I arrived in Bali about a year ago, having endured a few tough years back in Australia. I thought living in Bali for a while would help me to rest and recover. I sold my house, put a few things in storage, and packed up my airline job. Drastic, but essential, I thought.
Those of you, who have been following my (mis)adventures, know that the ‘resting’ bit didn’t happen! I seem to have spent my entire time lurching from one crisis to another. I guess if I had gone to Ubud and taken up yoga and meditation (which my friends had assumed was the plan) then I might have been less prone to calamity?
Instead, I have found myself in a Kuta clinic, having stitches to a lip split by my own surfboard! I have found myself in the midst of a drugs raid in a Kuta nightclub. I have managed to contract dengue fever - and I have been repatriated back to Australia with a severe surfing injury to my leg (again with my own surfboard!)
It has certainly been an eventful year…..
My poor mother has been begging me to stop all this nonsense, and act my age. She thinks that motorbike riding and learning to surf are just too dangerous (she’s right of course).
However, for me, even reading a book can be a recipe for disaster! The mosquito that gave me dengue is to be found around sheltered verandahs, often about 9 in the morning. Just about the time that I sit outside my room reading and writing…..
Peace and tranquility? The land of gentleness, peace and serenity? Don’t think so!
On the contrary, I have found Bali to be a place of chaos and noise. And much laughter. The people do smile easily, just as described in the travel guides – but they are also fun loving, mischievous and very noisy!
In fact it seems to me that the Balinese love noise of any kind. And that’s not just because I live in Kuta. Even out in the villages, it doesn’t matter whether it’s 4am or midnight, the Balinese will be calling out to each other, sounding motorbike horns, playing music, running loud machinery, and completely ignoring the constant barking of dogs.
I wonder how I will re-adjust to the quietness and emptiness of Western Australia?
There are some things I won’t miss about Bali. The disgusting Coca Cola umbrellas, sunbeds and drink stands that now adorn Bali’s beaches. In future any photos and postcards of Bali beaches will show an American scene, rather than Balinese. This latest piece of visual pollution is so sad, along with all the cigarette ads. (At least the cigarettes ads are usually Indonesian.)
I won’t miss the mini supermarket franchises, who supply so much of the plastic that pollutes Bali. They sell vast quantities of beer, which is consumed outside their shops. Often the empty bottles are then smashed onto the footpaths or beaches. There is no responsibility taken for the litter or the dangerous broken glass.
These franchises seem to be appearing every few hundred metres, squeezing out the traditional, locally owned shops. One day Bali will look like one big western shopping centre – but with more garbage!
Couldn’t these companies provide some rubbish and recycling bins, some education, some security guards? At least they could try to mitigate some of the negative impacts they are having on this wonderful place? In fact they could be at the forefront of the campaign to keep Bali clean.
How about it guys?
What will I miss about Bali? I will miss the mountains, the sunsets, the ricefields, the chaotic traffic, the laughs, the smiles, the ‘banter’, the hawkers on the beach. I will miss seeing the ‘molotov cocktails’ that are the odd assortment of petrol containers outside small shops. I will miss the personal questions about my husband, children, earnings etc (that took me a long time to get used to!) I will miss the women in their beautiful ceremonial dress, and the men in their elegant sarongs, wearing wacky t-shirts and sexy sunglasses…
I will miss Bali’s extraordinary expats.
There are many wonderful orphanages in Bali, but 80%of the children in them are there because of poverty, not because they are orphans. One way we can help families avoid the tragedy of having to give up their children, is if we support local businesses, so that the local people have enough money for food and fuel. Another way is through direct family, or child, sponsorship.
For information about one man’s amazing efforts to help the environment go to www.yayasanmatahati.org or email Monte Monfore at montemon4@hotmail.com
I will miss Ketut…..
To contact me: lizhayes2007@yahoo.com.au or phone 081 337 903 937.
