My name is Komang Anantara, I am Balinese and my friends call my Komang Ana. We provide online information about Bali and also about tour services for your holiday and vacation in Bali. We care about our island, about it’s people, the art and crafts Dance and Music. Bali is know as the island with thousand Temple. I am available as your personal tour guide and Driver your trip in Bali. And I hope that people from near and far will enjoy our beautiful island.

So here is our story in Lexa’s words.

Welcome once again!
I feel honoured that Komang Anantara and Made Astiti have asked me to write an introduction to their site. Let me explain a little about our connection first.
I got to know Komang when another driver had misbehaved and I asked the people in a hotel in Sanur if they knew someone I could trust. This was in early 1997.
Komang was happy to drive me to Ubud, where I wanted to meet some Australians I had read about. He found the well-hidden place, but the foundation turned out to be quite different from what I was looking for. But with the beautiful sunset and the rice fields to enjoy- who would complain?
So I chatted with Komang and asked where he lived. “Belahpane”- later I realized many Balinese also never hesrd about this ‘banjar’- a hamlet with about 150 nuclear families living very close together next to the road that leads to the better-known Bangli- and that is a left turn when you drive from Gianyar to Klungkung.

It is about 40 minutes from Ubud, but Komang, my very trustworthy new driver, happily told me it was about 15 minutes from Ubud. I had suggested we might drive by there so after weeks of not seeing his family he could finally visit again.

A very white lie! It was definitely “worth a detour”, as the Michelin guide puts it. The family immediately offered coffe and sweets and was just very sweet and enjoyable. I showed them a bag I had just bought in Ubud, made with ‘tapis’, the outer leaf of the cocnut palm. I wanted to sell those bags with Oooom Piet, but had not been given a good price, so I asked if someone in the family could make them. Of course! It meant that Komang and Astiti, then not yet married but sharing a ‘kos’ in Denpasar, had to sleep with their toes curled up because the bags had to wait for my next trip to Bali before leaving for Holland.

I hope you get some idea of what meeting Komang and his family means: warm acceptance and service beyond the call of duty.
Of course the difference in living standards and therefore in available cash pops up every once in a while- but Komang has learned that it is better to have happy customers that come back than people who pay too much- once and never again. So he and I have agreed that at Pondok Mimpi people are asked low prices- and of course they should always feel free to add a bonus if they feel they can and want to spare the money for his services.

In 2009 Pondok Mimpi received its first official guests- Walter, my husband who has shared at least part of many of my trips to Indonesia, and I were staying in the room that was built for us in 1998 in the old family compound.

Our daughter’s friend Lennie and her partner were given the master bedroom and Komang and Made slept on a mattress in the livingroom. The other rooms still had no tiles. Also they had to bathe in the ‘sungai’, the little river where most of Belahpane takes baths and does the laundry. But Komang made it into an exciting excursion by taking them to a part of the river where you often meet monkeys and where you can find shrimp for an extra nice meal.

If you want to invite some friends over for something special you can ask Komang to roast you a pig- he loves ‘babi guling’ and enjoys sharing a glass of arak after the hard work and the good meal. Or tuak if you don’t like your drinks too strong. He is also always willing to show off his sons skills as a rindik player. Agus, born in March 2000, has learned by playing together with his father, who also is the penyuling, the flute palyer, in the gamelan group of Belahpane Kaja. His uncle plays the rindik very well too- he is the group’s trompong player, and Komang’s younger brother Ketut plays the riong and the cymbals and is a very stylish dancer.

If you ask Komang he’ll be happy to find an occasion for you to watch the group perform or practice. They are good enough that they are invited to play at weddings and such and pay their teacher with the money they get- and what is left goes to new costumes and repairs of the instruments. If you like, Komang is happy to show you how to play the rindik or the suling.

This is for those of you who want to learn about Bali and its agama, the Hinduism that makes Bali so special, and its adat, its special customs. But if you want to enjoy rafting or an elephant ride, or diving or snorkeling- Komag knows hoe to find the way there. Dolphins, monkeys, temple dances- you name it, he’ll let you enjoy it!

So I hope you’ll have sweet dreams in Komangs dream cottage- he and his family have worked hard on making it beautiful and comfortable, but still very much a homestay in the best sense of that word:
You can feel it is your home in Bali, with the sound of cow bells and roosters crowing. Children and baby chicks galore, rice fields nearby, flowers all over.

Enjoy!
Komang adds: Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om
Which means he hopes you’ll be happy here.