Eyeful

Eyeful
Eye to eye with a Great Horned Owl.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

2013 Travel Dispatch #26 (Bali Rice Fields)
























The highlight of our auto tour of Bali was a visit to an area of terraced rice fields ascending up the side of one of Bali's still active volcanos. The rice fields are at some of the lower elevations, obviously because the highest point on Bali is almost 10,000 feet (how about that you 46'rs?) Think about it. Bali is an island you can drive around the perimeter of in less than a day and yet it sports a mountain peak topping out just under 10,000 feet -- almost twice the height of Mt. Marcy. The clouds were hanging low that day so the mountain peak was never visible, but the terracing was very reminiscent of agricultural practices in Peru.

















There's a lot of similarity in these shots, they're all of terracing and rice fields after all, but in combination they offer a better sense of just how the area looked. I found it to be incredibly picturesque and apparently other concur. It was a feature of the majority of island tour packages and you have to pay a "Park Fee" just to drive into the area.

 

















There is a well established and comfortable walkway allowing easy access to overviews of the fields. But I choose to venture off the prescribed path and into the fields themselves. In addition to gaining a more interesting vantage point, I chanced upon a group of farmers working in one of the many paddies. They very happily agreed to let me photograph them and I was able to get some shots that are more than just interesting landscapes.



























It's one of the contradictions of that fascinating little island. A very poor place filled with happy, hard working people. They have so little and work in ways little changed from what their ancestors did centuries ago, yet they seem content with what they have. I'm certainly not in a position to draw any revelatory conclusions from any of that, but the sentiment of "Less is more" seems to have some relevance. A lesson we seem unable to absorb in our western world, but one that is especially relevant as we rush headlong into another commercially overcharged holiday season.

























In this one photo, there are paddies full of rice ready for harvest, banana trees loaded with fruit and palm trees dripping with ripe coconuts. Such abundance and so well tended for by people who have learned to honor the land they depend on.

In reviewing this post before publishing it, as I recall the grey of an overcast day in Paris, I note the seeming unreality of the colors of these fields. They are not "photoshopped". The colors were really that vibrant and that intense. Think of the richness of autumn colors in the Adirondacks when everything is wet from a recent rain. The greens of these fields fairly popped. Perhaps it's why painters on the island have such a preference for strong, primary colors. It's the world they live in. That's it. I've finished Bali. Perhaps Paris tomorrow.

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