In Reply to: ? Progress in Bali, last 40 years posted by AdrianS on Wednesday, 11. April 2012 at 08:27 Bali Time:
different reasons.
Many years ago, early European residents expressed concerns about the dilution of "the real Bali".
This has been an ongoing theme since outsiders first started going there.
Regretfully the Balinese themselves have something to answer here, as the lure of the bule dollar leads to more and more selling off of agricultural lands for the building of villas.
Also the selling off and subsequent demolition of local residences to be replaced by hotels and apartments in urban areas.
Luckily, at least the spiritual side of Bali has remained strong and it's this that provides the "heart" that we all love.
Regretfully, most tourists and residents require all mod cons, and somehow expect that one can have all the trappings of "western" life without the inevitable pay off in terms of impact in infrastructure, traffic, people etc.
There is a huge challenge ahead for the Balinese and the Indonesian Govt. if Bali is not to become a grid locked patch of ex-paradise.
One would think that Lombok looks on with interest?!