Boomers Abroad

Description

Get ready to eat with your hands, brush up your Bahasa, and expand your perspective in this intensely rewarding do-it-yourself homestay.

Songan village is a fishing and farming community cradled between the volcanic slopes of Gurung Batur and the shore of Lake Batur, in northeastern Bali. Though tourism has had a heavy impact on the communities at the southern end of the lake, with "sunrise from Mt Batur" a highlight on many package tour itineraries, the villages on the lake's north end remain an almost entirely local space.

A beautiful, lovingly maintained Balinese family compound is the setting for your immersion. Follow Grandmother (meme) around and you will learn how to make and place the daily traditional spirit offerings. Follow Jiro, the mother, for the day and you might end up planting a field of garlic or playing 3rd-chair cymbals in a local gamelon orchestra. Tag along with your father and you will almost certainly find yourself in the electric atmosphere of a high-stakes, deeply cultural Balinese cockfight.

Cross paths with a pack of children and learn a pack of new vocabulary through miming and songs. Wander down the road to an open-air restaurant and enjoy another handful of nasi campur with grilled fish, green beans, tumeric-yellow coconut shavings, and spicy local sambal. Or spend the day with Ketut Pasek - elementary school teacher, fisherman, farmer, temple caretaker, and passionate guide - and learn to write Balinese script, study spirituality at the ancient Paru Ulun Danu, paddle a hand-carved canoe onto Lake Batur to learn about local aquaculture, or hike up the rice-terraced slopes of a volcano for outstanding areal views of the cauldera and coastline. And if you're tired of playing the anthropologist, there are the natural hot springs just down the road, and no end of perfect places to read, write, drink Bali coffee, and reflect. As long as you don't require the internet to do so.

If you are excited to embrace a challenge, explore and appreciate a community, and try on a new perspective, rent a scooter in Ubud and come be a student of this serene and fascinating place.