Our travel experiences in life, has taught us the beauty each country has to offer. Every group of people has its own unique culture, and Bali, Indonesia was a memorable one!
Bali is famous for its elegant art forms, such as sculpture, painting, handcrafts, woodcarving and performing arts, with a daily average income of approximately $6-$7USD per day.
In the scorching heat, men/women/children worked without air conditioning both indoors and out. Air conditioning was not affordable unless you worked in a touristy area such as, hotels/resorts, restaurants, company vehicle, etc.
Having the ability to see life from this perspective helped us to understand that there is more than one approach to life, and not all paths are equal.
Trinity, Dale and I were fortunate and humbled by our experience and would like to share how “Port Dr” came about with you!
Port Dr (Pronounced Port Drive), came about during our recent trip to Bali on April 7th, 2018. Wayan was our host during the 3 days we were there. He would drive us from city to city with an uplifting spirit, a great smile, and an outgoing personality!
Wayan would enthusiastically tell stories of his childhood, dreams, and the history of Bali in good spirits! Even with the weather being very humid with temperatures at 80-90 degrees! He was always positive, and liked to spend most of his time (outside of work) with his wife and 3 children. He would pray six days a week, and always enjoyed a good home cooked meal.
Living two hours away from Ubud, Wayan has to to rent within the homes of others near the city, away from his family whenever he is assigned a booking to host tourists, as gas is expensive. These rooms were uncomfortable with no air conditioning, making it difficult for Wayan to have a good night’s rest.
During our stay, we went on a few tours – The jungle swing, the coffee plantation, rice paddies, the monkey forest, and lunch in the jungle while it rained!
While having lunch in middle of the jungle, it began to heavily rain for a good 15-20 minutes. We sat around talking about how beautiful it was to experience warm rain in the sun, and how we all loved the table decor. We noticed each table had a floating flower within a beautiful hand blown glass bowl over gamal wood. We fell in love with them so much, we wanted to bring a few home as souvenirs. That’s when our adventure began…
We were on a hunt for these glass bowls, and Wayan knew exactly where to take us! Our first shop we encountered had a huge outdoor selection, but the bowls were not kept. They were dusty with spider webs all over, due to storing their inventory outdoors. The second shop was a smaller indoor shop, located not too far across the street.
The streets were extremely dangerous without speed limits. There were massive amounts of cars and motorcycles speeding on a downhill curve without crosswalks. Wayan made sure we were safe and helped us cross the street, as if he was a cross guard. This process of crossing the street, took about 5 very hot minutes! To find out, the shop was closed.
Luckily, the time it took to attempt to cross back over to where our car was located, someone yells, “coming!”. We meet yet another Wayan! When Wayan meets Wayan… (haha!) In that moment, we learned that “Wayan” means first born/eldest son. Therefore, every first born son, is named Wayan.
Wayan from the glass shop, lets us know that they make their own bowls. The small shop we were at, was their sales office with a few demos for display. We then walk back across the street, to where they hand make these bowls. We got to see the process and all the hard labor that goes into making these beautifully crafted molten glass bowls. All day long, these artisans work in extremely hot conditions melting these hand blown glass bowls over gamal wood.
After seeing this process and appreciating the labor behind each piece, we made a decision to support Wayan “the shop owner’s” business, by sharing their glass art, and the love we have for them…with others. It’s truly an appreciation for the love of art.
And that’s how “Port Dr” came about! Straight from the port to your drive! As for our driver Wayan, we couldn’t have asked for a better host to share his life stories and dreams with. We spent a day, where Wayan would show us around his favorites spots which included temples, a bridge in a very secluded area, markets for food and trinkets, and a special lunch in the middle of a rice paddy field!
Our trip to Bali, will forever be remembered as a special place, and a humbling experience! Thank you for taking the time to read our journey, we hope you enjoyed it!
