Bali.... dear oh dear

Pearl of Persia
Andrew Lock
Sun 13 Oct 2013 04:05
Lat 08: 45.4S Long 115:13.7E
Bali.....I came here 40 years ago on a gap year before it was called a gap
year. Things have changed slightly. Gone is the beauty and gentleness that
drew the early tourists, replaced by mass tourism, aggressive traders,
rubbish, traffic chaos, and pollution. The beauty is now in the hotels and
resorts, each vying with the next but cut off from the real country. The
whole of the south of the island is now built up....we spent a day visiting
some of the famous temples and the old artist colony of Ubud and never saw
open countryside or the famous terraced paddy fields. They have lost the
plot. Only the smiling faces remain. Oliver flew back to London on the 9th
but is hoping to join us again in Reunion to help us sail the boat to South
Africa. So....clean the boat, fix any problems, replenish the stores and
back to sea. We left 48 hours ago in light winds headed for Cocos Keeling
Islands in the Indian Ocean, a 9 day sail. We pass quite close by Christmas
Island so could stop there for a day or two but we hear it's quite
industrial with mining etc which shatters the image somewhat. We're rolling
along in an empty sea and a week to go.
The photos show Oliver and Sussanne with sarongs on visiting one of the
temples and also a monkey playing around in the famous monkey temple, where
thousands of them run around amusing the tourists with their antics.

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