Why plan a retreat in Bali? Bali is a place unlike anywhere else. Bali is magical and blends spectacular mountain scenery and beautiful beaches with warm and friendly people, and a vibrant culture with Balinese Hinduism at its heart, the devotion to which and the way it’s practiced has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years.
Lying just 8 degrees south of the Equator, Bali boasts a tropical climate with just two seasons a year and an average temperature of around 28 degrees Celsius. Apart from the better known tourist attractions, like the famous temples and beaches, Bali also has some spectacular hidden gems not written about in any guide book if you know where to look.
Still not convinced? I decided to put together my list of top 10 random Interesting things you probably didn’t know about Bali. Though it was hard to narrow it down to just 10 items, these are just some of the things that make Bali unique…
1. Balinese Names
In Bali, names are determined by caste and order of birth. Though there are some exceptions, in the Sudra caste, which makes up 90-95% of the population of Bali, the first born child is named Wayan or Putu, the second child is named Made or Kadek, the third child is named Nyoman or Komang, and the fourth child is named Ketut. The cycle then starts over, with the fifth child being named Wayan or Putu. These names apply to both boys and girls.
Because there are so many people with the same names, many Balinese choose to be addressed by their given middle or last names or a combination of their first and last names. For example, my husband Kadek Sastrawan (no middle name), often introduces himself to people as ‘Dek Sas’ to differentiate himself from all the other Kadeks out there.
Last names are peculiar in that they have nothing to do with a family name. Kadek and his brother Komang don’t share the same last name, neither of which are the same as either of their parents. Though I chose to take Kadek’s last name when we got married, taking your husband’s last name is not the norm. Especially since he neglected to mention that ‘Sastrawan’ means man of Literature and if I’d have been born a Balinese female, I’d have never been given that name. For a female it would be Sastrawati, unbeknownst to me at the time I thought ‘Danielle Sastrawan’ had a nice ring to it. Although when we were married I was actually ‘reborn’ and given a Balinese name which is completely different, I decided to stick with Danielle for business purposes, but am called Made to everyone else here. You may want to check out my other blog posting regarding the Balinese naming system and my ill chosen decision to go with Danielle Sastrawan:
http://baliprincess.blogspot.com/2013/06/dear-mr-danielle_3792.html
2. Balinese Language
The Balinese language is not a dialect of the Indonesian language. It is a completely different language in its own right. It has its own script, which somewhat resembles a mix of Thai, Arab and MS Word wingdings, but much more fluid.
The Balinese script was derived from the Old Kawi alphabet, which ultimately derived from the Brahmi alphabet, the root of all the Indic and Southeast Asian abugidas.
The Balinese script is an abugida – a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit. Balinese is spoken by roughly three million people on the island of Bali. The script is mostly used in temples and for religious writings. All local government office signs in Bali also have Balinese script written underneath the Indonesian language.
In 1928, Indonesian was declared the national language to unify the 17,000 + islands that make up the archipelago of Indonesia. It is the language used for business and school is taught in the Indonesian language across the country. But outside the office or school, you will be hard pressed to find anyone actually speaking Indonesian. And although Balinese is spoken much more than Indonesian and although Balinese is learned in school, few people use or are able to write the Balinese script, and with each new generation, it is at risk of being a lost written language.
3. The Most Expensive Coffee in the World
4. The Balinese Calendar
The Balinese observe two completely different and not synchronized calendars:
- the Balinese pawukon calendar, a numeric calendar of 210 days per year
- the Balinese saka calendar, a lunisolar calendar starting every Nyepi, or Balinese New Year which occurs sometime in March
The Balinese Pawukon is a complex calendar, indigenous to Bali, based on a period of 210 days. Simply put, calculated in two ways: there are seven days per week x 30 weeks in a term = 210 days; or, there are 35 days per month x six months in a term = 210 days. Two terms make up a year of 420 days. Many ceremonies and holidays (including Galungan – Bali’s equivalent to Christmas or Ramadan in terms of importance) takes place twice a year.
