Who can tell me where I can find the real Bali? Does it still exist? Where should I go to see it, what must I do to experience it?
Those of you who frequent the Bali travel forums of the Internet no doubt come across discussions on this subject regularly, and you will have noticed the various opinions, interpretations and miscommunications regarding this 'real Bali' phenomena. This essay summarizes some of these discussions, miscommunications, and interpretations for your convenience, with a dose of humor, and with an attempt to bring the quest for the real Bali to a satisfactory end.
If you are in the search for the real Bali and you ask others where to go to or what to do, then you put a question which is easy to ask but hard to anwer - to you. Culture and nature lovers most probably will direct you to ‘off-the-beaten-path' locations in Bali, in general to sites which are located far enough from Bali's tourism centers to deserve to be called 'the real Bali', apparantly. The Kuta die-hard not seldom reacts on this by stating that his favorite pub and bottles of Bintang beer are as real as anything else in Bali, and is tempted to challenge the culture and nature lover to prove to him otherwise. The Kuta die-hard is right ofcourse. Anything that is physical is ‘real' for that ‘matter'. No one can deny this. Thus we may conclude that someone who is in the search for the ‘real Bali' must be looking for something else besides just visiting a physical, 'real' location, wherever in Bali that is.
Then, when does the physical décor of the secular passion play "In the Search for the Real Bali" deserve to be called 'the real Bali'? ....Do I here someone in the audience calling, "décor attributes"? Hmm, you could be right. But then the question is ofcourse to define which attributes are most suitable for a set that deserves to be called 'the real Bali'.
The Kuta die-hard jumps up and calls out, "The Peanuts Club in Kuta! That's where my real Bali is."
Allright then, let's take the décor of Kuta as the starting point of our quest for the real Bali. This décor is extremely suitable for those who like clubbing and shopping. The set of this version of the play "In the Search for the Real Bali" is characterized by among others an eternal summer, long stretched sandy beaches with an in general good surf, it has a large group of more or less permanent actors who speak the Balinese-Javanese-Indonesian language and who are in general more fluent in the English language than their fellow actors who are playing their roles at others sets of the same play. Furthermore there is a pretty large, continuously changing group of western guestrole players. The set has an infrastructure which breathes a western atmosphere and its main attributes are rows of western oriented hotels, clubs, bars, discos, 7d/24h roadworks, traffic jams of cars, motorbikes and taxis, shopping malls, rows of souvenir shops, and all kinds of national and international restaurants including dependances of McDonalds, KFC and Dunkin' Dougnut.
"Forget it. You'll never succeed in finding the real Bali in Kuta", interrupts a culture and nature lover. "All those things you mention there don't fit in a real Balinese scene. On the contrary, the real Bali has as less of those western elements - or décor attributes as you call them - as possible, and if possible none at all."
This is interesting. The moment you called this you placed yourself in a set of which you apparantly already knew beforehand that its attributes don' fit with your ideas of a proper 'real Bali' scene. Ofcourse you were speaking for youself and you are entitled to your opinion, but by doing so you are trying to play a role at the wrong set of the play, trying to prove it is impossible for this set to ever be called the real Bali. If I remember well, the Kuta die-hard has stated that he has already found his real Bali at this set, in the Peanuts Club. So by playing a role at this set, stating that the real Bali cannot be found here, implicitely you call the Kuta die-hard a liar. Either you are lost on your quest for the real Bali or your mission is to find scenes that, in your opinion, are the unreal Bali. :-)
"As far as we are concerned you may continue until you drop, but a western décor doesn't match at all with the general opinion of the real Bali, the real Balinese culture and the real everday Balinese life. The real Bali has small dirtroads instead of asphalt roads, with hardly any traffic or no traffic at all - let alone traffic jams, and small cozy warungs instead of shopping malls and western restaurants".
And as far as I'm concerned you are right, but mind that your right is only valid within your own group of like-minded players. After all, it would be hard to state that the Balinese life and the Balinese culture in Kuta is not real. The miscommunication in this discussion is, so it seems, is that you actually mean 'traditional' instead of 'real'; the traditional Bali, the traditional Balinese culture, the traditional life of Bali.
"Isn't that logical then? Anyone would have understood that".
It's logical allright, but that's not the issue here. You see, we are not in search for the traditional Bali in this play, but for the REAL Bali. Doesn't matter if it's traditional or modern.
"...."
And even if you would have said from the start that you are in the search for the traditional Bali, you still are in the search for real, physical locations with real, physical attributes. The question is, for you, when do you call such a location 'traditional' - or 'real' if you like - and will all the other players of your group stand unanimously behind your opinion?
The same goes for the Kuta die-hard ofcourse. He too has his preferences for certain clubs and bars, like that Peanuts Club for instance where he seems to feel most at ease. And I'm sure that for whatever reason he dislikes other clubs and bars in Kuta. If asked he would only recommend the clubs and bars he likes ofcourse. But others in his group of like-minded players might, for whatever reason, dislike the Peanuts Club and prefer to go to places that our Kuta die-hard for whatever reason dislikes. Maybe because of the type of music in the Peanuts Club, the group of actors who play the roles of the staff, the behaviour of other guestrole players in the Peanuts Club, the prices, or a combination of such factors, who knows? There is no accounting for tastes, they say.
Now, if I have observed well, proper sets with their main attributes, for suitable as well as unsuitable 'real Bali' scenes, are selected by the collective of each specific subgroup of western guestrole players in this play. As there appears to be an obvious difference in tastes for the minor attributes among the individual members within those subgroups, it seems logical that there must be something else besides décor attributes that plays a role in the final individual approval, or disapproval, of a 'real Bali' scene.
Besides these physical factors, non-physical factors like expectations, feelings and emotions seem to play a major role in the individual (dis)approval of a 'real Bali' scene. The extent to which one's expectations are met, at any probable real Bali scene, therefore must be responsible for either feelings of disappointment or for feelings of eufory; in other words, it determines how strong one's real-Bali feeling is - be it in the middle of nowhere of 'traditional' Bali, or at the bar of Kuta's Peanuts Club in 'modern' Bali.
The 'real Bali', may be concluded, is rather a 'state of mind' than a 'physical location'; its real location appears to be between the ears. The physical décors and attributes only serve a purpose in helping to evoke, sustain or emphasize 'real Bali' feelings, or - if you are at the wrong set, or confronted with wrong minor attributes - weaken them.
So, if you want to know where the real Bali is, don't ask me for I can't answer that question for you - only for myself. If you really want to know, you should go out there yourself, on the road, travelling, observing, partaking and absorbing, as much as you can.
You'll know it when you've found it. The Real Bali. You will feel it, inside yourself.
Pak Jero.