Meeting Charlie in Kuta Bali

Late yesterday afternoon I was at home when I received a call from Charlie, a traveler from the US who has been in Bali for a few days.

I always enjoy getting visitor’s opinions and arranged to meet Charlie at Internet Outpost on Poppies Lane II in Kuta.

We met and Charlie told me he has spent the last few days getting his bearings in Kuta and taking his time to figure out the scene. Charlie has spent the last year working in China at a factory manufacturing magnets for electronic devices. He was telling me that a beer goes for 12 cents and that its possible to save a lot of money in there. Surprisingly in small town he was in there were no bars and Charlie said that’s because the Chinese won’t pay someone money to pour a beer for them, they’d rather buy their own.

After his �free beer’ we got in a taxi and drove to Santa Fe on Jl. Dhyana Pura in Seminyak. The time was around 7.45pm and Santa Fe was pretty empty which was great for us to kick back next to the street and chat. Santa Fe has undergone renovations with the back area now double the size and a set of doors erected that cuts of the back area after 1am. The noise ordinance demands that loud music come to halt at 1am.

I got a call from a friend Miguel who was in the area. He’s been in Bali for 14 years and I thought it might be interesting for Charlie to meet someone who knows a lot about the culture and likes to talk about it ( and does this guy like to talk!).

Miguel arrived and we got into a discussion about recycling. Miguel and I met while working at the Santa Barbara recycling center in 1989. When I visited him back in 1993 he was trying to set up a recycling program here in Bali and we visited several collection points. Anyway Charlie has been involved in composting and is a goldmine of information. I know he doesn’t want to be known as the �composting traveler’ but I picked his brain for future use. Composting is the process where natural organic material rots and breaks down. Charlie said the most efficient way to compost is to use a combination of green things and brown things ( leaves and wood chips maybe ) which contain nitrogen and carbon. You also need air and water, so stack your compost fairly solidly, not spread out flat and water it regularly. Charlie said turning it over allowing a rotation of ingredients is good too. He said in colder climates you will have to insulate it with a tarp. I asked what would happen if you just left it in a big pile during winter and he said it would freeze, thawing out in late spring, composting for a couple of months then re-freezing. Apparently a compost heap can reach internal temperatures of 160 degrees f and you can burn your hand! What makes it so hot? Charlie said a compost heap is a living organism and the heat generated cleanses the pile of pathogens it might contain.

Very interesting and a great idea for the Balinese to try out.

We talked abut the problems of plastic garbage in Bali and Charlie wondered where it all actually came from. Popular opinion says it washes down the rivers to the beach although the Balinese will tell you it washes over from Java. Charlie noticed the debris on the beaches is mostly single use plastic containers (shampoo, spice, drink sachets).

He also wondered how an economy where people are surviving in a tourist location on 400,000rp per month can afford to put products out there in �1 serving size’ packets, which are very expensive.

Obviously there is plenty of room for improvement here and attacking the problem from all angles, getting manufacturers to offer incentives to buying in bulk containers, getting locals to stop chucking their garbage in the rivers and the government to implement a recycling program are great ideas.

Miguel gave Charlie the A-Z on the dating scene here in Bali and put step #1 into action on more than 1 occasion with our waitresses.

We moved on to Spy Bar down the street and sipped a beer at the bar. The street did seem quieter than normal which was okay with me as I just wanted to socialize and talk. I think Charlie was quite impressed at the development on Jl. Dhyana Pura with new bars appearing every couple of weeks. He commented that its nice to have the choice to come to a party spot if that’s what you want.

Miguel told us that Jl. Dhyana Pura was like a street party on New Years and that he’d never seen anything like it 14 years. Tourists from all over the world where in town along with domestic tourists from Jakarta.

We left around midnight with Charlie and I sharing a taxi back to Kuta. He will in Bali for a couple of months and I hope to encourage him to write and article or 2 about his thoughts and observations.

The weather today is lovely and it doesn’t feel like the rainy season.