Post cards from Bali (2)

During your visit in Bali , you will undoubtedly step on a basket filled with rice and flowers or two. These are small offering baskets called ‘canang sari ' that Balinese offer to their Gods three times a day. What are these baskets for, and why do people place them on the sidewalks?
It is basically a ritual of giving back what has been given to you by the Gods. It is a sharing that is not based upon fear, but on gratitude to the richness of life. Offering appeases the spirits and brings prosperity and good health to the family. It is a duty and an honour at the same time, and in Balinese perspective a very natural and almost logical thing to maintain a good relationship between people and spirits.

We traviled to the emerald-green rice terraces in central Bali to the town of Ubud yesterday, I can  say I had the most amazing day. We had the chance to get away from the crowds and take the back streets and walk amongst the Balinese people.

The Balinese rice terraces go back over 2,000 years when hard-working farmers with primitive hand tools began carving the stepped terraces out of steep hill sides. Generation after generation has extended and kept them in meticulous shape out of necessity - rice is the staple food of the islanders.