Pictures of the Balinese
trip:
BALI
PICTURE BOOK:
https://picasaweb.google.com/anna.szczogryn/WavesAndMoreInBali?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ7Wn5Lh4_jkAQ&feat=email
thank
you Anna for the amazing photography skills and for making good use
of a high speed internet connection.
Nusa Lembongan, Lembongan
island. 15.00, 6th of June 2012, 700 hundred degrees
Celsius. I am baking at a slow and steady speed. The fan is on full
blast as I attempt to prevent my brain from turning into a stew. Let
us start where I last left you.
I landed in Bali on the
3rd of May. Disembarked the plane amongst numerous loud
Aussies on vacation and almost instantly melted upon exiting the
airport. It was good to be somewhere tropical again. It was even
better to have Anna waiting for me on the other side. And immediately
the fun begins, a million taxi drivers roam the sidewalk searching
for their next victim. We haggle for a better price, don't really get
it and proceed to drive through some pretty intense traffic to
Kerobokan a “serene” Balinese “village” that is half way
between the delirium of Kuta and the growing surfer town of Canggu.
We arrive at Puri Dukuh, a lovely homestay (b&b) run by Linda, an
Aussie expat. She gives us a warm welcome and helps us find our
bearings in the circus of South Bali.
Some interesting facts
about Bali. Bali is one of the mostly densely populated places on
earth and traffic to match. Think rush hour Milan ring roads mixed
with Trujillo, Sao Paulo and Beijing and replace 3/4 of the cars with
scooters and motorbikes. If you cannot imagine that, just take my
word for it: CRAZY TRAFFIC!
Anna and I set out to
explore the island. No way that I am driving in this mess.
Fortunately taxis are relatively inexpensive and at the loss of
personal mobility I decide that self preservation is more important.
For many years I
associated the image of Bali with quiet, green terraced rice pads and
perfect aquamarine waves. Probably the result of watching one too
many surf videos. No doubt both can still be found, but you have to
first escape the traffic and the full on coastal development of South
Bali.
Indonesia is the most
populous Muslim nation in the world, however Bali is (officially) 95%
Hindu. In the past 20 years many Muslims from neighboring islands
have relocated to Bali, however they don't figure in the official
census.
The Balinese brand of
Hinduism differs slightly from the original one. You see, once upon a
time Indonesia was predominantly hindu, however with the arrival of
Islam the old ways almost entirely disappeared... almost. The
Javanese royal family escaped Java and moved to Bali. With it came
artists, traditions and religion. The Javanese mixed with the
original people of Bali, rolled the local animistic religious beliefs
into a brand new version of Hinduism. Hinduism 2.0?
You see, Bali is
also known as the Island of Gods. I think I read somewhere that it is
because of the beauty of the island. Maybe so, however I'm pretty
sure that it is also due to the fact that religion is omnipresent on
the island and that Hinduism has a very high number of deities and
lesser Gods. Every house has four temples (4!), more times per day
offerings for the Gods are prepared: rice, cookies, coffee, fruit are
laid out in the cutest hand made mini-palm leaf-baskets. Incense
burning at all hours. The offers are placed on the small temples and
in front of doorways. The offerings then get eaten by ants, dogs,
cats, pigeons, rats, flies and also they get run over by mopeds,
pedestrians, cars and not so sacred cows. Ah, the cows. There are
cows in Bali, they are skinny skinny weird looking golden brown cows
and they have a sad sad look. You see, they are not as sacred as they
would have you believe. Nowadays many Balinese will eat beef and I
read that it is usually only the priests and few devotees that don't
eat cow. You cannot come to Bali and ignore religion. It is
impossible. It is everywhere. The offerings in shops, restaurants,
doorways, sidewalks. The ceremonies, the beautiful ceremonial clothes
that the women wear, gold and oranges, greens, yellows, pinks. The
generally white robes of the men and their turban. Women carry huge
baskets full of offerings on their heads. Fruit and drinks. Maybe
even a cigarette, apparently the Gods like to take a cigarette break
from time to time. Go figure. You will never see an icon depicting
the main Gods themselves. There is an empty stone throne on the
temples, where I imagine the Gods sit and banquet on the exquisite
offerings, that is the only physical reference that you will see to
them. However there are plenty of out of this world insane icons of
demi-God Hindu figures. Some of the statues on the island are of
titanic dimensions, taking up so much space that I am surprised they
didn't have to add lights for the landing planes not to hit them.
