5 days in denpasar...

i came to denpasar, the capital city of bali, 5 days ago to live with local people and vigorously study the language.. because there are no beaches or tourist attractions, this city remains occupied only by local balinese people, and many javanese as well (java is the large island due west which has indonesia's largest cities including jakarta and surabaya).. as there are more than 17,000 islands and some 98% of indonesia is muslim, the island of bali is unique in that it is hindu and one of the most culturally unique melting pots on earth..

i made the 10 mile trek from kuta on thursday morning which was one of the craziest bike rides of my life.. i often wonder what all of the people looking at me must think of me as the only people who ride push bikes here cant afford sepeda motor (motorbikes).. words cant describe how chaotic the streets seem to someone who is not used to them (i have since gotten much more comfortable riding here).. at that time i knew practically NO bahasa (indonesian) and my previous studies gave little real world contribution.. i managed to find my way to a hindu temple and bartered with the woman who seemed to run it by writing numbers on paper back and forth.. we agreed to a price and i got a room for 500,000 rupiah (US$5) a night.. at first i thought it might be a brothel because of all of the women and the way the rooms where laid out.. i later felt like a moron learning that it was a very religious place.. it's a beautiful and tranquil escape from the bustling streets, where indonesian women spend all day producing the intricate little hindu flower\insent ornaments that sit in front of all hindu businesses and households.. my room is very small and has a kamar mandi (bathroom) which has a squat toilet with a large blue bucket full of water next to it.. as my stomach struggles to adapt to the street food here i became well acquainted with this room.. my first day i spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to 'flush' the toilet before i realized that the bucket of water was not only for bathing, but for flushing the toilet and cleaning up after using the toilet.. there is no toilet paper and i no longer would eat with my left hand! i had heard from my kiwi friend robins, who has traveled extensively in india, that the 'squat' position of using the toilet was better than sitting for lots of reasons but mainly because it's what our ancestors have done for hundreds of thousands of years.. at the time i thought he was crazy, but now fully agree and after a week would say i prefer the kamar mandi here to their western counterparts..

bahasa indonesia is the name of the language spoken by all indonesians, although it is often their second language and their first depends on which island they are from... after 4 days of intense studying i feel like i have a small grasp of the sentence structure and pronunciation.. by day three i was more comfortable talking to people and hope to achieve a level of fluency after a month or so.. other than some phone calls to family and friends, i have heard/spoken no english and haven't seen one nonindonesian person.. the food is sold as street food and is absolutely incredible.. different stands can be found at different times of day in different places, and they are everywhere.. you can either eat there with other people or take your food to go which comes in a plastic bag as if you were buying goldfish.. each stand offers one 'dish' and i have yet to have a meal that wasnt a wonderful, spicy mixture of local ingredients and didnt bring a smile to my face.. a meal costs about 50 cents US.. another interesting side note is that the food here is equally amazing and wonderful as any $100/meal restaurant ive worked in or eaten at in chicago or new york. minus any pretension.. i also admire the people cooking here who are very skilled and resourceful. it's easy to produce a great meal with a huge staff, budget, and a million dollar kitchen, but cheers to those who can do it with a wok on a make-shift setup that they've built on the back of a parked motorbike!

almost everyone attempts to talk to me and i have befriended lots of the food vendors who know my face well after only 5 days.. i met one man, emiel, at a food stand and on the second night that we ate together he invited me to come to his home after buying my dinner.. i met his family including an uncle who was an 88 yr old retired army colonel.. when someone with very little money buys my meal then brings me to his home to meet his family and offers me kopi (a thick balinese coffee) it overwhelms me with gratitude and appreciation .. zooming around on the back of his motor bike he turned to me and said in his very broken english 'i happy you, you me friend!'.. he also offered an open invitation to stay at his home if i ever return to denpasar..

ive been in this random little neighborhood on the outskirts of denpasar for only 5 days and already know that im gonna miss it.. all the people and wonderful food, im happy to have spent time in their world even if only for a short time.. in the first 9 months of this journey ive come across countless amazingly kind and genuinely good people.. it is these people that make me happy to be alive and drive me to travel everywhere on earth that i can to meet more like them.. i pass on their kindness, smiles, and goodwill to every person i meet...

also i no longer use the word 'poor' to describe a people who are very happy, social, communal, and family oriented just because they lack financial and material wealth.. in fact, most wealthy people that i have known aren't nearly as happy as the people ive met here.. which would you consider to be 'poor'?..