The flights all connected thankfully even with delays. I landed very tired and unprepared for my first night in Bali, I had the experience of being enticed by slick Balinese hawkers and paid more for a taxi than I wanted, but this is the learning experience. Knowing market rates ahead of time and examining different methods of transportation, thus arming myself of knowledge, this would have been useful in this situation. I’d say the lesson was a cheap one, this is the reality of buying things in a market and negotiating. Of course I don’t have much experience with haggling, but as I’m working toward learning to value my time this is also teaching me that money is simply an agreed medium of exchange and the context for its utility determines its usefulness. I know the essence of money is to make life easier, but the function is the store of value and promise of future use for your efforts. The thing is it’s people who use it, and people have vices and fickleness, so it thereby becomes misused to serve purposes which ultimately do not make life easier for people. Music can be the same way, you know.
The Sacred Monkey forest in Ubud was beautiful, and the monkeys were funny. The monkeys have vices too, going after bags and items from the tourists. I had a couple lessons from them when I sat on the ground and one larger male went after my backpack immediately – it was irresponsible and unwise of me to provide a source of stimulus and potential conflict like that for the monkeys, who are in varying levels of agitation ranging from calm to upset.
I booked a five night stay at a nice backpackers house near city centre, and it’s nice and quiet minus the distant roosters. Met some wonderful people here. Stating what I don’t want is important, like when I spent a few minutes negotiating and looking for a Sarong I liked. The seller didn’t have anything I wanted, so I didn’t take buy. Being firm helps weed out factors for experiences I don’t want and might harm me or others, like if someone is testing my boundaries and I explain how I’m feeling and what’s appropriate or not. I suppose I’m not trying to please everyone out here. That’s good, as long as I’m not being unkind or taking things too far, e.g. letting fear and greed decide what I do or how much I pay. I don’t want other people to take advantage of me, I don’t want to let their greed take a hold of them either, which I sense is what happened to me with the first taxi driver. I was prey to him.
I’ve found myself letting fellow travelers more into my heart in Bali, which is an amazing experience through putting my judgements down and committing to have a beneficial conversation or creating experiences with others I encounter, such as my friend Alexis who came to the monkey forest with me and then saw a dance and Gamelan performance with. It’s a process and a worthwhile one.
Gamelan music is the more foreign and unfamiliar music I think I’ve ever encountered, so very very different from Western music and other ethnic music styles. I won’t get into details, but even a classically trained musician like me would have many new things to learn, many elements be unfamiliar upon encountering it. Anyway, I’m feeling better after a sore throat so I think I’ll get some exercise tonight.