Most have muscular bodies and scary expressions, many hold weapons of
some sort (be it super sized swords or gigantic bow and arrow). Some
of them are half human, half beast. I would not want to irk a Hindu
lesser deity... They have built a pretty impressive, although
somewhat surreal cultural park called GWK (Garuda
Wisnu Kencana). The park is a mix
between disney world and the grand canyon and it feels like a Roman
arena crossed with a far west theme park. There are no icons of
Indians and Cowboys, on the other hand there are plenty of ENORMOUS
statues of the above mentioned mythical beings.
We would spend our
mornings hunting waves in Canggu or in Seminyak. I saw Anna catch her
first green wave and watched her paddle out in enormous surf in
Seminyak. We would then spend our afternoons visiting the numerous
beautiful temples dotted around the island. You see, not only does
every house have four temples, they have built big temples all over
Bali. The island is the product of pretty recent (in geological
terms) volcanic activity and if you proceed inland from the coast you
go vertical up the side of these awe inspiring volcanic formations.
All covered in green tropical vegetation and those breath taking rice
paddies that I had associated with Bali before even coming here. The
temples are truly something special! Some are set on lakes in the
shade of volcanoes, some perched on high cliffs by the roaring ocean
and some even built on tiny islands that look like they will not
withstand the next big swell!
All temples face
Mount Agung (Great Mount), the highest peak on Bali at 3000
meters above sea level. The roofs
are artistically adorned with decorative tiles,
the shrines
are intricately carved out of stone, little figures of daemons guard
gates so glorious that you would think they were built by God
himself. Offerings everywhere, incense, fine checkered cloth wrapped
around the columns and the imposing and ever present Banyan
trees (from
wikipedia: In Hinduism,
the leaf of the banyan tree is said to be the resting place for the
God Krishna, who,
after consuming all the universe during the time of destruction, absorbs everything created and turns
himself to a child as small as he could fit into the tiny leaf of the
banyan tree and keeps floating in the void space, until he himself
decides to recreate everything back out from him). The priests come
and go wrapped in their white robes and sarongs. Some “tactfully”
try to extort money from the tourists in exchange for a visit to the
sacred ceremonial grounds where pagans are not allowed to enter
unless they don't help some holy figures fund the purchase of that
sorely needed iPhone apparently (more on this later). Sun burnt
tourists take pictures of the temples and look mighty awkward in
their sarongs (see pictures of me in one for proof). Despite the
presence of the tourists and the touts there is something
esthetically pleasing in these temples. Almost all buildings in Bali
are esthetically pleasing (with notable exceptions mentioned later),
Linda tells me that it is the religion that requires people to build
homes in a certain way. A house must therefore fulfill certain
parameters, no matter how much money you have, the positive
by-product of this is that the buildings generally look pretty.
We
went to the Bukit peninsula on the Southern most tip of Bali, here we
visited Padang Padang Uluwatu and Blangan. Padang Padang and Uluwatu
are small tiny beaches, famous for their surfing. In Uluwatu, the
dramatic cliffs vertically drop into the sea and the small warungs
(food stalls) overlook the giant breakers that travel from the
roaring forties all the way to the sharp coral reef. The setting is
dramatic and to get into the surf you have to walk through an iconic
cave after climbing down a maze of stairways. We stood in awe and
watched as crazy surfers were pulling into waves that were double
overhead and breaking on a sharp and shallow coral reef. In Padang
padang you descend what feels like a million stairs go through an
even narrower cave and reach a small white sand beach. Balangan is
the stuff that dreams are made of: a palm fringed white sand beach
with azure water and no major developments in site. Refreshing to see
what the beaches in Bali probably looked like before the advent of
rampant development.
