We decided to have the local village artists recreate the quintessential Balinese elements into our new house. Our Balinese partner calls these elements “Bali Style”, and since he is also our landlord for the land we leased (for 20 years). So for 8 weeks, we took photos of what we liked best.

The set of elements we come up with was:

• Vaulted ceilings that revealed the beautiful woods, gave a feeling of a large volume, and gave a place for the hot air to rise to.
• Carved wood beams around the veranda, supporting the tile roof.
• Carved stone motives surrounding the carved and painted Palace Doors, off of the veranda.
• Brick walls with carved limestone decorations.
• Carved Stone statuary in the garden.
• Large veranda for outdoor activities and sleeping.
• Carved stone around the base of the veranda.
• Ceiling fans to circulate the cold air from the floor.
• Large CANDI for cars to enter the driveway.
• Raised Bales with grass roofs for lounging.
• Lights pointed up inside the ceilings, and up to the canopy of the coconut trees.
• CANDI for people to enter the front of the property.

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Our 15 Are (about 1/3 acre) of land, and building site lies behind the owners older compound, in the middle of 24 coconut trees. So we had to build a 200 foot long (60 meter) driveway and wall past the existing buildings, and make the driveway entrance attractive (as seen from the street).

The location of land, for sale or lease, is often behind a Balinese family compound. When the front (street facing) compound was originally built, the access to back lot was not a priority. Of course, the back lot has little value to another family if you cannot get to it.

Our negotiations for the back lot land, hung on the question of street access. We compromised with the landlord, in that we would pay for the relocation of his parking area to the rear, and we would build the new driveway and side wall. We decided to also upgrade his front street wall and entrance to a more attractive “Bali Style” unified design. So, now we both can access a parking area in between our two lots (family compounds) and still have privacy for each family.

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Children in Bali before their first tooth loosing are considered as a representative of god. They are not responsible for their action because as Balinese believes, their mind is still undeveloped. It is the god within them that acts through their body. The parents do not intimidate their child, but rather coax him into obedience as an equal. Balinese father tend to show more affection than mother, it is an usual sight to see a father takes a walk, and play with his child, sometimes talk with his child as if he is a grown up.

In Bali, especially in the rural area, child seldom has a chance to be pampered. No child has more than minimum of adult attention. No sooner is the infant weaned, than it goes into the care of another child. The growing infant find himself immediately part of child society, to which he must adjust himself. The child grows among other children as a children’s republic, with an independent life of its own. Only by independence and lack of pampering can one explain the well-mannered seriousness and the self-sufficiency of Balinese children.

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The palace of the second Puputan of Badung where the co-reigning prince of Badung, Gusti Ngurah Made Pamecutan, with his family and faithful followers died on 20 September 1906 between 16.00 and 17.00 in the afternoon.

A scene from Puputan in Pamecutan, where the old prince of Pamecutan, Gusti Gde Ngurah Pamecutan with his family and faithful followers found death on the square not far from the Puri (palace). One sees the gold sedan chair in the middle of scores of dead people in the foreground on the right hand of the photo.

Photo source : Museum Bali