Thanks to tourism, the Balinese people live a better quality of life than Indonesians on other islands. Still, times can be tough; the price of rice - the staple of Balinese tables - has increased substantially over the past few years.

The price of petrol recently doubled, making transportation quite costly. (The vast majority of Balinese travel by motorscooter or car, rather than public transportation. In fact, many bimos - the small local buses seen around Bali - have gone out of business or cut service, due to lack of demand.)

Despite financial hardships, the Balinese people are remarkably giving. Their natural inclination to share, and their generosity of spirit, gives pause to anyone used to western standards of proprietorship. Each time I travel to Bali I'm reacquainted with this aspect of the Balinese people.

Many visitors to Bali want to venture beyond the tourist areas, and ricefield trekking has become popular over the years. In the west, we post "no trespassing" signs or otherwise discourage strangers from setting foot on our land. In Bali, visitors who hike through ricefields, and even through farmhouse yards, are greeted with a "selamat pagi" ("good morning").

These ricefields belong to and are worked by local farmers. The yards that visitors traipse through may be gathering places for women and children, not to mention chickens and other livestock. The yards are often used for chores, such as washing laundry or food preparation. There aren't too many places in the world where one is welcome to wander, uninvited but smiled upon, through someone else's property.

If you spend time in a rural village, you'll find other acts of generosity and friendship. Local children will offer you fruit they've just picked from a tree. The tree might belong to their neighbor, but that's okay. It's all part of the community.

For many years, Balinese friends of mine, who moved from a rural village to Denpasar, opened their home to young people from the village. They housed and fed these young people in order to give them an opportunity to receive an education and find work. My friends weren't looking for thanks or other recognition. It went without saying that their good fortune should be shared.

On a recent stay in the mountain village of Munduk, I met a dance teacher. Along with his wife and three-year-old daughter, he travels from Singaraja to Munduk three days a week, to give dance lessons to the village children. He is not paid for the lessons, because the village families can't afford it. He takes no pay, but he does incur expenses. (Remember that the price of petrol just doubled.) He hopes he won't have to cut back on the classes, because the children of Munduk enjoy them so.

These examples of kindness are by no means a rarity in Bali. Selflessness is inherent in the Balinese people, and visitors will surely come away with their own memories of hospitality and warmth.

Diane Embree
February 1, 2006