We
visited the Uluwatu temple, perched on the cliffs and populated by
cheeky monkeys, the site of the temple is definitely one of the most
awe inspiring. Here we also got to watch a very impressive
performance of the kecak dance. Balinese have developed numerous
complex dance forms, that usually involve the playing of instruments,
wearing beautiful, intricate robes. The kecak has the latter, but it
does not have any physical musical instruments: men are the instruments,
they make “chack chack”sounds (that is how the dance got its
name, keh-chack) with their voices. The men sit around in a circle
and sing and sway almost in a trance (chack'a chak'a chak'a faster
and faster and the slow again and with it they sway left right,
forward and backwards). The dancers, wearing heavy make up or scary
masks come out and artistically represent some ancient epic Hindu
tale. All this framed by the ocean, the temple, the setting sun, the
cheeky monkeys, the sunburnt tourists... it is a unique spectacle!
The
goods and the bads:
Bali has lots to offer. It has a fascinating culture and incredible traditions are very much alive. It is nice to see how even young teenagers with tattoos and piercings still wear the ceremonial dress and take part in the daily celebrations. The temples are truly architectural gems and the unspoilt landscapes on some parts of the island are a sight to match. The people are generally very friendly, big perfect white smiles (oh, I almost forgot: the Hindus have their teeth filed as a coming of age ceremony... OUCH! But nowadays they apparently only pass the file once, which still cannot be a pleasant experience. This is because it is believed that evil is stored in the uneven teeth... surely western orthodontists agree). Balinese and Indonesian food are good, cheap and relatively varied. Balmy tropical climate, tropical fruits, abundance of fish. The green rice paddies.
On
the downside:
mass
tourism has definitely landed, with all the associated benefits and
drawbacks. Huge coastal developments all over South Bali have spoiled
almost all the beaches. The traffic and the air pollution can easily
compete with those of the biggest cities in the world, one day it
took us 2 and a half hours to drive from Balangan beach to Kerobokan,
25 kms!
The
touts in Kuta are probably as bad as they get, a polite “no thank
you” does often not suffice, you have to look straight, avoid eye contact and walk
rudely past without answering. There is a true gold fever amongst the
Balinese and Javanese that have come here for work. I understand that
most people are trying to make a living, however there are times
where it is carried to the extreme. One of the first days we hired
a driver and told him where we wanted to go and made it perfectly
clear that we had NO INTEREST in stopping at any shops or restaurants
owned by his friends. He kept on insisting and eventually even pulled
up at a severely overpriced tourists restaurant that was in the
opposite direction of where we wanted to go. The above mentioned scoundrel owned an iPhone, I feel that he couldn't have been that desperate. For every 5 scoundrels like him there is one genuinely
nice guy who is not out to scalp you. We fortunately found Made
pretty soon and he took us around, with a big Balinese smile.
I almost forgot to mention that the Balinese are not very creative when it comes to naming their children: the traditional Balinese way is to call your first born Wayan, second born, Made, 3rd Nayoman, 4th Ketut. What if you have more than one child? You just start from Wayan again...
Now
this is convenient if you are a parent that doesn't have much
imagination, if you are a visiting foreigner it is just plain
confusing as this means that almost everyone you meet will have the
same name. Meaning that I have met many many many many Wayans, Mades,
Nayomans and Ketuts... The names are for both boys and girls. Boys are desirable because they remain with the family and share their wealth, girls go off to the husbands family and therefore contribute to another family's fortune.
I
mentioned that Bali has many interesting traditions, unfortunately
this also has some negative side effects. The Balinese still have a
caste system, and with each of the four castes a different form of
Balinese is spoken, making it very difficult to learn Balinese. On
the upside it appears that the cast system does not repress the lower
casts in the business environment, so that anyone can make a good
living, regardless of the cast of origin. Bahasa Indonesia, the
national language of Indonesia is spoken by all and is said to be one
of the easiest languages in the world. I in vain attempted to learn
it. I eventually had to concede that I should perhaps focus on it
another time. I did however buy a phrase book that is
completely,utterly useless, but that makes up for the lack of content
by offering hilarious dialogues such as:
-Where
shall we eat? -Di mana kita akan makan?
-Better
at Padang restaurant - Lebih baik di Rumah makan Padang
-All
right. Have you some cigarettes? -Baiklah, punya rokokkah anda?
