation was finished, the farmers are ready for seed plantation, various tools they are used are:
a. Arit (sickle)
b. Penyepitan Bulih (seed germ pincher)
c. Tempeh (seed basket)

 

 

3. Weed extermination and fertilizing
Weeds are serious disturbance to the growth of paddy and fertilization is essential. The tools for exterminating the weed and fertilizing the crop are:
a. Kikis (weeding knife)
b. Pengrondoan (raking)

 

4. Waiting paddy to ripe
Near harvest, the farmers are waiting rice to ripe. They made scarecrow to protect the crops fro sparrow, and noisy bamboo to make a loud noise to scare the sparrow. The tools for this phase are:
a. Kepuakan (noising bamboo)
b. Lelakut (scarecrow)

  

5. Harvest
Harvest is always a time of joy for the farmer and of course a time for hard work. The tools that are used for harvesting are:
a. Anggapan (rice pinnacle cutter)
b. Sanggah Dewa (Spirit house of Dewa Nini (female spirit of rice)
c. Penatapan (tool for leveling the bind paddy)
d. Pangeretan tali (tool for tighten the paddy bind)
e. Arit (sickle)
f. Tali penepukan (rope for binding paddy)

  

6. Transporting and storing rice
After harvesting the farmers carry the rice stalk from rice field to the granary in their house compound.Women carry the rice by putting the on their head and man by putting them on their shoulder. The tools for transporting and storing the rice are:
a. Pega (tool for conveying the rice stalk form the ground to the head)
b. Sanan (a long bamboo or wood for carrying the rice stalk on the shoulder)

 

7. Rice processing
The rice processing is usually conducted in a house compound. The tools for rice processing are:
a. Nyiru (winnowing basket)
b. Sidi (sieve)
c. Lu (tool for pounding the rice)
d. Sok (basket)
e. Ketungan (tool for pounding the rice)

 

 

8. Grain processing
The grain processing is the last phase in rice production based on Balinese traditional rice production process. The tools used in this process are:
a. Lesung (mortar)
b. Nyiru (winnowing basket)
c. Panarak (basket)
d. Patan (rice measurement device: 0.5 kg)
e. Cengkilik (rice measurement device: 0.25 kg)
f. Lu (tool for pounding the rice)

 

All these tools are traditional farming tools; the advance of technology brings modern tools and machine to the rice field such as tractors, backpack fertilizer pump, harvest machine and many type of grain processing machine. These new devices are used wisely by the Balinese farmers in accordance with Tri Hita Karana principle. Not just the tools that undergo a change but also the subak as an organization can not escape from the clutch of change.

Water management in Bali is not only a matter of distributing water among farmers within a subak, but also among several subak in a river course. In a river stream there are usually dozens of subak. Often, several subak share a dam. The water is then divided through diversion weirs further down into the single subak. To improve irrigation water management and coordination the government implemented another irrigation management level in 1981, a federation of several subak which share irrigation infrastructure. They were called subak gede. The term subak-gede has been known already during the period of the Dutch occupation and means literally large subak.

The main responsibility of the subak-gede is optimal water distribution amongst the five subak. Thesubak heads come together several times per year to discuss how the water is distributed for the next few months. As irrigation water is the crucial ecological variable, the cultivation cycles have to be staggered within the five subak. Also, the regular face-to-face interaction among the five subak heads allows greater flexibility in water management during times of water shortage. The strengthening of the intersubak institutions brought benefits to the irrigation system. The establishment of the subak-gedehas enabled the subak heads to coordinate and prepare certain larger rice cultivation ceremonies together and therefore reduce time and labor input as well as expenditures.

All that change show the great adaptability of Subak to modernization and development. Despite of its great adaptability Subak does not lose its hallmark as a product of traditional Balinese culture. Subakstill preserves its Tri Hita Karana principle as its code of conduct, code of honor, and code of life.

source:blog.baliwww.com/

Read More

Subak Irrigation Management (II)

The general Balinese philosophy guiding the subak system adheres to the principle of Tri Hita Karana which emphasises that happiness can only be reached if the Creator (God), the people (the farmers) and nature (the rice fields) live in harmony with each other. Based on this philosophy are the ceremonies which are a substantial part of the rice cultivation cycle. The ceremonies are carried out at the various temples which are associated with the subak.

They are organised hierarchically as follow: the simple shrine (chatu) at the individual water inlet, Bedugul temple at the dam or tunnel intersection, Ulun Suwi / Ulun Carik temple at each subak area, penyungsungan subak temple ’sanctuaries which were originally desa temples that one or more subaks helped to worship, after which in the course of time, all the expenses connected with the temple services and offering ceremonials have, gradually fallen to the subak or subaks and Ulun Danu temple, the Baliwide inter-subak temple at the crater lake Batur, the most sacred lake in Bali. For all the temples and other places of worship there are certain times when religious ceremonies are held, either periodically or as occasion demands.

