My ten days vacation on the island of Bali (Indonesia) was a little different than I expected, nevertheless it was a pleasant exploration and a fine shopping trip. Here is my report.

Initially, I was attracted by the price: a local travel agency offered airfare plus 10 nights hotel for a total of only $760 — what a deal! The location of the hotel was an area called Kuta Beach. This was the main problem, for I soon found that Kuta Beach is a well-developed tourist area popular with Australian surfers. I, being neither Australian nor a surfer, found it a bit too commercially intense. Avenues stuffed with restaurants, shops, and nightclubs left me wondering what Bali was really like.

Naturally, I did not stay long. I quickly realized that Kuta was best used as a base, so I took several day trips and one overnight island hop, described below.

ECONOMIC BOMB

Hit by a quadruple whammy, tourism in Bali is way down and so are prices. The general woe of the American economy, our huge job loss in Silicon Valley, 9/11, plus the Bali bombing have all conspired to dry up tourism in Indonesia generally and Bali in particular. Consequently, you can get a fake Rolex for US $2 or 3, sunglasses for $2, bootleg CDs and DVDs for $2, my haircut was $4, and shrimp cocktail topped out at $2.50.

MEALS

Eventually, I learned that everything in the tourist economy was bargainable: lodging, taxis, souvenirs, guides ... Prices in most shops are not marked. Somehow, I don’t like a system designed to ripoff the uninformed.

BREAKFAST

Another day, at breakfast on the island of Nusa Lembongan, I discovered a new food: Jaffle. A jaffle is like a stuffed waffle, but without the recessed squares. Fruit is what’s inside. My pineapple jaffle was yummy.

HINDU

EXCURSIONS

My driver’s first name was Wayan. I had seen the name frequently, so I asked and learned of an interesting Balinese custom. It is traditional to name a firstborn male “Wayan”, the 2nd is “Made”, the 3rd is “Nyoman”, and the 4th is “Katut”. That sure would make it easy to keep track of the kids!

On another day trip, I visited the beach at Sanur to do some kayaking. The 30-minute bus ride was 18,000 rupiah ($2). I was interested to note the black and white checkered cloth used to decorate shrines and as ceremonial garb. According to my guide book, Sanur is known as “a home of sorcerers and healers, and a centre for both black and white magic. The black and white chequered cloth ... symbolizes the balance of good and evil.”

Another day trip took me to Ubud, the central region where the road is dotted with villages that each specialize in a craft: one village for wood carving, another for stone statuary, this one for paintings, that one for batik ... The rice paddy terraces there are famous for their verdant beauty. At one village, I bought a hand-made cotton tie for 40,000 rupiah ($5) from the fellow who made it.

I confess to being shamelessly delighted by baby anything — they’re so cute! At a couple of the temples, I saw monkeys (macaques), and each time spotted an infant clutching underneath its parent as it caromed through the jungle.

NUSA LEMBONGAN

CINEMA HELL

There, I found myself in cinema hell. There were two movies: Charlie’s Angels and Finding Nemo. Having been recently introduced to the range of film history by a class at City College, I was troubled by the selection. But I’d gone to considerable trouble getting there, so I had to watch one of them, you see. I chose Charlie’s Angels. It was the wrong choice.

I had over an hour to wait before the movie started, in a large shopping mall, devoid of shoppers. So, after a power tour of the shops, I decided to play American for the evening and dine at the nearby Planet Hollywood. I had a burger, it was good. I was the only customer (it was 5 pm on a Wednesday night). But of all things, I noticed that a 5.5% “service charge” was added to my bill; this seems a rather imperialistic attitude to make tipping mandatory in a country where the practice is rare. (It is not traditional to tip in Asia.)

MISC:

• ATMs and Internet cafes are everywhere.
• Pancakes with fruit are great: pineapple is best!
• A taxi driver told me the police in Bali are corrupt.
• My new favorite fruit is mangosteen. Looks like a beet on the outside, with a hard dark husk. Cracked open, the fruit inside is in sections like a white orange, moist and sweet.
• Hindu temples are never more than one level high — due to concerns about unholy feet above holy heads. In fact, there is an historic law in Bali that no building shall be taller than a coconut tree — okay, except for big hotels.
• One nice feature of cinemas in Asia is that seats are reserved. One picks from a display at the box office. Why don’t we do that in the US?
• My experience suggests that city-wide power failures are commonplace weekly in Kuta.
• Singapore Airlines provides a video screen for each seat. Each passenger may choose from a large selection of movies, TV shows, and music. Sure beats the old days of _the_ in-flight movie. I heard one passenger say she had watched 6 movies on the flight over!
• Here’s one of those technological ‘oops’ stories: Rice production was tremendously increased when a new hybrid was introduced. But the insecticides required to sustain it killed the frogs and eels once common in the flooded rice paddies. (I wanted to taste eel there, but never found it on a menu; a guide told me he ate some at a festival I had attended — oops, missed it!)
• The locals call foreigners “Boss” — apparently Australian slang. I found it oddly reminiscent of the chain gang. (Don’t ask about my past!)
• If you can move your middle fingers independently (like Spock making the Vulcan ‘Live long and prosper’ gesture with fingers extended into a V), you have a promising future in Balinese dance!
• The 3 bootleg DVDs I bought ($2 each) all worked!

Words I learned (Bahasa Indonesia):

• ayam - chicken
• bebek - duck
• bintang - beer
• bukit - hill
• ganung - mountain
• goreng - fried
• indah - pretty
• nasi - cooked rice
• nusa - island
• warung - food stall (snack bar)

Remember, if you don’t like where you are, you can always go somewhere else!

Happy travels,
Kendall