-Yes,
I have. Here you're -Ya, saya punya. Inilah.
-I
left my cigarettes in the hotel. -Saya punya rokok ketinggalan di
hotel
-Are
you a heave smoker? -Pecandu rokokkah anda?
-No,
I'm not. Will you let me have a light? -Tidak, sudikah anda memberi
api.
,Oh,
my lighter has no wick. -oh, korek api saya tak ada
sumbunya.
-Let's
stop here. -Mari berhenti di
sini.
And
trust me, this isn't even a really good one, but I don't have the
patience to seek a better extract at this given moment. I hope you will
concur that the 3.5 USD that I spent for this jewel were a sound
investment, with infinite comedic value.
Indonesians
and Balinese are pretty much all chain smokers. It is sad, very sad
and when you try to explain that it is bad for them they laugh. They
are always keen to make a buck, however they don't hesitate to
squander 15'000 rupiah a day (1.50 USD) on a packet of cigarettes
(although I suspect that they smoke more than one pack a day). A
local kid wanted me to leave him my surf board for free when I left,
however he lost all my sympathy when I saw how much he smokes. I
pointed out that it is bad for him. He laughed. Then I asked him how
much he smokes. “more than one pack a day”. So I told him, if you
stop and save that money for a year you can afford to buy a NICE,
brand new surfboard. He shrugged and gave a cheeky smile.
Another
issue that deeply upset me was that at some temples the priests
seemed more concerned with ripping of tourists to make money than to
focus on their ceremonies. What kind of religious man does that? Oh,
wait, it has been done in the name of many different Gods across the
world for thousands of years, nothing new.
Waste
management is a big issue on Bali. Rubbish disposal Balinese style:
just chuck it wherever you want. This is a big problem all around the
world, but it is more evident in a country where the government does
not remove the problem from right in front of your eyes. Hopefully,
in the future companies will be forced to sell products with 100%
biodegradable materials and education will create awareness of the
damage that is done to waterways and ocean.
The
big smiles, the complex and intriguing culture, the beautiful
landscape, the wild climate still compensate for the over-development
of south Bali, the aggressiveness of the touts, the congested traffic
and nasty pollution. However if things keep on heading south I fear
that Bali would definitely lose its appeal. I hope that the
government and the people of Bali take note of the increasing
complaints of the visitors and start to take action and revert to
what must have undoubtedly been the Island of Gods.
I
leave you with the sales technique of the local “businessmen” and
“businesswomen”:
Poor
tourists wonders along main street.
“Businessman”
assesses the wealth of his potential pray by observing him whilst approaching.
BM:
“Yes, please”
Tourist
thinks to himself “yes please what??!” and makes the mistake of
engaging eye contact.
BM:
“Yes, please buy T-shirt”
T:
“No, thank you”
BM
“yes, I give you good price”
T:
“no interest, thanks”
BM:
“yes please, T-shirt”.
Sometimes
the more aggressive one will try to grab the arm of the tourists in
order to drag him into the shop. The stalls all sell the same
merchandise: tacky or downright vulgar t-shirts, cheap sarongs and
dresses, flip flops and tourist paraphernalia of questionable
quality and taste.
Sometimes
the tourists will be minding his own business, not making eye contact
and yet:
BM:
“yes, please”
“I
give you good price”
Most
interesting, but I don't really care for anything that you are
selling, therefore it doesn't matter how much you want to charge me
for the junk you are advertising... I don't want it, I am not
interested and why can you not just sit by your shop, greet the
passers by and be nice to them, maybe then people will stop. Or
better yet, why don't you diversify your product and sell something
that the tourists might actually want.
I do
however like this sales technique, because it is already making a
positive connection between the product and the potential buyer,
“yes, please” is somewhat reassuring, on the long run you hear it
a million times and you are almost tempted to think “yes, please,
do rip me off and sell me that low quality, Chinese made thingamajig
-that will break the moment I walk out of your stall- at four times
the price. I should have tried that in my former job: “yes please,
buy Greece structured bond, please. I give you good price, yes.”.
Just kidding. And with these profound thoughts I leave you and revert
to sitting on the beach, shaded by palm trees and drinking coconut
water. Yes, please!!!!
