Balinese inherit Ubud's flourishing tourist industry

Balinese inherit Ubud's flourishing tourist industry

Text and photos by Amir Sidharta

UBUD, Bali (JP): Famous as the cultural center of Bali, Ubud
has recently seen much tourist development fueled by foreign
investment. International hotel chains have appeared to profit
from this apparently lucrative business. However, new
developments recently opened here suggest that Ubud will remain
Balinese.

When tourism first appeared on the island, Ubud's Tjokorda Gde
Agung Sukawati opened a palace to accommodate international
guests.

Tjokorda was a visionary. He was a patron of the arts, and
encouraged the development of Balinese painting. Therefore he
allowed the German painter Walter Spies to build a villa in
Campuan. Later, Spies would both inspire and become inspired by
Balinese painters, fostering what is considered today the birth
of modern Balinese art.

Spies became an awesome host, and tourist guide par-
excellence, luring visitors to Bali and getting them to recommend
Bali to their friends. His stay in Bali promoted Ubud's cultural
tourism.

At the same time, the Tjokorda also was concerned about
preserving and promoting traditional Balinese art. For that
purpose, along with Tjokorda Raka Sukawati, Rudolf Bonnet and
Walter Spies established the Pita Maha.

Tourism and the preservation of culture went hand in hand
since the beginnings of Balinese tourism. The Japanese occupation
and the ensuing War of Independence throughout the 1940s
practically killed the tourism industry, which remained dormant
through the 1950s. It was not until President Sukarno opened the
Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur in 1966 that the industry was revived.
The imposing multistory structure was the first and fortunately
the last of its kind.

Around the same time, Tjokorda Gde Agung Sukawati's tradition
of creating homestays was continued by Wija Waworuntu with his
beautiful Tanjung Sari hotel and the Batu Jimbar estate nearby.

Ubud followed suit, renting out their authentic sleeping
pavilions to their appreciative culturally oriented guests. A son
of the great Tjokorda, Tjokorda Putra Sukawati, who was trained
in hotel management in Switzerland, opened the Hotel Tjampuhan on
the site of Spies's former home, which became famous for its
excellent homestay hospitality. The glory of the homestays
continued through the 1980s.

Ironically, in the mid-1980s a select group of enterprising
regulars of the homestays of neighboring Peliatan, decided to
create their own up-market version of the Ubud homestay. The
Villa Ayu, the luxurious hotel mimicking a Balinese village
environment by the Ayung River valley, was the brainchild of this
group of individuals who were already very familiar with the
island and its culture. However, in the end, due to the
involvement of Indonesian-born, Hong Kong-based, publisher
turned hotelier, Adrian Zecha, it became known as the Amandari.

Designed by well-known Australian architect Peter Muller, the
Amandari was loosely modeled after the setting of a typical
Balinese village. As a modernist, Muller stripped away much of
the decorative element from the Balinese architecture in his
design.

The Amandari's design became the model after which many other
hotels around Bali were planned and built. Many quasi Amandaris
mushroomed around Ubud, particularly around Sayan and Kedewatan,
the villages between which the Amandari is situated. The hotel's
concept and design was even adopted by a hotel in Seminyak, near
Kuta.

Today, the Amandari is still very much the model for hotel
developments in Ubud. The Waka di Ume, a small new hotel north of
Ubud adopted Amandari's concept and simplicity and design in a
unique eclectic manner. However, it seems that only a few
Balinese hotel developers understood how a hotel so bare and
spare and devoid of embellishments could be considered so
attractive.

The sons of Tjokorda Gde Agung Sukawati, Tjokorda Oka,
Tjokorda Putra and Tjokorda Gde, recently built a new hotel
called the Pita Maha in Sanggingan, basically following the
Amandari concept. Instead of following the modern minimalism of
the Amandari's design, however, they created a equally
comfortable environment, matching modern standards of comfort
with their own sense of aesthetics. As a result, in contrast to
the rather barren feeling we get from the Amandari, the Balinese
craftpersons are more evident at the Pita Maha.

Another relative of the Tjokorda, Tjokorda Raka Kerthiyasa,
has taken his Ibah hotel a step further. Intending to emphasize
the beauty of Balinese designs and the talents of the island's
craftspersons, he created a lavishly decorated environment in
which he places modern facilities for his guests. A wall
decorated with large carved statues become a backdrop for the
elegant open pavilion which serves as the main lobby.

A row of water spouts in the form of carved animal statues,
based on similar animal designs embellishing a few prominent
palace gates and bathing places around Ubud, lead guests through
an oriental garden to their rooms. The gateway to the hotel rooms
are so intricately carved that one gets a Gothic sense that "God
is present in the details".

Tjokorda Raka understands that there needs to be a balance
between traditional aesthetics and modern comfort, and therefore
he makes sure that once the guests pass the gates, they will
enjoy a simple and familiar living environment.

Finally, the hotel's swimming pool reminds one of the rock-cut
monasteries near Ubud.

Both Tjokorda Putra Sukawati of the Pita Maha, and Tjokorda
Raka Kerthiyasa of the Ibah are not only hotel proprietors, but
they are also the key people behind Ubud's Museum Puri Lukisan,
founded by Tjokorda Gde Agung Sukawati in 1954. It is evident
that a new generation of Balinese are now continuing Tjokorda Gde
Agung Sukawati's spirit.

The spirit of the late Tjokorda is by no means monopolized by
his direct relatives and descendants. Throughout Ubud, more and
more Balinese have become successful in tourism related
industries of various kinds.