Bali Travels

Balinese have a very well organized and complex social & agricultural community which rooted in the Subak (farmers community) and Banjar (general social) organizations.

Everyone who owns paddy terrace must join the Subak community in their village, since basically this Subak assumes control over all aspect of paddy plantation planning.
Subak ensures that all of their farmers obtain a fair share of irrigation. Traditionally the head of Subak is appointed from a farmer whose fields are at the feet of the hill, thus irrigation will first pass through all other members’ fields prior to irrigate his own.

Yet another important corporate group is the agricultural society, or subak, each of which corresponds to a section of wet-rice paddies. Each subak is not only a congregation of members who are jointly responsible for sacrificing at a temple placed in the center of this group of rice paddies, but also a unit that organizes the flow of water, planting, and harvesting. Since fifty or more societies sometimes tap into a common stream of water for the irrigation of their land, complex coordination of planting and harvesting schedules is required. This complexity arises because each subak has become independent of all the others. Although the government has attempted periodically to take control of the irrigation schedule, these efforts have produced mixed results, leading to a movement in the early 1990s to return the authority for the agricultural schedule to the traditional and highly successful interlocking subak arrangement.

The very complexity of Balinese social organization has provided it with the flexibility to adapt to the pressures of modern life and its requirements for the accumulation, distribution, and mobilization of capital and technological resources. Although the Balinese remain self-consciously “traditional,” they have been neither rigid in that tradition nor resistant to change.

Golf has become a popular sport amongst Indonesians and visitors alike. With some spectacular courses on offer, plus the addition of the soon to be opened Nirwana Bali Golf club. the choices of where to play are widening.

Bali Handara Kosaido Country Club (BHKCC)

Located at 1142 meters above sea level in Bedugul, the BHKCC eighteen hole, par 72 championship golf course is listed among the world’s fifty greatest. Popular for it’s degree of difficulty, the scenery and average temperature of 16 to 20ºC make a pleasant change from the heat of southern Bali.

The course was designed by international golfer and course architect, Peter Thompson, Michael Wolferidge and Associates and is surrounded by mountains with a panoramic view of Lake Buyan. The club has 77 rooms in the form of Balinese bungalows, hotel and suite rooms. All rooms have a heater for those cool evenings. Other facilities of the club include tennis court, fitness center massage, Japanese bath, and sauna. Caddies, golf carts and rental equipment are available. BHKCC also has convention and banquet facilities for up to 100 people. The club has three restaurants and a karaoke bar.

Bali Golf and Country Club

The Bali Golf and Country Club located in Nusa Dua was opened in 1991. Designed by renowned landscapers Rodney Wright and Robin Nelson of Hawaii, the course is an 18 hole, par 72 course.

Hosting the Alfred Dunhill Masters tournament in 1994, the course has multiple tees allowing for play by novices and professionals. Each hole is unique and the course has three definite settings for play. From hole 1-9 play extends up a hill through thick vegetation and players will view the panoramic scenes of the Indian Ocean and Nusa Dua. You may also see Mt. Agung on a clear day. The first half of the course has some water spots ?creeks and waterfalls. You will notice small, hand built stone walls which line the sides of tees and fairways. These walls emulate the rice field terraces of Bali.

Holes 10-16 are played through a coconut grove with some of the palms as high as 100 feet. Holes 17-18 are played along the beachside and back towards a 16 acre lake.

Trained caddies, golf carts and all equipment are available for hire. The well appointed clubhouse has a swimming pool, two bars and an Indonesian restaurant.

A recent addition to the Bali Golf and Country Club has been the Wantilan Golf Villas. Set within the golf course, these three and four bedroom. self contained villas are available for short term rental. Watch out for flying golf balls if you’re staying here. Guests will receive personalized service, attractive golf fees and priority tee times.
Grand Bali Beach Golf Course

The Grand Bali Beach Hotel has a nine hole golf course available to hotel guests and visitors. The course presents quite a challenge as it has many trees. The clubhouse has a restaurant and bar. Rental equipment and caddies are available. Grand Bali Beach hotel guests receive a 50% discount on green fees. For those not ready for the golf course, a driving range is available in nearby Renon.
Nirwana Bali Golf Club

Developer Bakrie Nirwana created quite a controversy when they proposed to build a golf course and resort complex near the sacred site of Tanah Lot Temple. One of Bali’s holiest sites, The Hindu’s of Bali protested vehemently. The development, however has gone ahead. The resort will incorporate an 18 hole Greg Norman designed golf course, a five star hotel managed by Le Meridien, a racquet sports center, thalasso therapy spa, 672 luxury villas, timeshare suites. resort homes and townhouses.

The Nirwana Bali Golf Club is an 18 hole, par 71 golf course. The course has been designed to incorporate rice terracing and creeks and is one of the most visually spectacular courses in Asia. Three holes are played by the cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean and the twelfth note which overlooks the Tanah Lot temple will be one of the most photographed holes in the world.

Golf carts are compulsory and playing assistants accompany all golfers. A Balinese open style clubhouse serves refreshments and food and there’s also a proshop with rental equipment. If you’re staying at Le Meridien you will receive discounted rates for golf.

