Kategorie: News
A vacation paradise is slowly waking up again...
Early February 2022: With the exception of Thailand, Asia was still isolated from the rest of the world due to the Corona Pandemic. Even Indonesia with its vacation and diving paradises was more or less inaccessible for western tourists.
At that time the official message of a gradual opening of Indonesia and Bali for tourists as a kind of test run was therefore much more pleasing.
Report by Mirko Obermann
Towards February it was again possible to travel the country with many PCR tests, proof of hotel bookings and all kinds of other pitfalls. However, hardly anyone was interested, the hurdles were simply too high and no one came.
Nevertheless, I immediately booked a flight for mid-April already at that time, in the good hope of the cancellation option of a "flex ticket" and that maybe some travel hurdles would fall away after all. After all, it was not only about a few days of vacation, but mainly about reopening our dive center after more than two years of pandemic break. A good reason to play some poker when booking - and as so often in poker - risk always pays off in the long run (at least in my private poker group)!
On Wednesday, April 13 in the first week of the Easter vacations, I stood at the beautiful and cozy airport in Nuremberg. Despite the vacations and announced travel wave: In Nuremberg nothing of it was to be noticed. The departures were only a few, but all the flights were fully booked - including my Turkish Airlines flight, which was to take me directly to the Istanbul hub and from there to Denpasar on Bali in a 13-hour direct flight.
Checking in at the airport took a lot of time, because the ground staff had to check quite a few things:
- Proof of a complete vaccination protection ( Indonesia understands this to consist of 3 vaccinations)
- current PCR test (not older than 48 hours)
- Reservation of a hotel for the first three days
- Reservation of an airport transfer
- insurance certificate of an international health insurance covering Covid19 (min. 25.000 $)
- Indonesian health app "Peduli Lindungi" on smartphone
Fortunately, the friendly lady at the counter only checked if I had the health app on my smartphone. Whether the app was filled with data was not checked. Actually, this app is used to gain entry to restaurants, airports, etc. in Indonesia. For this, the European vaccination certificates would have to be loaded. I already have a hard time with such technical gimmicks in my native language and so I failed completely in this case as well. Despite countless attempts and translation aids from Indonesia, it didn't work. And so I had only the app, but without content. I anticipate - no one was even remotely interested at any point.
Already during my stay in Indonesia, the entry requirements were further relaxed, proof of hotel booking and transfer are now no longer necessary and as of now, even the PCR proof has fallen away. Only the vaccinations and the insurance are still necessary for a quarantine-free entry and of course the important health app "Penuli Lumbumbi" (or something like that).
There is nothing, absolutely nothing going on
During the trip to Bali, everything was actually like before the pandemic. The plane was booked up to the last seat thanks to the Easter vacations and except for wearing a medical mask (about 90% of the passengers gave up after a good hour), everything was actually like before - until the arrival in Bali!
Actually, on Bali everything was like before, at least concerning the entry formalities. The visa was "on arrival", so passport out, $30 paid and stamp in. After that, it was checked whether I have all the vaccination stamps in the yellow vaccination certificate, one more look at the insurance and I'm already standing at the baggage carousel...
But I notice immediately - something is different here. There is simply no one there. Where usually at approx. 20 baggage belts the people pile up, just one baggage belt ran at the international airport - ours!
Normally, after baggage claim, hordes of drivers, tour operators and "taxi drivers" awaited you wrapped in a cloud of sweet clove-cigarette scent: this time I was presented with a sad sight. While the loudly shouting drivers usually gave me an adrenaline rush, this time they seemed rather depressing, like the humidity in Balinese April weather.
On the drive from the airport to Candidasa in the northeast of the island, I saw what had changed - the normal traffic jam in Denpasar, Bali's capital. There is nothing, absolutely nothing going on, kind of surreal.
Almost exactly 30 years ago I was the first time on Bali and even in this chalk time of long-distance tourism was already busier here than what I saw now from the window of the cab.