Not so simply put, the calendar consists of 10 different concurrent weeks of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 days. Because 210 is not divisible by 4, 8, or 9 – extra days must be added to the 4, 8, and 9 day weeks. The complexity of this calendar leaves most people’s heads reeling, but if you want to get a much more succinct explanation, you can check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawukon_calendar.
Unlike the 210-day pawukon calendar, the saka calendar it is based on the phases of the moon, and is approximately the same length as the Gregorian year. Based on a lunar calendar, the saka year comprises of twelve months of 30 days each. Because the lunar cycle is slightly shorter than 30 days, and the lunar year has a length of 354 or 355 days, the calendar is adjusted to prevent it losing synchronization with the lunar or solar cycles. The months are adjusted by allocating two lunar days to one solar day every 9 weeks. Every 30 months, an extra month is added to keep the calendar in sync with the solar year.
Each month begins the day after a new moon and has 15 days of waxing moon until the full moon (Purnama), then 15 days of waning, ending on the new moon (Tilem). The first day of the year, or Nyepi, coincides with the day after the first new moon in March.
5. Nyepi - The Silent Day
Nyepi is preceded by the Ogoh-Ogoh parade. The parade is to appease the evil spirits so they don’t bother them during Nyepi as one is more susceptible to evil doings by the spirits while meditating. The parades end with the burning of the Ogoh-Ogohs to symbolically cast out evil.
As this holiday is based on the the Balinese Saka calendar, it falls on a different day every year, coinciding with the day after the first new moon. Nyepi 2020 will be on March 26th starting at 6am. If you are planning a retreat during this time, you are going to want to know how your venue plans to observe this holiday and what provisions they will be making. Some of the larger hotels apply for special permits from their local village office to use electricity, but many of the smaller venues do not. Nyepi is a great opportunity incorporate a silent meditation day as part of the retreat and it makes it that much more profound when the whole island is doing it too! But if your participants are going to have a problem with no a/c, a skeleton staff, early dinner (before dark) and probably no hot water and a scoop and bucket to take showers if the water requires a pump, then you are going to want to choose your venue accordingly.
6. Black Sand Beaches
For most, Bali conjures up images of pristine, sandy white beaches. Surprisingly, Bali is also home to incredibly stunning black volcanic sand beaches on the North East Coast, due to the active volcanoes that call Bali home.
Some of Bali’s best snorkelling and diving sites are in areas with black sand beaches. All of the marine life really stands out against the dark background in all of its fluorescent and multi-coloured splendor and makes for an incredible underwater experience.
7. Volcanoes
Bali is home to two active volcanoes. Mt Batur, is a 13×10 km caldera with its own crater lake. The lake is located at the foot of a newly forming 700-metre volcanic peak. The photo on the bottom right was taken from the rim of the caldera, looking in at the stratovolcano at the centre of the caldera which last erupted in 2000.
Mt. Agung is Bali’s most sacred volcano and stands 3,031m. The Balinese believe that Mount Agung is a replica of Mount Meru – a sacred mountain with five peaks in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes. Besakih Temple, Bali’s most spiritually significant temple, also referred to as the mother temple, is located high on its slopes. Mt. Agung last erupted in 1963. One of Bali’s most famous dive spots on the North East coast is the USS Liberty wreck in Tulamben which, contrary to popular belief, wasn’t a sunken ship. It was a US navy cargo ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese in 1942, but not sunk. Crippled, it ended up beached on the shores of Bali. It wasn’t until the eruption of Mt. Agung in 1963 and subsequent lava flow that pushed it into the ocean, did it become an underwater shipwreck.
8. Rice
Rice is also used during temple ceremonies and for blessings, at the end of which rice, slightly dampened with holy water, is placed on the thoat chakra and on the forehead to represent the third eye.
