More than just sun 'n' sand in detailed Bali guide

More than just sun 'n' sand in detailed Bali guide

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Travel guides often fall into one of two
categories. They are either weighty picture books, crammed with
luscious images but short on information, or seriously
interesting bits of travel scholarship, fit to be thumbed through
and returned to long after the vacation has ended.

Few authors can find a harmonious marriage of the two,
particularly when it comes to a daunting subject like Bali. Feted
and sacrificed on the altar of every anthropologist wishing to
head out to sample its legendary charms, the island has been
picked apart and analyzed to no end.

Somber warnings that the real Bali is on the way out, its
beauty trashed by the legions of package tourists setting up camp
on the beaches and the attendant "massage, mister" sullying of
Balinese ways, have been made for years. Still, the flock of
visitors, not just the Kuta crowd with its uniform of tie-dyes
and beads, keeps coming back.

Bali -- A Traveller's Companion is a richly illustrated mine
of information about what the famed "island of the gods" has to
offer. First published in 1995, but making its debut in 2000 in a
large-format edition, it covers almost every base, plus a few
that would not concern those travelers only interested in taking
in a little sun and sand on the island's famed beaches.

Its 16 sections examine flora and fauna, the island's history,
arts and traditions, architecture, Bali as viewed by painters and
writers and the sights to be taken in around the island -- Ubud
and its surroundings, Batur, East Bali, North, "the wild west"
(West Bali National Park and Menjangan island) and South Bali.

Style

It is set out in a simple style of several illustrations and
photographs, with concise explanatory text, on each page. A guide
at the front of the book helpfully explains the various symbols
used at the top of each page to classify the subject under one of
four parts: Natural environment, understanding Bali, itineraries
and practical information.

There are also cross-references, and a star symbol signifies
that a particular site has been singled out by the editors for
its special beauty, atmosphere or cultural interest.

With such a format, there is always the risk of the pages
appearing "busy", overloaded with too many images. However, the
design works in Companion. For examples, the page on "rites of
passage" provides brief but well-written and interesting
paragraphs on infant gods, reincarnation, tooth filing and the
cremation ceremony, the latter broken down into sections on the
sarcophagus, "collecting the ashes" and "returning home".

The book takes the reader off the beaten path of places to
visit on the island, explaining that "there is no such thing as a
single 'real Bali' ... but the first time you leave the beaches
of Sanur and Kuta behind and turn off the bypass and Tohpati onto
the busy road toward Gianyar, it is easy to feel that you are
entering a different and more entrancing Bali".

The sections on artists and writers put the island in a
fascinating historical perspective. The views of the writers, in
particular, provide a curious window into how much has changed,
and remained the same, in Western views of Bali (there is a
separate section about the perspectives of Indonesian writers).

The comprehensive quality of the work is understandable from
the stellar lineup of editors and writers. They include Adrian
Vickers, who wrote the section on Balinese history and coauthored
the chapter on writers, and Made Wijaya, himself a famed
architect who penned the section on the island's distinctive
architecture. Rio Helmi, the photographer, is responsible for
most of the stunning images.

It is plainly evident that the team knows the island's ins and
outs from firsthand experience. Yet the book's great attention to
detail and exploration of many aspects of Balinese life
undetected by visitors only passing through make it much more
than a travel guide (by its very size, it is more suited to be
placed on a coffee table than squeezed into a large knapsack for
travel).

The book is marred somewhat by the inclusion of advertisements
for hotels, restaurants, golf clubs, spas and even a brand of
mineral water. Still, it is an excusable failing when it is more
than made up for by the excellence of the rest of the book.

Bali -- A Traveller's Companion is probably not for tourists
whose interest in Bali is limited to a brief stopover for a
little bit of R & R. Their needs are amply provided for in the
many other guides on Indonesia and Bali itself. The same is true
of those earnest visitors who want to plumb the soul of the
island to find out if its cultural greatness is headed into
oblivion.

The book is more suitable for longtime expatriate residents of
Indonesia and those who have developed an enduring love affair
with the island. With its considerable treasure of information,
Bali -- A Traveller's Companion is bound to provide something new
of interest to readers already familiar with its attractions.
They are likely to discover something new to whet their appetites
for another trip down Bali way.