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This is number 40 in my on-going but ad hoc column - Rumination's from My Verandah!
June and I escaped the cold, the rain and the gloom of both the Australian political situation and the unfolding "dynamic" and somewhat chaotic financial system, for a small respite in a country that some love, and others love to hate!
Sadly, that holiday is over and here I sit on the verandah back in cold Melbourne with a glass of red and many fond memories over which to ruminate on.
Australian's have been going to Bali to enjoy the "everything" for over five decades to my knowledge. I recall back in the late 1960's sharing a houses in Prahran Victoria with a bunch of girls, one of whom was a school teacher who used to makes an annual trek to Bali, for her holidays.
I never really thought much about it at the time, but in retrospect it must have been very different then to what we experience when we come to visit this island,. But even now Bali is a strange, beautiful and different place very unlike Australia and even unique in Indonesia. In many ways it is probably much like it was 50 years ago, if you dig deep enough or indeed, go inland from the rapidly developing tourist areas along the coast, such as Kuta, Legian and Seminyak.
But even in those areas I find sufficient beauty and peace both in what was around me, as well as in the people, to make me come back again and again. In fact it was my second trip to Bali this year, having travelled there also in February. I cannot say that I go there just because of the Balinese people, but it would be right to say that of all the Indonesians, it is the Balinese that are the most welcoming, accommodating and friendly.
Certainly those who work in the ever expanding hospitality industry to make sure that as visitors we are made welcome, do it very well. Sometimes as I looked around me I thought that this was not necessarily an easy task as there are, sadly, sufficient "ugly aussies" to make me cringe at times, while still admiring the way the Balinese just stay so relaxed. In many ways the Balinese are just naturally "chilled out" people, and while I am certain their jobs in the hotels and resorts demand they carry them selves with a gentle and helpful manner, it is obvious that it is very much part of their natural disposition.
There is a saying among those who visit Bali regularly, if you meet a rude "Balinese" person they are probably Javanese! It would appear that while there are obviously very nice people of a Javanese extraction, they do make up the bigger percentage of "locals" who might not be so pleasant.
Personally, I find the Balinese always have a smile on their face, that they have adapted to the huge and continual influx of Westerners, and make every effort to greet you, to converse with you and to help you, while speaking far better English than most Australian's (as an example of the Westerners) can speak Balinese. The attitudes of the Balinese to visitors puts those "micro-brain" Australians who bleat about foreigners coming here to Australia and further complaining about their lack of English, to shame!
Going to Bali reminds me how we used to be! That is to say, when I was younger, so much younger than today (apologies to Lennon/McCartney) - we always said good morning to people we met, or hello and goodbye, and thank you, and your welcome and so forth. These social niceties seem to have become largely lost in our society as we harden and become more compartmentalised in our social interactions.
If you don't get a "Selamat pagi" (Good morning) or just "pagi" (morning) when head out in the morning then that is a rare moment indeed. And when someone does something for someone else there is always the "terima kasih" or thank you. And what is wonderful, most Australians I have come in contact with quickly adapt to this social nicety- and it makes me wonder how little effort it might take to reintroduce this social nicety into our lives in Australia - then I have a reality check!
It's hard not to fall immediately in love with any place that is 28 degrees day in and day out, while in Melbourne it was overcast skies, rain, sleet and temperatures in the Dandenong Ranges of 8 degrees. But you could get this great weather in any tropic area, so there are other things that make Bali beautiful to behold other than the weather. The ad hoc, often chaotic, totally unreal building process leaves many first time visitors in amazement. It is a kind of admixture of traditional Balinese buildings next to concrete new builds, colonial architecture, residences mixed in with traditional businesses and next door there is likely to be modern tech business.
But you know what? It works! We have the most complex and amazing building codes, restrictions rules, and guidelines and yet we have managed to utterly wipe out all vestiges of beauty in many places. Take Melbourne's Collins Street as an example. Once the area between Russell and and Spring Streets was known as the "Paris End" of Collins Street, because of the superb architecture. In it's infinite wisdom, in the 1960's and 70's, the powers to be set about demolishing these beautiful buildings and as a "sop" left a few facades. Now what we have is towering glass and steel monstrosities that as the years go on attain no beauty, far from it they look old and weary and out of place. For all our many constraints and regulations and building codes we end up with a mixture of architecture best described as "crap"!
