It’s getting hot in here.
My family and I are gathered around a fire pit in Ubud Bali, the flames fanned by Idha Guru Sri Empu, a revered Balinese priest who chants as the fire grows in intensity. Idha Guru has ash daubed across his face, a sage-looking beard and his family acts as the back-up band banging drums and singing along. Glowering over this cross-legged fire circle is a large, carved idol of Kali, Hinduism’s “black god”.
As instructed, at each pause, we “om” and throw fistfuls of rice into the fire; the rhythmic nature of the offering, the rising emotion of the chants, the searing heat and the clouds of smoke; I think briefly this is what taking peyote must be like and it’s the closest thing this avowed atheist has ever come to a spiritual high.
We are honouring Agni the fire deity and also, as one does, asking for a little luck and good fortune in return. Once the ceremony is over, we also chat with Idha Guru through an interpreter. We hear about his spiritual calling to the role, his family life and learn that we apparently had an unusually strong fire – but I wonder if he says that to all the disciples.
This ancient Vedic ritual, known as Angihotra, comes at the end of a tour of Idha Guru’s home where we see a pale-faced Ganesh peering at us from behind chequered curtains, traditional toothy Balinese demons hiding in the windows and a watery shrine paying homage to a golden Buddha. Everywhere you look there are golden sashes, wooden altars and flowery offerings.
It’s an intimate insight into the spiritual side of Ubud, Bali that many talk up but few get to experience.
Not your average wellness resort
Our ceremony has been organised by Anantara Ubud Bali Resort located just north of Ubud near Banjar Puhu where we are staying for a couple of days. The resort has 85 keys but manages to blend into the lush tropical surrounds like Star Wars’ Cloud City, the floating metropolis that is both separate from and a key part of the cloudy sky.
Guests are greeted by the Gamelatron, and ominous sounding kinetic sculpture by New York artist Tirta Swara made up of 24 different local gongs (trompong gongs dating from the 1950s and hand-forged gongs made by the artist); it chimes melodically as you are led to the Lobby Lounge whose outdoor area is a wood-clad platform seemingly hovering over the jungle with Mt Agung beyond.
The resort’s design is inspired by the area’s rice terraces, and our pool villa is accessed via an inclinator as the abodes cascade down the mountainside, so each has an uninterrupted view of every possible shade of green in the world. The villa itself is detailed in rich, dark wood with vaulted ceilings trimmed with amber lighting that gives the room a feeling of permanent sunset. You enter the living space with the two bedrooms coming off either side; bathrooms have a feature wall of moss and ferns in keeping with the verdant surrounds. A lap pool runs the full length of the villa, drawing a watery line under the view, and is accessible from the living space and both bedrooms. Thoughtful touches abound like a bowl of fresh local fruit and the gift of an intricately carved Balinese fan.
Village life
More local insights await the following morning on a walk through the rice terraces with local guide Putu. We weave through a forest of banana trees and past Balinese cows to emerge in the green chessboard of sprouting rice fields, then make our way along the terrace borders to the village of Puhu. We have been granted access to a local home, a two-family compound on the edge of town guarded by a stone sculpture of Ganesh who is there to ward off any negative energy. The compound is large with a particularly ornate residence reserved for the eldest child and temples on the north and east side of the property; in Ubud you are never far from a place of worship.
The Balinese love a garland, too, and even the cars here have colourful bows, streamers and flowers decorating the grills. Putu explains that we have come during a local celebration where the people are giving thanks for all things that man has made: cars, scooters, even computers are being festooned with colour.
There is a genuine joy in Bali’s north, removed as it is from much of the busier parts of the island. Ubud is often romanticised as Bali’s hippie heart but there is some truth to it in the simplicity of life in the villages and remembering to have gratitude for simple things like our own ingenuity.
Back at Anantara Ubud Bali Resort we enjoy this peaceful remoteness by lounging in the resort pool and having a leisurely lunch at the all-day Indonesian diner Kirana. In the evening, we dress in sarongs and drive out to meet Idha Guru Sri Empu. If our fire truly is unusually strong, then it was definitely fanned by a couple of days of connection and quiet in the jungles of Ubud.
