In Reply to: As a visitor, and a poor 'bule' at that posted by Filo on Thursday, 28. February 2008 at 17:27 Bali Time:
Respect is appreciated and comes back to you.
On my first visit to Bali we were standing high up on the steps of Besakih Temple when i noticed a ceremonial procession of Balinese climbing up the steps towards us.
As the priest drew near i crouched down on the ground, gesturing to my family to do the same.
After the priest passed by, Balinese people came up to me to say thank you. They respected the fact that i was respectful.
The following day we did a tourist bus trip and attended a cremation ceremony. Although other tourists on the trip didn't have sarongs, just from seeing how Balinese were dressed it was obvious sarongs were the appropriate dress. No shops in the village to buy one. I tried to rent one for my family and i. A shop keeper lent us the sarongs, we put them on and re-joined the crowd outside. About ten minutes later a man approached us. The family of the deceased had heard what we'd done and wanted us to join them in their home before the cremation. I refused because my Westerm way of thinking didn't think it was appropriate to intrude. I didn't realise we'd been honoured. Later on our tour guide told us the cremation tower indicated the deceased was a high caste Brahman.