Every year Indonesia’s Bali captures the hearts of people from all over the world, the island offering holiday-makers beauty, fun, luxury, culture and most importantly, picturesque beaches and rainforest for the ultimate in relaxation.
Marilena Vlataki and Aki Kotzamichalis are members of the small Greek community who have chosen to make Bali home. And given the island’s international appeal, perhaps it’s no wonder that Vlataki, a Greek woman who is married to a Balinese Prince, lives nearby Greek Australian Kotzamichalis who visited Bali and thought it was so nice he would stay. Vlataki and Kotzamichalis seem to lead different lives in Bali, but not necessarily the ones you might expect.
While Vlataki is so busy it’s hard to find a time to Skype, Kotzamichalis is “pretty well retired”. Without a doubt, however, both Bali residents agree life there is better than it is in the big city. Kotzamichalis moved permanently to Bali about seven years ago and loves it.
It’s a very “relaxed environment” he says while in Melbourne recently on one of his regular visits to see family and friends. “When I come back to Melbourne I see the stress on people’s faces.” “It’s always better to be in a resort than in a big city; always,” adds Vlataki. “You can escape somewhere.”
She has lived in Bali for over 20 years and her reflection on the idea of an island escape comes despite speaking moments earlier of all the tourist “traffic” that moves around the small island. Bali’s tourism boom began in the 1970s and despite the horror of two major bombings since 2002, it remains one of the most popular tourist destinations for Australians. Bali is touristy, even in the parts that are more secluded, says a Greek Australian friend of mine who travelled there several years ago. But she adds, it’s just “stunning, it’s just beautiful”.
Vlataki says that tourism has meant there has been a “bit of over construction”, with some “ugly buildings” and some ecological problems as a result. But if you leave the Seminyak area, she says Bali is “still traditional and nice and green and lovely and the people are still like before”. And tourists are vital to the island’s economy. Vlataki moved to Bali from her home in Crete in 1989 with her eight month-old son and first husband. She is now married to Balinese Prince, Ngulla, a member of the Royal family of Denpasar. “So after all these adventures and the weddings and husbands, now I’m here all these 22 years,” she says.
Do you enjoy living in Bali, I ask? “Yes it’s good. It was better in the past because we were more relaxed and did not work so hard. But I cannot complain, it’s only now because life has become a little bit more difficult; the cost of life is higher and expectations are higher so we have to work a little bit more to have a good standard of life.” Vlataki has numerous business ventures keeping her busy. She is taking her clothing line, ‘C and Selene’ to Hong Kong Fashion Week and already has clients in Australia. She also manages some villas and her and her husband have just opened a small cafe.
Kotzamichalis, meanwhile, says he’s free to do whatever he wants. “I’m just living and enjoying my life there.” He adds he originally visited the island to take some time off. “I thought I’d take a year off, get away and have some time to myself; have some fun. And it was too nice so I stayed.”
Kotzamichalis is involved in several business ventures in Bali. He is co-owner of popular nightclub, restaurant, and Seminyak beachfront venue, Ku De Ta. He also owns accommodation properties, including luxury villa, Banyan Estate.
There’s only a small community of Greek people living in Bali, about 25 or 30 Greeks from Greece, says Vlataki and then some other Greeks, including Australian Greeks. There is an Orthodox Church in the island’s north in Singaraja, says Vlataki. Every year the Indonesian Priest, who was baptised in Greece, gives a service at Vlataki’s house, which is followed by the Easter feast, including traditional lamb.
“Marilena sets up a part of her house or part of the yard and makes it like a mini church,” Kotzamichalis says. “And she gets all the Greek Orthodox people coming over, she will even get the Serbian Orthodox people and even some Russians and the priest does a service in Greek. “She’s getting more and more people coming every year. It’s just their way of keeping part of their culture as well,” he says.
As for Greek cuisine, Kotzamichalis says there are a few Greek restaurants there but “they’re not like the Greek restaurants that we know here [in Melbourne]”. The Balinese are “beautiful people, really nice and friendly”, Kotzamichalis says. He adds that they are very spiritual, with about 95 per cent of the population Hindu. “They just want peace,” he says. “The Balinese are very nice,” says Vlataki, “and even now with all this civilisation, too much civilisation, too much construction and all the problems of the new era, they still are a nice people.”
As Vlataki says, however, life in Bali is not only about “the luxury and the villas and the super houses, there’s also poverty and people that are in need”, and the Greek community there is involved in helping them. She explains that Australian and Greek Australian ladies help at the orphanage, and that one Greek Australian from Melbourne, Christina, is “involved in a good way in many charity projects”. Vlataki has ambitions of her own to bring Greek culture to Bali and create greater cultural exchange.
She says she particularly wants to bring traditional Greek dance and theatre to Bali because the Balinese love and understand art. “It would be nice … But for the moment there is not a big cultural exchange,” she says, wondering if any Melbourne-based cultural organisations would be interested in organising a cultural exchange. Bali’s Greek community may be small, but it’s clear it has much to offer the island, as the island does its people.