I had always wanted to go to Bali. Bali had always seemed to be filled with intrigue, mystery, and a destination that was not on the beaten track. However, much like Borneo it proved to be none of these things. Bali is firmly on the tourist track, unfortunately the "package tourist" track. It is constantly filled with tourists searching for a week of sea and sun with a bit of disinfected culture thrown in. During my travels I had been hearing mixed reviews of Bali from other backpackers, with most of these comments having a rather negative tone. I had even decided not to go to Bali, wanting to skip the "cultural theme park", but upon arrival in Indonesia I decided that I had to find out for myself what this island called Bali was really all about. I will admit that I was lured there with promises of great diving with the strange and rare Mola-Mola (giant quarter-shaped Sun Fish) off of the southeastern coast of Bali. I arrived in Denpasar, Bali in the early morning of August 13th. I was proceeding immediately onward to the town of Ubud in the center of the island by way of local transportation known as bemos (mini-vans). This, however, proved rather difficult as I couldn't seem to get a straight answer out of anyone as to how to go about getting there nor on how much it would cost. It appeared that everyone was out for themselves, looking to overcharge the unknowing tourist and to send her to Ubud by way of someone that they knew rather then give her the real information. Now this was exactly what other travelers had told me about Bali: that Bali possessed some of the worst touts on the Southeast Asian circuit and that everyone was out for themselves. I cringed when I found this to be the truth (at least in Denpasar). I finally got a straight answer from a police officer as to where I needed to change bemos. Once I arrived to the first bemo station to change I found the same problem. "Oh no, we no go to Ubud. We wait for minimum 5 people." Meanwhile, I was clearly the only one heading to Ubud. So the local price for this ride should have been 5,000 rupiah (roughly 50 cents) and I was repeatedly being quoted prices of 60,000 rupiah upwards. After waiting around a good half hour and succumbing to tears of frustration (I know, I know, so silly), I finally agreed to a shockingly overpriced "private" bemo ride the 45 kilometers to Ubud. Aiaiaiaiai! The frustrations of being taken advantage of! Upon arriving into Ubud I was bombarded by people trying to sell me a room. I rather successfully ignored them and made my own way to look for somewhere to stay. I found a lovely 2 story Bali-style bungalow for around $12 a night (expensive for Indonesia, well-priced for Bali) complete with an open lounging area below and an open-air bathroom surrounded by jungle plants and flowers. I went back out into town hoping for a more peaceful experience than the morning provided.
The amazing thing about Bali is that no matter how many tourists there are or how corrupted the locals appear in regards to these tourists there still remains an enormous concentration on their faith, traditions, and ceremonies. The day I arrived in Ubud was the night of the half moon. The Balinese mark this day by placing little corn husk boxes filled with rice and flowers along the streets and temples. These little parcels are continuously being stepped on by careless tourists but they are repeatedly replaced by the locals and are a beautiful testament to the quotidian rituals still followed in Bali. Everywhere in Ubud I was constantly aware of a shopkeeper going outside to light incense for a particular deity or of a woman balancing a large offering of fruit on her head headed to the nearest temple or of a young boy wearing a traditional Balinese headdress following behind his mother witnessing the magnificence in the everyday. Ubud is by far the best place to visit in Bali if one is interested in partaking in local ceremonies and demonstrations. I often shun performances showcasing local ceremonies that are put on solely for tourists as lacking in the beauty and vividness one witnesses when watching a "real" ceremony, but in Ubud it was quite different. Yes, many of the performances were put on for the sole benefit of the onlooking tourists, but these ceremonies still managed to captivate the audience through the absorbing performances given by the actors who appeared to genuinely enjoy their roles rather than just to be going through the motions (as so often happens with nightly performances given to tourists). I also was lucky enough to be in Ubud during an evening of local ceremonies put on by locals for locals. Naturally I had no idea it was happening and just happened upon it and I still have no idea what it was for, though I do know that it started around 9pm and lasted until well past 2am! I only lasted until about midnight, but was able to watch a number of different performances including the beautiful Balinese dancing and a type of skit with men in animal costumes who eventually become entranced with the spirit and rather seem to go a bit crazy. This was a bit unnerving as the entire area was covered with people (mostly locals dressed in fantastic traditional clothing) sitting, watching the festivities and when this man fell into a trance he began yelling and screaming and fairly thrashing about causing everyone in the vicinity (including myself) to jump up and move back, naturally bumping into a million people along the way. Of course, I had no idea that he was in a trance and just thought that he was having a rough time (and being quite rude about it too!). But then some young boy enlightened me as to what was really going on and recommended that I take a few steps backwards from the scene. After all the mayhem, the rest of the ceremony (or rather the parts that I saw) were beautiful in the way that the Balinese maintained such a concentrated amount of passion and intensity for their gods and were able to communicate these feelings into the audience.
