Signs of the Times (and other changes)

Although this is “Day 21” (but who’s counting) and I feel well settled in, I’m still coming across many changes.  Some are big, significant and quite unavoidable.  Others are small and subtle but important in their own little ways.

 

Three weeks ago as I first (for this trip) drove to the University through “my town” of Dalung some changes were apparent.  The traffic lights had large "digital countdown displays with green and red figures indicating the remaining times on the green or red lights respectively.  It seemed a waste to me as few people bother about the colour of the light anyway. 

 

No doubt the engineers thought they would be useful.
I'm not sure anyone even notices them because
traffic still streams through on the red.  Why wait?

 

There was a little shopping cluster here and there which had popped up since I left 9 months ago, and an illuminated windmill announced the presence of the “Holland Bakery”.   It's part of a chain in Bali, perhaps elsewhere in Indonesia, and I hope as much effort has gone into the contents of the shop as into the roof feature!

 

Even a poor streetscape isn't really
improved by something like this. 

 There has been a subtle change in the mix of shops – small western-Asian mix cafes, bakeries (some relatively expensive and not well stocked),  “children’s spas”, boutiques, specialty pet stores and clusters of new ATMs point to a rise in disposable income (at least for some of the population, probably those building the new villas which are spreading across the old  rice fields). 



View into a new small shopping court across one of the last rice fields on
the main road.  It has some good little shops, one of which produces a
 most enjoyable pizza (for "film night") and a new café called Bamboe
(but the B keeps falling down), as well as a row of old-style street warungs.

Elsewhere there are still plenty of makeshift and rundown little shops and stalls showing that not all have shared in the rising fortunes of the town.  The state of the footpaths has generally improved although after 3 years and 4 visits I still have to take a long step over the “black pit” where the large cement panels covering stormwater access ports has been lost.
 

On campus (or “Kampus”) the major changes involved radical restructuring of senior management positions.  Time will tell just how well this will work.  There are several new faces on the staff.  Most of the anonymous doors I opened in the past when looking for people now sport new signs and it has made finding people so much simpler.  Most offices are labelled, signs  in the grounds point the way to “reception”, “motor cycle” parking area (as distinct from cars) etc. 

 

An important sign - the office of the "English Studies" lecturers

In past years I walked past this door many times without
realising we had an operating language laboratory.

In place of the somewhat “minimal” (understatement) student canteen are two new office suites and the displace canteen and lunch area now has a new home in place of the demolished motor bike shelters.  Some changes have had a ripple effect as change A prompts change B which leads to ….. On the oval and in other grassed areas there are groundwater recharge points which look a little like the "hole" or "cup" in a golf green, but with a little grill across the top.  This is to direct rain water (which would otherwise run to waste via drains) back down into the ground.  That's a useful and so simple improvement.

 

Meanwhile the cablers have finished installing the new “wireless access points” (WAP) to provide stable, reasonable speed WiFi with good coverage on campus, particularly in our building.  We’re still waiting for the link with the outside world to be completed, and it could be soon (but then again, it might not be – Boo!).

 



The new ceiling mounted WAP in the corridor just outside my door.



Meanwhile up on the roof .... I think I've discovered why progress
has been a little slow today. No, it's not an industrial accident.



Along the eastern wall of the grounds little businesses come and go.  Each year I’ve used a “new” laundry as the old one folded – often as a result of rising rents now that the street has been resurfaced and gained drains. 

 

Some of the warungs (small and simple food shops or perhaps just temporary screens around a trestle) have gone, but dear old Warung Bali, run by Pak Wayan and Bu Made is still operating.  My heart sank on my first day here when I saw the shop was closed, but they just were away at a ceremony in the home village.  Even Warung Bali has had a change.  The old hand written “menu board” has been replaced by a nice printed metal sign carrying their “offerings” – and there is even a new item on the menu: Ayam Betutu ("spicy" chicken, although I find almost everything somewhat spicy).
 

Warung Bali (2010).  Campus is on left of the street.

 

The new menu board has replaced the old sign.

Last night when wandering just before sunset I came across perhaps the most surprising change of all.  On the edge of a rapidly expanding residential area just 150 meters from the eastern entrance of campus I came across the “Bali Tulip" Hotel and Restaurant.  A hotel in Dalung?  Well I never – who would have expected that?  The decorations outside proclaimed an opening date of 23rd June but inside workmen were still preparing the buffet area.  Out of curiosity I enterred and found that they have 18 rooms at 299,000 IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) per night.  It had a pleasant, modern, business-boutique appearance to it, but regardless of style I was surprised by its mere presence.  Well, good luck to it.  Dalung has a hotel!



The new "Bali Tulip" Hotel
www.balitulip.com

Just past the hotel there was a flurry of building activity and several newish houses (the local people live in "houses", but similar dwellings are usually “villas” for expats – it sounds more exotic!).  I explored the rice fields in this area on my first weekend in Dalung in 2010 but had not been back until now, even though it starts just a couple of hundred meters from the campus gate, but in a direction I rarely travel.

   

There was a change I’d hoped to see but was disappointed.  In 2010 I gained a great deal of enjoyment from watching the cycle of the rice crop, from planting to harvest, in the rice field beside the western driveway (see 2010 Blog “Why am I watching the rice field?”).  In 2011 and 2012 this rice field had become a vegetable plot of much less interest to me.  I was told that the farmer had swapped usage as those seasons were very dry.  At present this season isn’t dry but it seems that the field has ceased to be a rice field and is now a vegetable field.  Pity.  It was a treat watching the rice grow but watching the beans grow isn’t quite the same.


The rice field as I remember it from 2010.  A beautiful sight.



On the left it's the same field but not the same "view".
Vegetables may be more profitable, but not as pretty.

The black poles along the driveway are very new.  They
support what I hope is a new fibre optic cable (internet).

Some things haven't changed much.  The roads are still packed with motorcycles; in the early morning and the evening I hear the Imam's call to prayer (there is a mosque not far away); when the gamelang band rehearses, the sounds drift into our building and delight me; the pop bands on stage at the Dalung Fair are just as loud as in past years  and the "Dangdut" music (a mix of Middle Eastern pop music, Western rock, hip-hop, contemporary R&B and reggae all starts to sound the same after 2 hours!  Fortunately there's a strict 10 pm curfew.  (The small fair runs for 3 weeks at this time of year - at other times the Balinese cattle graze on the open land).
 

And speaking of “change”, it’s time for me to “change” out of my orange-brown Staff “Friday shirt” (I wear the old 2011 “blue” staff shirt on Wednesdays!) and long trousers into more comfortable shorts and polo to relax.

 

Until next blog, “sampai jumpa”

Paul in Bali