In Reply to: Nude beach? posted by Paul Jo on Tuesday, 1. March 2005 at 02:42 Bali Time:
Nude is nude, whether a person is swimming, bathing, getting the dirt and sweat off, or simply cooling off.
In Ubud, at various times, we saw a group of young working men splashing around nude in a river after work. They knew that my wife and I could see them and they weren't concerned, maybe because they knew we were like minded. We spoke to them and they were nice young guys and certainly not "exibitionists" or what some people would like to call them.
On another occasion we saw a young Balinese woman washing herself and her baby, both nude, in a creek not far from the centre of Ubud. It was the creek on the "up and over the top" laneway, parallel to the main road, between Murni's Warung and the end of the Ubud main street. She smiled at my wife and I so nicely as we went by.
Another time, we saw a truck driver stop by the side of the road not far from Ubud, take all his clothes off and jump into the roadside creek to cool off.
In Jimbaran Bay, we saw an older Balinese man sitting nude in one of the freshwater springs on the beach just under the Four Seasons Hotel.
The pool attendant at a hotel up from Seminyak told us that he and his mates used to swim nude at the beach in that area before that group of hotels were built, but now they go a bit further up the beach to do it.
And a Balinese friend who lives in Klungkung told me that local people there bathe regularly at a particular spot on the river, some nude, some not, but no-one seems to care.
We knew 2 hotels where one or two people would swim nude in the hotel pool, without upsetting either the management, the staff, or the clientele.
There are accounts on the internet of travellers seeing Balinese people having a nude "mandi", generally in more outlying areas. No shame or embarrassment. And only a couple of generations ago, it was customary to see women with just a sarong wrapped around the waist. You can still see that if you get off the beaten track a bit.
I readily accept that some Balinese people are inclined to be more reserved, perhaps particularly the ones who have been unduly influenced by tourists and visitors with double standards. But from my own personal observations, I would suggest that a sweeping statement such as "Swimming nude is insulting to the Balinese people, who are very prudish when it comes to appearing naked in public places", is way off the mark.
Like many things in life, some like it, some don't. As I said to start with, use a bit of common sense and discretion, as many others do, and you should be OK.