There was a cremation ceremony for someone from our banjar (kind of like an extended neighborhood) and we were invited to attend. We had to borrow some traditional clothes from some neighbors. The cremation site is on the other side of the rice field near our house. It is located at the foot of three huge banyan trees which the Balinese say are areas of spiritual power. It was a good experience where we got to meet many people from our banjar.


We also learned that our banjar has the best gamelan orchestra in Denpasar, the capital city that we live in. They play at most of the major ceremonies and we got to sit and listen to them play. Our klian (banjar leader) invited me to sit down and play, but I didn't want my first attempt at gamelan to be in front of over a hundred people.

So we just sat and listened and talked.