Bali is a great place. Both Lauren and I can agree that our time here was far too short. There is so much to see and do here and we were woefully unprepared to do most of it. Given that today is our last day, and at this point I’m simply trying to stay of of my ankle, there really isn’t a ton to report. So instead, lets talk about Bali itself.
You can tell immediately that Bali is a very different place than anywhere else we’ve visited. The roots of the culture of Bali are very engrained here and permeate most of what you see. Temples are everywhere, seriously. Every town has dozens if not hundreds of them. All of various sizes, from small single family temples, to village temples, all the way to the largest and most sacred ones, where you must either wear long pants or a sarong, in order to enter.
You can tell that the people here are proud of their heritage, and want to hold onto it as tightly as possible. That is one of the things that makes this such a cool place.
Unfortunately, you can also see the effects that tourism has had on this place, for the good and the bad. The people here welcome it, because it brings such a large influx of money. Bali itself is a relatively poor piece of Indonesia. The salaries are low and the prices are only going up. You can definitely see that this is a double-edged sword, but overall, this is perhaps one of the friendliest, most welcoming places we’ve visited.
I especially like how organic the new and old are blending together. Aside from all of the newer resorts, most of the towns we have visited are built around the villages that make them up. Those villages are the ones building businesses to respond to tourism, and they’re doing so not by not tearing everything down and building gigantic cities, but by adding to what is already there. I hope that they’re able to keep it this way, as doing this is what keeps Bali special.
If Lauren has anything to say about it, I know we’ll be back at some point. Hopefully for a longer stay, where we can get to enjoy more of this place, and see the hundreds of things we simply didn’t have the time to see.
Goodbye for now Bali. See you again.
One last whirlwind stop to Singapore, coming right up.
*Lauren here. Just wanted to quickly point out the fact that everyone leaving the airport has been Bali-fied, including yours truly. I will never wear fitted clothing EVER AGAIN.
Passport Proposal 