It's hard to put Bali into words. As we stepped out of the Denpasar airport, becoming wholly engulfed by the humidity, I immediately felt at ease. There is something gentle about Bali, even in the bustling traffic of Denpasar. In this place, you are permitted to be. Balance is an essential component of the Balinese belief system. In traditional lore, the deities Rangda and Barong (symbolizing good and evil, or white and black magic, respectively) struggle against one another, but their battle is perpetually a draw. The Balinese recognize the opposite extremes that are essential to life and cannot exist without each other: good and evil, day and night, dry and rainy, etc., and strive to maintain balance amid these opposing forces. Perhaps the best visual representation of the concept of balance is the black-and-white poleng cloth pattern.
The pattern is even mirrored in the alternating black-and-white curbstones along the roadside. Hard not to feel balanced surrounded by all that balance.
Bali is also very much in the details, meaning it is right up my alley. From the carefully handmade offerings of woven leaves and flowers to the faint sounds of a gamelan in the distance, it is a feast for the senses. Surrounded by all that art, none of my typical worries or stressors dug their way into my mind at all.
As we drove away from the city and into the hills of Ubud, the effect was only magnified. It doesn't hurt, of course, that a day at Villa Kirana looks something like this:
Our first visit was only for 1 night (basically to catch a connecting flight), but we got to spend a glorious 4 days at the Villa after Christmas.
So this is how we rung in 2012; on the edge of a sacred valley to the sounds of local music and fireworks.