For the 6th consecutive year in the row Bali was again elected the world’s best island outperform Maui, Kauai, Galápagos Islands, Santorini, Vancouver Island, Dalmatian Islands, Croatia (Hvar rated separately), Phuket, Hawaii and Great Barrier Reef islands in 2nd to 10th place.

Travel + Leisure magazine polls its readers annually to pick the world’s best cities, hotels, islands, airlines, cruises and tour operators in the world.

This year though best hotels in Bali slip its position to number 71 and out of 100 best hotels in the world. The Four Seasons Jimbaran losed its 5th position last year to number 71 this year.

A banjar community is the basic of Balinese society, which organizes all daily life aspects of its members, including marriage, inheritance transactions, cremation, festivals and community events. Every family’s head in Banjar community is an active member to participate in all community affairs. Each banjar may have individual orchestra, dance, and weaving clubs.

The banjar itself is usually a group of something between fifty and two hundred individual compounds. The word banjar originally referred to a row of houses, thus to the physical clustering of compounds into a neighborhood, with a temple and a community. Nowadays, most of these banjars have split, and the banjar community is no more strictly territorial. Two banjars can occupy the same territory, and banjar members sometimes live kilometers away from the core of community,

The banjar makes up an association called the “banjar suka duka” or ” the association for the sharing of joy and pain”. This refers to the function played by the group in the performing of specific social services or work - the ayahan within the larger structure of the village. These bonds are arguably the most important of all found in the network of village associations.

The ayahan, collective work such as performed at the banjar level can take several shapes: it may consist in calling up the people to carry a cremation tower to the cemetery; it may be to help one’ fellow banjar member when they have a ceremony (wedding etc), or it may be convened at the request of the local government; it may be for the maintenance of a temple or the preparation of its festival.

All these various collective works and services (ayahan) performed inside or outside the banjar at its request are precisely defined in the banjar customary laws (awig- awig), itself installed by the collective decision of the community.

The basic social unit of the banjar is the couple of husband and wife (pekurenan). Only married couples are considered members and subjected to the banjar rights and obligations. The decisions are taken by the assembly (sangkep) of the banjar’s male members, the krama banjar, which usually takes place every 35 days.

The decisions are taken on the basis of unanimity, The banjar is now, since 1979, the lowest administrative structure of the national administration, directly under the authority of the perbekel / lurah (supra village head) and beyond the traditional village headman (bendesa adat). There are also two types of klian banjar, the kelian dinas, who is in charge of the administrative aspects of the banjar life, and the kelian adat, who looks after the customary aspects in collaboration with the bendesa adat. They usually work hand in hand, unless the two roles are assumed by the same person.

While most people believe that Bali’s magnificent surf was first discovered by Australian surfers at the end of the 1960s, the truth is that it was Robert Koke, founder of the Kuta Beach Hotel in the 1930s who was the first man to surf the break. He had learned to surf in Hawaii and after settling in Bali, he had one of those enormous teak wood hoards sent over. The Balinese thought he was crazy, but as we all know now, the man was a pioneer.

Bali is a surfer’s paradise. Not only does it have a wide variety of beaches and breaks to choose from, the surf here is constant. Unlike many other places, there is always a decent wave somewhere on the island and often magnificent waves in several places.

Kuta
By far the most famous surfing beach in Bali. There are numerous spots along the Kuta. Legian strip offering great waves. Depending on the season, these can be large or small but are almost always surfable. Be careful as there are some powerful rips around. Also remember your surf etiquette. It can be pretty crowded out there on good days and some people can be quite hot headed about who was fast. There are numerous places to rent boards along the beach.

Uluwatu
In the shadow of one of Bali’s holiest temples perched atop sixty meter limestone cliffs, Uluwatu is not only a magnificent sight but also one of the most challenging surfing beaches in the world. As a rule, the waves are big and frequently monstrous. Unfortunately for those with more courage than skill, they break straight onto the reef, meaning that if you are not really a competent surfer, there is a good chance that you will come up looking like a hamburger. For. surfing voyeurs this is the place to go to watch those big tanned bodies put to the test.
All along the perimeter of the Bukit, southern Bali’s highland peninsula, there are a number of great beaches frequented by surfers. Formerly very isolated, new projects such as Pecatu Indah have made beaches like Dreamland and Padang Padang easily accessible. Like Uluwatu, the waves hare usually break into the reef. Also few have channels meaning that you have to paddle like a madman to get out there.

Reef Breaks
There are two really outstanding reef breaks in Bali, one in Kuta and the other in Sanur Most hire a boat, usually a local outrigger, for a half day to carry them out and in with leisure. Sometimes the boat simply drops you off and will pick you up later. Sanur reef is a real pleasure as here is a channel that will carry you back out to the surf after you have caught a wave, meaning you won’t have to paddle like a madman.

Besides having great surfing, Bali is also the starting point for expeditions to further and more exotic destinations. By far the most popular is Grajagan, off the coast of southern Java. This is where the world championships were held. The waves here are second to nowhere in the world, including the legendary Pipeline. The best place to find out about all this is at Tubes, which functions as the local Surfing Central. Until then just remember Surf’s Up and if you haven’t surfed in Bali, then you have not surfed at all.