Interactions and perceptions in Bali

Living in Bali offers a westerner, an almost fantasy lifestyle. I say offers, because not everyone attains that level of fantasy. The major elements are a tropical climate, beautiful island, outwardly friendly people, magical culture and of course, cheap cost of living.

Its somewhat surprising then, to encounter and endless procession of westerners living in Bali, who tell me thay either do not like the Balinese, or actually wish Bali had no Balinese. How does a person go from ‘I love this place, I’m moving here and starting a new life’, to ‘I hate everything Balinese’? Here’s my assessment:

•Work:
Westerners are driven to succeed, some more than others. Dealing with the daily curveballs that life in Bali entails, traffic jams, no internet access, power outages, etc. one can become rather combative mentally (‘its me against the environment’). When your staff / helpers, do not respond to the call to action, one might feel they are part of the problem. I know what its like being in a hurry, having things not work out and having the local’s relaxed demeanor, seem to make it worse. You know the scene, you’re running late, you show up outside a place and are looking for something. You ask the locals for directions, they don’t know, but laugh and ask you “So Boss where you get your hat? How much you pay for motorbike?” They are just being friendly, but a westerner could interpret the whole thing, as adding to the problem.

•Corruption:
Corruption is rampant in Bali. Shop workers, bank staff, government employees, you name it, are working an angle, or as we say in London ‘a little fiddle’. Constantly having to be on guard against ‘little fiddles’ is exhausting. I’d love to be able to pull up to a petrol pump, when in a car, and sit there while the attendent fills the tank. I don’t do that, because often as not, he will use the pump facing away from me, forcing me to run around and check the dial.

•Personal space:
We westerners can be prissy little bitches, when it comes to personal space, myself included. Balinese society offers little privacy or personal space, everyone having their nose in everyone else’s business. That’s normal for them, strange to us. Often a Balinese person will ask direct questions of a stranger, which lead to more direct questions, which creates the feeling of an interogation.

•Incompetance:
We westerners often feel that we wrote the book on how to do stuff. Whether its building a house / road / restaurant, to working through a process, or trouble shooting, we hold ourselves superior. This is slightly unfair on the locals, especially as they do not have the advantage of a great education. Having things go wrong, and having a local either do nothing, or something completely looney, fulfills the cycle. Its a self fullfilling prophesy, when westerners say Balinese can’t handle anything, and their relaxed demeanor can make it seem they are not bothered when things go wrong. Of course there are cultural traits here too. When you get a disaster here in Indonesia, people don’t go running around screaming as they would in the west. They tend to become quiet or even happy, they made it. I have seen road accidents and there’s no dramatics, by those involved.

In the book I’m reading ‘Jupiter’s Travels‘ , the author says that after riding around the world on a motorbike, he has no doubt, that his mental state, greatly affects the way he acts towards others, which in turn affects the way they respond. I totally agree, and have noticed the pesky touts get testy with mem when I blow them off. When I relax and say ‘hey guys what going on?’ they relax and ease off.

In short, I think Balinese society demands a certain level of interaction, by its members. The western model (every man’s an island) doesn’t work with them. Balinese people think its natural to say hello, ask questions (where have you been, where are you going?) and get a responce. Westerners who do not enjoy this type of interaction will ultimately be unhappy in Bali. I have a lot to learn and living in Bali is part of my education.