Category: Greenspeak

And still we wait, at least at time of writing, for a possible Big Bang. Bear in mind there’s a week between filing my column and holding a copy of this paper in your hand. A lot can happen in seven days, especially under a dyspeptic volcano.   Imagine a knock at your door, an […]

Those of us living in the energy field of Gunung Agung have been holding our collective breath for weeks now. The first month of dealing with the reality of a grumbling volcano on the doorstep generated much anxiety and busy preparation. But you can’t hold your breath for weeks at a time. The  status of […]

I was in Canada when the rumblings began. Like so many other Bali residents I became an amateur vulcanologist, obsessively checking daily seismic activity and monitoring the Facebook earth tremor updates. I filled my suitcase with N95 masks and goggles to bring back instead of the usual interesting groceries. At time of writing we still […]

There are no words to describe Ubud in August. Well yes, there are: crowded, packed, crowded, depressing, jammed, crowded, dirty, blocked and crowded. Did I mention crowded?  I know I’m being hypocritical. I was a tourist once myself, then I moved here and got all holy. But believe me, Ubud was never like this.  Until about […]

A few weeks ago I woke up to the fact that not only was I not getting any younger, but my sedentary lifestyle was having a decided impact on my contours.  I hate the gym, walking is difficult here and it’s too cold for aquarobics even if I had a pool, which I don’t. But there […]

Indonesia is so rich in natural and human resources that no one should be poor in this country. But with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a few, millions of people across this vast archipelago struggle to feed and educate their families and live with dignity.  Increasingly, communities are finding solutions for their […]

Every time I’ve walked into my pantry for the past few months I have been beguiled by the rich, evocative aroma of cloves. There aren’t a lot of clove trees around Ubud. Wayan Manis’ mother planted one about 15 years ago just for the hell of it, and now harvests eight to ten kilograms a year. […]

Turmeric A Pharmacy in a GlassTherersquos a lot of buzz these days about turmeric Curcuma longa This pungent orange rhizome locally known as kunyit is a common backyard culinary herb in Bali Itrsquos been widely claimed that curcumin the active ingredient of turmeric can cure everything from depression to cancer The anecdotal evidence has been sufficient to convince medical researchers around the world to explore its healing properties In Indonesia where 40 of the population earn under 2 a day and there is only one doctor per 5000 people traditional herbal remedies are still widely used Turmeric has been used as an antiinflammatory in India and China for thousands of years Itrsquos been a traditional remedy in Java where it may have arrived via early Indian traders as the tonic drink jamu which many Indonesians and savvy foreigners knock back daily Irsquove been a big fan of jamu for over 20 year

The Art of Happiness BalistyleHappiness is both an art and a science My grandmother used to say that people were just about as happy as they decided to be The Dalai Lama states that the purpose of our lives is to seek happiness Back in the laboratory psychologists and neuroscientists are trying to figure out what it is and how it works Therersquos something about Bali that makes a lot of people feel happy Irsquom fascinated by that Bali is full of people who came here for two weeks 20 years ago and never left Grumpy tired stressedout people wake up on their first morning in Bali feeling better A week later they are trying to figure out how to move here According to psychiatrist Howard Cutler many surveys show that unhappy people tend to be more selffocused and are often withdrawn brooding and even antagonistic Happy people are generally more sociable flexible and creative able to tolerate lifersquos daily f

The Smallest RoomOne of the delights of living in Bali is the opportunity to build a house This is beyond the wildest dreams of most of us and still would be for me if I hadnrsquot arrived before land prices spiraled skyward Unconfined by pesky building regulations we can and do climb right out of the box when designing unique abodes with sometimes mixed results When I built my first house here in 2002 I had of course no experience and an architect was not in the budget So yes errors were made For example I never thought about how people would enter the house or where they would sit when they got there There is still no proper front door Visitors used to come in through the kitchen but passing the parrot who is socially unreliable became so hazardous that I eventually opened up the wall further down and out of harmrsquos way Once inside there is no living room One guest fits nicely sit