In Reply to: Thanks for your answers, everyone, but posted by dromomaniac on Saturday, 6. May 2006 at 15:19 Bali Time:
My observations from last November when we took 15 year old granddaughter and her mum.
Sarah's summer clothing is standard attire for most teenage girls that I see at home these days, and it includes short shorts, short skirts, short dresses and midriff tops. Sarah looks stunning in this fashion but there were many times when we were in Bali that I wanted to throw a blanket over her.
Sarah also wears scruffy trackies, jeans that wear out on the hems from brushing the ground and ugh boots, none of these went to Bali though as we had told her to bring light comfortable clothing, so she did.
Everywhere we went in Bali these same clothes were sold for girls Sarah's age so I am sure that if she had ever had second thoughts that her clothing was unnaceptable they would have disappeared from her mind the first time we went shopping.
I think at first the attention from the young boys was a real novelty because at home she is just one of the crowd, no different from the rest but for most of our time in Bali (off season) she was one of a kind. After a while the attention became wearing on her and upset her then later she reached a stage where she just smiled and kept walking without getting upset. I don't think it ever entered her head that a lot of it was caused by her outfits as she dresses like this at hime without attracting any more attention than any of her friends.
I gently suggested a couple of times that maybe she had a longer TShirt or shorts to wear such as on our trip to Tannah Lot, she did have and she wore them but there were a lot of Indonesian tourist groups there the day we went and she was upset at being stared at by everyone. Obviously her shorts and TShirt even though they covered more were still unacceptable.
I think after our experience if it were my child and they were at an age that you know will attract attention but not of an age to deal well with the attention I would get them to cover up a bit when on the street. I would definitely take more conservative clothing for visits to temples and other tourist sites.
Sarah had many offers of marriage and pen pals which she declined with grace explaining that she had a boyfriend at home. She was always kind when saying no to offers of a day or night out etc, not only did she know it wouldn't be allowed by her mother and us but she simply did not want to go off on her own with anyone she didn't know.
For us it was a joy having her in Bali with us, I will never forget how her young legs strode out ahead of her mother and I keeping up with he grandfathers six feet plus gait everywhere we went, I am sure she did this as she felt safe by his side.
If I were lucky enough to do this again, which I probably wont be as Sarah is our only granddaughter, I would take that blanket or a poncho just to throw over her when I had had enough of the attention, lol.
Coco