Island Paradises?- Wed 1/07/09

Dear All,

When I first came to Ubud, I started running in the rice fields to stay in shape. Rice fields, if you've never had a chance to see any, are beautiful. They are expansive and green. Poignant in the poverty and smiles of the workers. Rewarding in their isolation. When the rice is ready, the stalks ripple in the breeze. When the rice is harvested they flood the paddies and the pools of water reflect the sunlight in dramatic ways. They are really, really nice.

Just imagine how elated I was during my first run. Then, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, I came across a restaurant with a blue tarp for a roof, sitting on stilts, right there amongst the rice stalks. It sort of floated over the paddies like an alien spacecraft, selling noodles and organic vegetable dishes. Though quite beautiful, it struck me as odd. I got back to my bungalow and just gushed about the run to the Balinese grounds keeper. Then I asked him about the strange restaurant. He knew about it and said that it belonged to an Israeli guy and his Balinese wife. Then he suggested I buy some land, which also struck me as a little bit odd but I guess that owning things is what wealthy people do, and to the average Balinese, anyone with pale skin is wealthy.

Around that same time I was meeting a lot of the local expatriates. I was thrilled to bits with Ubud and my new lifestyle but they kept repeating the same things. They would say, "Oh, you should have seen Bali 10 years ago. It's ruined now." Or, "Oh, you should have seen Bali 20 years ago. It was all dirt roads and rice paddies. Now it's all over." They always get this far off look in their eyes as though thinking of a long lost love.

I have a message for all those wistful old-timers: Fuck you!

Are they blind? Most of these expats own businesses and villas along the very same roads that used to be dirt tracks through terraced rice fields. The artists and searchers that found their Shangri-la here are largely responsible for transforming this island into a tourist paradise. There are lots of islands in the world, do they think that Bali was developed by random chance? It happened because of them! Are they trying to keep Bali pure by opening up organic/holistic businesses and pricing all their merchandise in U.S. dollars? Do they love the culture so much that they erect western style eyesores on the main thoroughfares?

We are all beauty junkies over here. Searching and searching for the next hit. Each one fails to satisfy unless the mountains are steeper, the jungles are more lush, the people are smiley-er, the coastline is a more soothing shade of aqua. Eventually a place is found that represents the pinnacle of travel bliss and it is there that the lifers will settle down and stay for good. They must harbor the false hope that things will never change. That their paradise will remain unspoiled and perfect forever. This is illogical but when change strikes again, they are unprepared and end up whining about the good old days to some bright eyed newcomer in a bar.

That is part of what I appreciate about my hosts. They wouldn't deny that they are a part of the development in Bali. There would be no point. Development is not necessarily a bad thing. It, like so many other things that don't fit into a fairytale, is just a fact of life. What they do is develop nice things. Things that fit the landscape and are more or less in tune with the culture they are so intimately a part of. They love the place as much as anyone but are refreshingly unsentimental about its beauty, future, and the things they have to do to take care of their family.

The people wishing that Bali was a big cultural preserve would have no place here, no way to live. Would that make them happier? It would certainly make them less annoying. It is an interesting disconnect but then, Island culture is a weird thing. Lots of people are drawn to places like this but it seems like it is often more about what they think things should be like rather than how they actually are.

Love,
Alex