In Reply to: Guide to Bali posted by thomo on Wednesday, 2. January 2008 at 15:22 Bali Time:
of the great travel guides for Bali (and Indonesia) and, of course, Bill Dalton's Guide to Indonesia came to mind. I have both the first and second additions and when I went to google to check the publication dates I came upon two articles that I have copied in below:
http://www.baliblog.com/travel-tips/books-guides/chatting-with-bill-dalton-author-of-the-indonesia-handbook.html
Last month I picked up a 1991 copy of the Indonesia Handbook written by Bill Dalton. Bill wrote the acknowledged best guide book on Indonesia by exploring the country himself (he's climbed every volcano in Indonesia)and by doing all his own research. He has travelled extensively throughout the country and wrote the 1100 page whopper without the aid of other guidebooks or the internet.
Luckily for me Bill writes 2 columns for the Bali Advertiser (local free paper), Siapa and Toko Buku, where he uses the name Pak Bill. I emailed him to see what he had to say and just like his book, he is a friendly character. Right now Bill is in Vermont and I told him it would be great if at some point he submitted an article and we could meet for a chat.
Bill founded Moon Publications in a Brisbane backpackers in 1973 and Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet, first met Bill sitting in the curb in Sydney selling photocopied sets of his 'Indonesia notes'. Bill is a real travel guidebook writer and actually goes out there and find the facts. His style can be zany and I love the oddball comments he makes including 'if you go the public swimming pool in Surabaya, be careful as the young kids pee in the pool, or ‘if you are planning to go with a hooker in Sanur, be careful as they are not all clean'. That's what I call hands-on research and I believe he has been to the places he says he has. Its like a friend giving you the low-down on a place. Bill doesn't hold back and uses colorful dialogue. He says that Bali is like a fossilized ancient Java, which in many ways it is. The high caste Balinese, the Brahmanas, the Satriyas and Wesyas, came from Java starting in 1343, and the Hindu Majapahit empire moved to Bali when the Muslims swept through Java in 1515.
Fascinating subject and interesting man. I hope to get to meet him again when he returns to Bali.
and
http://www.baliblog.com/travel-tips/meeting-bill-dalton-in-bali.html
This afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting one of the most famous travel writers in the world. Bill Dalton is one of the modern day travel writing pioneers and unlike many who have followed, Bill isn't a stay at home Charlie with a clever pen and no experience, he's been there and done it.
Bill was born in Waltham Massachusetts in 1944. After studying for 4 years in Copenhagen Denmark, he set off on a 7 year journey through 81 countries. Back in 2003 I sat in on a session at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, listening to Bill and Tony Wheeler, the man who started Lonely Planet. They recounted the story of how they met in Kings Cross Sydney back in 1973. Bill had just toured Indonesia and was selling copies of his ‘Indonesia notes' sitting in the curb. These notes went on to become the Indonesia Handbook by Moon Publications. My 1984 copy is 1072 pages long and was all researched by hand (and on foot) by Bill, before the age of cell phones and internet.
One of the things I remember from the Ubud session was Tony Wheeler's insistence that you need a guide book for travelling, and Bill's insistence that you should read a couple of good books about the country, culture and language and leave the guide book at home.
Bill and his family have recently returned to Bali and live in the Ubud area. Bill contributes to numerous newspaper and magazine articles in the Bali Advertiser and Tempo magazine. I told him that when I run into a real expert on Indonesian culture, language, history etc. the stuff I write seems quite insignificant.
Bill sold Moon Publications several years ago and told me he is really a writer rather than a publisher. He has a home near Ubud that is for sale ($200,000 anyone?). He is hoping to move his Indonesian family to Solo in Central Java as he finds the culture to his liking. I hope to bump into Bill again and was glad to of met him