Paradise regained in Bali

By JOHN GARDNER

There's something slightly dispiriting about coming back from a peaceful and relaxing holiday to be greeted with remarks about being brave. The bravery, it seemed to some, consisted in our going to Bali at all with its perceived risk of terrorism.

Those potential perils were underlined with the attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta within days of our return. Renewed official warnings included Bali in the hazardous category.

Far be it from me to question the experts from foreign ministries - after all they have the intelligence reports and we know how reliable they have been - but if the nice lady from Indulge, our travel agent, had telephoned offering a return to Bali the day after that bombing I would have gone.

Not, I hasten to add, that I am foolhardy, but on the flimsy evidence of a few days' acquaintance it seemed to me the Balinese, who give visitors so much, deserve a bit of support in return.

Business, they told us, was recovering from the Kuta atrocities but the livelihoods of thousands can ill afford another setback, as the competitive hustle to attract the tourist dollar showed.

"Looking, just looking - you come in my shop now," went the persistent chorus that followed us down the pavements of Sanur. Indeed, importunate peddlers had been one of the anticipated black marks as we went through the holiday selection ritual with our extended family of adults.

In fact, the hawking was far less aggressive or intrusive than we expected, usually little more than a legitimate attempt to drum up a bit of business, ranking somewhere with radio commercials on the irritation scale.

And this was one of the few downsides of an experience rewarding enough to still whatever qualms the Bali visitor might harbour.

Tourism undeniably dominates the island, at least in the areas we visited, but the Balinese seem to have mastered the art of getting on with their own lives in their own way. The visitors might fuel the economy but they haven't submerged the people.

In the market at Semarapura, stocked for local customers, we were ignored as irrelevant.

As we went through the rice areas of Iseh and Sidemen our large family group was just a modestly diverting addition to the street furniture. The carving shops that line the road to Ubud do not depend on westerners.

It would be fatuous to suggest that a small crowded island with years of massive tourist influxes is somehow untouched. Kuta, with its poignant bomb sites still enshrined with flowers, is wall-to-wall surfers, with with wall-to-wall bars to supply them. Even those like me who think a left-hand break is a snooker shot can see that the waves and the setting are extraordinary, but Kuta was for us a place to visit and leave, and not for security reasons.

The extreme tourist experience is Nusa Dua, the gaggle of upmarket resort hotels purpose-built to insulate the visitor from local contact, and pretty depressing it was, too. When business was booming it might have been worthwhile, but wandering the dusty, shuttered shopping galleria was an alienating experience.

"I told you you wouldn't like it," said Ngurah, one of our unfailingly courteous drivers. We had intended to drive ourselves but one experience of sitting amid the locust swarms of motorcyclists made us see the light.

It was much more fun to be free to see the behaviour that would have sent an Auckland traffic cop off his head. Our best was a 50cc bike with four up - including a baby being suckled in transit.

Even in Sanur, which we had chosen because it seemed likely to be quieter than Kuta, the main street traffic was a constant source of entertainment.

But the brochures were right. Sanur is less than frantic. Even the sea is tranquil, with a reef creating a lagoon. We never quite worked out the tide patterns except that when the water does go out it drops as if you had removed the plug from the bath.

Faced with a stretch of tepid water about 10cm deep we were forced to the hardship of one of the Puri Santrian hotel's immaculate swimming pools and the relief of a Singapore sling. It's a tough life.

It's also a cheap life. My normal tight-fisted approach seemed wildly inappropriate given that you can find a reasonable meal, drinks included, at a price that might stretch to an indifferent eggs benedict and a latte in Ponsonby.

The upmarket options suddenly come within reach, although it's hard to beat the cheaper ones for basic seafood, and there is plenty of choice, a luxury you don't find, for instance, at the Pacific alternative destinations.

We thought everything from transport to admission tickets, through to excursions were astonishing value - and that was from an Auckland perspective.

My London-based son and the Europeans who made up the bulk of our hotel's guest list were in a state of suspended disbelief. As far as we could tell a proportion of them never set foot out of the hotel.

This was an error because, although the sea remains the principal traditional attraction, this is an island with a wide palate of experiences.

The rice terraces on the road up to East Bali, with a backdrop of mist-veiled mountains, provided prospects like an oriental water colour. You wanted to frame it.

At Jemeluk we encountered a different world, black sand and kaleidoscopic tropical fish within feet of the shore. A passing villager treated us to a graphic explanation of how the local salt industry goes about its business. To my shame, I waited for the selling bite to commence. None came. He was just sharing something he thought we might be interested in.

On our way through we had stopped at another visual stunner, the water palace at Tirta Gangga. This is no piece of ancient Balinese culture, having been built in 1948 on the whim of the local rajah, but he certainly had a great eye for a setting. This is one of the leading attractions but we toddled round almost in solitary splendour. Where were the tourist hordes ?

We had some indication when we took a trip to Nusa Lembongan island. Our ride was on a modest little catamaran but when we arrived we were in company with those Great Barrier Reef-style monsters, surrounded by the curious sight of scores of fish watchers bobbing up and down in life jackets.

But the snorkelling was terrific and, according to our pair who stayed overnight, the island was as idyllic as it looked when the day boats had gone.

Our choice of the smaller boat proved itself on the return trip when an interesting deep swell made us all mates in adversity and was so exhilarating that no one turned a hair when the trip ended with having to wade through seaweed to reach land. The boat crew took a pride in what their region had to offer, including their giant kites and their dances and music.

Our drivers, inexpensive and informative without feeling the need to provide nonstop chatter, were advocates for Bali, if not madly supportive of central Government in Jakarta and bitterly unhappy about the image of terrorism.

There is a risk in Indonesia and I'm not sure I'd hang around outside a western embassy compound. But there's a big gap between that and crossing Bali off the destination list.

There's an old showbiz saying, "Leave'em wanting more," and, risk or no risk, that's what Bali did for us.

* John Gardner paid his own way to Bali.


Case notes


Visas

New Zealanders now need a visa to visit Indonesia but these can be readily obtained on arrival. It is a good idea to have US$25 a person available in cash to pay the fee.

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Currency

NZ$1 will get you around 6200 Indonesian rupiahs. Bank cheques, credit cards and a variety of different currencies are widely acceptable.

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Getting there

Most travel agents quote package tours to Bali destinations, operated by Qantas and Garuda. One of John Gardner's family couples booked independently online and obtained comparable rates.

A typical current quote, from Bali specialists Indulge of Titirangi, is:

Return airfares on Garuda Indonesia economy class, 10 nights at Puri Santrian Hotel in a beach wing room (stay 10 nights/pay seven nights in October), breakfast included for seven days, $1590.00 a person, plus taxes, based on an October departure outside school holidays.

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Further information

Useful websites include Tourism Indonesia, Bali Tourism Authority, Promoting Bali or Bali.