AMED BALI- THE REMOTE NORTHEAST COAST

Amed is a fairly remote arid coastal region of poor fishing/ farming communities on the far northeast coast of Bali. The entire area is collectively referred to as Amed but actually consists of a series of small beach-side fishing villages, each with its own name and identity.

From west to east there’s Amed, Jemeluk, Bunutan, Lipah, LeeAn, Salang and others beyond. These communities are separated by hills stretching along the coast. The single coastal road winds up over the headlands then down into a small beach-fringed cove then up over the next headlands and down into the next village.

Until the mid 1980s Amed was undeveloped by tourism, little-visited by outsiders. In the 80s a few low-key resorts began appearing and a paved road was introduced in 1985. Amed locals aged 35 and above still remember childhood life without roads, electricity or any modern development!

Since 1985  several beach-side boutique resorts have sprung up, all with beautiful gardens, lovely Balinese-inspired bungalows, and open-aired restaurants. Luckily, they’ve all maintained a low-key unobtrusive presence. Many promote healthy back-to-nature themes incorporating massage, yoga, cleansing, and so on. No massive 5-star hotels, skyscrapers or modern eyesores here!

bungalow at Coral View Resort, Lipah

Probably because of the ‘blend into nature’ style of these resorts the whole area still maintains an atmosphere of local village life. Astoundingly, even when resorts are fully booked you can walk along the meandering coastal road meeting locals going about their daily life, barely passing any other tourists at all. It’s even hard to imagine any other foreigners are around.

 

An Amed visit is a quiet, tranquil, unhurried blissful retreat from modern life and bustling touristy beach areas. You’re simply surrounded by nature: scrubby hillsides, vast blue sky, trees, flowers, gardens, beach and the expansive sea. Nighttime brings a dark sky brilliant with stars.

Aside from low-key tourism: boutique resorts, dive centers and scattered shops, Amed still revolves around fishing, farming, and in one area salt making. Some locals do manage to make a living off tourism by working in resorts and dive shops, by owning small shops and restaurants or by taking visitors on boat/ snorkeling/ hiking trips.

Otherwise, most locals are fishermen/ farmers or salt makers. They live down along the coast and up on the hillsides in small primitive shacks and houses. They are astoundingly poor. In fact, despite the low-key tourism the Amed area is quite poverty stricken.

Fishermen ‘park’ their colorful wooden sailing boats ‘jukung’ along the beaches. Jukung are so numerous that most beaches are packed from end to end. These boats are not simply ‘parked’ though. Fishermen still take them out daily in early mornings around dawn and in  late afternoons fishing for mackerel. Some days bring an excellent catch, some days bring nothing. Luck of the hunt. In any event, it’s an amazingly beautiful site watching hundreds of colorful sails drifting in the sea near sunrise and sunset.

jukung in Amed returning from evening fishing

Some fishermen have been lucky enough to earn money with their jukung by taking tourists out for cruises and divers out to offshore dive sites. Diving from jukung is a fun unique experience which I highly recommend.

Besides watching fishermen taking their boats out/in and hauling mackerel around in buckets, visitors can observe many other village activities: women hauling buckets of water, food, fish, wood on top of their heads; fishermen’s wives selling mackerel roadside; farmers selling vegetables; women taking care of children, and so so. Various ‘truck merchants’ pass through on a daily basis selling vegetables, fruits, fresh meats, clothes, housewares. Locals gather at the trucks to see what’s available and buy necessities.

Amed, like the rest of Bali, practices Hinduism. Balinese Hinduism permeates daily life with plentiful ceremonies including weddings, funerals, temple ceremonies and daily rituals. Every morning begins with temple offerings. First women make tiny baskets of flowers, leaves, rice and treebark. Next they don traditional temple clothing, light incense sticks, and walk around to each small shrine, shop, house entryway, and other locations, carefully placing flower basket offerings and incense. These colorful, fragrant offerings remain on the streets, steps, temples, doorways, etc. until they’re blown away by the wind or swept up by cleaners. Throughout the day sweet fragrances float through the air.