As a newly-fresh-arrived foreigner (bule) surfer in Bali, you will notice something, right away, quite striking: smiles. Smiles abound in Bali. All types of smiles; welcoming smiles, traditional smiles, happy smiles, routine smiles, making-fun-of-you smiles, and why-wouldn’t-I smiles.

This ending rainy season may prove to be one to remember. A few factors will contribute to place it in the annals of the Bukit’s recent surf history. The quality and quantity of swells will probably not be one of them. Even if we have had, so far, quite consistent surf and one very good and big swell in January, the waves will not be it. It will be remembered by (this is normal) crowded previously-semi-secret spots. It will also be remembered by (this is not normal) weather that went dry season on us for over two weeks. And it will also be remembered by (this is surreal) a group of Italians claiming a Bukit spot as their own.

A bule friend of mine recounted me an interesting story that happened to him not long ago (not long ago being measured in Bali-time.) A story where all people involved are bules living in Bali. A story that would have not happened were the bules involved not the bules that they are. A story that this bule friend of mine would have not recounted to me were he not the bule that he is. A story that I would not be telling now were I not the bule that I am. It is a telling story though. Not necessarily because of its particulars, but because of its compelling insightful nature on the nature of the bule-surfer. A story that makes you go, “that’s right, all bules.” And since it’s hard for all to escape our buleness, and with my friend’s tacit permission, here it is:

A year ago, in April 2011 Time Magazine published an article on Bali called “Holidays in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes”. Since then, many other publications have echoed this –however accurate (and that’s debatable)– heavily skewed and one-sided piece of journalism. The author would rightly defend this one-sidedness arguing that the article does not intend to portray a complete picture of Bali but rather, as he justly warns us in the title, only its ongoing woes. Here our take.