More than six years ago I travelled to Asia. After Laos and Thailand I flew to Bali, Indonesia. The main reason to go to Bali was learning how to surf. From a friend I heard that there was somewhere a little village with good waves. A Balinese village with not so many tourist, where you should be able to calm down with peace and beautiful rice paddies. Exactly what I was looking for. This village was called: Canggu.
I jumped on my scooter to find Canggu, nobody knew where it was. After searching for hours I finally arrived in Canggu, exactly as described: peaceful, wonderful views over the rice fields, the ocean and perfect waves. Only a few tourists, with all one goal: (learning how to) surf.
Canggu, Bali was for me the most beautiful place I had ever been. The locals lived in harmony with each other, children running over the street while their parents chit chat in front of their houses. Villagers help each other to harvest the rice fields and fresh vegetables. And their children enjoy themselves with fishing eels from the rice paddies. On every corner was a little warung (restaurant) were the most fantastic Indonesian food was prepared. It was so peaceful in this village.
So now and then some tourists came by, the perfect way to earn some extra money by renting out surfboards, a Homestay or selling food. The peoples here lived in the moment. The tourists that got attracted loved to this local life, and showed their respect. It didn’t matter what kind of clothes you were wearing, what kind of scooter your drove (if you even had one), nobody was in a hurry and lived in peace and harmony with each other and nature.
I felt in love with this place and the people, I had to come back. Two years later my boyfriend and I opened a surf and yoga retreat in Canggu. We called it Pelan Pelan Bali, which means slowly. We have chosen this name because everything in Bali goes just a little more peaceful and relaxed than in the Western world. I love it!
What I never realised is that the little crowd of tourism could turn out to be the booming tourism as it is today in Canggu. Of course, this laid-back atmosphere is still there, but it just got a little boost from Western thoughts and habits. For us a reason to move our surf and yoga retreat just a little bit, to a village, that looks nowadays more like the Canggu of six years ago.
Restaurants
The earlier mentioned main street of Canggu called Jalan Batu Bolong. Were six years ago the children ran over the street to the neighbour to buy a nasi goreng in the warung, has arisen now the well knows street with the ‘healthy food’ restaurants and little bars. The most local restaurants disappeared, the rent prices of the shops increased so much that it became impossible to keep the places running for the locals.
In Bali, rice fields go from generation to generation. So most people in Canggu own land, or should I say owned land? The prices of the land increased so much, that it became very attractive to sell your rice field. Specially with the knowledge that the hard work on the rice fields, brings in so little money. That’s why the rice fields often got sold to investors and for a very high price, and re-sold to foreigners, that build restaurants for other foreigners.
Beach clubs
The places at the beach, where you would drink a cold beer with the locals playing their guitars, are replaced for modern beach clubs. It’s not the music of the guitars anymore that sound above the sounds of the waves, but the beats of the bass from the speakers. Luckily for us, we still can find the local places to grab your beer (for half the price) after surfing in Canggu. You just have to look around the corner. 🙂
The people
Titles like ‘Visit the most Instagrammable spots in Bali’, are rising up on the internet when you look up information about your planned Bali holiday. Eating your smoothie bowl in one of Canggu cafes doesn’t count when you didn’t upload a pictures of it on your Instagram account. And do not forget to put your sunglasses next to it. 😉
Why would we go on a holiday to update our Instagram account, it makes me wonder.
Were six years ago, Canggu was attracting tourists that travelled to experience the differences compared with their own county and culture. To meet other peoples from the country, that are different than we, and to learn from their thoughts and habits. Now a big part of Canggu today is the day of expats, digital nomads and hipsters. Were you could walk around in your ‘old’ clothes with maybe a few holes in it, people are wearing high heels, make-up and sexy clothes in Canggu these days, which is very normal. Or maybe even a must have, if you like to fit in to the picture of hipster Canggu.
The surf
I’ve had my first surf experiences at a surf and yoga retreat in Canggu. At this moment, kind of the only surf school in Canggu. The perfect place for beginner surfers to practice their paddling and catching white water waves. Unfortunately, now Canggu beaches often are a little bit too busy to paddle out safely. However for the more advanced surfer we have Echo beach and a lot of other options to surf, just outside Canggu.
The situation for the locals
What shall we say, every con has a pro. As the Balinese say, we always have good and bad – yin and yang-. So also in this case, on several points the booming tourism is good for the economy of Canggu. Still I am not sure it improves the happiness of the lives of the Balinese people. Balinese people do not complain fast, they smile! But if we ask a little further, the locals in Canggu tell us, it’s too busy, there is always some construction building going on, the beats from the beach parties go on until the morning. Every morning they find a crashed scooter on the street, of a drunk ‘bole’ that thought it’s no problem to still drive after a few liters of alcohol. Many temples are built into shops/restaurants. And if the rice fields were they got their rice from is sold, where they are going to work then? Is there still balance? What do the spirits think about it? Lots of questions arise when we are looking closer into the new situation in Canggu.
How to handle the changes
Since our surf and yoga retreat Pelan Pelan Bali is now located just outside crowded Canggu, we and our guests got the best of both worlds. Tasty restaurants, and cozy bars in Canggu, and the real local Balinese life at our surf and yoga retreat. Because my boyfriend is Balinese, we do all the Balinese traditions and ceremonies and Balinese offerings at the Retreat.
All the staff at our surf and yoga retreat are Balinese or from Java, Indonesia. They love their job – we try to keep living in harmony with nature and culture. Something you feel, and something that hopefully can stay like this.
In my opinion, the most important concern for this beautiful island at the moment is to stop the continuous moving of tourism to new places. From Kuta, to Legian, to Seminyak, to Canggu. Enough is enough, so let’s hope that one day hotels, resorts, villas and retreats stop building.
Let’s focus on the pollution, overuse of plastic and improving the lives of the locals themselves – Make this island as it is: beautiful island of the Gods.
Gallery of Canggu, Bali
In Front of Deus Canggu 2018
