I was responding to Di of Di's Does and Don'ts who wanted to know if I had any suggestions for her list, and I realized that the response was another part of my JBR. More to come in the next few days. Boy is this fun! Who Knew!
Sure do. First thank you for your help. Your's was one of the advice lists I printed out to take along. Left it behind for the next set of rookies. My main suggestion is not try to do it all. This isn't a theme park where you rush from attraction to attraction being sure to see and experience it all. The tourist industry runs on the clock, Jimbaran Bay, Uluwatu, etc glow by creeping increments of sunset. But the fisherfolk live by the tides. You go to Serengan Island and in the middle of the day you see all the men sitting around doing nothing, they're just wondering what the hell we're doing there. There wondering why John Doble brought us there. You'd think they were tropical lay abouts. You'd be wrong. They're waiting on the tide to fish so they can feed their families and maybe make a few extra rupiah so they might perhaps (longshot here) send one of the kids to school. It's expensive. These guys live by the tides. Think about that. That will really ground you in your enviornment. Interesting side bar on Serengan Island. They have a cemetery. Hindu's cremate. While walking with John and seeing his home and meeting his family (the baby cried because he never saw nothing like us before and was scared) we came upon a Muslim procession to the cemetery. Couple of hundred people at 4pm parading, chanting? moaning? singing? NO praying. The point is, once you stop chasing around seeing everything and buying everything and doing everything and slow down enough to stop skimming the surface you get to the soul of Bali. These people want to know about you and want you to know about them. They're ultra accessable and if you can be the same you can learn some incredible stuff and forge some startling bonds. My friend John Doble says "Hearts same, faces same, come see my village and see my home and family." John Lennon says "one thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside" the addendum is "If your happy and you know it clap your hands" It wil attract the like minded and then you can get down to getting to know each other. Long answer to a short question. I would put on my list of Dos: slow down and stop skimming the surface of Bali and get to know some one beyond chit/chat. I ask John how long the big Serengan Temple has been there and he thinks and says forever. I suspect he's right. I would put on my list of Don'ts: don't try to do everything and see everything, it will only prevent you from seeing what's really there. Thanks again for your help with my trip. jingles