Bali Behind the Scenes (01)
Where the locals tend to go
Since I have more or less given up on the idea of creating a retirement community in Bali, I thought I’d pivot into something most anyone visiting Bali can do — get off of the beaten track a bit and see how the locals live.
My wife and I went “glamour camping,” better known as glamping, at Lake Bedugul. For 700,000 IDR ($43 USD) we had a premium cabin, including a private bathroom with a tiny stream of on-demand hot water (enough for a very modest shower), a free breakfast buffet with classics such as nasi goreng (fried rice), mie goreng (fried noodles), sausages, sliced fruit — as well as coffee or tea. (The smaller glamping units are $19 USD.)
Click the photo below for a panoramic experience of the glamping location. Once on the web page, click on the circular white arrow in order to load the image. Then you can drag your mouse (or finger) left or right to move around. You can do a full 360 degree view. (You can only see the smaller glamping units in the photo.)
As the evening unfolds it may not be an entirely zen experience, as small groups of Indonesian glampers may grab their guitars or portable loud speakers and sing into the night. After all, they’re on holiday. (Perhaps 10-15% of the music will be in English.) The vibe, however, is infinitely better than having 30 loudspeakers pumping out house music — echoing a mile in every direction — from the DJ-laden stages in the touristy beach areas of southern Bali.
Our place has a small restaurant (where the included breakfasts are served), and I recommend choosing a glamping site that has one, especially during the rainy season. The cabins are also a good refuge, but having a hot tea or coffee in the restaurant was quite lovely (and for $1.10 USD it was quite the bargain).
The next morning we bumped into the land owner of the neighboring glamping property. He was carrying a sliced bamboo pole with beet starts in it, getting ready to plant them on his land. There’s a good chance he sells veggies to bule (foreign-owned) restaurants, as they pay top dollar for unusual veggies that the Balinese do not eat, such as lettuce. They prefer something called water spinach.
The old farmer seemed to be in top physical shape, as so many are, tending happily to land that brings in more income than he ever imagined. The bule glamping trend was transformed perfectly by the Balinese for the local Indonesian crowds, an example of creative entrepreneurship without ever taking a single business school class. Even the warung / restaurant has proper wooden tables and chairs with cushions, reflective of the “glamour” in glamping versus the standard plastic tables and chairs typical of local warungs.
Whenever I see this type of thing it warms my heart, as the normal path for many Balinese (youth) are to get trained in hospitality and then work for foreign-owned hotels that move most of the profit overseas. Of course there’s something to be said for creating local employment, but very few foreign owned businesses believe in profit sharing, at least among the lowest rung of workers — waiters and housekeepers.
When traveling, whether to Bali or elsewhere, take a side trip among the locals and listen to some songs that you prefer not to hear, realizing that this is not your land. You are a welcome visitor, and be grateful that you can flourish like a rare flower, for a short while, in a manner that is slightly outside your comfort zone.
Later,
Neill