In our final writing class, I had people review their time in Bali by having them respond to this series of sentence stems for three minutes each:
Since I’ve come to Bali,
- I’m seen….
- I’ve heard….
- I’ve smelled….
- I’ve tasted…
- I’ve felt…
- I’ve met…
- I’ve savored/loved…
- I’ve learned…
- Since I’ve come to Bali….anything you haven’t written so far…
I did this to enable everyone to review and remember the sensory details of this land and personal peak experiences they’d had over the course of our travels through Bali. I had them share their responses in small groups and then instructed them to send me five or six of their favorite lines from their pieces so I could compile them into an all-group poem to be read at our closing circle tomorrow morning.
This is my distillation of what they came up with:
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’m seen lush vegetation everywhere, so many temples, so many stone statues and so much art, offerings in every stage in evolution: created, newly blessed, discarded on the ground, eaten by dogs, ants, and monkeys.
Since I have come to Bali, I have seen a monkey eat my breakfast. Twice.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve seen cars and motorcycles seamlessly weave and flow together, the most polite traffic congestion in the known world.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve seen rice fields in every stage: newly planted, flooded, weeded, harvested, threshed, and bundled. I’ve been served square woven baskets that reveal steaming rice.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve seen colors and textures, woven by hand and woven by nature. I have seen so much plumeria that it needs to be swept away daily to make room for more plumeria. I’ve seen joyful movement in the acts of service provided by our hotel staff and guides.
I’ve seen a man dance through fire.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve seen expressions of gratitude everywhere, and I’ve experienced how calming it is to the spirit. When people are grateful, they are not thinking of the next best thing. They see and honor beauty everywhere, and in the faces of all human beings.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve seen the sun set over the Bali Sea. I’ve seen mahogany trees and ridden in a wooden dug-out canoe.
Since I’ve come to Bali I’ve seen magic in every corner. Small worlds of flowers and stone and vine and leaf. I’ve seen these portals come together by a vast sky, sticky air, and full sun. So thick in energy and meaning, while also calming and grounding.
I’ve seen brilliant orange sarongs billowing in sacred waters. I’ve been purified in those waters.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve seen immediate physical healing by a community healer who graciously takes walk-ins, no paperwork or insurance required. I’ve been the recipient of some of that healing. I’ve watched locals line up with offerings waiting to be treated on a hard bale floor by a man who squats barefoot all day, reading and manipulating all the bodies that come before him, always with a steady smile.
I’ve seen kites flying everywhere.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve seen the rawness of the human soul bared naked in a writing group.
I’ve watched a group that started as strangers connect deeply and form bonds of trust.
I’ve seen kindness, oh, so much kindness.
Since I’ve come to Bali I’ve heard roosters, motorbikes, monkeys, the sound of people conversing in Indonesian and Balinese and singing in Kawi, cicadas, waterfalls, constant running water, and my inner voice more clearly.
I’ve heard clanging of the gamelan on the street, in a procession, as gentle dinner music, behind the stage in a puppet show, at dance performances, and in a cremation. (Turn up your sound).
Since I’ve been to Bali, I’ve listened in wonder as Ketut named dozens of plants and their medicinal properties.
I’ve heard multiple characters portrayed through the belly, chest, throat and head voice of a master shadow puppeteer who speaks at least half a dozen languages.
I’ve heard the voices in writing group always digging for the truth. Those voices have made me laugh and cry. I love those voices.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve heard myself sobbing.
I’ve heard the absence of a ringing phone.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve heard yes to all my needs.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve smelled smoking coals, the damp mud of rice paddies, incense and drying cloves, exhaust from scooters, the sweet odor of bodies snuggled tightly in a van after a long walk through the jungle.
I’ve smelled stagnant urine in rooms named Toilet. I’ve smelled whatever that amazing laundry detergent is that they use.
I’ve smelled the distant flow of flower fragrances carried to my nose like a good spell.
I have smelled and touched clove and nutmeg straight from the trees.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve smelled coffee, lavender incense, aromatherapy fragrances, and my roommate’s stale morning breath.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve tasted papaya, watermelon, and pineapple juices. Fresh yellow coconut water from a coconut picked for me by a climber who wasn’t afraid of heights. He just shimmied right up the tree with a machete.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve tasted the peppery betel nut leaf crushed up by Surya to put in my lip, like chewing tobacco. I’ve tasted the surprise flavor of dragon fruit that reminded me of canned fruit cocktail from childhood.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve tasted satay peanut sauce, shrimp crackers, roasted peanuts, local gin, palm sugar rice balls, ripe paw-paw, and sandalwood water from the ladle of a Balinese high priest.
I’ve tasted meals that took hours to assemble, the way eating and cooking used to be.
