Many people hold the belief that "The Real Bali" cannot be found in the Southern Tourist Area. I used to feel the same myself. To find the real Bali it must surely be necessary to travel to the centre, North, East or West to a slower more traditional lifestyle, to bathing in the river and washing the clothes there too. In this halcyon place there would be no TV, no phone etc. etc. etc. Halcyon in appearance to us but bloody hard work for them!!!
Now, let's take Kuta as an example but the story is the same in the other tourist areas of the South.
If you were to follow Wayan or Made the massage ladies on the beach on their journey home (you might need to be a bit discreet here if you don't want to look like a creep, ok you're going to look like a creep. Better to ask Wayan if you can walk with her!!!) You would leave the main drag and almost immediately be in the very real world behind the glitzy clubs cafes and "art shops".
It's getting dark and small warungs are springing up under tarpaulins each one selling one speciality only. The Kaki Lima are roaming the streets announcing their speciality by the tong of the spoon on a dish or pan. A group of men are sitting in a group drinking arak. As night falls the streets comes alive with their residents chatting, eating, buying this or that. Wow it's just like the real thing isn't it? This isn't just the real Bali. It's the real Indonesia.
Made's family compound is essentially the same as any you may find in more remote Bali. They have more consumer goods. The children are watching a soapie on TV and Made hurriedly bathes and changes into her traditional temple clothes. The children, already in their ceremonial attire, are dragged protesting away from the TV. There is a ceremony in their village temple tonight. They join the throng and the road is blocked. The traffic good humoredly takes the inevitable detour.
Jaya from Java shrugging his shoulders before turning his bike around explains to the tourist on the pillion "It's a ceremony. You know the Balinese" and then adds philosophically "Always ceremonies. It's hard. Very expensive for them."
Jaya will, after he drops off his passenger, eat Nasi Campur from his favourite roadside stall and go home to a room he rents in a complex mainly inhabited by Javanese working and living in Bali. They all gather in one spot to watch the Soccer on TV. That's his reality and it is not so different from an evening spent in his village near Surabaya on Java.
So if you are looking for elusive "Real Bali" you can find it in the mountains or jungle or rice paddies but you can also find it by just deviating a bit from the main drag in Kuta, Legian or Sanur.