BALI, QUE LA FUERZA DE GANESHA NOS ACOMPAÑE - BALI, MAY THE POWER OF GANESHA ASSIST US

BALI… 

Una isla sobre la que todo el mundo habla. Desde hace años, se nos ha bombardeado con imágenes publicitarias paradisiacas sobre Bali. Arena blanca, playas tropicales, buen surf, arrecifes de coral increíbles, gente amable y sonriente, comida exquisita, espiritualidad, "oms", ofrendas, incienso y hippies hablando sobre la paz y el amor. 

BALI… oh shit.

An island we have heard about since we were implanted this "advert style" image of paradise. The visions of white sand, tropical beaches, great breaks, amazing coral reefs, smiling locals, exquisite food, spirituality, oms & incense and a group of hippies talking about peace, love and empathy.

Bueno, pues aquí va el Bali que nosotros vivimos. 

Teniendo en cuenta su fama, sus "supuestos" bajos precios, la variada calidad de ciertos servicios y su rollito hinduista, el cual tira bastante, prácticamente todo aquel turista que visita Indonesia, decide pasar por Bali y dejarse los cuartos. 

Well, unfortunately, it's not quite like this anymore at least during high season. What has happened to the all famous Bali?

We can say that considering everyone has this preconceived image of Bali, many people decide to fly to this minute island and spend their well earned cash. Adding to the fact that things in general here always been cheaper, with a great price to quality ratio, making it a value that attracts many people, of all kind.

Cuando llegamos, entendimos por qué una amiga nuestra que vive en Bali, escapa de allí durante la temporada alta. Tampoco nos engañemos, Bali es precioso, con una espiritualidad y ambiente que apasiona, pero tristemente el alto número de turistas que lo visita ha destruido su esencia y la de su gente. Un local nos explicó que, desde que Bali experimentó este boom turístico, los locales cambiaron su modo de vida en busca del dinero fácil.

So what is it now? Well, as a friend who lives in Bali told us, it´s a place to run away from in high season. To a certain extent, this person is completely right. Let's face it, Bali is still beautiful and still has that spiritual touch, but tourism has destroyed its essence and many of its people's humanity.

Some honest locals had explained to us that after the tourist boom, people had changed their lifestyle to only look for the easy money. Who's money? Well, in many cases, tourists. In one of the towns called Ubud you can see the aftermath of tourism… Famous brand shops, tourist souvenir shops everywhere, fashion, jewelry and luxury are on sale here. A HUGE contrast with the rest of Indonesia. The big problem is that many locals think that this is good as it brings money into the island, but the bad thing is that it has changed the magic that has attracted so many people in the past. Unfortunately, this is not only happening in Bali, but in the rest of Indonesia, to a certain extent. The amount of tourist, flashpackers and backpackers that storm the country makes some locals forget their old lifestyle and only look for the foreign dollar and easy money. This is true at least during high season. We would love to go back during low season to see what it's like.

En Ubud entendimos perfectamente a qué se refería. Marcas caras, tiendas de souvenirs por todas partes, moda, joyería… Bali se había convertido en una isla totalmente distinta al resto de Indonesia. A los locales no les importa en absoluto que te sientas a gusto allí, tan solo buscan los dólares que tienes en la cartera. No hay nadie que les haya explicado, o ellos no quieren entender, que al turismo hay que cuidarlo, que la gente habla y se comunica como hoy nosotros lo estamos haciendo aquí, y que esto puede traer buenas o malas consecuencias. Entendemos que el desarrollo y la economía que el turismo brinda a la isla es buena para ellos, pero esta ambición por el dinero fácil ha corrompido la magia y la esencia de Bali, la cuál atraía a tantas personas. Desgraciadamente, lo que ya ha pasado en Bali, comienza a ocurrir en el resto de Indonesia. Turistas y backpackers  a los que les da lo mismo gastarse 1€ que 100. Cuánta gente conocimos por el camino que, en vez de hablar de la maravillosa Indonesia, solo se quejaban de los altos precios, de los timos y de la gente local. Nos preguntamos cómo será este país en temporada baja. Esperemos que algo mejor…

Pero lo que sí es maravilloso hacer en Bali es alquilarte una moto y recorrer esta preciosa isla por tu cuenta. Perderte por Bali y encontrar esas carreteras por las que no circula prácticamente nadie, en las que los locales siguen siendo balineses de corazón, es un placer. 

