Bali street art commissioned at the parking lot entrance to a co-working space in Canggu area
Endless Possibilities
Actually is the truth. For a long time, Bali has been a global hub of creativity and that is still true today. Even if the crowds (until the pandemic that is) were ever growing, there's always time to find ones own inner space, 'far from the madding crowd'. The following would be a mashup of seen and not so seen parts of Bali, all of which are at least 20 clicks north of the infamous 'Kuta' area. My time was focussed around Canggu, when at the time, felt like the entire globe of digital nomads were building or looking for villas to live in. Australia was also a big influence, Bali nowadays a right of passage for aussie surfers to experience, and also
BOGANS
Avoid. This topic you can google, it's not relevant to today's photo journey! Let's dive in to the shots, and each one is explained in the captions as we go.
Bogans will feature at some part in this series. I managed to capture some extremely rare shots of one in the wild one night.
SKATE
I decided to visit the skatepark, but didn't have a skateboard. It would be months later, finding myself in UK lockdown that I decided to correct this, and now I do have one again for the first time in 20 years. YAY! Which reminds me, I need to go and again skate soon.
Typical and utterly satisfying Indonesian food, Nasi Lamak, AYAM = chicken SAMBAL = the yummy hot red stuff. Everything else in the rice and the fried to a big chewy crackling piece of chicken. I love this stuff. Dollar a day living the dream this one.
There's even places to spend your crypto as far back as 2019 ... lolz
More than a tale or three you will find all around this mystical isle of legendary residents visitors and more. Let alone the folklore and ancient local belief systems which differ from the rest of the country.
A trip to the company that used to make all the 'Mambo' surf stuff ... anyone remember them? Anyone? Ok well, they now have this great big workshop operations in Bali that knocks out an array of goods, all hand finished feel and many outright 'modern antiques' or 'mantiques', one-offs, artworks and more. They are -
'DEUS EX MACHINA'
translates as 'God of Machine'. Nice.
Heaven is a place on Earth
Sang Belinda Carlisle.
Meanwhile, themes of Gods and Spirits abound on this island. These decorations are for a time of year when families welcome all of their deceased to a special annual gathering. All the passed away come to stay at the living homes for the week. Many festivities take place, and this tradition has been so for a very long time. Really puts a new perspective on the English idiom saying you were 'there in spirit'.
No wonder you believe in a multitude of Gods when your beaches look like this, and tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes are a fact of life. It is a breathtaking place.
Available from Deus. I'm still saving up.
All kinds of artisanal salvage awaits interior decorators loading up containers or building villas around the island ... there is a spectacular variety of this sort of thing to be found only by cruising around for days.
Spot the cover image graffiti image after the rest sinks in. In the middle the island (somewhere near to the 'SMOKED' garage we'll cover in next part), this airplane tale juts atop this office building. In fact a large co-working space cafe etc ...' lookup The Gate 88'*
More beach please .. check out those waves, it's vast. In the distance/horizon, the island of Lombok can be seen. Or is it part of Bali also .. anyone confirm in the comments if you recognize the spot!*
You need not treck all the way to the upper parts to find rice paddies, terraces coming up below. There is a satisfaction to finding pockets of them elsewhere. This one was the view at a nice restaurant. The name I'll add if it comes to mind..*
A @NewtonClassics post or trip abroad isn't complete until we shoot at least one cool Honda Supercub. Goal achieved.
Live Reggae band but none of what you may hope for (grass), they will hang you in Indonesia nowadays sadly. Who knows whether Thailand's example will catch on one day.
A shop. Wowww.....
Thanks for reading this far, hope you enjoyed some of this 'lessor seen' Bali!