Sidemen - Bali

Yesterday I travelled from Gili Air on the fast boat to Pandang bai and the place where I'm staying arranged a taxi to pick me up from the port. The scenery on the way was really beautiful. 

I decided to go to a place in the hills called Sidemen, which is a bit out of the way, but nice as there are less tourists. The home-stay is run by Putri, who lives here with her family. The place is near a busy market and a few shops and restaurants. There seems to be a lot of silver making workshops here too, its obviously the 'thing to do' - I was tempted but decided not to.

There was a down-pour of rain the afternoon I arrived, but this morning it was hot and sunny again and I headed out to visit the Sidemen rice fields.

Just the scenery on the way was beautiful, but the rice fields were stunning and so peaceful. There were lots of butterflies and dragonflies and looming in the distance was Mount Agung, Bali's bigest volcano, although the top was masked in cloud that once again refused to shift to give me a proper view. I did feel a bit guilty, however, as there were obviously people working hard in the fields with simple tools and it must be back breaking ............and there's me drifting around taking photos, but I did really enjoy it. You could see the rice at different stages of growth. There were also local ladies washing in the stream in the corner of one field. 

I also felt a bit bad taking a video of this guy, but I just found it interesting ......I tried to be stealthy - there was a runner also taking pics........poor guy!

Back to the town and the busy market

and the home-stay

Later in the day, Putri had asked me if I wanted to make some Canang Sari with her.

I didn't know but these are the little 'offerings' you see everywhere in Bali. It's an important Hindu ritual to make these everyday for the Gods: Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva. This one was put outside my room this morning:

Canang sari (Balinese: ᬘᬦᬂᬲᬭᬶ) is one of the daily offerings made by Balinese to thank the 9 Divines, Dewata Nawa Sanga in praise and prayer.^[1] Canang sari will be seen in the Balinese temples (pura), on small shrines in houses, and on the ground or as a part of a larger offering.

See link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canang_sari

It was quite difficult to get the hang of, as you needed to sew little bamboo pins to fix the coconut leaves to form the basket. It took me a while to get the hang of it. I had a quick go with the knife, cutting the strips of bamboo, but I left that part to Putri - she had been doing it since she was a girl.

She said they have to make 50 these every day!

Putri was born here and lived here all her life. She has three daughters, that were in the local school and her husband works in the rice fields. Her elderly father was busy helping the workmen rebuild their temple - most Hindus like to have a temple in or near their house.

She said the most important thing about their worship is sincerity. She explained quite a lot but her English was a bit confusing. I find it hard to relate to this kind of strong belief but I loved making the baskets and assembling the flowers etc. I'm not a particularly crafty person but i did find it quite fun. I have seen the flowers growing in the fields, so now I know what they're used for.