Marta Mari. Theatre Director. Arts Manager

Every now and then people ask me how I like Bali. Equally nice and annoying I tend to answer. What’s annoying? – they wonder. Well, Balinese standards- I usually say. At this point to visitors on holidays here or some that freeze in Europe I must appear as this unappreciating spoiled brat. I don’t think I am, and I think it’s all a matter of perspective…Here are two (for now) examples:

1)      Cleanliness.  An American woman rents a nice villa (there usually is a cleaning woman contracted as well); It is a first day of a house cleaning, the American is getting ready to leave the house so that the cleaning woman can work more comfortably. While she awaits her husband she’s observing the following situation: the cleaning woman gets a bucket and some rugs; she then goes to a nearby fish pond and then gets some water to the bucket. She then goes to the living room and is about to dump the water onto the wooden floor but at the last moment is stopped by the horrified American. It takes some explaining how (not) to clean the floor. I have a maid clean my house twice a week. She’s nice and tries and although she’s been doing it for years there is a long way to a spotless house-maybe by the time I leave I see the house really clean…Thank goodness for geckos and other lizards that keep the house bugs free! (that’s a good standard)

2)      Tanpa gula! Means without sugar. Very useful to know especially for those who, like me, don’t like drinks with sugar. Balinese tend to put sugar in EVERYTHING be it a coffee, a fresh juice, an alcoholic drink-anything that’s on the drink menu. Even knowing that every now and then I forget to tell the waiter not to use sugar. I have lately ordered coffee with milk-no sugar. I ordered in Indonesian to be sure the waitress understood. After a while she brings me coffee, I taste it and take a deep breath before I ask why she put sugar in my coffee. She says there is no sugar in the coffee. My husband takes a sip and his face is showing his disgusted reaction to the sweetness of the coffee (and he does use sugar!). Although we are calm, the waitress almost in tears says there is no sugar in my coffee. I don’t want to upset her, but the goddamned coffee is sweet. Make another one and this time I’ll watch you make it, I finally say. I follow her to the kitchen. And this is what I see: she makes a black, regular bitter coffee; then she fills HALF of the cup (literally) with CONDENSED milk and then pours the black coffee over the milk. She then turns to me with a typical Balinese smile and says: see, no sugar… So now when ordering coffee not only I have to say no sugar but also to make sure what kind of milk they’re using. And even then I sometimes get a sweet coffee…

When on holidays these seem funny and unimportant. But when you live here and all you want in the not so good morning is a decent cup of coffee then things like that can really drive anyone mad…

P.S About a week ago I gave in and we got a kitten from a local shelter. He is adorable, somewhat Siamese and very cuddly. One time after we fed him, my husband noticed the cat didn’t really wash himself. Our three cats back in Edinburgh could endlessly wash not only themselves but also one another and this one- two licks and done. Why are you surprised?- I asked my husband. Haven’t you gotten used to it yet? Used to what?-he asks disoriented. Well, Balinese standard of cleanliness, of course! We both started laughing…Maybe we should name him Standard...

There once was a woman who loved dogs. And she liked Bali. So she decided to move there with her family. But unfortunately, that would mean that she would have to leave her beloved Tanus-a 9 year old boxer behind because it isn’t possible to bring pets to Bali. In fact out of 18 thousands islands of Indonesia only 2 will let a dog in: Java and Sulawesi. The thought of separation from her ‘baby’ was heartbreaking…Nothing is impossible-she thought. And so she found a way…

She flew the dog to Jakarta on Java-a neighbouring island to Bali. Once there, the dog had to be kept in a quarantine facility for a month. At the end of that month the dog became a little sick so the vet decided to keep him there a little longer but: unfortunately (or rather fortunately) his owner told the vet, the dog is to go with a military on a mission…

And so the military picked up the dog and took him on a big, military cargo plane. Tanus spent couple of days with a military flying around Indonesian islands as part of the military exercise.

And then they stopped on Bali where his overjoyed owner were to collect him…When she came to a pick up point the dog was being guarded by the military until the arrival of the woman that would take him. Tanus has finally joined his family on Bali and is living happily following his owner everywhere.

