I have a problem with Ubud, Bali, Indonesia and I guess its a problem that many face when they travel. The Ubud described by Ms Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert, Elizabeth) does not exist anymore; gone is the peaceful, calm, agricultuarally based community which was also described as safe and welcoming to visitors; so visitors come, and Ubud offers what it believes tourists, visitors want, which is the total opposite of what appealed to them in the book or film.
The Ubud of 2011 still has the narrow streets but now they are jammed nose to tail with SUVs carrying Balinese drivers and tourist passengers on their 'Tour of Bali'; 'Beach and Country' tour of Bali; the 'Real Bali tour'; 'Bali history and Culture' tour. Hotels are full, always, as the tours have pre booked the rooms, so an independent traveller (yes, some still do exist) will struggle to get a bed for the night, relying on randomly hitting on the hotel which has had a tour cancel.
Along the pavements, every yard or so there's the call of 'Taxi?' (male), 'Massage?' (female) or every 3 yards, 'fire dance?' (guy in traditional dress) from locals who sit together chatting whilst touting all long day long. And the frontages? Shops selling Balinese crafts and clothes; bars cum restaurants (all offering a Happy Hour on alcohol) or a hotel entrance, easlily identified as they look like temple entrances.
So, other than the fact that lots of other tourists ironically irritates an average tourist, what's wrong with all this success for Ubud? Would I rather see poor people bent double in rice fields making a basic living, as that always makes a good picture for the album? Does my heart not lift every time I see "Happy Hour"?
This is the rub, its the seeming nihilism of it all. Is it a good life, a good use of eduaction to sit on a pavement all day,'Taxi?', handing out flyers advertising exactly the same product as everyone else, 'Massage?' to disinterested tourists 'fire dance?'. Is this why Wayan so desperately wanted an education for her daughter, to become a street masseuse in 10 years time? At the local school on Monkey Park Road, we watched as each class in turn was taken through its marching drills, presumably to teach obedience and discipline which left me hoping that inside the classroom the focus was on independent thinking and questionning skills, as Tourism is a fickle mistress and when she moves on to some other hot favourite what will be left to those she dallied with in Ubud? Hopefully some economic stability based on wise saving, long term planning and investments by independently thinking adults .
Facts and Figures:
Hotel rooms: 300,000 - 600,000+
Taxi to Denpensar: 250,000
Shuttle to Lovinia: 125,000 per pax
Food - dishes average 40,000
Bicycle tour: 260,000 - 360,000
Shuttles to Padangbai to Gilis: 400,000
