There’s not a day that’s uninteresting in Bali.
Well, sorry that I can’t shut up about this place. First, it’s just an overall amazing place, Second, an affordable place to go, third, charming & friendly people, fourth, being quirky is accepted here! Fifth, my journey isn’t over yet! You’ll see it once I stop talking about it. So now, I am talking about miscellaneous stuff I found in Bali, especially my insights on culture, customs, and things that had changed in Bali.
Alongside strong Balinese culture, customs, and tradition, we can also see a mix of international culture and the openness in this island. You can find almost anything on this island, almost anything. The island itself is accepting of all kinds of beliefs and people. You can actually live alongside balinese culture in harmony even when you don’t believe in their religion. People over here will respect you as much as you respect them. For someone that applies the NAP principle, their ways of life definitely suit me.
Growing up, I see Bali as some kind of overly touristic place full of foreigners. I had some curiosity as to what makes Bali that appealing because I always experienced the island with family and it was always family friendly. However, having lived there a few months here and there, I learned what truly makes Bali appealing. It’s not just the mesmerizing nature but also its people. The people value family and community so much more than the urbanized javanese which is something I am exposed to. Even now, in urbanized or megapolitan java, people are rarely in contact with each other or even attempting to know their neighbor but in Bali, their spirit of community still exists. They like to gather around every now and then as the island has plenty of rituals that actually bond people together.
Not just on that side, the openness in bali can subtly be seen from the display of sexualized objects. Trust me, as an Indonesian you would not see a phallus on display in the open, no other than in Bali. Don’t get me wrong, in Yogyakarta you could see a tiny bit of it but just miniscule fraction. In Bali, you can find displays of phallus in different sizes and colors almost everywhere in gift shops. In the past, I also heard about mushroom juice bars that got shut down back in 2014 where people can get jailed from consuming psilocybin mushrooms. Does that stop the consumption, I doubt so. Apart from the negative that is often attributed to this place, their openness in accepting different cultures and customs is worth appraisal and also not to mention, carrying some benefits.
On the positive side of their openness, there’s a lot of knowledge transfer happening in the island. Even today in the age of web3 and NFT, Bali has a thriving community on crypto and almost everyone I know, met, talked to owns some sort of cryptocurrency. On this island, there are plenty of web3 events and NFT. If you are in space, this is the mecca of all things web3. Forget New York, you might as well build your first NFT from Bali with its reasonable living costs. When bitcoin wasn’t as booming as today, I still remember that the indodax office, indonesian cryptocurrency exchange used to be a small one. The other day when I passed through it, their office looked fancier. It has a well lit up sign and looked like a proper office than they did in the past. I am so proud that the place has grown into what it is today. Not to mention that it could be a sign that the industry overall, is improving and thriving.
The bitcoin hat below is literally still the same just like how I found it back in 2017. The store is located inside beachwalk kuta, a famous shopping mall around kuta beach and the hat is sold inside a candy/sweets store along with dolls and children toys. I wonder though, why are these sold here? Do they expect children to buy it? It was amusing to find the hat still there, even after years. I wanted to buy it but I don’t want to be corny, I might as well wear a Hive hat rather than a Bitcoin hat ;)
Seeing some of these changes and something that never changes made me feel like traveling through time. I had so many memories in Bali with the people that I used to know. This island is also a witness to how I’ve grown into the person I am today because I visit the place with different people in a different time, with a different mindset. Most importantly, this place accepts my quirkiness and I never got judged to be who I am. Maybe I don’t live here long enough which could be the reason why nobody was judging. But I always visit the place when I need it and find it to be my home, a shelter where I can run to when I am facing the wall. Visiting the island also opens my eyes to their history, customs, and tradition that otherwise I wouldn’t know and understand.
Traveling/backpacking whatever you’d like to call it, has that magic. We learn new things as we go and discover that maybe what we know isn’t the absolute truth.With traveling it also opens our eyes to differences and managing it. My mom and I are pretty different, we have different beliefs etc but through traveling we could bridge those differences. It was just wholesome that this trip was more than me being on screen all the time. Instead, I thoroughly enjoyed each minute spent as I got to know Bali more as much as I learned about my mom.
It just happens that on this trip, I went back way too early. Maybe the universe has another plan for me because now I find myself making more and more plans towards settling down instead of vagabonding. Sure, it is all fun but settling down somewhere and making plans towards them aren’t bad either. In fact, I would want to see myself achieving something more instead of running around with all the random shorts traveling. I want my exploration to last long which would require some planning here and there.
Also, sorry that I am pretty much chatty these days because I am just so well-caffeinated after days and couldn’t help myself not to write as it’s the only medium for me to channel my energy. I love writing and telling what I think in written words and I get way excited when someone leaves a comment, even hateful ones. I guess, like my mom said, “learn even from people who hate you”.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢. 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. |