How on Earth did she manage to get military involved in it? -you might ask. Well, there once was a friend who was a dog lover himself so he understood the love…and as it happened, he was in a military in Indonesia…and that’s how the idea emerged…What a friend! What love for a dog! What a story!

 

I get lots of e-mails asking for nice photos of Bali as it is perceived as a paradise. It is a beautiful island, but before I engage into describing and showing its beauty I want to point out two things I hate about the ‘paradise’.

 Firstly, the amount of rubbish and total lack of understanding the catastrophic impact this will have on this marvellous island. Plastic bags, plastic bottles and paper are everywhere. There are some bins laid out in the busiest tourist spots but not nearly enough. The concept of recycling is rather unknown and even if people know what it means they seem to care less. Incredible amount of education in this regard is needed now since it will take at least one generation (I’m being overly optimistic, I guess) to notice a difference. When looking for a house to rent I asked about utilities and one of the natural things for me was to ask about the cost of a garbage removal. Most of the people were rather disoriented what I meant. When I explained they seemed embarrassed a bit and quickly talked something about government and other things, but my questions remained unanswered. The rubbish is being dumped usually ‘around the corner’; some of it is burned often in front of house; some are being taken away (?) by men on motobikes…

Another thing that I am even more emotional about is a treatment of animals. I mentioned earlier that there were thousands of cats everywhere in Jakarta. Many of them were ‘wild’-they coexist with people-some are more domesticated than others. In Bali however, there are thousands of dogs on the streets. Most of them wonder around the streets in search of food, even though there are food stalls almost everywhere. I have seen dogs so thin and starved that in Europe people go to jail for such treatment of animals. It is a truly upsetting sight for someone as crazy about animals as I am. Many dogs are injured, either bitten by another dog, hit by the car or motorbike, not to mention flees, flies, mosquitoes and other things I just cannot imagine. At night, there can be heard a neverending dog cry, hauls, barking. An American I met here said to me that although she loved animals she got to a point that she thinks that those dogs should be simply put to sleep…I don’t know what to think myself anymore since the problem is so huge…Rabies is another growing problem. The number of people being bitten is growing. Many places have information about rabies being a real threat on the island and offer vaccination against it. I do regret that I have not taken this vaccine before I left- I just didn’t think the threat was so real.  As one of the precautions I read not to feed dogs. But how not to when you see them so hungry???  We’re in a restaurant and Amelia’s not eating her dinner. Paying the bill I ask a young Balinese waitress if they feed hungry animals with leftovers. She looks at me very surprised and says no. At that point I’m engaging into a conversation how they should do it; my husband is rolling his eyes at me but waits quietly. Seeing that now two young waitresses don’t grasp the concept I tell them to pack Amelia’s leftovers. No food is wasted at my home anymore-all leftovers are used to feed hungry dogs. Balinese do look at me like I’m a freak giving food to strange dogs. Whatever! 

There are several organizations here, led by foreigners that try to help animals but the problem is so huge…We visit one of them that has an adoption scheme in place. The man working there says that on average they manage to find one home a week for a puppy…”Sometimes people drop puppies at the adoption centre but more often we find them on roads and we regularly visit cemeteries as people usually leave them there-especially female pups”-the man explains. What a horrible thing to do-taking puppies away from their mother and leaving them for a horrible death at a cemetery! It’s hard for me to understand people here-on one hand they smile a lot, seem gentle and calm; on the other, they regularly engage in these kinds of practises…

Roosters’ fights are another social events I just cannot stand. They gather huge crowds of men and boys-a real social (and financial) entertainment! I know it’s part of their cultural traditions and I never thought I would say this but it would be better if those people spend their time in front of TV rather than engaging into this cruel and bloody form of entertainment. There!

I like Bali but I am grateful to come from a place where there are laws regarding animal treatments and environment protection. They are not perfect and not respected by everyone and there is cruelty and ignorance in these regards but at least there is a legal point of reference and there are educational programmes in place. Being here makes me realize how many things in life I take for granted. I am proud to come from the country where it is normal to have cats sleeping in my bed and I am thankful to all the people who made it ‘normal’ for me to be environmentally aware.