Bali

First impressions of Bali do not necessarily match up to the preconcepted ideas of a tropical paradise that one might expect. Luckily, we were spared these first impressions by the fact that we flew into Denpasar International airport late in the evening and were whisked briskly to our accommodation in southern Kuta. As we strolled past the large pool, flanked by it's array of stone-carved elephant statues and flowering Frangipanni trees, and entered our relatively lavish room, we were oblivious as to what lay just outside the hotel gates.

The inclusive early morning breakfast only served to lull us into a false sense of security even more, and after a couple of hours of relaxing around the pool, we decided to venture out into town, unaware of the mayhem that awaited. Usually, taking a flyer from a roadside promotional representative isn't a problem, and within moments we had been approached by just such a fellow and each taken one of his proferred leaflets. Big mistake. In the pleasant Balinese manner, our names were asked and given politely, chit-chat of where we came from was exchanged, and it was only then that he hit us with the 'big sell'. The cards we had unwittingly accepted were actually 'gamecards' which of course made us the lucky winners of any number of prizes. Beaming smiles, handshakes and congratulations took up another five minutes while I urged Sarah to walk away with sly eye gestures. Of course, to cash in on our prizes, we were obliged to go with the enthusiastic rep to his newly renovated property for a zero-obligation tour. Truly suckered but not out-done, we eventually managed to drag ourselves free as tales of families-to-feed and bills-to-pay were heart-wrenchingly delivered in dramatic style.

Wandering further up the main drag, it took only seconds to be harrassed yet again, this time to come and look at the goods on some of the street-sellers stalls. This was something that would for the next thirteen days become part of everyday life. Unfortunately for the people here, ninety percent of local livelihoods rely soley on tourism, and since the terrorist bombings of 2002 which killed 202 people (with 300 injured) the Balinese tourism industry was almost ruined overnight. Just as they thought they may again be getting back on their feet, a second spate of suicide bombs killed 26, and the people were yet again despairing as visitor numbers dwindled. With Australian holiday-makers accounting for the majority of this tourism, and their government still warning not to visit Bali, the island's economic recovery is likely to remain in jeopardy for some time to come. An abundance of stalls still line the street however, far too many for any sole business to really flourish, and all selling the same items of rip-off Billabong, slogan t-shirts and local wares. This is a similar problem throughout the island. If one stall sells stone carvings or paintings, every stall in that street will follow suit, flooding the market. If one bar has a sunday night singer, the rest get a similar kind of entertainment for the same night.

Unfortunately, the whole industry suffers and not just the streetside businessmen. Drivers, who make their living from giving tours or "Tranport?" from the visiting tourists stand around offering their services with mock steering-wheel gestures throughout the day and night in case just one group should require it. Local restaurants and food-stalls sit mostly empty while the plusher eaterie's clean up, and a truly amazing number of taxi's meander up and down the streets, tooting you as they drive past to inform you that they are free. Most are free, and that makes for alot of tooting, none of which actually persuaded us that we needed a ride.

It took us a good couple of days to adjust to the persistant hawking and become accustomed to the varying selling techniques being displayed. Kuta itself is a reasonable size town with a couple of surf-beaches, markets, and a large water park. The road we inhabited however was dominated by the huge 'Centro' shopping mall, an Americanised air-conditioned building containing the usual suspects of KFC, Krispy Kreme, and strangely, Top Shop and Marks & Spencer. We had intended to spend a couple of days here and spend the rest of our time travelling around the island, but after discovering that buses have become a rather difficult way of getting about since the lull in tourism, we decided to use Kuta as our base, the lure of plotting up in a cheap but smart hotel proving too great. Throw in a complimentary two-hour reflexology and massage session for good measure and we were completely won over. Oil us up ladies...

After talking to an Australian family we'd ever met at the hotel, we were introduced to a local guy called Sam, who would then take us out on our first day tour. We'd asked him to get us as far north as possible whilst taking in some of the highlights along the way, and he duly obliged with a full day itinerary. First we dropped into a traditional Balinese show called "The Barong and Kris Dance", a representation of the eternal fight between good and evil spirits. Next up we were taken to both a silver factory and a place where they weave traditional Indonesian garments such as sarongs, shirts and bed linen. Next up, we requested to go to the Monkey Temple, but after being surrounded at the gate and clambered upon by some rather boistrous little primates, decided to give it a miss. Next up was Ubud, and the largest market on the island. Hawking once again became the order of the day, but after an hour or so of wandering the identical stalls we gave up and returned to the car.

The afternoon consisted of a lengthy drive up into the hills to the small village of Kintamani, and a restaurant with stunning views of Mount Batur volcano which stands guard over Lake Batur, our first glimpse of real scenery on the island. After a quick buffet lunch, we were back in the car and heading back down through some of the tiny villages which line the road leading back into the lowlands. Today was a particularly special day for the Hindu Balinese inhabitants, highlighted by the hordes of people in costume and religious attire who were walking enthusiastically to their places of worship. The 1st of April marks the celebration of Nyepi, a twenty-four hour session of almost complete inactivity at the end of the lunar cycle (Balinese New Year), so that when the evil spirits descend upon the island they see that it is deserted and leave well alone for another year.

Our final stop was in the northern part of Kuta, where Sam emotionally explained how the bombings have affected the people here and took us to see the striking memorial which sits at the site of the 2002 explosion. One of his close friends was killed during this particular attack, and it was clear that the painful memories are still very prominent.

Back at the hotel, we lounged around for a couple more days before taking our next journey, this time a sunset tour to the temple of Tanah Lot, with a bunch of kids from the hotel who didn't belong to us. Again a place of worship, this temple sits out on the sea-bed, at times surrounded by the incoming tide. Tonight the tide was out, and so we could get up close to the eroding structure which makes for one of the most photographed in Bali. We had the chance to be blessed with holy water and rice, and explore the caves and inlets around the base of the temple, one containing the 'Holy Snake' which could be touched for good luck. Of course, this whole spectacle would not be complete without the scores of market stalls lining the streets and alleyways.

Lounging around the pool, eating cheaply in local restaurants which looked like they needed the business, and hanging around the hotel bar with the cheery waiters was about all we managed to accomplish in the following few days. Our next trip came when we went with the Aussie family and a couple of their new friends to Jimbaran Bay, an idyllic sandy inlet stretching for two kilometres and adorned with a huge variety of fishing fleets. Unsurprisingly, seafood is the catch of the day here, and a selection of twenty or so restaurants line the shoreline in the hope of enticing hungry tourists onto their tables which sit out on the sand. The spiced Snapper, King Prawns and Mussels which were served were more than worth the slightly inflated cost, and the Bintang's were flowing nicely which all made for a pleasant evening in a beautiful setting.

With our last few days, we explored the area of Seminyak to the north of Kuta, and other parts of the town which we'd lazily omitted from previous strolls. Lastly, we found the energy to venture into the markets of Poppies Gang 1 and 2 to hard-bargain (but not too hard, we figured they need it more than us) for some souvenirs. Admittedly, we'd been a little lazy in our approach to Bali, but we hoped that we could reap the benefits of feeling relaxed and refreshed for our stint through the rest of South-East Asia.

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