Bali, together with Mauritius, represent some of the most popular honeymoon destinations for French newlyweds. It isn’t the case for the Perenets, of course, unless we had divorced and remarried three times just like Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. But we decided on Bali as July was one of the best months to go there. We wanted to see the amazing rice paddies too. But our main motivation was to meet the Balinese people. This article is the second in our Bali series.
School
Although my wife retired from primary school teaching a few years before we started travelling extensively, she still always keeps the children at the back of her mind. As a result, anywhere we went there was a mandatory visit to a local primary school on the agenda.
We discovered this school in Ubud, which was well hidden from view thanks to a sweet vendor. Children are always happy to see foreigners in their school and invariably manage a hearty welcome, taking us for a tour of their classes. Unlike schools in France where parents are forbidden to enter the school premises, they are allowed to accompany their children inside the school.
Smiles
Balinese people are truly friendly people. Wherever we went, be it by the seaside or the market or public baths, or simply in the street, Balinese people always looked at me with a smile when I photographed them. You didn’t have the impression of being intrusive and entering their privacy.
The children always try to show off a bit or stage a diving show when they saw I held the camera to my eyes. How different from Europe and how relaxing it is to shoot happy, enthusiastic subjects. The Ricoh is so unobtrusive that it is supremely easy to connect with people.
Seaside
Jimbaran is the nearest harbour to the island capital, Denpasar. It is home to a large fish market and a rather impressive fleet. The boats are moored on the beach and the place is always busy with fishermen’s children playing nearby.
Near the boats, fishermen either tend to their boats or prepare the rigging to sail out to sea. As a bonus when the sun sets, you can eat seafood at the local restaurants that line the southern part of the beach. You directly order fresh fish or lobster or giant prawns and then have it grilled and brought to your seat on the beach to contemplate the sunsets.
Markets
Visits to traditional local markets are a pleasure always renewed. Apart from taking photographs, you can buy delicious ripe fresh fruit, to which is added the pleasure of bargaining as the prices are not fixed. It always takes quite a time to buy your mangoes or papayas. The flashing colours of flowers or spices on display are truly amazing. Even the fish and walls are colourful.
Kite festival
Flying kites seems to be the kids’ favourite game. It may even become an addiction when they grow older. We have a kite festival in September in Dieppe, about 50 miles from home, but it is nothing compared with its Balinese version.
The Balinese kite competitions are another matter. Every weekend during the dry season, teams from all over the island gather at one place and compete to fly their kites. They are not the type we are used to seeing on our European beaches and are much bigger. Even the small models are four times the size of our familiar kites.
The most impressive are the huge ones. They need some 20 people to carry them onto the flying field. The heads of monsters that adorn them are truly magnificent. The price usually reaches £2,500 for one head. The show is absolutely amazing and seeing them fly was certainly one of the highlights of our trip there.
All images were taken with my trusty Ricoh GRD3 and GR.
Read more on Macfilos from Jean Perenet
Jean Perenet in Bali Part I
What images do you take when travelling? What camera(s) do you take along? And what sort of backup do you prefer, physical storage or straight up there to the Cloud?
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Thanks Dave for the kind comment. Waiting for my X2 to come back from Weztlar unrepaired unfortunately.
Jean
Wonderful colours, and images Jean. Another lovely vignette to cheer up my midweek reading.
Jean, once again a lovely set of images of Bali. Those kites are truly impressive. I am hopeful that Bali better manages the growing tourist influx once travel picks up post COVID. In many parts of Bali they seemed to have lost the charm that brought people there in the first place. The sheer volume of plastic waste on the beaches was upsetting when I was last there.
Thanks Tom for the kind comment. Plastic waste seems to plague most Asian countries we’ve visited. It was not better in Mauritius. What struck me was the lack of wildlife on the island. Mass tourism seems to plague scenic place places in various ways. Down here all picturesque villages are crowded with would be artists selling all kind of junks including paintings, pottery and enamelled things, not forgetting the jeweller. of course if you happen to visit these places in winter everything is closed.
Jean
Thanks Gireesh for your kind comment. I now have a GR2. It is excatly the same camera as the original GR, only wifi has been added. It is indeed a really busy island in some places but it’s worth a visit for the people’s kindness and the colours.
Hello Jean. That was a fitting epilogue where you mentioned you’ve passed the camera to your son. Your images are bursting with colour and life ! I have never been to Bali though my wife did make a visit and she mentioned that the interior of the island was largely spared from the commercialism present in Ubud etc. These images seem to suggest you went beyond the pretty sights and involved yourself in their culture. Thank you for this article.
Thanks Farhiz for the kind comment. Jimbaran is indeed a great place to hang around for a whole afternoon and evening. We liked the northern part of the island near Lovina or Munduk which are far less touristy than some other part of the island. I used the same Ricoh camera between 2013 and 2020 for all my travels. The camera is now gone to my son who uses it when he goes mountaineering. I used the GR2 in Nepal for the first time. Enjoy your new M11 and the rangefinder experience.
Lovely piece, Jean. I remember Jimbaran specially well since we did exactly what you say, eat our fish on the beach while watching the sun set. Ubud and really all of Bali rivals the subcontinent in colour. Is this the same Richoh model from your trips elsewhere?
Beautiful pictures as were yours from Part I. It’s a beautiful country, but it feels like the Westernized way off life is gradually encroaching communities further inland from the popular beaches. You can’t begrudge the Balinese for wanting to make more money and have a better life, but you wonder what they and the World are losing in the process.
Thanks for the kind commment. Bali isindeed a beautiful place. I guess globalization makes the locals’ lives easier and better and provides many jobs. When we went there 5 years ago and Spoke with a few Balinese they were still attached to their traditional way of life and values.
An extremely colourful and interesting set of pictures reflecting your travels on the island. The small Ricoh cameras are ideal for your kind of travel photography. The colours look a trifle too saturated, but I guess with the bright light, they are as seen. Thank you, Jean. Which year were these pictures taken?
Thanks David for the kind comment. The colour saturation can be programmed in camera, something I do with the GR as the GR standard profile is pretty dull in general. The GR raw files need a lot of PP in general to get a decent image. You need to increase contrast and saturation all the time. Shooting raw + jpegs give you the choice and from my experience some jpegs sooc are sometimes better in their rendering than the raw files, even after postprocessing in LR. I took these images 5 years ago.
Thanks John for the kind comment. I hope you won’t have any more snow. I think you’d miss the seasons as we know them if you lived near the tropics.
Jean
Here I am home, watching the last snow fall we hope for the year, picked up 8 inches. This is great to lift my spirits for Spring. Your colors are amazing ! Think you should ship a hot air balloon over and really blow their mind. Your wife really enjoys her time with those kids. Thanks for the article.