Bali: Sinking a slug on Seminyak's 'sunset' strip

Jim Read, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Well, that headline is a misnomer for a start! As few in Seminyak's expat community seem to get up before midday, and people rarely go out for a night's entertainment before about 11:30 p.m., perhaps "sunrise strip" would be more appropriate: Dawn is almost breaking by the time the bars are ready to close.

True to form, Jl. Dhyana Pura (renamed Jl. Abimanyu, a name that hardly anyone uses) often referred to as "drink street" and even called Jl. Gado-Gado by some die-hards, doesn't come alive until well after midnight.

Major changes have occurred since the October 2002 bombing literally ripped out the heart of Kuta's nightlife. Seminyak, a few kilometers to the north, has become the focus for many new cafes and restaurants (on Jl. Laksmana, "eat street") and bars/clubs (on drink street). This has turned the area from a laid-back center, popular traditionally with the more bohemian type of expat, to something that is both frenetic and brash.

The price of drinks does not vary that much from one venue to another: Local beer is about Rp 15,000 per small bottle, imported beer Rp 30,000 to Rp 40,000, spirits Rp 30,000 to Rp 50,000, alcoholic cocktails Rp 40,000 to Rp 50,000 and non-alcoholic cocktails Rp 20,000 to Rp 30,000.

The main attraction that one bar has over another is therefore principally its ambience. It may be puzzling for visitors that some places are full almost every night while others seem to be devoid of punters.

Before venturing out to the strip, here's a tip: If you're driving, park on the main road (Jl Raya Seminyak) close to the turning, for the road is narrow and you won't be able to leave easily later on. There are plans to turn the road into a one-way street, but until a crucial section of the route is completed, lines of traffic going nowhere fast are the order of the day.

So what about all those bars? Once you've reached Jl Dhyana Pura you can dispense with a map as they are all located within a 200-meter stretch of road, most of them clustered together at the far end. Broadly speaking, they fall into one of three categories: theme venues, chic-urban and laid-back, chill-out joints.

JP's Warung Club is the first venue that most newly arrived visitors notice and many will stop by for a drink or two before proceeding onward to the wild cacophony beyond. It also serves meals and features live acoustic music every night.

Of the theme venues, Santa Fe Music Room and Bar seems as though it has been there for ages. Think Jaya Pub (although Seminyak has one of those, too, round the corner), in terms of decor, clientele and live music. The Bush Telegraph, directly opposite, offers a no-frills taste of Down Under, the only thing missing being men in hats with corks dangling from the brim. This time, think Outback Steakhouse minus the haute cuisine, although steaks are available and the "tinnies" are really cold.

Baker is a neat cocktail bar themed on Norma Jean, so images of Marilyn Monroe and other memorabilia are very much in evidence. Clever use of mirrors somehow makes the place seem much larger than it really is. Bahiana, opened recently, is painted throughout in day-glo orange and creates a Caribbean-type ambience. If the fruit punches they were giving away on opening night are anything to go by, this could attract a regular clientele quite soon.

Q Bar and Kudos are located opposite each other on the busiest and wildest section of the street. Flamboyantly attired Whitney Houston and Madonna-lookalike drag queens (some of whom are remarkably good lip-synchers, too) can regularly be seen getting out of taxis and sashaying to one or other of the bars.

And that's just the customers. 'Nuff said? Straights are more than welcome here also, and many find the relaxed, live-and-let- live atmosphere quite refreshing. Both places are packed to the rafters by 1 a.m. most nights, especially Kudos, with its powerful sound system and club-like interior. People cross the road freely from one to the other, which, of course, helps add to the congestion on the street.

Liquid and Oxygen are really urban bars -- pristine white and minimalist with cool, blue fluorescent lighting -- and would not look out of place in New York or London. Both Spy Bar, which attracts big crowds, and Space, which has plenty, but doesn't, are chic and sophisticated, with decor to match.

Tz Bar is on three levels, with an air-conditioned pool room in the middle and a recently launched, tempting menu of Vietnamese food available for those feeling peckish. It is also the place to go for hip-hop music and R&B.

Of the more laid-back venues, Bali Globe has a really New Age feel to it, attracting plenty of aging hippies, although it can pump out music at blistering volumes, too. A Bar has been a longtime attraction at the near end of Jl Dhyana Pura, heavily promoting Absolut vodka and popular with some of the more established Seminyak expats, who observe with disdain the wide- eyed tourists and nonchalant nouveaus walking past.

So, where do people go when drink street venues close down? Many are exhausted enough to go home, but equally, many are by now well and truly fired up for clubbing, for which there is only one real cure in Bali -- a trip to Double Six, a few streets away.

Following its recent makeover, Double Six has been transformed. The main dance area has been totally enclosed and air-conditioned, the bar areas remodeled and a new sound system installed.

The entire place now has a sleek, modern feel to it, combining the sophistication of a bang-up-to-date, city-center disco with the attractions of a beachside club, complete with 48-meter bungee jump and chill-out area with seating around the pool beneath.

Attracting some of the best DJs, both local and international, many of Indonesia's clubbing cognoscenti previously rated Double Six as one of the best clubs in the country: Its preeminence must surely be unassailable now.

Just recently, things have not been all they should on Jl. Dhyana Pura. Local Balinese have been complaining about what they feel is excessively loud, late-night music that thumps out from the more raucous venues, and two of the adjacent banjar (local community organizations) have expressed differences over the way that this problem should be handled.

On a recent Friday night, the pecalang (traditional Balinese security personnel) were out in force on the street, which meant that the volume on sound systems was turned down so low they could barely be heard inside the venues, let alone on the street.

A local, the son of a convicted drug dealer, was also stabbed recently in the street by a foreigner over a seemingly trivial matter.

All of this has had the effect of producing a kind of tension on the street that simply did not exist a few years ago. Has the area been overexploited, or is it simply the inevitable consequence of the free market at work?

Maybe there is something after all in the way that some of the more devout Balinese Hindus rationalized what happened in Kuta that fateful night in October 2002: The Gods were unhappy at the excesses that such high-intensity tourist development had produced, and this was a warning sign for all.