Kuta beach extends in a long and gentle curve from just north
of the airport through Kuta proper, then Legian, Seminyak
and beyond. The sand is fine, hard-packed and yellow, and
the surf that breaks along the length of the beach originates
somewhere near the Antarctic and is famous worldwide. So too
are Kuta’s sunsets. It is far and away Bali’s
finest beach.
Kuta
is in every possible way the diametric opposite to, for instance,
Nusa Dua. Its developments were unplanned. It is in many places
ramshackle. Very cheap food and accommodation are available
everywhere. There are touts on every hand, and at the south
end of the beach barely five minutes pass without someone
approaching you to buy t-shirt or give you a massage. To some
people this is an intolerable intrusion, even though you do
not have to walk very far in the direction of Legian to avoid
most or all of this attention.
But the fact remains that, in addition to its supremely magnificent
beach, Kuta teems with irrepressible life. The beach scene
at the southern airport end resembles nothing so much as a
circus, but it’s the circus of democratic life in the
late twentieth century and is, in many ways, something not
to be missed. It’s doubtful if there’s anywhere
else in the world quite like it.
Yet a few hundred meters away a hundred or more Balinese
may be performing a post-cremation ceremony involving a procession
in full traditional dress and the scattering of ashes on the
waves accompanied by the release onto the water ducks, chickens
and doves.
The key to it all is that while Kuta remains an extraordinarily
cheap and “exotic” holiday destination for a huge
numbers of Australians, Japanese, Germans, French, British
and many others who flock there, this same conglomeration
is an unparalleled magnet to Balinese for whom tourism represents
an opportunity to make profits unheard of in other departments
of the island’s life. Everyone thinks he has a bargain
at Kuta and the result is a fairground of happy buying and
enthusiastic selling, all under the glorious sun on one of
Asia’s most fabulous beaches.
There is only one setback to Kuta Beach, but it’s one
that could prove very serious. Hundreds of thousands of people
swim safely at Kuta every year, but the fact remains that
at certain points along the beach current pull out seawards
from the shore. Their strength varies according to the size
of the surf and the phases of the moon. These danger areas
are well known to the Kuta Surf Rescue teams and every day
safe-bathing ares are marked and watched all along the beach.
