About the Buyer

Dino's Travel Blog

Bali - An Island Paradise

Wed July 1, 1998

It's been almost 3 weeks since I left Indonesia and I've had a busy schedule since I arrived here in India; I've been meaning to write about my travels there but I haven't really had the time to do it true justice. I also know that the longer I wait to write of my journeys, the less details I'll remember, not to mention that India is consuming all my attention at the moment.

I arrived in Bali, and although I spent a good portion of my trip in Java, I'll spend more time writing about this tiny little Island Paradise of Bali.

Since I've traveled to many wonderful places in the world I'm often asked where is the best place I've been to, and up to now I've never really been able to answer because each place has it's own uniqueness that can't really be compared. I found Egypt to be the most historically fascinating, Namibia (Southwest Africa) as the best landscape, Palau (Micronesia) as the best diving spot, the Caribbean as the best place to "chill out" on the beach in, India as the most chaotic, Costa Rica as the best place to spend the winter months, Spain and Argentina as the best "late night" spots, Myanmar (ex-Burma), the most appalling, Europe and Thailand although very different, the most delicious. I find Bali to be the best balanced and most magical and if I had to pick my favourite place, this would be it; this is the only place where my entire nervous system tingles in the midst of it's spiritual energy. I have never been to a place where the people are so steeped in their culture and religion and yet manage to live so environmentally well balanced despite the constant influx of tourism; I have seen more ceremonies here than anywhere else in the world.

The moment I stepped off the plane and felt the hot and humid air spiced with clove cigarettes and incense combined with the traditional Gamelan chime music in the background, I was instantly reminded of this very different and magical Island that I have been to several times before.

Although Bali is an Island in Indonesia, the rest of the country is very different; the religion in Bali is predominantly Hindu and Buddhism while the rest of country is primarily Muslim, I believe that this distinction makes all the difference.

This little Paradise has different types of beaches to suit all needs; there are sandy beaches in Nusa Dua, rocky beaches in Candi Dasa and good surfing beaches in Kuta. Personally I hate Kuta, it's crowded with "Drunken Aussie Yahoos", heavy traffic and peddlers hustling their goods or hassling you for "transport" (overpriced private taxi fares). Kuta does however offer the best tourist shopping in Bali. I usually stay in Semiyak, just outside of Kuta which is more European in nature and where the more long-term ex-pats and buyers stay, offering the best dining and night life in Bali. My favorite place is Ubud, which is about a 1-hour drive north of the areas I talked about. Ubud is the land of the picturesque lush tiered rice fields surrounded by palm trees and valleys where the river Agung flows through and magical ceremonies are most celebrated. This last trip, after my buying work was over, I treated myself for a couple of days of R&R and stayed in some very special spots in the mountains, where the running rivers could be heard below and all of nature elements filled the senses.

These places had my favorite bathrooms, which are only found in Bali and are located outside in the open air and decorated "au natural"; imagine taking a shower and looking up and seeing the star filled galaxy, this is the best! These places grow their own vegetables and cook wonderful Indonesian dishes to order, serving you lemongrass or ginger tea during the day; one of them had a fresh water spring pool that was the most refreshing. I had the best Balinese massage one day as I was nested on a futon amongst large plush cushions under a traditional bamboo thatched gazebo situated in the midst of this tropical palm filled Oasis, with the enchanting natural water falls in the backdrop, now that's blissful!

The Balinese are the most in touch with nature and their environment; they strongly believe in life after death and cremate their dead. They seem to always be having ceremonies of one sort of another; tooth filing, weddings, cremation, Deities and other local ceremonies. I was recently lucky enough to have been invited to both a wedding and tooth filing ceremony on this last trip and they were most memorable. In these ceremonies, I had witnessed the ritual killings and preparation of the pigs and ducks; the local ceremony that I attended killed 5 large hogs and 42 ducks for the occasion. In these ceremonies it's the men that kill and ceremonially prepare the blessed meat of the sacrificed animals; in this preparation each man brings their own knife and cutting board and it the responsibility of the master taster to ensure the final result. I was lucky enough to not only witness but also film this event. The Balinese normally eat vegetarian and only eat meat at these ceremonies.