The periodical ceremonies are divided into ngerainin and ngebekin or ngusaba. Ngerainin consists of making a flower offering in the puras ulun charik and penyungsungan subak; it takes place on certain favorable days (rerainan) such as full moon, new moon, Wednesday-Kliwon, Anggara Kasih (Tuesday-Kliwon), and the like, and is performed by the pemangku without the members of the subak being present. No ngerainin takes place at the chatus, which, since they are not puras, do not have pemangkus.

The harvest festival is celebrated in the last stage of the ripening of the rice, in alternate years as ngebekin and ngusaba. New moon is considered a favorable time for ngebekin, while ngusaba takes place at full moon. The former ceremony has the character of an offering to the demons; the latter, primarily a festival of thanksgiving to the deity, is more elaborate than ngebekin and is often accompanied by the Placing of festive Poles of bamboo (penjor) each kesit (field).

The ceremonies are not just performed based on the calendar but also carried out regularly following the stages of rice growth and the sequences of rice farming activities (which are quite similar with the rite of passage) starting from land preparation which is presided by “water opening ceremony”; seeding; transplanting; blooming of rice plant; milking; harvesting until the harvest being stocked at granary. The rituals may be performed individually by each farmer at his own altar as well as in a joint cooperation with other members of the same subak or even different subaks at relevant temples according to the kind of ceremony to be performed.

In effort to keep harmonious relationship with other living creatures such as pests and insects, rice farmers in former times used not to kill them, but rather they performed ritual known as nanglukmerana (“avoid pest attack ceremony”). This ritual is still practiced until today by Balinese farmers. The philosophical meaning of this ritual is that not to kill any creature as could as possible but just to protect the crops from pest attack. In some places, many subaks still used to perform “rat cremation ceremony” as a form of nangluk merana ritual, by praying for God’s blessing so that no pest would attack their crops. Other important rituals that need to be mentioned here are the so called tumpek uduh (“flora day ceremony”) and tumpek kandang (“fauna day ceremony”). Each of these rituals is performed every 210 days on Saturday based on Balinese calendar. These rituals symbolizing the biodiversity preservation efforts of Balinese rice farmers.

The Tri Hita Karana philosophy is also the basis for the clearly defined rules of a subak, called awig-awig. This set of laws regulates rights and duties among the members. It includes public obligations, regulations concerning land and water use, legal transactions of land transfers, and collective religious ceremonies. For instance, all members have the right to the same share of water at all times. This principle of equitable water sharing is put into action by fixed proportional flow division structures.

Subak internal matters are handled by the pekaseh, the subak head who is democratically elected by all members of the subak. He is responsible to overlook the irrigation management within the subak area, to schedule cultivation cycles and to organise subak ceremonies. He is supported by several assistants, such as the vice subak head (petajuh), the secretary (penyarikan), the treasurer (petengen or juru raksa), the messenger (kasinoman), special helper (saye) and the heads of the sub-subak groups. Biggersubak are divided into sub-groups, called munduk. Munduk may have a separate inlet from the subakmain canal. A munduk usually comprises an average of 20 to 40 farmers.

Every munduk is headed by a pengliman who receives direct orders from the pekaseh and is responsible for all matters related to the munduk. As a sub-group of the subak, the munduk has to follow the subak rules and regulations. However, certain organisational and water management issues can be decided autonomously on the munduk level. The munduk is an important dimension within the subak. Day-to-day cultivation decisions are made on this level and provide the fine-tuning of the subak water and crop management – not always following the subak laws by doing this. The relationship betweensubak and munduk is to facilitate top down and bottom up information flow.

Members of subak also form an informal group which is called sekaa, in order to make ease a certain working activity on the rice field by working together on a certain field and certain activity. For examples: sekaa numbeg (for land cultivation), sekaa jelinjingan (for water tunnel maintenance), sekaa sambang (for water and pest surveillance), sekaa mamulih (for seed plantation), sekaa majukut (for plants surveillance), sekaa manyi (for harvest work), sekaa bleseng (for carrying paddy to the barn). These sekaa may recruit workers outside subak members. The code of work in these sekaa is simple, “I scratch yours you scratch mine.”

The indigenous social-administration organization in subak also supported by efficient and effective water system. Subak’s water system comprise of many parts such as empelan (dam) functioned as water reservoir, aungan (tunnel), telabah (primary waterway), tembuku aya (primary inlet), telabah gede (secondary waterway), tembuku gede (secondary inlet), telabah pamaron (tertiary waterway), tembuku pamaron (tertiary inlet), telabah penyacah (quaternary waterway), tembuku penyacah (quaternary inlet), tembuku pengalapan (individual inlet), tali kunda (individual waterway). Subak’s water system also has complementary part such as penguras (flushing), pekiuh (overflow), titi (bridge), Jengkuwung (small tunnel), abangan (off-land tunnel), petaku (waterfall structure), and telepus (siphon).

source:blog.baliwww.com/

Read More