Monday, April 22, 2013

Farewell indonesia

Today we are leaving Indonesia. We have experienced some very different faces of this country. From the serene rice fields in Ubud, the quiet tiny island of Gili Air and finally the touristy beach town of Kuta. All have their individual charm and all have their place.

My favourites would have to be the countryside and the island. I loved waking up to the silence of  country life in Ubud. We really enjoyed the slow starts to our days. Waking up and walking out onto our balcony overlooking lush green rice fields  is something that can not be compared to anything I've known. This is a very special place, where time has seemed to slow down and the hustle and bustle of modern life has passed these  people by. Their days are filled with their family, their crops and their religious ceremonies. Every morning as I drank my tea, I watched the men and women tending their fields, walking back from the market with big baskets balanced on their heads, brimming with the fresh food from the market to feed their families for the day. Every day they shop for fresh food. Every day is the same routine. Every morning and night the families would prepare little baskets filled with flowers, rice and other small tokens and place them in front of their homes, in their house temple, in front of their kitchens and various other strategic locations. It was always a trick to remember to look down as we walked in and out of homes and businesses. Because the little baskets were on the ground in front of every door into a building.  We accidentally stepped on a few of them in our first days.  Oops. 

As we walked along the narrow path between the tiny villages ever day. We got smiles where ever we turned. The local people here rarely had outsiders coming through the villages. Tourists didn't come here to often. We were something to be looked at, as they were. We had wrinkled old lady, crouching in her rice field smiling at us and talking fast in a language that was impossible for us to decider. I wish I knew what she said. Maybe it was, hi, welcome to our village. Thanks for coming. That's what it felt like she was saying. We also had lots of kids testing out the little English they knew. Throwing out a quick, hello. Then giggling to their friends as we said hello back. Sometimes we would find someone that knew a little English that would ask us to sit with them. They wanted to know where we were staying. Where we were from.
 Oh, Canada! They'd say.
 Very cold there?  
Yes, we'd answer back. Right now winter. Very cold. 
Your name? They'd want to know.
Short,  small interactions that I cherish. 
I feel like I learnt so much about my faith from the people here. Funny, them being Hindu and me learning from them about Christianity. But the biggest thing I learnt is how unashamed they are about their faith. How it is a part of everything they do in their day. How they spend so much time and energy on what they believe. If I'd  spend that much time on my own beliefs, my life would be more enriched. 

Gili Air was so great. I love islands without vehicles (or dogs). The lack of vehicles changes things. What a relief to not have to worry about narrow roads and honking and pollution. So great.
We spent a lot of our time on Gili relaxing. After six weeks of travel, it was a great time to soak up the sun, play in the water and read books. We snorkelled, fished, ate lots of food, walked, ran, swam and talked. We had such great conversations over food. It was a time to connect together every day. Breakfast was usually dean and I earlier and Colton and Miranda later. Lunch time started with trying to figure out where we wanted to go this time. Miranda ate a lot of nasi goreng.
Island life has always been our favourite. There is just a different type of people who live on islands. Wherever we go, we always try to find the quietest island to stay. 

The last two days we spent in a touristy town called Kuta that is near the airport. Luckily we found a home stay that was down a very quiet back street. It was a bit rainy during our time in Kuta. So we spent lots of time dashing here and there between showers, watching movies on the laptop, laundry, eating and getting cheap $5 massages. Because we were staying down a quite street. The people very quickly learnt our walking habits and didn't hassle us to much to come and look in their store or get their never ending massage deals. I read all sorts of stories about how crazy Kuta was and how it was crazy busy. But, I thought it was fine. Our worst issue was the barking dogs at 5am. 

We are now headed to Cambodia via Thailand. Two days of travel into another very different culture. May our eyes to opened to what we need to see and learn. 


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