TRAVEL: Blissful Bali
Judy Bailey heads beyond the tourist-heavy coastal strip of Bali to the town of Berawa, where she finds herself in a true paradise, with some delicious dining options too.
It’s early morning in Bali, a light haze lies over the rice paddies, the soft cooing of doves joins the dawn chorus, and the air is heavy with the scent of frangipani and burning incense. Graceful Balinese women are quietly placing delicate offerings to the Gods. This daily devotion happens outside virtually every home and business on the island. The Balinese are God-fearing people, whether their God be Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim or Christian. Shortly after my visit, one of the island’s many active volcanoes sprang into life after a lull of nearly 60 years. Tens of thousands of villagers fled their homes and holy men of all denominations prayed the eruption wouldn’t come. The previous threat of disaster had been a tornado brewing out at sea; we were told the power of prayer turned the twister away from the island, saving the coast from destruction. Whether by the power of prayer or other forces, at the time of writing, the volcano’s activity has been held at bay.
TRADITIONAL-STYLE VILLA
We’re staying in Berawa, a little town north of the main tourist craziness of the famous Kuta/Seminyak coastal strip. We have found paradise. You can hire villas here, each with their own pool. Many come with butler service. We’ve decided on an ancient, one-room, traditional-style wooden house with a splendid outdoor bathroom and separate tiny dining hut.
We reach the villa by stepping stones across a pond full of fish and pink water lilies. It’s a vision of tropical loveliness.
The sun shines down through the canopy, turning the leaves a bright lime green, water trickles gently from a small waterfall and a flock of tiny birds flies in and out of the pandanus trees. Continue on the stones across the pond and you come to the swimming pool, surrounded by rocks and palms with its own shady cabana. Bliss.
A tiny gecko joins us for breakfast every morning. We’ve christened her Greta. She waits patiently and fearlessly on the edge of the table until we’ve eaten, then delicately licks honey from the side of a plate, her bright eyes watching us all the while.
We decide on a walk to the beach before the full blast of the sun renders us comatose by the pool. It’s a brisk 20 minutes from our villa… not that you want to be doing anything briskly in this heat. It’s already 30 degrees and just after seven.
Fortunately the road to Berawa Beach is lined with all manner of tempting cafés.
Most of them are spotless and offer a range of locally roasted coffee, spectacular smoothies and juices and organic food. It’s so easy to eat well here. We’re inspired to be healthy!
The beach itself has a famous surf break, the water is clear and warm and the sands here are hawker-free. There’s a row of ramshackle beach bars – palm fronds and bamboo are the building materials of choice – and collapsible wooden stalls selling cold drinks. If you’re after something more snazzy, you can always have breakfast at the impressive, thatched, Balinese-style Finns Beach Club… after a yoga class, of course.
We notice a big crowd gathered by the water’s edge. It turns out they’re students from a college in Bali’s capital, Denpasar. They’re here as part of their freshman year, releasing hundreds of tiny turtles into the ocean. Each student places his charge tenderly on the sand and sends it on its way into the shallows. Few of the turtles will survive their epic journey through the ocean. Of those who do, the females will return to shore – often, by some miracle of nature, to the beach they were born on – to lay their eggs and begin the cycle again.
As new life is being launched into the ocean, an old one is departing this world. On our way back from the beach we pass a lot of smoke. There’s a crowd of women dressed in royal blue sarongs with crimson sashes. They’re all dressed alike, in traditional Balinese mourning. The smoke drifts across the road and hovers over the rice paddies. It’s coming from a funeral pyre. There, beside the main street, they’re burning a body. Life and death, inextricably linked. A funeral is a time for celebration in Bali, for this is when the soul ascends to heaven, allowing the person to reincarnate or find rest on a higher plane.
Even when you’re in paradise, there’s an inherent need to see what’s around the next corner. We venture up the coast to Echo Beach. You can take your life in your hands and follow the short cut through the rice paddies – a one-lane road with just room for a car and possibly a motorbike. But with a steep drop-off on either side into the rice paddies, it’s hair-raising and not for the fainthearted, and definitely best to avoid at night! Or you can grab a cab and go the long way round for 50-100k rupiah ($5 to $10). Echo Beach is definitely geared to the surfie culture and a lot busier than Berawa.
“Even in paradise, there’s an inherent need to see what’s around the next corner.”
We call in to the iconic Deus ex Machina for lunch. As well as being a place to eat, it made its name in the States as the place to source elite custom bikes, the kind of bikes Hollywood stars seek out. They sell great T-shirts and other clothing if your budget won’t run to a bike! And if tattoos are your thing, you can get a free one here on Tuesday nights with your cocktails. Possibly a dangerous mix…
The beach is a brief stroll down the road from Deus. Best advice, buy a delicious barbecued corn cob from the vendor by the steps down onto the beach and a Bintang beer and find a spot on the sand to watch for some seriously good surfing.
If you’re partial to a bit of retail therapy, Berawa’s main shopping street, Jalan Raya Pantai, can provide plenty of temptation. My favourites, Bungalow Living and Style and Mood, have lots of beautiful stylish items to decorate your home. If you’re really serious about shopping, visit the boutiques of Seminyak, which are just a 15-minute cab ride away (again costing the equivalent of $5 to $10).
But really it’s the food that we venture out for. Ex-pat Balinese are returning home and bringing with them their take on modern Asian cuisine; fortunately for us, a number of them have settled in Berawa.
The emphasis is on fresh local produce and we see it dropped off outside each restaurant as we head out for our earlymorning walks.
If there’s one thing you have to try in Bali, it’s a traditional Balinese massage. How do those petite women bring such strength to their tiny hands? I lie face down, listening to the gentle trickle of water in the rice paddy outside, gazing into a perfectly positioned bowl of frangipani petals as the masseuse works her magic.
Bali is changing rapidly. If left unchecked, tourism will run rampant and spoil the very thing that drew visitors here in the first place. Weary of Seminyak and all it has to offer by way of bars, beach clubs and shopping, developers have turned their focus north to the famous surf break of
Echo Beach and northern Canggu (pronounced Chang goo). Somehow they bypassed this little spot in Berawa. It won’t stay that way for long. If you want to experience it for yourself, I suspect you’ll need to go soon.
“Find a spot on the sand to watch for some seriously good surfing.”