The Real Bali

[Bert Vierstra]

Ok, what is the real Bali. Is Nusa Dua the real Bali? Is Ubud the real Bali Is Seminyak the real Bali? or is this village in the mountains where you seem the first tourist the real Bali?

Does the real Bali exist? How would you describe the real Bali, or how would you like to describe the real Bali?

For me it has become a big blur, I also suspected there was a real Bali as opposed to the commercial Bali. But now for me the commercial Bali is part of Bali too. I know Balinese who work in the tourism industry, in one or an other way, even family. One day I am with them in their very simple village house where tuak is the main attraction, the other day they come with me to McDonalds.

Is it this ceremony where there is this woman in trance because she is possesed by ancestrial spirits, is it my wife with her superstition, is the guy that invites you to the ceremony and is annoyed when you don't give him enough, because he (too late) presented himself as a tourguide?

Where is the real Bali? Isn't it Atlantis?

[Tracey]

Nice thoughts Bert,

For me all of it is Bali, is any of it really real though?

When I am in the village with all the family planning for various Ceremonies, then head off all crammed in a car with offerings, all in traditional dress, listening to the squealing & excitement in the younger kids voices off to the Temple etc it feels like the Real Bali, but often we go home shower, change & head out for Bintangs & catch up with friends, then it makes that magical, serene, calming feeling of praying at the family temple with all the family & village feel like it was not real!?

Drinking & dancing the night away at various bars with a group of friends is also fun & something we only really do when in Bali as in OZ, we tend to visit friends houses or they visit ours & we all cook together & have a few drinks, never really going out...

Packing an overnight bag & heading to wherever fr a cfew days & finding a gem of a locally, family run losmen that is not only clean & cheap but extremely friendly is also a part of bali that I enjoy & look forward too.

But I don't think I can actually say what the real Bali is, being a non local I see it as a different way of life than what we have in Australia, so to all those persons living their lives in Bali whether it be, Kuta/Legian, Seminyak, Ubud, Lovina, Amed, Singaraja, or a small secluded village way up in the mountains, etc, etc...

I guess to them it is the real Bali!?

I must say the kids in their school uniforms would remind me often that this is their life & so that is real!!!!

[Roy]

A bit philosophical today are we Bert? OK, I’ll take this on, as in many respects it’s expected. You’ve baited me, but I don’t mind.

I consider the “real” Bali as most anywhere other than Kuta, Seminyak, Legian and Nusa Dua. Why? In simple terms it’s because in all other areas of Bali, there is a consistency that can, and never will be found in those aforementioned places.

You live in North Bali, the Singaraja/Lovina area. That’s “real Bali.” When I travel there, I never feel like I’ve left Bali…and more importantly, neither does my wife Eri. The same goes for East Bali…Amed, Amlapura, Candidasa and Klungkung. They all look like Bali, smell like Bali…in short, they ARE Bali. The same also goes for West Bali, although there is distinctly perceptible flavor in that area…but Bali asli it is for certain. And I feel the same way even in big towns like Denpasar or Gianyar. Very much, they are still the “real Bali” even though built up and very busy.

As you know, I live in a small village outside of Ubud. Now Ubud is most certainly “real Bali.” No western fast food venders with golden arches here…that is for sure, and so long as our king prevails, and in spite of lucrative incentives to do otherwise, it hopefully will never happen.

“Real Bali” is waking up to the horrendous smell of someone nearby cooking with shrimp paste or burning their garbage. “Real Bali” is also waking up to the sounds of endless cocks crowing, or packs of dogs fighting. “Real Bali” is endless and continuous ceremony, ceremony, ceremony.

“Real Bali” is a village, any village where parents have no concerns for their kids’ safety as they roam the village freely. “Real Bali” is community, the banjar, and adat. “Real Bali” is unmistakenably identified, and it is so, so much different than the contrived “Disney World” of Nusa Dua, or the westernized areas of Kuta, Legian and the Yak.

In the end, “real Bali” can mean different things to different folks. Sure, even George Bush can say he’s been to Bali…and so he has. But what he knows about Bali is nothing close to the essence or true character of “real Bali.”

So Bert…now it’s your turn!

[NED]

Thanks for this 'meaty' type of post. Keep them up guys. For a potential retiree to Bali in 18 months time, these insights from those 'on the ground' are invalauable. We first visited Bali in 1970 and have had that dream to retire there ever since. The time has nearly come!!!
We have had frequent return visits, and realise the reality of living there as opposed to being just a tourist are totally different things, but these 'posts' are going to help us very much in the preparation for our move.
Looking foward to more of the same topics!

Ned

[Sergio]

"real Bali" revolves around the Balinese...
it has nothing to do with being in a village, it could be as modern and developed as New York city and as long as it revolves around the Balinese it would be the "real Bali".

"superficial Bali" revolves around the tourist...
look around... are 90% of the businesses, owned, run by and priced for foreigners? Do you see more foreigners around you then Balinese? This is obviously not the "real Bali" to Balinese? As for those Balinese that work in the tourism industry, why not? more power to them? They should own this Disney Land but THEY DON'T cause Mr. Smyth with his foreign investors have already laid the foundation in cement... still sound like the "real Bali".

"my Bali" on the other hand...
consist of a small house with a deck three times the size overlooking a hilly undeveloped country side where I can watch the sunset with a bottle of Oban while I smack a few of those pesky mosquitoes to death. Hopefully Roy will come over (since I don't see myself living far from where he is) and help me with that bottle of Oban, while our wives talk and laugh about how weird us bules are and the kids run around playing with the local kids totally oblivious to an other way of life.... ha that might not be the "real Bali" either but it sure sounds good to me! :D

[Roy]

Serg, I’ll take you up on that invite, but sorry amigo, I don’t agree with you at all.

