Farmhouse & Farmer in Bengkel area Bali
From the banana tress the small country road headed north towards Bengkel and I stopped coming down a hill to snap a farmhouse. They were making tiles as well as carrying out work on the surrounding sawah. One guy passed me by with a long parang (machete) and a sharpening stone. He seemed in good spirits and trotted down the hill, in no hurry and resigned to spending a long day in the fields no doubt.
In this area there are patches of forest, particularly on hilly ground and in gully areas, next to areas of sawah (rice fields) in the flatter area. Both are okay with me. The third option is some new building of some kind which 9 times out of 10 is made with the nasty grey blocks they all use. Tabanan regency is Bali’s rice bowl and is very fertile. Riding around here you will see some lovely sawah and locals doing their thing. Watching one of the locals go along a paddy wall with a hoe doing repairs I was tempted to join him. It would be great to spend a day helping a Balinese local in the sawah.
By Nick | Permalink
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Hi Nick Great explanation of what sounds like a wonderful trip. BENGKEL is a word and place which conjures up romantic images of Bali from the past. First came across the area in Hickman Powells “The Last Paradise” written in the late 1920’s
Part 1 of the first chapter ‘The Brink of Wisdom” Powell describes his trip with ‘Roosvelt” from Buleleng to South Bali “We were rolling down through terraces into the teeming pregnant South…….” Evertwhere was life” “Everywhere was humanity. Roads streaming with girls. Heads proudly bearing burdens. Ankles,elbows balanced curve of breast and armpit. Soft eyes, hair negligently hanging.
Everywhere life, swarming,seething….”
Powell continues on and writes “If with Roosvelt and me you had travelled this route one morning in April 1928, you would have gone from Buleleng 129 klm to Denpasar, the capital of the South then on a mile to the town of Sumerta which is a group of 9 Banjars, villages.You would have stopped before a gate in the Banjar of BENGKEL, and there amidst a gay and welcoming group you would have beheld the smiling visage of our friend Kumis.”
Hope you get the same buzz and excitement Nick “retracing” well worn paths of Balis early ‘PILGRIMS”