Chapter Thirty Two: Jatiluwih Rice Fields, Bali: July 2014

One of the features that Bali is best known for are the rice terraces. On Bali there are a total of five rice terraces covering a surface area of 19500 hectares. The rice fields are irrigated by a cooperative water management system known as subak, dating back to the 9th century. It is this system of irrigation that has positioned the Balinese as the most prolific rice growers in the region, and the terraces are certainly worth a visit. The Subak System makes up the cultural landscape of Bali, and has earned the island a place on the Unesco World Heritage List.

I chose to go along to the Jatiluwih rice fields on the west part of the island (Tabanan regency)as part of my tour with Yande. The rice fields are fully operational, and you are pretty much guaranteed to see some activity in the fields when you visit. Even though the fields are used by agriculture, the tourism industry hasn’t missed the chance to earn some money from visitors, and there are ticket stations along all of the main roads entering the rice terrace area, and you are obliged to pay if you want to drive any further.

It was interesting to see how the rice fields are managed, and it is still very manual labour which basically involves standing knee deep in a field of mud for long periods of time. However the workers I photographed seemed very happy to be there, and were equally happy to have their photos taken.

The colours were very lush, and I was able to take some nice photos.

It was interesting to see the extent of the manual labour – on different pitches I saw men working with manual tools, with oxen, and with motor driven machines.

Simple shelter for the workers to rest in.

Not sure how road worthy this bike was, but I’m sure it’s a great feeling driving to work every morning…..

With the exception of the two wider landscape shots which were taken with the Summicron 28mm, all the images in this post were made using the Leica M-E and Elmarit-M 90mm lens.

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