Bali Echo Visitor's Guide

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February/March, 1998
No. 033/VI/98

cover story

Galleries Galore
The boom in
contemporary Balinese
art

A Matter of Taste
Why bourgeois Balinese
are collecting art

beyond
bali

From Toraja to the
Togians
Sulawesi's most seductive
parts

Treading Lightly in
Lombok
Tips to being a green
tourist

regular
features

Weekender
The Saltmakers of Amed

Home Grown
Legian's Legend,
Made Kasim

Health and Beauty
The Ubud-based
Bali Utama Spice

Books
The search for the Great
Bali Novel continues

Cuisine
Bumbu Bali cooking
school

Fiction
Marni's Ride by
K. Landras Syaelendra

Jungle Drums

advertising index for
Bali Echo web site

Melody Kemp takes a weekend away, and gets talking to the salt makers of Bali's East.

The first things you notice about Amed are the heat - clear, penetrating heat that invites total surrender - and the wild improbable landscapes. Black sand beaches and rocky valleys that shyly offer tinted razor hills, white-grey clouds that pour down the high escarpments, black rimmed bays that huddle in the apron of Mt.Agung. sparkling waters that reveal the distorted outlines of snorkelling tourists, and the shapes and patterns of the salt makers' tools all make Amed a special place. And then there are the acid-tones of the d'oileys which adorn the bantens of the local women. Crotcheted from wools the colours of socks popular in the 1970's, they provide a wonderfully frivolous counterpoint to the land.

Before the rains, Amed is dusty and dry. The population ekes out a living from fishing, salt making and the slowly growing tourist industry. Scrappy lontar palms hover above rocky slopes that have been munched and stripped bare by roving goats. This is a fragile and damaged landscape, where many long-stay tourists and ex-pats find in Amed a little of the flavour of old Bali. They flee the posh hotels, touts, shops and noise to enjoy here a simple and relaxing time in an environment that is safe for their children, and which retains the friendly intimacy of an extended village. Bad access roads force cars to proceed with caution, and have the benefit of preserving the atmosphere of peace and calm that attracts the considerable numbers of longer staying guests. The maddening whine of motorcycles ridden at high speed, and monstrous rolling tourist buses are not a feature of Amed, and nor are beach traders or persistent offers of transport or watches.

We arrived at the Vienna Cottages hot and sweaty after a late departure and journey via Candi Dasa. The other route via Kintamani, Benteng and the northern slopes of Mount Batur is far more spectacular, but you need to be sure of your car's brakes and have a little more time to spend. Dropping our loads in one the beachside rooms, and arming ourselves with snorkeling gear, we hit the sea.The multicoloured corals are recovering well from past damage. Fans, brains and branches are all to be seen in splendid muted tones in the clear waters. And with the revival of the coral has come a return of the larger fish. Spectacular clown and parrot fish, mix it with their less flashy cousins hovering around the large outcrops of coral. Tiny jewel-like fish dash and dart in the intense sunlight.

above:
1. The saltmakers use gangan to collect the brine they process into salt. Traditional gangan, made of lontar palms, are rare now, as they have been replaced by the galvanised iron variety.

2. The tired looks and backs rounded from years of hard work are not what seductive brochures about paradise are all about.

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