Melissa's_Asian Studies 2018-2019

For this blog post I want to discuss a fun topic. I will be speaking about a famous Indonesian hot sauce. While I was in Bali, we went out to eat our second day there at a restaurants. We asked for hot sauce, hoping they would give us ‘Valentina’ or ‘Tapatio’. The waitress was not sure what we were asking for but she brought “sambal”. Sambal is a type of spicy paste, almost like guacamole. We all took one taste of the salsa because it was way too spicy; and we love spicy food but that was very hot. Sambal is made up off chili peppers, fish paste, garlic, ginger, scallion, lime juice, rice vinegar, and more ingredients.This hot salsa was not the type of sauce we were expecting but it does the job if you are looking for a spice in your food. There were many good dishes in Bali. Another plate that was very tasty was the rice and the teriyaki chicken.

I wasn't sure if writing about the Denpasar air port in Bali was a as interesting to anyone as it is to me. But out of all the airports I have been too, the Denpasar air port has been the best. They have even picked up and award for "Worlds Best Airport". This airport is so beautiful and amazing. Landing in Bali and just looking at the airport I was already so shocked at the nice art, nature, and detail in the architecture. The air port is half inside and half outside, so you feel the heat as soon in their but it is totally worth it. The airport has a big water fountain with gold detailing. When landing in Bali you see a lot of men asking if you need a taxi to take you to your place and they are ready to bargain with you. And if they see that you feel like their offer is too much someone else will show up to offer you less.

While I was in Bali I got to visit the Bali Zoo and it was an unforgettable experience. I have gone to the zoo many times in the US but it can not compare to the zoo in Bali. In Bali, you are allowed to interact with animals and actually touch them. While you are walking animals are free with no cage walking with you. Of course these animals were friendly; the animals that were loose were deer, kangaroos, and chickens. I got to ride and feed elephants and Camels in Bali and it was a beautiful experience. Indonesia has a lot of nature and is very animal friendly. Bali is also very famous for their Monkey Forest. This was another place I got to vist; you are able to walk around the forest that is full of architecture and monkey everywhere. There are monkeys walking next to you so freely. You able to get as close are you could to the monkeys because they were not in cages.

Friday in class it was mentioned that in Bali whenever there is a holiday streets are empty, many shops close, and everyone goes out to celebrate.While I was in Bali the streets were always busy with motorcyclist, cars, and A LOT of taxis, that we would be scared to cross the street. But, one of the days the streets were empty and people were wearing white. Men and woman both had grains of rice sucked onto thier forehead. We didn't know, what they were celebrating but turns out that on June 9th in Bali they celebrate Kuningan day. This is a special holiday when their ancestors return to heaven after visiting the earth during Gulgan celebration. During the ceremony people make offerings to be given to their ancestors as they make their way to heaven. The most common offering is yellow rice because it represents gratitude towards god, wealth,  joy, and happiness.

For this blog post I will be summarizing about something that struck out to me when I was reading Chapter two of, ‘A History of Asia’. On page 30 the book is speaking about the reincarnation beli ef of Hinduism; According to hindus, “One's relatives or ancestor might have been reborn as a horse or a spider”. Your second life is determined by karma and dharma. This is very interesting to me because I am catholic and I have never heard that you can reborn as an animal or a dehumanized life. I question, how do you feel if you lived a life of an animal?. An animals life is very different from a human life style. Also, many people that practice Hinduism try follow the rules, and not commit and bad actions in order to have good Karma for this reason; to live a decent life in their second life .