Balinese spend a large portion of their lives waiting. Well, at least, that is how we see it. It may be trying to get things done at government offices, anticipating the arrival of a priest at ceremonies, starting a gamelan practice, or simply sitting on the side of the road ‘waiting’ for something to happen – for many, Balinese patience seems to know no boundaries.
To travel short distances in Bali also takes a lot longer than it would in say wide-road suburbia or on the multi-lane freeways in developed countries. Population is dense and roads are narrow, so you just have to accept that it will take several hours to get to say Singaraja, which may be just minutes away on the supertrains of Germany or France. In Bali, large ceremonies will cause roads to close, or you may find yourself in your car behind a cremation procession that may slow or bring the traffic to a complete halt. In your frustration, consider that you’d pay serious dollars to witness such a colourful spectacle on a stage back home.
Bali’s relaxed timeframes are summed up by the humorous Indonesian acronym for the island: ‘Ba-li’ (Banyak Libur), ‘meaning many holidays’. Any exucse for a holiday it seems. Civil servants not only take most Fridays off (for Muslim prayers that don’t apply to most of Balinese) but they have zillions of holidays. They not only get the official Indonesian ones, but also take off many of the more important Balinese ones like Galungan or Pagerwesi. Then if a holiday falls on a Thursday, Friday is always a holiday too (called ‘hari kejepit’, a ‘sandwiched day!’). Add to this fact that most government departments close at 3pm and you’ve got very little time to achieve much. A word to the wise: if you need to get anything done, make sure you start first thing on a Monday morning!