A rather quirky fact about Bali is that there are only 4 names given to people when they are born. The names are the same for male or female and they represent the birth order of the children. The names in order are: Wayan, Made (pronounced MAH-DAY), Nyoman, and Ketut. Since there would naturally arise some confusion with everyone having the same names everyone also has a nickname. After a few days of asking people, "What's your name?", I realized that it was much easier to just guess which of the four it might be. And for those of you wondering what happened if a family had more than four children, they just started over so it was quite common to have two Wayan's or Made's in one family. Crazy, no? I was never able to find out the reason behind the four names since as far as I know there is no Hindu belief behind it and it is only reserved to the island of Bali and not greater Indonesia.
Yet another tradition practiced in Bali is the practice of turning off all of the island's electricity, including that of the 5 star resorts, for three whole days in February. This act is thought to appease the evil volcano spirits that inhabit the island, thus ensuring a non-volcanic year. Though what is done for the tsunami, hurricane, and typhoon spirits is beyond me.
After four ceremony and shopping-for-local-handicrafts filled days in Ubud I left for the island of Nusa Lembongan off of the southeastern coast of Bali. Nusa Lembongan is still part of Bali proper and thus follows all of the same customs and traditions. I went to this particular island to go scuba diving hoping to see the fabled Mola-Mola (Pacific Sun Fish). Well, the Mola-Mola didn't make an appearance, but I did get to swim once more with Manta Rays, and it is always such an exhilarating experience swimming with these gentle giants. Nusa Lembongan exemplifies the ways in which the Balinese have managed to maintain their traditional lifestyles despite the constant barrage of modern-day tourism. 90% of all income generated on Nusa Lembongan comes from the cultivation of seaweed. Each family has a plot of seafloor on which they grow either white or green seaweed. When the seaweed is fully grown, it is plucked from the ocean, and laid out on large palettes placed all over the island to dry. The result is a very fishy smelling island, making sunbathing rather unpleasant. The majority of the dried seaweed is then sold to Japan for use in soaps, toothpastes, and food products. What is interesting about this seaweed venture is that the locals seem uninterested in tourism, at a time when most islands are abandoning their traditional ways of life in order to try their hand at the tourism industry. At first I was rather put off by the stink of the drying seaweed, but I was soon able to appreciate the fortitude the locals possess in order to continue life in this way.
I then proceeded to the small town of Tulamben on the eastern coast of the island of Bali to dive the fabled "Liberty Wreck", a US Navy cargo boat sunk several decades ago. Generally, I do not like diving wrecks as I am more attracted to swimming with fish and other underwater creatures. However, the reason the Liberty Wreck is so fantastic is that it is home to giant schools of barracuda and swirling jackfish, schools of giant sea-green Bumphead Parrotfish with rows of giant white teeth used for chomping fresh coral, several varieties of the smaller creatures under the sea such as warty frogfish, anemone shrimp, crabs, and soft and hard corals. I had planned to dive the wreck only two times and call it a day, but it was so wonderful that I ended up diving it four times. Each dive was technically at the same site, but since I never saw the same creatures twice they all seemed so unique. Please refer to my Picasa website for photos of these underwater animals.
I ended my time in Bali in the town of Kuta. Kuta is known for surfing, sunbathing, and drinking the night away. This was somewhere that I had desperately wanted to avoid, but since I had a very early flight the following morning and Kuta is a mere 10 minutes away from the airport I was destined to spend at least one night there. I arrived in the late afternoon to search the backpacker zone for a decent room. If any of you reading this has ever been to Koh San Road in Bangkok you will completely understand that Kuta is exactly the same, I even felt I was in Thailand (complete with old lecherous western men with very young local girls)! Small, narrow alleyways were filled with dingy, musty, dark hotel rooms which I couldn't bear to spend even one night in. The streets were also filled with scores of cheap restaurants and bars specializing in shoddy backpacker food and cheap beer. I finally found a decent place with a nice pool, took a swim, and then headed for the infamous Kuta beach. It was just as I had suspected: sardine-like packed beachfront filled with rows of surfboards, touts selling everything from seashells to tattoos, and barely dressed tourists basking in the late afternoon sun. The backdrop to this scene was the busiest street in Bali lined with Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds, Starbucks, and other sad emblems of the United States. Yuck! I am so glad that I did not spend more than 5 minutes there!
Overall, Bali was pretty much what I had expected: a rather bizarre mixture of tradition and tourism, with just enough myth to keep it alluring.
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