Having worked in the hospitality industry while at college I am always curious when people gush about a certain restaurant, bar or location. What is so special, why would you go all the way there just to have a drink or a special meal? The answer is that usually its a combination of things, maybe the food is good and the location is amazing. Well not all places are created equally.
Bali seems to have a very special way of making ordinary things amazing, and there fantastic things outstanding. Bail is like stepping into a worm hole into a parallel universe. Nothing compares. This place is a world of its own. Its as if Bali is a rock and the rest of the world is the sea. The world just washes up on its shores, tries very hard to be an influence. However no matter how much the Sea tries, the rock seems to remain the same.
Crubling, folding, and slightly decaying, but like all things that are alive, they seem to rejuvenate themselves. This is what is happening in Bali. It is being reborn before your eyes. However it is a being reborn in a Balinese way. With one eye looking to the past and one eye on the future.
This strange mix of time and place is what makes Bali so fluid. The air is Balmy, the streets are filled with mopeds, people and cars, but few are Chaotic. A calm is upon the place. As the country strides towards its future, it is tempered by its religious overtones that tie everything to nature and not to man and his ambitions. Unlike so many other places in the world, Bali feels like it hasn’t left the ground. You feel encapsulated in the moment. The air is heavy with moments to savour.
Every taxi driver knows where it is, just say ‘Rockbar please” and you are on your way.
Being from Australia we were used to the late afternoon sun being strong and penetrating. However the sunset is slow and the shade of the large parasol table umbrellas were a welcome retreat from the intensity of the afternoon glow. As the sun moved towards the horizon, the cocktails arrived and the umbrellas were folded as everyone there took in the late afternoon sunset.
We see sunsets everyday. Some just slip into the night with hardly a transition. Bali however seems to have a special quality. Its unlike other places, it wakes in the morning and slowly rises in a civilised way to greet the day ahead. The days are filled with life and movement, and pleasant relaxation. When it comes to the sunset its as if the sun is struggling to stay afloat and it resists the downward pressure of change. The sun hovers over the horizon filling the sky with colour and radiance until it give its last gasp, before falling under the horizon. A moment of beauty to behold. A silence befalls all that are watching its last moments. Strangely a cheer and applause arouse from the on viewing crowd as the sun folded into the night sky.
The DJ kicked in with ambient tunes and the bar bar found itself flushed with nighttime reverie. Beautiful Bali.