And this impression solidified throughout my stay. Our dive center is located on the grounds of a normally quite popular hotel which has about 100 rooms, villas and suites.
Arriving at the hotel at 10pm, I noticed it was very dark around me and either the "neighbors" were already asleep or there were none at all....
The next morning it turned out, there are still almost no neighbors in the hotel and no people on the beach and therefore almost no one at the dive center.
The only guests were a family from Switzerland. As luck would have it, we already knew each other. The now 20-year-old daughter had done her junior OWD at the age of ten with us in Egypt. I would not have recognized her anymore, but the parents were still in my memory.
The three of them had already bravely booked the trip in the fall and, despite Corona, had traveled a lot in the past two years. Egypt, Dominican, skiing - in Switzerland the pandemic was simply not as severe as in Germany, at least as far as traveling was concerned.
During my two weeks on location, a wedding speaker in search of a suitable location for future weddings and a couple of journalists came by. All were announced and struggled in advance with the Indonesian government's funny „Lubumbinuli app" (or something like that) that you supposedly need to enter restaurants, bars and everything else.
In fact, it wasn't that easy to enter a restaurant. But that was not because of the health app, which no one wanted to see, but because many restaurants were simply still closed. The street in front of the hotel isn't busy in our corner anyway, but in April it was almost eerily empty....
I came off one of the first vacation airlines that had real and genuine tourists on board. Another three or four other airlines are now very slowly reviving tourism in Bali. In the course of my two-week stay, I was able to observe how life is slowly coming back to the island. When I left the island, the initial six hotel guests had grown to about twenty. And on our diving base there were no less than seven divers active. There it meant to sweep the dust out and on into the unusual turmoil, because such crowds on Bali were used to nobody more!
Good friends with the monkeys
Having the island of the gods almost for myself, even a diving center boss like me goes on a real tourist tour. On the program were attractions that would be much too crowded for me in normal times. The Monkey Forest of Ubud was set, the one or other temple of course and a few more great trips I have on my list. The time is now!
Anyone who has been to Ubud in the last 15 years knows what a moped jam is. The small town in the island's interior impressed with a higher scooter density than Jakarta before the pandemic. The monkey forest saw allegedly more people than monkeys and in the cafes around it was almost impossible to get a seat. I had free choice of seats during my visit and the monkeys seemed to be really happy about the visit of a distant relative like me. We very quickly ended up beeing good friends...the monkeys and I.
Whether in the temple, walking through the art market or having lunch in old town, I experience Ubud in “coronacoma”. Even 30 years ago, Ubud was busier.
For most Balinese, Corona was a shock, a nightmare that still lasts, a disaster. They want to get out of this stalemate as quickly as possible.
As in many countries, people in Bali fear not so much the virus, but the social consequences of the pandemic. While we in Europe and above all in the German-speaking countries mostly got immediate financial help, or at least some kind of help, there was nothing for the Balinese. Nothing at all... No bridging allowance, no short-time work allowance, no deferral of loans, no unemployment benefit, no social assistance, no social benefits... Nothing...
As a dive center boss I know something like that, because the dive shop was simply closed until further notice. The only hope was to get through somehow. But only when you really talk to the locals, it becomes clear what a disaster the lack of tourism means for the Balinese.
From transporter to pig farmer
Representing just about every Balinese, I will tell the story of Joe here:
Joe is his "tourist name" that we can memorize. In reality Joe's name is "I Komang Partika" and before the pandemic he was a self-employed transport entrepreneur. Joe had five minibuses and three limousines to transport tourists - to various island attractions, to dive boats. Joe also drove our guests from time to time. Today he drives me to Ubud with one of his remaining two cars. His fleet of cars was not yet paid off. Since he was unable to service his loans due to the pandemic, the bank reclaimed all but the remaining two vehicles.
While we are still talking about his financial situation, the bank calls again. He will probably lose another car next week. Then he will only have one car left to build a future for himself and his family.