There is one regulation I am aware of in Bali, and it works beautifully. No building can be built taller than the height of the palm trees! Can it get any simpler than that? And yet again, it works really, really well and doesn't stop the huge influx of dollars into Bali that has resulted in massive hotel developments which has become an inevitability. I guess all this development is "honey and vinegar" activity, with a decent dose of Catch-22 mixed in.
Bali just becomes more and more popular! I mean the flights are cheap, the hotels are very affordable and rate of exchange to the Rupiah is as close to being stagnant in a positive way as it can be with the $1Au to 10,000 Rp having been a constant for a long time. Then when you add the people and scenery the reason we flock here becomes self evident. So more people keep coming, and more accommodation is needed, and so more is built which leads to competition from the very small boutique establishments through to the mega-hotels with prices maintained if not reducing, and so more people come, and more accommodation is built. On it goes.
However, the Balinese people do benefit. Bali has one main income source - tourism, and they embrace it. The Balinese people are generally not well off, so the employment opportunities afforded them through the myriad of jobs tied to hotels and restaurants means more opportunities and of course there is the obvious offshoots where more tourists mean more work for local businesses, for musicians who service the hotels and, an increasing workforce that keeps the whole place running and clean.
Not for the Balinese is principle of technology before jobs. If you want a street swept, give the job to a person and not a machine! The Balinese do not shy away from work and take great pride in their country. Sure in places it is run down, or is it just not developed out? But the streets are clean and for example the lane ways around Legian are magnificent to walk through and they are not just clean they smell great. We all know of lanes in our respective Aussie cities and towns where we couldn't claim that! Even old buildings are kept neat and the gardens behind the tall walls are simply stunning. There is much pride on display.
As for the areas outside the coastal regions, such as Ubud, they are pieces of paradise. Some of the little villages might just be as they were 100 years ago and whether city or country, you will always find a welcoming smile and each corner brings a surprise and will bring a smile to your face.
But if you haven't been to Bali, don't think it is backward. Oh no! The kids still have mobile phones to their ears, or their eyes, wi fi is everywhere, satellite TV is the thing and while the kids may not have the capacity to get a snappy car, there are more motorcycles than you can ever imagine - they are everywhere.
That brings to mind another fantastic if not unreal phenomena in Bali. The roads and the traffic rules. Except for the newly constructed motor ways that were built for some reasonably recent International event - not worth discussing, they are narrow and they are choked by cars, mostly taxis, and by the thousands of motor scooters and bikes. For the first time visitor, a taxi ride is a real eye opener and I mean 'eye opener". Your eyes may very well boggle out of your head as traffic rushes toward you, on both sides of the road.
Locally the rule is, if there is a gap - fill it. Yes keep to the left is a general "rule", but you know what they say about rules being made to be broken? The Balinese utterly smash it! As for intersections, well the smaller the intersection the more the chaos. There is NO give way to the right, or the left, or ahead, or behind! See a gap and fill it. To us it IS absolute chaos, to the Balinese it is normal. You simply smile and just "do it", and except for when the really heavy rains come - there is little grid lock. Yes it is another thing that just simply somehow works.
We have an ever growing incidence of "road rage" in Australia, which is getting more and more out of hand. Now in the visits I have made to Bali I have never seen an accident, and, I have never ever seen anyone lose their cool on the roads. It must happen, it must! But it must be damn rare!
Talking about "rare" makes me think of steaks, and thus food. Holy mackerel, and every other form of seafood, asian food, eastern and western food. It's all there if you look for it. You can eat at a roadside handcart (not recommended), a small family eatery, if you take precautions, slightly larger business based eateries are generally ok, and of course the big hotel restaurants, usually the most hygienic and cost friendly and past them it is really upmarket!
