A repost of my column written for the ‘Financial Times, Sri Lanka’ in June
2010. My aim was to describe one of my favourite tourism destinations through
the eyes of others, who had also experienced Ubud. It is also a case study of
how folk tradition, cooperative effort and creative pursuits combine to make
what can be a lesson in good tourism.
I hear many of my friends in tourism, talk about Ubud in a fond and joyous
tone. A few months ago a much travelled friend (in travel media) and his wife
from the USA, who live in a most picturesque area in San Francisco, visited
Ubud for the first time and decribed it as “one of the most beautiful and mememorable
experiences they have ever had”. Coming from them, I take it as a real ‘feather
in the cap’ for this cozy little tourist destination.
Since I first visited Ubud in the 1980s and visited there several times
thereafter, she stuck in my mind as what I would like most of Sri Lanka’s
tourism destinations to emulate, if ever the need be. My readers must not
misunderstand me and think that I wish Sri Lanka to be like any other. I
certainly do not. Our island’s exotic uniquness is indeed unmatched and evokes
a natural charm, astonioshing most visitors to our island.
A Sri Lankan friend whose young daughter born in the mainland USA, now living
in another exotic destination in Hawaii’s Maui, had inserted a note she wrote
on his Facebook page. It was a postcript on an email she wrote to her brother,
to describe a recent visit to Sri Lanka “p.s. as crazy as
it is..... sri lanka is the most beautiful country in the world... more beautiful than hawaii.... i dont know
how my young immature mind missed it last
time.. but it has progressed and is sooooo
beautiful i cant believe it.. i have so many pictures.. . OMG we are sooooo lucky........ even more beautiful than my favorite… Bali.. and so less run
over by tourism and the 21st century.. most
all the goods (clean air, streets, modern
living) and few of the bad (deeply poor people and polluted waters, and few shanty towns that are super shanty, but
off to the side… so you might not even see
if you were not looking. …weird”
Ubud, as decribed in the wikipedia is a town on the Indonesian island of
Bali’s Ubud district, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the
central foothills of the Gianyar regency. One of Bali's major arts and culture
centres, it has developed a large tourism industry. Ubud has a population of
about 8,000 people, but it is becoming difficult to distinguish the town itself
from the villages that surround it.
The secret of success of Ubud as a destination has
been its ability to retain its charm and the charming ways of the villagers or
you may call, the town people. Ubud’s craftpersons work in a commune type
model. A painting created in their unique style will have several arists working
on it, including young apprentices, each contributing a bit to its making. The carved
wooden frames for the painting is also designed and made as part of the same
task. It is as if, what they create is a devotional offering to their Hindu
gods.
According to the Wikipedia account, tourism on the island developed after
the arrival of Walter Spies, an ethnic German born in Russia who taught
painting and music, and dabbled in dance. Spies and foreign painters Willem
Hofker and Rudolf Bonnet entertained celebrities including Charlie Chaplin,
Noel Coward, Barbara Hutton, H.G. Wells and Vicki Baum. They brought in some of
the greatest artists from all over … helping Ubud become the cultural centre of
Bali.
A new burst of creative energy came in 1960s in the wake of Dutch painter
Arie Smit (1916-), and development of the Young Artists Movement. There are
many museums in Ubud, including the Museum Puri Lukisan and the Agung Rai
Museum of Art.
The Bali tourist boom since the late 1960s has seen much change in its
scape; however, Ubud was able to remain a centre of artistic pursuit, retaining
much of its past in tact. Sri Lanka’s colurful mat-weavers’ village of Dumbara,
mask-makers and puppeteers of Ambalangoda, silversmith’s of Rideegama, metal
craftspersons of Gannoruwa, lace-makers of Dickwella, the various craft
villagers of the Northern peninsular and other such centers of excellence
around Sri Lanka can learn some valuable lessons from their counterparts in
Ubud, on how to retain the charm of their traditions and its authentic
presentation through community based cooperative effort, in the midst of
modernity.
The lesson indeed is that we can learn from others, but only to draw on
what is good, to build our own unique ways to high levels of quality, that can
then be, the envy of others.
Pix credit: Alice Teh
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