Predawn Sounds In Denpasar

Drifting between sleep and wakefulness in the early hours of my first morning in Bali, I heard a variety of sounds: car and motorcycle engines, a rooster crowing, the rhythmic swish of someone sweeping pavement with a reed broom, the Muslim call to prayer, an Indonesian woman singing in the shower, and the sizzle of oil in a hot pan. Days start early in Bali so people can get things done before the midday heat sets in. As the sky lightened from black to gray, the city was waking up.