2022
Back to Bali – At last!
13 October 2022 - Sydney
My last email from Bali at the end of the 2019 Ubud Festival, dated 1 November, was ominously entitled “Last Day in Bali”. Little did I know then that it was indeed to be my last day for three long years, a time in which the world faced untold challenges as the pandemic wreaked havoc. Watching Bali suffer from afar was especially painful to me. And now at last I am able to return and see for myself how she has fared. The festival is on again, in person, over the last few days of October, having attempted an online program these past two years - to me, definitely not the same as being there, though I listened in to most of the sessions.
This painting on my dining room wall (Mama bought it on her one trip to Bali in 1970) has reminded me daily of the beauty of Bali (albeit a highly romanticised version!)
This painting on my dining room wall (Mama bought it on her one trip to Bali in 1970) has reminded me daily of the beauty of Bali (albeit a highly romanticised version!)
The 2022 festival is on a smaller scale than in previous years, with fewer international writers attending and more Indonesian writers. Indolitclub, the Indonesian literary discussion group I co-founded, has been given an evening gig at the informal Festival Club where we will run one of our discussion sessions on the stories that Pam Allen and I have translated for this year’s emerging writers’ anthology. We will involve the authors, festival goers and the Indolitclub members attending the festival. Should be fun to show others what we do - and for Indolitclubbers to sit around a table together again after all this time on Zoom!
Here is a little artistic video of director, Janet de Neefe, introducing the festival.
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I will have two weeks there, from 21 October with time before and after the festival to catch up with all the friends I have not seen for so long. Garuda only flies from Sydney direct once a week at the moment. I’ll be travelling with Indolitclub friend Liz Biok, staying a few days in Sanur first then up to Ubud on 24th October in time for the festival starting on the evening of 26th. A couple of other friends, from our Friday night movie group, will be coming too - Vivienne and Melinda. I’ll be at my favourite old haunt, Puri Saraswati, now under new management - Dijiwa Sanctuaries. Will it have gone all trendy on me? I certainly hope not! It is still owned, I believe, by the beautiful, elegant Ibu Agung, (sister of the prince of Ubud) who used to live upstairs at the back of the hotel. I hope she is still there. She has been welcoming me, my friends, family and students on all our visits to her palace home for 34 years. (Puri means “palace”, residence of a member of the aristocracy.) By the way, this Ibu Agung is not to be confused with my dear friend Bu Agung who used to look after Josh’s house. I’ll also be seeing her again.
So, folks, prepare for your inboxes to be hit with my Ubud jottings, though you never know, age and weariness might prevent me from getting to the iPad after long, heady days of literary activity. A glance at the program shows no time slot for afternoon naps! I’ve been doing some serious physiotherapy these last six months, trying to build up muscle strength to cope with Bali’s terrifying rail-less steep stone steps! It remains to be seen if it has worked......
By the way, have you had a chance to see the new Australian STAN mini-series “Bali 2002” on the Bali Bombing? It is actually very good and very sensitively made, with a balance between the Australian and Indonesian responses to this terrible tragedy. 12 October marked the 20-year anniversary, a sombre day of memories. The current George Clooney /Julia Roberts movie “Ticket to Paradise” set in Bali (but filmed in Queensland) is a silly but watchable piece of nonsense, if you suspend all belief! Bali it is not!
Bali here I come!
So, folks, prepare for your inboxes to be hit with my Ubud jottings, though you never know, age and weariness might prevent me from getting to the iPad after long, heady days of literary activity. A glance at the program shows no time slot for afternoon naps! I’ve been doing some serious physiotherapy these last six months, trying to build up muscle strength to cope with Bali’s terrifying rail-less steep stone steps! It remains to be seen if it has worked......
By the way, have you had a chance to see the new Australian STAN mini-series “Bali 2002” on the Bali Bombing? It is actually very good and very sensitively made, with a balance between the Australian and Indonesian responses to this terrible tragedy. 12 October marked the 20-year anniversary, a sombre day of memories. The current George Clooney /Julia Roberts movie “Ticket to Paradise” set in Bali (but filmed in Queensland) is a silly but watchable piece of nonsense, if you suspend all belief! Bali it is not!
Bali here I come!