But let's not say it's a nightmare. There are many things that are still great in this little slice of paradise. One great thing about Bali is its accommodation. Thanks to the tourist boom, the island has created a lot of options for accommodation, bringing high competition, resulting in lower prices higher standards. This is interesting as the possibilities of finding a decent room to stay in is quite easy.

Desde Lombok, llegamos a Padangbai. A pesar de ser el puerto de entrada a la isla, no está nada mal. Fuimos directamente a Ubud, una mini ciudad que realmente merece la pena visitar, a pesar del boom turístico que ha sufrido. Su "casco antiguo" permite hacerse a la idea de cómo fue Bali hace ya tiempo. Templos y más templos, uno detrás del otro, ofrendas e inciensos que aparecen en la puerta de tu habitación cada mañana. 

Our first night arriving from Lombok, we had stayed in the port village of Padangbai, Not bad for an introduction to Bali, the general good things you would expect form such a chilled out island like Bali. But our hopes plummeted as soon as we had got near the center of the island. To be more precise, near Ubud. The shops, touts, and vast amount of tourists made it a bit of a nightmare. Luckily once we got lost in the side streets we could somehow feel what Ubud was like before the tourist boom. Yes Ubud is still magical and conserves its mystic side if you look for it. its two sides, local and touristic, takes time to balance out. but once you discover its marvels, it makes a place that is still worth while visiting.

Alquilar una moto te da la libertad de recorrer los templos de los alrededores, como el de Tirta Empul, donde los locales se bañan en cada una de sus fuentes, dejando ofrendas e inciensos a sus dioses; o el templo de Gunung Kawi, con sus 10 santuarios de piedra. 

We decided to rent a scooter to visit the surrounding areas. And what a difference. We managed to see the Bali we were expecting.  As soon as you left the Ubud area, amazing temples and beautiful Hindu villages, would pop out of every corner. Extremely friendly people with no intention to rip you off, just curious about where you were form and what you were doing. The whole scooter thing is a great way to explore Bali in a free and hassle-free manner. The amount of different style temples we saw were breath taking in beauty and spirituality. And the best thing was that traveling in these freestyle way we managed to meet other Balinese, and get good recommendations on what to do and where to go. To be honest these recommendation beat any of the lonely planet guide book's suggestions and If anyone wants to have a better insight of Bali, rent a motorbike and "loose" yourself in the beauty of the island. You will surely end up in a great place, with no touts or tourists, just great sights, amazing vibes, authentic markets and a large plate of delicious food at a real local price.

De Ubud fuimos directamente al norte, a Lovina. Una vez más, el sector transporte nos volvió a dar problemas. Primero nos insistían en coger un bus turístico, argumentando que era el único modo de llegar hasta allí. Averiguamos que existía la posibilidad de bajar hasta Denpasar y desde allí coger un minibus local que nos llevaría hasta Singaraja, a pocos kilómetros de nuestro destino. Así que eso es lo que hicimos. En Denpasar, el precio inicial de los transportistas fue de 100.000 rupias, y tras negociar largo rato con ellos, nos lo dejaron en 75.000 por persona. Nos dijeron que no podían rebajarlo más, y que sino nos convencía, nos quedábamos en tierra. Conseguimos hablar con uno de los locales que ya estaban sentados en el mini bus, y para nuestra sorpresa, nos dijo que el precio real era 25.000 (4 veces menos que el precio inicial). Es decir, los indonesios prefieren perder dinero, antes que no poder timarte. Lógicamente, les dijimos que les pagamos las 25.000 rupias, ni una más. Sin darles opción a seguir negociando, nos montamos en el bus, viendo como uno de ellos estampaba su mechero en el suelo en un ataque de rabia. Por curiosidad, revisamos nuestra guía de Indonesia, y nos dimos cuenta que incluso al escritor ya le habían timado 4 años antes, pagando incluso más que nosotros en aquel entonces.

