After the extended time away in WA I had an extended stay in Sydney living with Ethan up in Waitara. It was a nice time hanging out with each other until his mate from the UK arrived for the Australian cricket season. The time was broken by a quick trip to Bali to celebrate my sister’s 60th. She’d been on a massive hike in the “stans” and decided to have 2 weeks in Bali on the way back. We went over for the first of those.
My brother first visited Bali back in the late 70’s I am going to say, in a time when Bali was nothing like what it is now. I, on the other hand, had never been there. It’s quite un-Australian really. I think by the time I was able to go the place had a reputation of being a bit of a bogan hang out and I thought well I could experience that without leaving Australia. And coupled with that is the fact that I am not a “lounge by the resort pool” kind of holidayer so there really isn’t a lot for me there.
Anyway, I wanted to celebrate Jenni’s birthday so I put aside my indifferences with the Asian paradise and went over for a week. I did have a good time due more to the company I was with rather than the place but there were some positives in the place as well. The first thing was the feeling of being transported back to Kuala Lumpur when we lived there in the early 80’s. The smells, the humidity, the chaotic driving, the deep storm water drains, the very thick bladed grass (probably not the normal memory one would have but is something that has stuck in my mind from all of those years ago).
Secondly were the cheap massages. A very nice way to spend an hour or so. Thirdly was the food. Whilst we avoided the street food we did enjoy some of the cuisine there.
And finally was the trip Ubud. I was expecting it to be a little less crowded so it was a little disappointing. I was also looking forward to seeing the beautiful terraced rice padis that are so quintessentially Bali but alas they were no longer quite like what you imagine. The biggest disappointment were those bloody swings that girls get their photo taken while wearing a long flowing dress (which I found out are supplied by the operators). Yes, I admit, it does look spectacular – the first time. But when hundreds of thousands of photos have been taken it kind of looses its appeal. Each to their own though. The one redeeming fact from there was that the rice farmers actually get a significant share of the profit of the swings. This did make me rethink my stance on this a little though I still would have loved to have seen remote old school rice padis up in the mountains where you could get a bit of peace. But then again, isn’t that just me exploiting the rice farmers for my own interest?
One thing I will mention about the swings is that it is another example of Instagram tourism. Of the people that had their photo taken on the swing, how many of them would have actually gone to visit Ubud? Then I guess the question would be if they don’t visit would the people of Ubud have a good living? I think my problem with Instagram tourism is that people who experience that are not necessarily experiencing that country. Swing out over a valley in a long bright flowing dress is not Balinese, it is not culturally theirs. It would be like going to an indoor snow skiing facility in the Middle East – oh wait, that is a thing.
On the day we went to Ubud we also did the usual temple visit, the Batik factory and an art (painting) studio. The temples there say to me “this is Bali”. The peacefulness, the meditative feeling, the beauty and gracefulness of the people. I know that it was very touristy as well but it is significantly more culturally aligned with Balinese life.
So with a nasty suntan and the top of my toe missing after kicking it on a steel reinforcement on the footpath I returned to Australia after my first, and most likely last, visit to Bali. On reflection I am glad I did it otherwise my negativity would have stemmed from arrogance. But mostly I am glad to have spent time with my sister at this special time for her. My brother and his family came over for the second week so it was a great time for her which, when all is said and done, was the main reason we went.
