You can never tell what is going to happen when you wander into the rarefied air of Ubud. Perhaps I’ve been here (in Bali that is) for too long. I tend to be a person of habit: during my years working as a teacher, I woke up everyday at five and left for work at six; my youngest granddaughter and I go out for a walk around the city every morning at seven; I’ve been staying in the same homestay in Ubud for the past 25 years; the morning after I arrive in Ubud, I visit Ganesha Bookstore and buy one or two books then I go out for a walk and buy a dress for my wife and some clothes for Zoey. I think you get the point.
And, I tend to be something of a traditionalist these days. I see the same folks on my trips, and I like eating in the same little Balinese warungs when I’m on my own and in the same tourist-oriented restaurants when I’m with friends and visitors. I cringe when people talk about their villas. I find much of the change on the island annoying at best, catastrophic at the worst. I do much of my shopping at the little Indonesian-owned businesses that look the same and are staffed by the same set of characters as they were 25 years ago. My Uncle Ed told me once long ago during my SDS days that one day I would become more conservative. Hard to imagine, but perhaps time has snuck up on me.
So, what has set off this paroxysm of navel-gazing? I ordered a pizza for delivery from one of the local restaurants in Ubud. Not the end of the world? For several years now, I’ve taken delight in making fun of foreign residents of Ubud who seem to enjoy whining about slow restaurant delivery, or wrong orders, or cold food, or the lack of a sufficient amount of restaurants serving the right food for delivery.
As I mentioned to a friend recently, restaurant delivery is one of the things that I’ve always considered to be part of the new Western-fueled decadence of Ubud. This may not seem like the end of the world, but for me ordering a pizza, or anything else, seems like an unalterable concession to the tidal wave of the Westernization of Ubud. That being said, if the Balinese are OK with it, then I’m just going to have to go along with it. After all, I’m in favor of McDonald’s and KFC and Burger King coming here if that’s what the local population wants. So if the Balinese or other Indonesian residents of Ubud think that delivery service is the bee’s knees, then I guess that I can order a late night pizza for delivery to my favorite homestay without guilt. On the other hand, guilt may just be one of those little pleasures of life that I enjoy so much. And maybe it’s time for me to accept some of the changes happening on this little island.
