Old-fashioned 'dokar' being used to drive tourism

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): In this golden age of motorized vehicles, an animal-drawn vehicle seems to be a thing of the past, and with no future at all.

Well, guess again!

The Denpasar city administration has found that a "primitive" vehicle, a horse-drawn carriage called a dokar, is perhaps the most attractive mode of transportation the city can offer visitors.

"We have noticed that the number of visitors, particularly foreigners, who ride dokar as one of their ways to spend time in the city is increasing," the head of Denpasar's tourism office, Putu Budiasa, said.

The dokar enthusiasts mainly come from Taiwan and Japan. Usually, visitors catch the dokar in the afternoon at the traditional terminal for the carriages in Tegal, near the Badung cemetery.

The dokar take the visitors on a 90-minute excursion through a number of Denpasar's traditional markets, such as Badung market, Tampakgangsul market and the Satria bird market, where visitors have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the everyday lives of the people of Denpasar, and to meet some "real" Balinese.

They disembark in Gemeh, near the largest modern supermarket in Bali, Tiara Dewata.

The fact that many visitors love dokar was one of the main reasons why last Sunday the city held a contest of decorated dokar. At least 240 dokar participated in the event, which was opened by Denpasar Mayor AA Puspayoga.

Most of the participating dokar were elaborately decorated with traditional Balinese ornaments. Some were transformed into royal chariots with engraved ornaments, beautiful golden-colored umbrellas and small replicas of mythical dragons.

Viewers were given the chance to board the dokar for free, and were given a special trip past Denpasar's many historic sites, such as Pemecutan Palace, Jro Kuta Palace, Satria Palace and the Werdhi Budaya cultural center.

The trips began and ended at the spacious Puputan Badung square, in front of the Bali museum and the city's main temple of Jagatnatha.

"It was a very interesting journey, I really enjoyed it," said one of the some 20 foreign visitors who attended the event.

A number of gifts and prizes from the dairy company that sponsored the event were distributed to the dokar drivers, or kusir, at the end of the contest.

Hundreds of kusir, wearing blue T-shirts from Denpasar's Dokar Association and traditional Balinese sarongs, were quite pleased with the event.

"It is obvious that the present administration pays more attention to us, and we hope this attention will be put into real programs that can improve our future. Most of the kusir live in poverty," one dokar driver stated.

Denpasar Mayor AA Puspayoga said the dokar was an important element in his administration's newly implemented city tour program.

The program is aimed at luring visitors to spend more time, and money, in Denpasar. The first phase of the program includes developing the city's basic infrastructure and renovating several historic royal palaces.

"We believe dokar can play a vital role in this program. They give us an appropriate means of transportation for the visitors who want to see Denpasar's historic sites such as palaces, temples and traditional markets," Puspayoga said.

The city administration, in collaboration with the local office of the Association of Indonesian Travel Agents, has given several kusir a short course in basic English and etiquette to help them better serve tourists. (I Wayan Juniarta)