Let’s take it from the top. You write,

"real Bali" revolves around the Balinese...

"it has nothing to do with being in a village, it could be as modern and developed as New York city and as long as it revolves around the Balinese it would be the "real Bali".

Sorry, but that is wrong. Bali is still a predominantly agricultural society…not an urban one. Virtually all Balinese ceremonies are connected to their way of life…and it ain’t taxis or high rise buildings. What are they to do? Replace Dewi Sri, the Goddess of rice with Dewa Trump, the God of greed? Sorry amigo, but if your vision of the real Bali could encompass a New York environment, I can only wonder how your knowledge of Bali was ever formed.

"superficial Bali" revolves around the tourist...

"look around... are 90% of the businesses, owned, run by and priced for foreigners? Do you see more foreigners around you then Balinese? This is obviously not the "real Bali" to Balinese? As for those Balinese that work in the tourism industry, why not? more power to them? They should own this Disney Land but THEY DON'T cause Mr. Smyth with his foreign investors have already laid the foundation in cement... still sound like the "real Bali".

NO, NO, and more NO. 90% of the businesses in Bali are NOT run by foreigners…and where does that misconception come from??? There are many, many “well healed” Balinese who own many, many resorts and other lucrative businesses throughout Bali. If pressed to make a guess, I would come up with greater than 50%, but not too much greater, of all businesses in Bali are Balinese owned and operated. For certain, it’s nothing like 10%.

But, yes, I do see more foreigners in Kuta and Nusa Dua than I do Balinese. Among those “foreigners” I include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia…and they are very, very well in place in South Bali. Nine out of ten “horror” stories published in the Bali Post, concerning a tourist being subjected to a crime comes out of Kuta. The sad fact is, that while the Balinese are not exempt from committing crime, (and they do commit crimes), the majority of those criminal cases in Kuta involve immigrant Indonesians.

No Balinese that I know wants anything to do with a “Disney Land” Bali. In fact, the Cokorda’s of Bali…the kings of the very conservative regencies make it very clear, day by day, that nothing like that will ever happen, so long as they are alive.

"my Bali" on the other hand...

"consist of a small house with a deck three times the size overlooking a hilly undeveloped country side where I can watch the sunset with a bottle of Oban while I smack a few of those pesky mosquitoes to death. Hopefully Roy will come over (since I don't see myself living far from where he is) and help me with that bottle of Oban, while our wives talk and laugh about how weird us bules are and the kids run around playing with the local kids totally oblivious to an other way of life.... ha that might not be the "real Bali" either but it sure sounds good to me!"


On that one Serg, I can’t argue much. It’s sounds good to me. But, I’d like to drag you all off to an all night Calonarang some night, so “your” Bali isn’t just your house and its immediate environment. There is so much of the “real Bali.” It’s difficult to explain, but once understood, there is no denying it.

[Sergio]

ah I see my poor writing has lead to some misunderstandings...

Ya I picked a bad example when I say "it could be as modern and developed as New York city and as long as it revolves around the Balinese". What I meant by that was that Balinese dictate what is and what becomes the "real Bali" nothing more. Of course I know Bali will never resemble New York the point was to show that they can take it into any direction they want as long as they do it is the "real Bali". I just sense that some people think that the "real Bali" is a bunch of uneducated and primitive people harvesting rice and that it needs to be a "third world" exotic experience to fulfill their need of what the "real Bali" is as if they were going to a zoo.

as for the whole 90% thing... that all falls in the "superficial Bali" category meaning Kuta, Nusa Dua, etc... places where businesses that cater to foreigners largely out number those that cater to Balinese. I for sure did not mean Bali in general. Maybe I should not use percentages as you guys here use them accurately fact where as I just mean to say A LOT! And when I say "They should own this Disney Land but they don't", it seems to me the whole place has been over run by foreign Hotels and Resorts (again I am speaking about Kuta and Nusa Dua) and I think it would have been better for Balinese economy had they been Balinese owned Hotels and Resorts where the money would actually in Bali rather go to some foreign company like say Club Med.

reading your post Roy I honestly meant nothing like that at all and I feel embarrassed now that you took it that way.

And ya my Bali is not the real Bali either, I am not Balinese nor could I ever live like a Balinese, I am a Christian guy that never really lived in any country long enough have an identity of where I belong but both my mom and my wife are born in Bali and it so happens to be the place where I would most like to live with my wife and kids.

I'm looking forward to that drink Roy, Cheers!

[Sergio]

Oh and you still don't have to agree with me of course but I hope at least now I explained a bit better what I meant to say the first time.

Cheers

[Roy]

Hey Serg...thanks for the extra clarrification. In the end, I think we agree far more than disagree. :D

I think everyone has their own opinion of what is "real Bali" and what is contrived Bali. And that's all they are...opinions. Thanks for sharing yours! Enjoy that little anak! Cheers :D

[Tommy]

I found all of your posting intresting and the subject is indeed tempting. :wink: When you ask someone to tell what the Real Bali is, the essence of their answer will inevitebly consist of their knowledge and experience of Bali. My ping-ponging life-style to Bali for almost 8 years now have taught me many things about life and people. The core of "my" Real Bali would probably be the People and things i've learned and experienced.