Heaven? Here it is! (Part 2)
This is the second part of the photo essay series “Heaven? Here it is!”. Read the first part here.
The story of “the best day of my life” didn’t just end at Le Pang’s house. After relishing what Bayu called “the best Arak Bali he had ever had” (which is something because he is from Bali), Le Pang decided to take us on a trip to his farm and around his village. We three hopped on two scooters and within a couple of minutes stopped near a paddy field, but that didn’t belong to Le Pang and we had to walk on a really small path between the fields. Walking through the uneven fields, we arrived at a shed in Le Pang’s field and sat there for a minute or two.
I saw a lot of birds flying here and about. I had developed a keen interest in photographing different types of birds and learning about them only about six months before that, after reading a book called “How To Do Nothing” by an American artist. I took my camera out and started my attempts to capture some good shots and got only half-successful.
While I was busy photographing the birds, I heard a voice “Hello, mister!” behind me. I turned around and saw a girl hiding behind the flower bushes and there were some other older men and women around her. Bayu told me that since it’s a village, there are no tourists here and he suggested that I go and talk to them.
I went ahead and approached the boy, who seemed a few years younger than me. He knew a little English but still opened Google Translate on his phone to have a better conversation. He told me that they were plucking flowers from their field to sell for tomorrow’s Galungan ceremony. He was accompanied by his sisters and mother. I asked for his permission to photograph him and his sister, and he happily obliged. The sister was more than happy to be photographed and you can see one of her poses in the above photograph but I also saw that the jeans she was wearing were a bit torn.
After I bade them goodbye, I was feeling a bit thirsty, especially because of all the liquor we had been gulping down. Le Pang was already planning to serve me fresh coconut water and a few moments later he brought a coconut and cracked it open in front of me. He even made a unique cut through which I could drink it easily.
Then we started walking back towards the scooters and little did I know what I was going to experience next would alter my opinions regarding the conflict in the Western and the Eastern civilizations.
After another quick ride, we arrived at our next parking spot. From here we were going to walk down about 200 stairs to a water stream and a small reservoir. As we were walking down the stairs, I saw many women carrying water containers on the top of their heads. I was recording a short video on my phone when I had to stop recording suddenly. Right ahead of me were the village’s communal showers. Men were bathing naked on one side and most women were bathing topless on the other side, with a not-too-big wall separating them.
I was completely surprised! Bayu told me that this is a part of their culture. Traditionally, Balinese women preferred to remain topless but now that tradition is changing. I was able to witness this because we were in a remote place where tourism hadn’t reached yet.
We crossed the communal showers and right next to it was a sacred reservoir, a small temple, and a waterfall. Only the village priest could enter the reservoir as it was considered sacred. I sat near the reservoir listening to the sound of the traveling water and thinking about the following excerpt from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Brook”:
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever
I began questioning how Western civilization has drastically changed the culture of various places around the world. Especially, how it had made the Balinese people uncomfortable with their nakedness. Who is less civilized? The one closer to nature or the one who sees it as vulgar?