It’s not just the cultural significance of rice that makes it so important. In Bali, rice is eaten with every meal. No exceptions.
9. Tooth Filing
The tooth filing ceremony is of great importance in the Balinese culture and is a significant right of passage from puberty to adulthood. As any Balinese ceremony tends to be a big affair, to help keep costs down, a tooth filing ceremony is often done with a group of relatives. Or, as it was in mine, my husband’s and one of our cousin’s case, packaged with a marriage ceremony. If you haven’t had your teeth filed by the time you are married, it is done during the marriage ceremony.
The tooth filing represents the minimizing of animalistic tendencies and the control of the six human evils: desire (kama), greed (lobha), anger (krodha), intoxication or being under the influence of strong emotion (mada), confusion (moha), and jealousy (matsarya).
When Kadek and I got married, I wasn’t too excited at the prospect of having my teeth filed. I tried to argue that my animalistic tendencies were a part of my charm, but to no avail. I was relieved however to find out that unless you really want your teeth filed, it is done more as a symbolic gesture than an actual filing. That having been said, I made it very clear that my cultural sensitivity ends when it becomes detrimental to my health. There was no way I was going to have enamel scraped off my teeth. I have been meaning to write a blog about that whole experience for a while now as it was definitely an interesting experience, especially since my parents were also in attendance and although she had held up pretty well up to that point, also marked my mom’s cultural meltdown on her first trip to Bali. That photos is of me right after the tooth filing. The next step required me being carried (part of the ceremony, not because I couldn’t walk on my own) from the filing ‘platform’ by my mother-in-law and several aunts, all of whom I was sure would suffer from some sort of spinal injury after that ordeal, to a waiting chair outside for the next ritual.
10. The Most Dangerous Tourist Activity in Bali
There’s nothing like the feel of the open road and the wind in your hair to convey that sense of freedom and holiday escape, but if you are planning on renting a motorbike while you are in Bali, there’s something you should know.
According to the OSAC 2015 Indonesia Crime and Safety Report: “The number of vehicles, estimated to increase by 10% per year, far exceeds the capacity of roadway infrastructure. Road safety awareness is very low; many drivers, especially those on motorcycles/mopeds, disregard most traffic laws. Accidents on rented motorcycles constitute the majority of expatriate deaths in Indonesia, especially on Bali.”
I tend to try to discourage visitors to the island from renting a motorbike. When people are on holiday, they sometimes lose inhibitions that have them doing things they wouldn’t normally do. It goes without saying that if you have never driven a motorbike, Bali is not the place to learn. But I am often met with resistance from those who are experienced motorbike riders. And because the average size of a motorbike engine in Bali is 150cc, people like to call them scooters, as if they are more like a hobby toy than a means of an early entrance to the organ donation list. 60km/h is the same whether you are on a 150cc or a 1500cc motorbike. It’s not a question of whether or not you have experience riding a motorbike, it’s about whether you’ve had experience riding here. It’s a different kind of driving. Everything you ever learned in Driver’s Ed. is going to kill you here. That is over and above the the fact that, wherever you are coming from, you probably don’t have to worry about dogs and chickens darting out in front of you on the road, people driving on the wrong side, pulling out of side streets without looking and that the driver signals that you are used to, having a different meaning to which you are accustomed. In Canada, for example, if another driver flashes his lights at you, it means ‘go ahead’. Here, it means, you’d better stay where you are because I’m coming through. To avoid being just another statistic, I would definitely recommend that you leave the driving to someone else while you are here.
Okay so that last one, though certainly random and interesting isn’t something that will convince you to come to Bali, but I felt the need to throw in a public service announcement. After all, our aim is to facilitate everyone having an experience of a lifetime they will never forget (in a good way!) when they come to Bali.
If you have any questions about anything in this blog posting or Bali in general, please don’t hesitate to connect with me at info@balibiuretreatcompany.com.