You're probably asking about the tooth filing ceremony and what it's all about, because I sure was. In their culture, the Balinese file their incisors teeth (the fang ones) generally before they reach adulthood and is meant to remove the
"Devil-boar-dog like" quality in us as humans and it is imperative that this at least be done before one goes into to the afterlife; if this is not done, one will look like a fanged boar and will not be allowed to the "holy" place and instead one will be allied with the "devil" or "monsters". It is not uncommon for the community to file one's teeth at death and before cremation for this reason.

Since cremation is an expensive undertaking and if the family of the deceased cannot afford it at the time, they will bury their dead until the time when the cost of this ceremony can be shared with others of the same community. Cremation is a time of celebration and it's often a big community event with many offerings and special food preparations. The Balinese believe that every child born is a re-incarnation of a deceased ancestor, and there are special magic doctors to identify which ancestor this newborn child is.

The Balinese live in a society that believe in "Black magic"; if another person casts a bad spell on another, they will fall ill and experience bad luck until that person consults another "Magic doctor" to unleash the negative spell.

The Balinese do not believe in crime, and they have a community way of dealing with criminals caught in the act. One time when I was in Bali, an Italian buyer had her cell phone stolen from the office of my shipping agent at the time. The owner dialed the # and when it rang the thief was soon found and all the people in the community caught and surrounded the scumbag and proceeded to beat him to the ground, when the police arrived and assessed the situation, they told them to finish him off as he walked away, and they did. It's mostly the Javanese people that come over to the Island to take advantage of the tourists, giving the Balinese a bad name and affecting tourism and their reputation; they have a "0" tolerance for crime as you can see. I personally think this is a good way to deal with crime because it's the community that solves their own problems and not clogging up the courts and being delayed by corrupt police officers.

Speaking of corrupt police officers, it's a common practice to bribe the police over here. The police often look for unsuspecting tourists and any situation where they can supplement their income. Their salaries are way too low for them (around $30. a month) to get by comfortably and it's not uncommon for them to pull over furniture shipments coming from Java and ask them to unload the whole truck for inspection unless they pay a minor fee instead. Once the police have collected their ransom, they will often radio their fellow cops informing them of the truck shipment so they too can profit from the situation. Most companies calculate these solicited fees in their costs. So it is not uncommon for the trucking companies to drive at night in order to avoid the police.

This last time I was in Bali, I was consciously driving without my International driver's license, and since I had some experience with the "bribing" system I wasn't so concerned with being caught; I knew the game and the bribes are usually very minimal, usually between $3-10.00. So one night I got pulled over for a routine check, and I told the police officer that I didn't have the license in the car but it was at the hotel which wasn't too far if he wanted me to get it. I knew he wasn't interested in the license but rather the money he now will get from me, and so now the game was on. He told me that I should be carrying my licence with me and that he now had to give me a 500,000 Rupiah ticket which is about $95 and had to be paid at the local courts, unless of course I didn't have the time or want to deal with it, in that case they could negotiate and assist in handling the ticket themselves for me at a much lower fee of 200,000 R, about $35.

Well I knew the going rate for police bribes was between 20-40,000 R, (between $3-7) and so I played it cool and told him that I had the time and that he should go ahead and write me the ticket. He asked me to get out of the car and follow him and now I was speaking to his supervisor or something who told me that in addition to the fine that I would have to forfeit my Canadian drivers license, so I told him fine go ahead.

When he saw that this also was not working, he told me that I had to leave the car as well, but since it was a rental car and my hotel was 5 min. away, I nonchalantly said "Fine, take the car", knowing that they didn't want the car either. Now that all the threats were expired, he then wanted to reason with me and now I was in the driver's seat, well "so to speak".

He asked me how much his co-worker asked from me and I told him 200,000 R and that I only had and offered him 40,000, although I had way more on me. He took my offer and gave me the "Well it's ok this time, but make sure you carry it the future" speech. The police are very friendly in these situations and will ask you where you're from and put their arm around you as they go through this whole process. I can see how this situation can be stressful for most tourists, but now for me it's another part of the Indonesian way.

Every country has its quirks, but that's what makes traveling such a rich lifetime experience.

And until the next journey and it's story, bye for now.

dino