My grandmother and I used to talk alot about her travels to Bali - she was one of the first women photographers for TimeLife magazine. Her amazing career led to her to travel to places all over the world like Bali, as well as Xi'an, China, to photograph the Terracotta Army. She used to speak so passionately about Balinese culture, and from her stories, Bali sounded like such an exotic destination. I knew that at some point in my life I would have to spend time in Indonesia to experience what she had. When we found out that Matt would have an easy time finding food there, it quickly joined the itinerary and became one of the highlights of my anticipation.
Fast forward to early April 2011. Matt and I are sitting in the Sydney airport waiting to board a flight to Cairns. Since our departure to Bali was coming up in a few weeks, we began to research the island a little bit to figure what we should see. The first article we find in Google, ironically written in Time Magazine, was entitled "Holidays in Hell: Bali." Summary: Bali, specifically Kuta, is now dirty, dangerous, full of trash, overtaken by touts, and all around an awful place to go.
Awesome.
Upon arrival in Bali, specifically Kuta, we witnessed first hand the dirtiness, the trash strewn everywhere, and the annoying-ness of the touts. I do want to point out that we NEVER felt unsafe at all in Indonesia, especially Bali. It seems, however, this article actually resonated quite a bit within the Balinese government. Within the first few hours of arrival on the beach, hundreds of nearby businessowners, lifeguards, policemen, and even the touts, simultaneously started picking up the trash. Huge bulldozers drove around gathering the piles that were created. They even gathered trash from the ocean. This went on for miles up and down the beach for quite a long time.
Shortly after the cleaning frenzy died down, a "press conference" was held not too far from where we sat (a swarm of cameramen and journalists standing around some official in a baseball hat), which was aired on the local news channels that night. He proclaimed that Kuta was not even close to "hell," as Time magazine had said, and that tourist should come and experience the new, cleaner Bali for themselves. Unfortunately, we didnt get any pictures of dirty Kuta, but clean frenzy 2011 was quite successful.
In case you have never heard of Kuta, its basically the Australian Cancun. Its a short flight away from most Australian big cities and its packed with bars and clubs (which are in turn packed with drunken Aussies in beer tank tops). The Bali airport is nearby and serves as the jump off point for most tourism in Indonesia. This kind of place really isnt what we were looking for, so we only spent a little time here on each end of the trip for logistical reasons. The real Indonesia lurks not too far away and is far more intriguing than nightly all you can drink $0.12 beers at the Sky Garden Nightclub. (yeah ok fine, those are a little intriguing too)
we only cost $0.60!!!
If you want to read the article...
No comments:
Post a Comment