Taking precautions simply means not drinking the local water, always use bottled water. Use hand sanitiser regularly and if you eat somewhere that you may be a bit concerned about, take something like Travelan to reduce the incidence of the dreaded Bali Belly. These basic precautions work and work well. In my stays in Bali I have only once had that the "belly" once, and it was my fault.
Horses for courses, and many courses of foods. What is brilliant is that we are in an economy that is not inflated. June and I, as an example, ate at our Hotel's restaurant on a number of nights, did I mention we were at the Kumala Pantai in Legian. We both had a main course, a Bingtang (the local pilsner beer - the BEST), dessert and a cafe latte each, and it cost is 310,000 Rupiah. That is $31.00Au. Not each, between us! The night before we went to my favourite (small) Tai restaurant and I had (again) the best fish red curry you can get, two Bingtang's and a coffee for $15.00 Au each.
There are so many, many incredible eating places and everyone that comes to Bali will have a list. But, for the best burgers in the Asia/Pacific region - there is only one place and that is the Wacko Burgers restaurant!
You eat breakfast, and at most hotels its buffet eat what you want, and everything from traditional Indonesian through to all forms of Western breakfasts and, when you finish your mind starts to wander into the "where for lunch" realm, and at lunch it is the same only for dinner!
What can I say, the food is amazing!
A few days before I left I had something else that was amazing, I had a brain massage! Ok, ok! It isn't advertised as a brain massage, but as a hair wash, that comes with head, neck, arms, hands and upper back massage. Now for the new to Bali, there are girls in every street asking you if you want a massage, and maybe some give good massages, and many will certainly make sure you have a very "happy" ending! But personally I enjoy the slightly more reputable establishments, such as the one attached to the Kumala Pantai. Here you can get massaged to death if you want to, but following June's suggestion I took a cream head wash.
Oh man alive! I was asked to remove my waistcoat and T-shirt and settled back as a pair of firm but gentle Balinese fingers ran through my hair. I was offered cold water or warm, and I took cold. Understand, you are in the tropics and unlike Melbourne for instance where the water at times comes out just above freezing, here the cold water is of a mild temperature. My hair was washed and the scalp massaged and it was all very nice, then some oils were put into my hair and the massage was altered and became harder and more intense, and, it was exquisite.
Then I was taken to a chair in another room, where cream was rubbed into my head and hair and magic fingers did their thing. Now when I say "magic fingers", I mean MAGIC! This girl found places on my head that I didn't know were sore and then using techniques obviously developed over the eons, worked her way through my skull until she was massaging my brain in a pleasure sensation that was close to Nirvana. Tension poured out of me as if it were being sucked out.
Ahhhh, that was good, but it wasn't over! Next oils and creams onto my neck and shoulders and the tension and all rational thoughts just disappeared into a place that I think is probably within the interstices of time and space! This was followed by the upper back, the arms and fingers. 45 minutes had passed in a flash.
Then back to the basin, for a warm water wash to get all the oils out of the hair. I chose to keep the oils on my neck, back and arms, as my skin needs all the help is can get. But wait! There's more. Then a ginseng lotion is gently rubbed into my hair, to strengthen it, and then rubbed gently but firmly dry, and then it was all over.
At this stage had this girl asked for my wallet I would have handed it over and gladly! Knowing any tips left at reception are pooled, I tipped the girl and went to pay for my one hour of ecstasy. The cost? 125,000Rp, or, $12.50! Oh lord !
And so my story of Bali and the beautiful people, scenery and food comes to an end, albeit temporary. The "brain massage", well that is something I’ll do again.
Bali, I love you and as I sat beside the pool at the Kumula Pantai with a Bintang, I knew all the realities of my life in Oz await me on return, but at that moment, I was without a care. But I was also without my two German Shorthaired , Bodi & Lenni.
Now I'm back, and Bodi and Lenni aren't at my feet, they are curled up in the warmth somewhere inside. As for me? I sit here with my cafe heater, Vandella, which is turned up full, while I fight to hold onto the memories of being warm, very warm this time last week. Oh well, I'll try and hold onto the memories of the people, the food, the warmth and that brain massage, if I can just hold on long enough for the warmth of Spring to arrive.
Selamat Malam!