Posted by Pan Lecir on Tuesday, 6. October 1998 at 23:40 Bali Time:
In Reply to: Just got back - REALLY gone downhill posted by Janey Mackay on Tuesday, 6. October 1998 at 11:52 Bali Time:
my beloved Bali is overcrowded. Bali together with the three small islands of nusa penida, nusa ceningan and nusa lembongan, covers only 5.606 km2, but it has 3 million of ppl on it. it is the second( after the island of java) most densely populated island in my beloved Indonesia. for god shakes, bali is not a paradise anymore. it's very different to the 70's or early 80's. Bali has been changing...also the ppl, balinese and urbanists. they compete so hard to make some rupiah( not rupee)to buy their basic need(not needs), for rice. and also their kid's education coz they don't want their children as poor as they are. so, it's very human( at least for me...or...maybe i'm wrong) if they are( hawkers, taxi drivers, sellers, guides, hookers(?)...etc, etc, etc...sometimes( or everytime?)very agressive because of their fierce competition. ok...the victim of their hard struggle is the tourists. only mother Theresa said that poor, slum, dirty, smelly, polutions...etc,...are the heaven of the earth. and the tourists are not santa clause or robin hood too. u may say that it is our (bali) problems and don't involve the tourists coz they have gived a lot for bali. if u said so, i couldn't agree more with u. u r not a 'scapegoat'. and for the 'candidate visitors', Just go with an open mind is a wise way to understand bali and its complicated problems.