'Beach Blanket Babylon'
of the East
Kuta/Legian beach is living proof that one man's hell is another
man's paradise. This bustling beach resort has in the short space
of just two decades spontaneously burst onto center stage in the
local tourist scene. It is here that many visitors form their
first (if not only) impressions of what Bali is all about. Many
are shocked and immediately flee in search of the "real Bali"
(a mythological destination somewhere near Ubud).
The truth is, nevertheless, that certain souls positively thrive
in this labyrinth of boogie bars, beach bungalows, cassette shops
and honky tonks - all part of the Kuta lifestyle. What then is
the magic that has transformed this sleepy fishing village overnight
into an overcrowded tourist Mecca - with no end in sight to its
haphazard expansion?
Before tourism came to the area, Kuta was one of the poorest places
on Bali plagued by poor soils, endemic malaria and a surf-wracked
beach that provides little protection for shipping. In the early
days, it nevertheless served as a port for the powerfull southern
Balinese kingdom of Badung whose capital lay in what is now Denpasar.
Rice, slaves and booty
Though Bali was never very trade-oriented, it did supply neighboring
islands with several commodities - mainly rice, and notably slaves.
Also, the booty salvaged from shipwrecks provided an occasional
bonanza for the hardy inhabitants of this coastal outpost.
After an earlier Dutch trading post had been abandoned as commercially
unviable (even the illegal trade in slaves proved disappointing),
there arrived in Kuta a remarkable Dane mounted on a proud stallion,
the likes of which the Balinese had never seen. Mads Lange, as
he was called, had the audacity march straight to the palace of
the raja of Badung and demand an audience.
Despite his bravado, Lange had in fact recently been a victim
of his own intrigues on the neighboring island of Lombok, where
he had aided the wrong raja in a war and lost all. As fate would
have it, Lange not only survived his move to Bali, but prospered
building here an extensive new trading post coconut oil factory
and luxurious residence stocked with wines and other delicacies.
Within the walls of his fabled Kuta residence, Lange wined and
dined a succession of visiting scholars, adventurers, princes
and colonial officials. During the tumultuous 1840s, moreover,
he repeatedly played a critical role in mediating between the
Balinese rulers and the Dutch. Today, his grave can be seen in
a Chinese cemetery at the center of Kuta, not far from a Buddhist
temple and the crumbling remains of his once-regal house.
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