We talk for a long time. Joe tells a lot and as it is proper for a Balinese he never loses his attitude, shows almost no feelings. But you can tell Joe is in a bad state, he is in a very bad situation. He is worried about his family, how to go on, if he can feed them. And because we're in the middle of talking and we all have a lot of time anyway, we go to Joe's home and visit his family.
Joe has a wife and three children. A daughter and two sons. And like parents all over the world, they don't want their children to know how bad things are for their family, that the food on the table is getting less and less. They smile kindly, as is customary in their culture....
Joe's despair was and still is great. At the latest when Joe tells me that he thought of suicide (a taboo for Hindus), I understand the seriousness of the situation. I asked Joe specially if I am allowed to write this at all. He says that many people in Bali feel the same way as he does.
The responsibility and love for his family and the Balinese-Hindu faith have prevented the last step. Actually Joe is a very fun-loving and cheerful person.
Joe wants to survive, for his family, their future and for Bali. To his small house belongs a little bit of land. At the bank he got another small loan. This time he wants to invest in a crisis-proof business - pig farming.
Pigs are always eaten in Bali, especially during religious ceremonies a complete pig is grilled... So if you like to eat suckling pig, you should try it in Bali!
Since his mother keeps a pig for her own use, Joe already knows about it. He has built a nice and airy pigsty with the credit. Compared to European fattening farms, a pig paradise!
When I tell Joe that most pig farmers in Europe probably house 20 times as many pigs on an area where he keeps five pigs and a few piglets, Joe just says: "But these are animals, they must be doing well" ...
Unfortunately, we in Europe have lost this way of thinking. Joe could generate significantly more income if he kept more pigs in his airy barn, but that is out of the question for him. He prefers to do without, because the sow must be well, he says. The responsibility for the animals and their lives lies with him, and he doesn't want to "mess up" his karma.
Surfing at Kuta Beach
On the way back from our dive center in the east of Bali to Denpasar airport, I allowed myself the pleasure of going to Kuta for one night. Kuta is famous and notorious, it is the party mile of the Australians and all other party people. Kuta has a little bit of the flair of Magaluf (editorial note: Ballermann in the original text) on Mallorca and that's exactly what it is for the Australians.
The beach of Kuta is also a hit for surfers, surfers and all those who like to frolic in the waves - so definitely not for divers.
When I was at Kuta Beach 30 years ago, I was party-hungry and ambitious to learn how to surf. The beach was already crowded then, the pubs and discos too. And since I can do without all that in the meantime, I just wanted to know how Kuta has changed in that time. Not much has remained of the former party metropolis of the island. Almost everything was still closed when I walked along the promenade. But slowly, very slowly, everything is peeling out of its rigor mortis.
The beach still belongs to the locals at the moment. Except for a few surfers from Australia, no one was there yet...
I would have loved to just stay there - this will never happen again. For tourists a dream, for the locals a nightmare - the empty beach of Kuta...
And so it happened that after more than two years I made up with Corona and the consequences. A beach and a surf instructor for me alone. 30 years ago, I didn't manage to do a surf course, but this time it just had to be....
I got the surf lessons without waiting, a horde of surf instructors, beach umbrella renters and so on … has plenty of time and waiting on the beach....
As a European tourist, I was even able to get something good out of the pandemic sometimes.
The conclusion of my stay in Bali in the spring of 2022 as one of the first Europeans after the pandemic shutdown of Indonesia is quickly made. For all tourists who now get on the plane at short notice a dream - empty beaches, empty restaurants and empty tourist attractions. For the approximately 95% of Balinese who live directly or indirectly from tourism a disaster. Nevertheless, the mood on Bali rises again and one does what one does for two years - one waits for guests!
More information
Bali on Taucher.Net
diving.DE Candidasa on Taucher.Net
(c) UW-Pictures by Andrea Brüggemann
(c) Pictures by Mirko Obermann & diving.DE