Thoughts on interview in Seminyak Bali

Wednesday I posted the interview with Debbie and was eager to see the responses it got.

I see Jay and Debbie as idealists who are good natured and want to see the best in people.

I was telling Jay some of the things to expect when he is living over here in regards to people’s attitudes and working with locals. Sometimes when an expat gives out advice it can come across negatively ( ‘they’re crazy drivers’, ‘they don’t care about a career they’d rather go to the temple.’ etc.). I told Jay and Debbie that I trust the Balinese to be Balinese, not to be good westerners. They have a western economic model, with western standards and infrastructure slapped over their own culture in the last 40 years and are dealing with it the best they can. I think if I was from a village environment with a rich culture and had to handle modern driving and business routines I’d probably not do so good.

I really like and agree with the 3 points that saphir bali at Seraya Shores had offered about Balinese people, 1) They value about 8 other things before work, 2) they value community over privacy, 3) they value harmony over truth and justice ( a hard one for us ‘bules’ to get around).

Debbie grew up in the highlands of PNG ( Papua New Guinea ) which has a very strong tribal identity. She has told me stories that have a certain similarity to some of the stories I hear in Bali. For example Debbie once told me about the time when members of another tribe had come to her village to right a wrong. They were greeted by village elders, given food, then burned a few huts down. Debbie said if it was a serious ‘wrong’ they would grab somebody and kill them, bringing everything back into balance. I heard a story of an older Aussie guy living in Karangasem who hit a local kid with his car. He drove to another town but 2 days later came back. Locals chased him to a soccer field and put a machete over his head. He survived and returned to live peacefully in the village, everyone happy that the world was once again in balance.

People sometimes get romantic about places like Bali and attribute amazing qualities to every aspect of the place. Bali has its ‘flip side’ just like everywhere else, it’s just a different deck of cards we’re playing with out here.

Debbie and I were talking about driving and she said she loves how the Balinese seem to ‘flow like water’ filling gaps in the traffic and using unorthodox maneuovers. I can see what she means but have a slightly different view. Motorbikes by their very nature offer a more fluid way of moving in traffic no matter who’s riding. I see the way they drive / ride as glimpse into their mentality. In the west when a car is backing out of a turning onto the street most people leave a space and wait for the car to straighten up and drive off. Over here they try to fill that closing gap between the car and the other parked cars right until there is no more space left. To me that represents a lack of trust / faith in the other riders. For an economy to move forward there has to be a level of trust whereby you can sleep soundly knowing your land, money, investments are taken care of. Indonesia definitely has that ‘X factor’ going on where there is doubt and people on the road know without a doubt that stopping to let a car back out will only mean everyone else in going to go around them. Debbie gave me a different twist on this by saying that for a westerner looking through western goggles that’s a decent assessment, but maybe the Balinese show their trust in driving another way, they trust that their bike will fit through that closing gap.

I asked Debbie if Bali still retains that special/village feel that people think of when they think of Bali and she said that Balinese people retain something that is desirable to most western adults ad that is their ability to fully engage in the moment or the present. I remember walking up Jl. Legian with Jay and he commented “It’s the people isn’t it. The people are what make it. Where are you going to see these lovely smiles in a western country?” I agree and have to say I meet such nice people around almost every corner.