Bali, the island of the Gods; pre- during- (post) Corona

Bali, the island of the Gods. It is not a coincidence that Bali is blessed and empowerd with this name. In

2002, a well-coordinated terror-attack hit the tourist enclave of Kuta,

2004, during Christmas a Tsunami in the Indian Ocean hit the Asian tourist industry,

2017, Mount Agung volcano erupted multiple times bringing fear and economic crisis in Bali

2020, the world got infected by the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic...

Despite of the downfalls, Bali is still a attractive tourist destination amongst millions of people worldwide and is one of the favorite destinations amongst Asian tourists. The island survived and every single time climbed its way up back to the top.

In the end of 2019, multiple daily flights landed in Bali from Wuhan when the Corona outbreak came to its appearance. Nonetheless, Bali remained reporting no high rate of hospital check-ins or deadly casualties.

Could it be that Bali once again concurred a downfall and the spiritual island is protected by Gods?

We arrived in Canggu, Bali in February 2020, and at that time our minds were preoccupied by the rumors that Bali will be next on the Covid-19 hitlist!

After spending weeks with family and friends visitations in Canggu, we decided mid-March to have a long weekend escape to Amed and Nusa Dua. Leaving the buzzing Canggu felt like a good break while the spread of the virus in the rest of world became severe. We isolated ourselves in a quieter Eastern part of the island, it was just what we needed. The tourism in these areas were already affected by the spread of the virus in surrounding countries. Many touristic places shut its doors as there were limited arrivals of new tourists in Bali and eventually just before we left Amed, the region was in lockdown.

At that point the government advised to practice social distancing and stay at home. The locals and foreign residents in Bali obeyed strict policies subjected by the local Banjar (municipality staff). After the first cases in Jakarta were reported severe measures were taken by the Bali authorities instantly. Then the first “imported virus death case” came to its appearance and things started to get serious.

Will the virus strike after all and take Bali down for good?

By the end of March, while annual religious practices took place (Silent day; Bali Hindu's celebrate Nyepi), the Governor of Bali imposed stricter measures to better control a possible spread and decided to extend Silent day to protect its island and people. In addition, beaches closed down, beach clubs and other big venues were a no go area, spa's and gyms were closed for business. Although many of the restaurants were closed for dine-in, they still had an active take-away and delivery serviced by Go-Jek (motorbike drivers who can practically deliver anything to your home). It was like Go-Jek was the founding partner of Covid-19 in Bali. Only a handful of restaurants were open for dine in, but strictly closed its doors at 9 PM.

Subsequently, The local authorities rapidly learned that minimizing social activity will empower the Balinese people to control the spread and thus continued to impose strict regulations. In this way the economy would still be able to operate to some extend with the necessary community control by the local Banjar. The residents who stay in Bali are not only the locals but there is a large expat community too.

In fact, Bali is famous for its expat community. They live, work and established a family in Bali. They come from European countries such as France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, but mainly the expat community consist of Australians. This group, especially the digital nomads, have decided to stay while the virus outbreak has taken its toll in their home countries. They have taken a risk by staying in a small island surrounded by infected countries, but the cravings for their fresh morning coffees, daily workouts and for surfing on the waves at the beach or surfing on the internet in co-working places was worth the risk. And we agreed!

While the beach was becoming a no go zone because of fear of mass migration of Bali people during sunset and sunrise, the expat community found other ways to enjoy Bali life at home and so did we... The 9 PM curfew was to prevent bar-hoppers with extensive alcohol abuse and subsequently loose control and their discipline. The locals had to limit their Hindu ceremonies on the beach, and they stayed at home taking care of their families. These differentiated policies led to saving the island from economical distortion while still respecting the health protocols in order to beat the virus.

Meanwhile we were cherishing our moments and realizing to not forget to count our blessings that we are still healthy and spending time on the beautiful island of Bali, while the rest of the world is facing isolation, stress and economic crisis. In particular in our home base… The Netherlands, sh*t hit the fan in April 2020.

We decided to stay in Bali and not return, despite of the emotional pressure from family and friends due to the fact that borders were about to close.

While praying to keep our family and friends safe... we did not get on the "evacuation flights".

No we didn’t get stuck in Bali, we deliberately decided to stay and until this day we will never regret this decision. The Dutch government had to deal with a top 3 world record of deceased per head of the population.

Can the Dutch government learn from Asian policy makers for defeating the virus?

It was very disappointing on how a developed country such as The Netherlands coped with the Corona outbreak so far and unfortunately we have lost confidence that it will get any better.

We tried to gain as much objective information as possible by following local and international news, read scientific articles and we shared our own daily global discussions on our findings. Until this point in time we just can’t seem to agree or feel some kind of satisfaction on the Dutch policy how to handle the Covid-19 crisis. You might think... that it is easy for us to say when staying "safe" in Bali.. But also Bali is facing an economic crisis, with zero tourists entering the island in the months between May-July 2020. In August the governor of Bali imposed opening the borders for national tourists and no doubt that Bali have managed to adopt a balanced differentiated and well considered policies to manage the virus and protecting the most vulnerable in society. Yet, the economic activity is present but limited with strong fundamental guidelines that is widely accepted.

In the high season around June, the beaches started to open up again and most of the Warungs remained open for dine-in. The large hotels started to implement strict hygiene policies and corona policies.

The temples allowed worshipping for groups not larger than 25 people and Balinese local life started to get normalized. Food packages were distributed in the villages.

The popular restaurants among expats, where many of the locals work, opened its doors embracing the corona policies. The Banjar supported the expat venues, so that they could employ Balinese staff and support their families and subsequently the economy.

Honey, Pererenan, Bali    Photography: IG Gawithrie 

During the last few months of our stay we enjoyed Bali for its peacefulness; no mass tourist invasions, no traffic jams, less polluted waters and air and the never ending green scenery of rice fields without spoil of crowded instagrammers. This was the most unique experience of Bali we have ever witnessed and quietly we embraced this setting. So far the Indonesian government has postponed the opening of Balinese borders for international tourists till 2021 .. however national tourists can travel within Indonesia with negative Covid-19 test results. An advanced Rapid test is sufficient and you can expect test results already in 15 minutes. In The Netherlands you should be happy if you get your results within 3 days! Our Dutch policy makers can learn a lot from our Indonesian friends and should gain knowledge from Asians who are far more experienced in defeating viruses.

We truly hope that Bali will find a way to be less dependent on tourism and exploit the many other fruitful activities that will boost the economy to its endless potential. We are all in the same storm but we are not all in the same boat! The sky is the limit...

Echo Beach
Photography: IG Gawithrie