DETECTING IN PARADISE (BALI)?
By ALAN HASSELL THE WIZARD MAKER (c) 11/6/95
Bali, is to Australian's, what Benidorm is to the English holiday maker, except Bali is virgin territory to Metal Detector's.
Making one of my usual pilgrimages to the UK I decided, to have a three night stop-over in paradise. The Flight from Melbourne, takes about seven hours, arriving at Denpasar shortly after mid-day.
Once through immigration, the next stop was customs where particular attention was paid to my two PI detector's I carried in my luggage.
After some careful explanations about how metal detecting was my hobby, I was finally cleared and allowed to leave. There are no restrictions on the use of metal detectors in Bali, this being confirmed with the Indonesian Consulate in Australia prior to departure.
Outside the airport, one is confronted with a great many local touts offering just about everything from cheap accommodation, transport and information. I soon realised the cheapest form of transport was from the cab rank which cost 15,000 rupiah to take me to Sanur about a 20 minute drive away.
No accommodation had been booked, as it was the off season. I thought plenty of accommodation would be available once I arrived. Looking through colourful brochures, I realised Arlit's Beach Bungalow's at Sanur were budget priced at $40 US per day.
One feature is that they allow visitor's the privilege of staying in their rooms until 5 p.m. on the day of departure. The bungalows, are quite spacious, air-conditioned with hot and cold for a bath or shower. Pretty basic, but adequate for my needs and sleeping.
My first purchase shortly after booking myself in would be a shovel, this was obtained from a sort of hardware shop about 400 yards away. The owner was Chinese and spoke no English, problem, not really, I showed him money, he wrote on paper, 7,500 rupiah which is about $5.00 Oz,
I wrote down 6,000 rupiah, about $4.00 he nodded in agreement and I had myself a digging tool.
Now to hit the beach and find some of those goodies that have been accumalating over the years. I chose to use an unnamed detector not only because of it's superior depth, but also because of it's ability to ground cancel out severe mineralisation.
The North end of Sanur beach is notorious for it's Black Magnetic Sands, which play havoc with VLF type metal detector's. Eric Grummet told me his Tesoro acted as though he was over a sheet of corrugated iron when he confronted these sands.
Turning the hachine on with all controls turned off the Goldscan gave a continuous signal as if it was over a sheet of corrugated iron too.
Once I bought the ground cancelling features into use, the machine acted beautifully, it wasn't long before I started to recover some old chinese coins known locally as Bolongs.
There had been some sort of Ceremony going on and some of the folks came down to see what I was doing with this strange looking machine. Each time I unearthed one of the coins murmors of amazement couild be heard amongst my ever growing audience.
Everytime I dug up an old chinese coin with a hole in it, the word Bolong would be said in unison by a couple of the local kids. Whenever I recovered modern money, the size of a 20p coin, ''100 rupiah'', would be said followed by several laughs. When asked by a couple of locals how much such a machine costs, I tried to convert the $2,750 (aust dollars) into rupiah and said,''5 Million Rupia'' to which gasps of astonishment went up.
I hadn't really thought of the implications when I said that figure, because looking back on it to people who work 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the godly sum of $30 US dollars, I really was a Millionaire in thier minds. I learnt that the congregation that had gathered on the beach was a cremation service.
A wealthy 95 year old Sanur resident has passed away and it was custom for the spirit to be freed by fire, air and water. Voitive offering in the form of Bolong are thrown into the funeral pyre to ensure the spirit will have some money, when they reach the end of thier voyage.
Consequenty, a great deal of Bolongs lie under these Black Sands. I had been detecting for about an hour or so, considering I hadn't slept for nearly 36 hours, I decided to get a few hours shut eye and go for a meal when I got up. There are a few thing's I had been warned about before leaving Oz, 1. Never drink water from the tap or use it to clean your teeth, or you will end up with what's locally known as Bali Belly.
Everyone drinks bottled water, which costs about a dollar, cheaper than paying for medication. 2. Never eat lettuce in salads as these are washed in tap water resulting in the same complaint, restraunts being the exception. Almost everywhere you go, you'll see food vendors with small carts, it was from carts similar to this that Heppo, (hepatitis) rolls were sold in Vietnam owing to lack of hygine.
Beware of pick-pockets, I heard of one tourist being relieved of his bum-bag whilst he was distracted by one of the many hawkers on the Island. 3. Bemo's are small vans, like Toyota Hi-Aces, and are used by the locals as a means of transportation like a mini-cab.
Prices have to be negotiated although you can have one at your beck and call all day long for about $40 US. hmm maybe more these days?
