Bali Travel news > Making Bali Part of Everyone's Life

Making Bali Part of Everyone's Life
November 10, 2006
The idea is simple: to reintroduce the marvelous island of Bali to its primary markets not by "superlative-based" promotion themes such as "Amazing Thailand" or "Malaysia Truly Asia" but by relating directly to the people of Bali whose real lives are interwoven with the experiences that visitors have.

The concept was to represent the tourist experience through how real Balinese people actually appeared to visitors. So we chose three people from the art Et culture world: a young Balinese dancer, a wild and crazy artist, and an inspiring mask carver who dons his own masks in dance and becomes the characters he carves; three people from the leisure industry: a chef conjuring up magical cuisine, a masseuse dispersing stress through magic fingers, and a surfer teaching kids the magic of the waves, and two people from an ordinary village community: a schoolgirl who enchants passers by just by riding her bike in her immaculate uniform and the farmer who blends into the rice fields he creates.

What can I say that can convince the hardened, cynical traveler that this is not just another advertising scam, like the incredible heroes in cigarette advertising, or the miracle cures of the medical world? It simply isn't, we really found these people going about their ordinary lives and they are what we say they are - and better! The dancer is really a thirteen-year-old dancer from Ubud, but that's not all, for her mother is a dancer, her grandmother former President Soekarno's favorite dancer-and she still dances-and her great grandmother was a dancer and still dances.

You want to ask them if we are inventing Bali as some kind of oriental " Disneyland" created for the benefit of tourists. It simply isn't the case. The farmer farms. the surfer surfs, the artist paints. They live their lives and rather than jump on the commercial bandwagon they pursue their livehoods just as we pursue ours. That's what Bali is and that's how we have come to portray it. That's enough to show the real Bali.

What we want everyone to understand is that it is a privilege to meet Am mask carver and hear his stories. I delight to see the schoolgirls scan school. It is enchanting to watch. It's a gas to go surfing with Budi. Wipe out, man!

Each experience on Bali can remain with us for a long time. Our memories on to the experiences that matter need to rush on to the next adrenaline pumping theme park ride. No one these experiences, no one scripts no one choreographs our interaction. It's just real life.

So when Bali is categorized by the travel industry as the same as other manicured and manufactured destination I have to disagree. It's not. And if what you're looking for, please go elsewhere. Sorry!

Yes, Bali needs some serious attention to its zoning, its planning its infrastructure and many other we can deal with in other articles but it's real, and our unsung her who make it real mean it when "Bali is my Life" Give it a chance everyone, and make it part of your even for a few days.

Source: Magazine of Garuda Indonesia, written by: Alistair G. Speirs

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