I’ve tasted pistachio cream treats at the local boulangerie as monkeys with coconuts in their mouth traversed the phone lines above.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve tasted tempeh crispy with peanuts, tempeh crispy with sweet/sour/salty spices, small, sweet Bali bananas on the trail, the best bananas I’ve ever had, snake fruit, star fruit, and did I mention the most delicious tempeh I’ve ever had?
Since I have come to Bali, I’ve tasted the best gin and tonic in the world, and I had to travel halfway around the planet to find it!
Since I’ve been to Bali, I’ve felt the warmth of the winter sun in the southern hemisphere and the charging power of a 200-foot waterfall cascading down onto our bodies as we all held hands.
Since I have come to Bali, I felt the smooth contours of an ever-growing rock and the cool embrace of a waterfall pool. I felt cool water on my body from sacred springs. I’ve found kindred spirits in kindness. I’ve witnessed beauty every day and everywhere. I’ve revered the hand and eye gestures of Balinese dancers.
I’ve seen so many beautiful offerings & made a few.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve felt the satin of flower petals and the wax of tropical leaves.
I’ve been in awe of the majesty of the mountains veiled in mist.
I’ve felt the hands of two traditional Balinese healers and have had my body soothed, relaxed and healed in a dozen massages that cost a fraction of what they do at home.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve felt the full range of emotions. The need to cry and the need to rejoice.
I’ve felt stretched, stiff, pushed and pulled emotionally, wrung out from deeply excavating my mind and spirit. I’ve felt pain, release, and laughter at myself. I’ve felt frustrated, relaxed, connected, more focused and more alive.
I’ve felt acceptance, embrace, understanding, and courage from my fellow travelers.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve relaxed and connected with my spiritual self.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve met kind, funny, charismatic, hopeful, and courageous people. I’ve met a lovely, eclectic group of fellow travelers, and so many beautiful Balinese people.
I’ve met a high priest who blessed me and high priestess who is the most joyful person I’ve ever met.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve met a six-year-old dancer with the promise of tomorrow.
I met a healer named Ketut who worked on my body while we hiked, took my arm and taught me new healing techniques as we traveled. I was able to practice them on him the next day.
Since I have come to Bali, I have met and come to love a heartful group of traveling companions.
I’ve met my own challenges and rekindled my own strength.
I’ve met: a new version of myself enjoying transformation.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve witnessed priests, priestesses, healers sitting on the ground, hearts in hand. I was invited into a three generational Balinese family compound, where I was delighted to see how much they enjoyed each other’s company in the most relaxed and natural way.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve witnessed the great acceptance and patience the Balinese have when in intense traffic on their motor scooters.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve savored a place on earth that allows me to freely be myself, nourished by beautiful weather, food, and environment. I’ve savored the way the Balinese greet you with a flower behind the ear. How to them, every magic is a normal day.
I’ve experienced four water purification ceremonies, and at the end of my trip, immersed in the cool shallow waters beneath the giant waterfall in Munduk, once again experiencing intense rejuvenation.
I’ve savored meals without the distraction of a television or phone, a culture full of heart-centered rituals that put gratitude before competition, love before the pursuit of money, community before the individual, that makes art out of life and not something you buy.
I’ve learned to celebrate a people whose first priority is peace.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve savored the ability to write with abandon.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve learned not to be afraid when monkeys perch on my head and shoulders. I’ve come to appreciate all the work that goes into batik, the dyes, the stamps, the wax.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve learned that rituals have value. I’ve loved watching the Balinese create/ honor/pray at the altars in the mornings, just like my grandmother, Obachan Mitsu, did in Fresno.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve learned that generations of ancestors live within your family compound, physically and spiritually. I’ve learned that worship can be woven into daily life. That Bali is still tradition-based and hasn’t been completely absorbed by the technology take over.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve learned an easy acceptance of life. I’ve learned that people are kinder and more helpful that you think they are. And that confusion is okay. I’ve seen a variety of ways to dance into life. I’ve learned about so many different ways of being in the world.
Because I came to Bali, I now have a vision of the future.
I’ve been reminded what’s important to me. I’ve learned that I am enough, I do enough, I have enough.
I’ve learned that my dream of international travel can still be a thing. My 21-year-old self who sold her Rick Steves backpack is still alive with the vision of experiencing cultures of the world.
I’ve learned that gentleness & fierceness can live side by side, that Balinese culture respects & cherishes elders & that kindness here is practiced with no expectations. It’s genuine.
I’ve learned that time here is slow and fluid and sometimes bumps up against our western concepts of time.
I’ve learned even challenging people have soft spots and hurts.
Since I’ve come to Bali, I’ve lived in constant wonder.
I’ve loved the depth and breadth of the whole experience.
