The "Magic" of Bali
A blast to the past to the southern Legian area, in a reminiscent tale of bringing back the free spirited sixties and seventies... Stroll down Poppies Lane now, and have a look at how things have changed.
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The writer, on the sands of Kuta Beach, circa 1982. |
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Pin-pointing places on an 'archaic' map... |
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The famous 'Bemo Corner' circa 1983. |
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Bustling current-day Poppies Lane. |
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The sunset at Kuta had never looked more radiant. The sun was throwing out flaming spears of greens and purples that magnified the brilliance of the descending orb. Such beauty! As I looked away, the sand caught the swirling of patterns that mimicked the swirls and correlations of Mandelbrot fractals, inspirational spirals that convinced me that here, on the beach in Bali, lay the secret of the Universe.
Later that evening, as the rice grains I was toying with crawled off my plate and onto the floor of the warung, I was acutely aware of the magic of Bali. That was in the late seventies, and back then the magic of Bali didn't lie in the glossy real estate ads or the proliferation of shopping malls, it lay in the power of the 'magic mushroom'.
Cultivated by chance and circumstance in the fields of Tuban, the gold-topped mushroom found its way onto menus in the tiny warungs along Jalan Raya Kuta. Milkshakes and mushrooms, mushroom omelet's and most distastefully…mushrooms in beer.
MELTING MOMENTS:
By the 1980's, many of the original western inhabitants of the Poppies area had smelt the wave of change and headed up to the hills or out to the island of Lembongan, where legendary parties would take place at full moon. This eclectic group was eventually replaced by mostly Australians and surf travelers; the waves became 'crowded', as six or more guys would wait on a break, and the beach was 'over-populated'. On a bad day there could be sixty to one hundred people on the stretch between Halfways and Double Six.
The Balinese, branching out from losmen rentals and into the retail trade, got smart to the desires of this new breed of visitor and created vibrant patchworks of clothing, t-shirts and crocheted bikinis. With the guiding hand of creative Westerners, the flower power of Bali blossomed into a fully-fledged fashion industry that spread its tentacles all the way through the eighties and into the boom of the early nineties.
Living in Bali in the seventies was a precarious business for long-term overseas visitors, as permits and visas were never completely stable but the surf films encouraged many to try their hand at living the island life. And although the small community of like-minded people was being slowly diluted by a creeping tourism, and the lure of economic freedom was becoming a driving force and waves were taking second place to bungalow building and motorbike buying, to all the innocent first time visitors, an arrival in Bali was an arrival to paradise. People smiled, beer was cheap, and mushrooms were on the menu. Like a trip back in time, Bali promised all the love, peace and happiness you could carry in your Jak-Pak.
MODERN MAGIC:
While mushrooms are no longer on every menu, their influence remains in the neon colors, the psychedelic sarongs, and mythology of Bali. Take a walk down Poppies Lane I or II on a full moon and have a look at how much and how little things have changed. The shops are crushed together, the road is all but impassable, and the hawkers have an edge to their calls, but take a look behind the walls: See the tangle of vines and the empty land that cannot be built on. Listen for the spirit of the seventies in the rustle of the leaves and the flickering moon, and celebrate in style.
One such celebrator of psychedelic style is Nicholas X Morley, and with his eponymous label he creates a pumping range of neon from hoodies to bikinis, and slogan T's that are guaranteed to spark up a sixties-style controversy between the freaks and squares. His dynamic clothing can be found in Bali retail outlets including the Stussy shop at the historic Bemo Corner, once the place for transport and the best yoghurt on Bali.
Bringing back the free spirited sixties and seventies is in keeping with the global search for a more ideal life style, going green with a dash of edge. Using technology to make the world a smaller place again and finding community in the like-minded people that gravitate to the island lifestyle. Bali, unlike Haight Ashbury, Woodstock and the Isle of Wight, retains its flower power charm and for every thousand tourists disembarking at the airport there is at least one free spirit who is searching for their own field of dreams. By Katy Robertson |
