If you already heard the name Uluwatu, it’s a good chance that you have been to Bali.
I just visited Bali again; the last one was 12 years ago and I could not help but marvel at the jewel of Indonesia tourism. The road are smooth and without any pothole. The local people speak English and Japanese (plus some Korean and France) fluently. The stores are open until 11 pm and the services are generally very good.
Most importantly, there is a sense of security that rarely felt in the Jakarta and other mayor cities of Indonesia. You can walk alone (also applied for woman as I was told) and the largest disturbance you will get (that you will also get if walking in a group) is getting repeated offer for taxi and tour guide. The taxi driver told me that they last caught thief in Kuta 3 years ago, he was burned alive by the local and they never have any problem with thief anymore.
OK, that was good. Now what about that strange name on the title?
Uluwatu is a place on southwest tip of Bali. It has high cliff and high waves, a long time favorite among surfers. It also has a very beautiful temple perfect to observe sunset. The view is simply breathtaking.
But the local are not satisfied with getting the tourist to pay Rp 3000 to enter the temple site (also a habitat of sacred monkeys). They also offered Kecak daily dance performance during sunset. The scenery on the photo below surely worth the Rp 50 000 entrance fee and more.
I did a quick count on the attendance during the dance and there are about 400 people watching it. And it was not even the tourist season. A top of the head calculation will reach to Rp 20 million a day and Rp 600 million a month. Now, that what I would call a worthy cultural exchange.
The dance it self is well executed (Rahwana was especially fierce) with some humor inserted along the performance, they provided summary of the acts in many languages. The timing was proper (60 minutes) and the backdrop is simply amazing. The 40 minutes drive from Kuta was forgotten. Interesting to note that I saw many Indians (aside from usual western and Japanese tourist), maybe they are curious to the offshoot of Hindu culture at the other end of continent.
There are rooms for improvement for sure. They could arrange for a daily bus from Kuta and Sanur to go to Uluwatu and back. Most people come before the performance and go straight afterward. If only they could provide additional services such as proper massage, restaurant or shops (the available one is rather gloomy) then they would get additional tourist time and money.
Uluwatu could be taken as a series of management steps to enrich (pun intended) the whole Indonesia tourism. Be authentic (and not pushy), create additional value and charge high (even though I wished they charge different price for Indonesian). Rarely did I see such a well manage cultural tourism in Indonesia. And it is all done by the Balinese.
By the way, Uluwatu also used as brand name of a series of elegant dresses that I would not mind going to fancy event/restaurant with someone wearing it. You can check the collection here girls.