Driving you wherever you want to go and the driver waits till your ready to move on to your next stop. After about four hours sleep, I went for a meal, I had been told about this resturant just up the road from the hotel, where the food was good and the beer ice cold. I ordered a nice peppered steak, which cost $5 Aust which was not only a good meal but pretty cheap.
A large bottle of beer works out to $3 good value and it's got a bite in it's tail. Some places use ice to cool the beer resulting in Bali Belly so it pays to be careful.
Top notch Hotels, have their own water purification plants, but you have to pay for it somewhere along the line.
I managed to get a bemo to run me into Kuta, which is famous for it's markets and shops. Hawkers, pester you with imitation Rolex watches, copy perfume and almost everything else from grass to naughty ladies.
Although I only spent a couple of hours in Kuta, upon seeing the beach some 3 to 5 Km long, I wished I had bought along my Goldscan or Fisher Impulse.
The sands on this beach are pure white coming from the coral. The tide was begining to recede and gave indications it would go out a fair way.
Had I known it at the time, Kuta would have been a far better place to stay at than Sanur. Having paid for my accomodation, I had no say in the matter and had to make do with what I had. No use crying over spilt milk, it was basically an expeditionary trip to find out what I could for later reference. Waking at about 6 am in the morning, I quickly made a jug of tea and set out to see what Sanur had to offer along the beach.
The hotel backs right onto the foreshore where many natives and tourists were waiting to see and photograph the sunrise. Shop-keepers, were opening up their shops making ready for the onslaugh of another days trading. The locals are really nice people, welcoming you with a nice hello or good morning as you passed them by.
Moving South along the beach, I came across the largest, 10 story hotel on the beach. The top floor I was informed is used by President Suharto who made a ruling that no other building could be built above the tree line.
Which consists of Palm tree's full of coconuts. It seemed strange walking along the beach which was free from litter. I hadn;t seen any beach cleaning machines in operation, like we have in Australia, yet the beach was spotless.
I then noticed a group of about 4 lads wearing yellow coats standing around and as I walked towards them, they started busying themselves. These were the beach cleaners, One would rake the sand, while another would dig a hole about 2 foot deep, the guy with the rake would work his way towards the hole and deposit his rubbish, tin cans and what have you into the hole. This would be filled and raked over.
I then realised what a pain it would be using a pulse induction machine over such an area. Only a VLF such as a Whites Spectrum, Fisher CZ6 or CZ20 with notch discrimination would be ideal on such beaches as these, although several other brands could do the same job.
Flying does have it's limitations, because you are only allowed 20 Kilo's and I was already 8 Kg overweight with my two Pulse machines. I had sent my Spectrum and other machines over to the UK in one of several Tea-chests, and right now it was somewhere on the high seas.
Looking out to sea from the shoreline the waters fairly shallow for quite a distance out. About 100 yards out there were some figures in the water fishing at a little above waist height.
The sea was calm and ideal for shallow water metal detecting and I was cursing myself for not having a long handled scoop with me, you guessed it, it's packed in one of my T-Chests, isn't it.
As the sun came up, one could feel the bite of warmth in it. I worked my way back and to the restraunt I ate at last night. Breakfast, all you can eat for the grand sum of only $3.50 cant be bad at those prices, can it.
About half an hour later with a full stomache, I was ready to hit the beach once more. Back on the beach, I went to the area where they had the cremation yesterday and soon started to recover more Bolongs. One of the natives was folowing the water as it rolled up the sand and back into the sea.
This guy was recovering coins from the area without a detector, eyes only. I soon worked out how he did it, this is something you can try yourselves if you ever get there. The secret is to wade into the water, let the water run up the beach and as it flows back into the sea keep a eye out for anything strange moving in the sands and go grab it.
You have to be quick though. One of these beachcombers I came across was wearing gold rings on almost every finger. One was either a large diamond or CZ mounted in 22 carat gold. Conversing with the natives can be difficult few of them speak English so you have to get by best you can without an interpreture.
I really was kicking myself and spewing for not having a scoop with me at the time. I thought I'd be coming away with a pocket full of goodies, instead of a load of old coins.
It's all a matter of going prepared, which I clearly wasn't. Although the tide at Kuta does go out a fair way, it doesn't go out far enough to detect on wet sands.
Which means you have to get in the water, if you intend to find the goodies. There are two beaches ideal, for shallow water work, they are, Kuta, and South Sanur although there must be plenty of others worth looking at.
Several members of one of Melbournes clubs have been to Bali and both did well recovering cons and rings. Be warned though, detecting on the beach is one thing, dont try it inland or you might find yourself in the local lock-up. ?
I always wanted to return to Bali its a great place and the people are fantastic although they are very poor and work hard for a living giving them a tip is really appreciated.
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« Last Edit: January 14, 2010, 06:15:45 pm by Alan Hassell »
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