From Ubud we went straight up north. Unfortunately again, the transport issue gave us problems. To actually go north, we were forced to either take a overpriced charter bus, or go south to Denpasar (the main city) to take another bus that would take us north again. With no other budget option, that is exactly what we did. From bemo to bemo, mini bus to minis bus, we made it to Denpasar where we had to negotiate for hours to get the real fair to get to Singaraja. At the beginning they had given us the price of 100,000 rupias and brought it down to 75 (per person). After a good hour we discovered thanks to asking some kind locals, the trip was actually 25,000 rupia per person. It seemed to be that even the guide book author had gotten ripped off 6 years ago, as he had payed more than us, even before the rising of petrol prices… This my friends, is Indonesia.

En Singaraja volvió a pasar lo mismo. Querían cobrarnos el mismo precio que de Denpasar hasta Lovina (300 km), para tan solo recorrer 15. Una broma. Preguntamos a un policía, el cuál apoyo al conductor. No sabíamos si reír o llorar. Decidimos hacer auto stop y descubrimos que el concepto "auto stop" no lo entienden. Cada uno de los conductores que paraba a recogernos quería cobrarnos. Tras mucho insistir, conseguimos que alguien nos llevara de gratis. Vaya pesadilla. 

From Singaraja we managed to hitchhike to Lovina. The reason why we hitchhiked was because they wanted to charge us 3 times the price of a 3 hour mini van ride, but just for a 15 minutes bemo ride. Things sometimes don't make sense, and we came to the conclusion that some people in Indonesia must think we are completely stupid or rich with no sense of value for money. They were surprised when we told them that for the price of the bemo, we were better of walking, as we could use that same amount of money to sleep and eat for one day. They laughed in our face, but, on the other hand they were not 140.000 rupia richer either. A win win situation we can say. Let's face it, some people rather not earn honest money with a tourist if he can't rip him off. Sad, but true.

Disfrutamos del ambiente de Lovina durante un par de días, aunque lamentablemente sus playas no eran lo que nos esperábamos. Basura y más basura, aunque considerando lo que tiran por la borda los ferrys Pelni, no nos sorprendió. Sabíamos que uno de los centros de submarinismo de la zona hacía inmersiones en la isla de Menjangan, un parque nacional. Así que tras disfrutar del buceo balinés, literalmente escapamos de Bali para pasar a la isla de Java.

In Lovina we managed to find a great accommodation and a great little diving adventure to Menjangan island. This place is another national marine park, and the quality of the coral and creatures that live in its reef prove it. The only disappointing thing was finding a bit of trash on the reef, something that is inevitable. Again, sad but true, and after seeing how the Pelni boats disposed of their trash, we were actually surprised that there wasn't more trash floating around. Unfortunately we couldn't say the same about some of the beaches.

Nuestro paso por Bali fue corto pero intenso. Esperemos que en temporada baja, sea otra historia...

Our stop off in Bali was a short and intense one, but it made us think about how tourism impacts and changes a country. Sometimes for good or worse. But one thing is for sure, we have discovered who to trust, who to respect and who not to. In our opinion, you should always be skeptical about any individual who speaks OK English around any form of transportation. This is why we highly recommend everyone to learn bahasa Indonesia. It is honestly funner, and makes a huge difference. Let 's face it, if you want to meet local people, chances are that their english will be as good as your bahasa, and putting both of them together can create a memorable situation.

Si tu visión de Bali fue distinta o si tu visita fue durante la temporada baja, compártela con nosotros. Será interesante tener otro punto de vista.

Have you ever imagined a place or a job to be completely different to what it actually was? Have you ever been to Bali in low season? Please leave us a comment and tell us that it was something else.