InterContinental Bali Resort?s unique brand concept ?In the Know? invites guests to visit the cultural landscape of Bali and delve into the extraordinary agrarian organisation behind it. The island?s irrigated padi fields are achieved through an ancient and complex system of aquatic engineering, uniquely managed by the farmers through village cooperatives known as ?Subak?.
Irrigation is critical to Balinese wet-rice agriculture because of the long dry season that extends from April to October, while the substance of rural life is dependent on the accuracy of the water flow as it is diverted from the 150 rivers and streams that gush from Bali?s crater lakes. The water is then channelled through an elaborate system of dams, canals, tunnels, aqueducts and bamboo pipes to the top of a series of terraced rice fields. From here it can flow, with gravity, from field to field. The subak is a great example an egalitarian farming system and one of the most vital components of Balinese society; integrally linked to the island?s history, landscape and culture. Based on the Balinese philosophical principle of ?Tri Hita Karana? ? which holds that happiness and prosperity can only be attained if all human beings live in balance and harmony with God, with other human beings, and with the environment ? the subak is economically productive and ecologically self-sustainable. It is based on a democratic and equal distribution of resources, completely independent from political and administrat...