What's not to like?

3 April 09 It’s our last day in Bali after two months and instead of getting out and catching one last wave, enjoying the scenery or picking up that last minute bargain, we’re lazing around Sofian’s house in the still, humid heat feeling a bit sorry for ourselves due to a mild case of some stomach bug…Indonesia’s little present goodbye. Joel has it worse than I and after a little food I’m back to almost normal, but he’s in struggle street, owning every inch of it. Not to say we won’t be back tough. Between Bali and Lombok we’ve had some amazing times and trying to write all of them down would require patience and dedication of the likes of which I’ve not mastered. It’d also end up being the length of a small novel. Even as we slowly wait for the minutes to pass by before heading to our $50 AirAsia flight to Singapore I get gentle reminders that we may have been here for seemingly ages, but there is still so much more to see. The point punctuated by the sound of a scooter coming up the road, built for two but carrying one adult and three kids coming home from school all happily chatting away as part of normal life.


Over the last two days I’ve been asked what part of Bali I like the best, and it really is hard to say. If it’s a place, then definitely the break at Balian rivermouth with its small village feel, rice fields, and coconut lined beach. Having said that, the food has been fantastic, Babi Guling a standout favourite, but the variety of campur and bbq’d fish by the side of the road are not to be missed. Everyone mentions the kindness of the people here and, yes, we’ve definitely seen it, but once we got to Lombok, it felt like they had genuine hospitality and kindness compared to Bali. I’d say overall, Bali is a great place with so much variety and even before leaving to other islands I could see how someone could end up wanting to live there for a while. It’s easy to get caught up in the community feel and the atmosphere of the place. I’d suggest though, use Bali as an introduction to Indonesia. Go for a few weeks, see what its all about, but then get out! See what else the rest of the archipelago has to offer. Listen to the local advise on where to go and where not to go. Forget what the media or your government has to say. Talk to travellers who’ve just been somewhere else and get a contact or advise from them. So many places still waiting for any hint of tourism and yet to be corrupted by monetary greed are just a ferry ride away. On this trip we only got as far as Lombok and really that’s not even close to off the beaten path, it’s more like down the slightly overgrown garden path. If I were to get into this part of the world again, I’d skip Bali, head straight to Lombok for a short while and continue east from there. Surf destinations like Lakey Peak in Sumbawa and even across to Sumba sound busy when you talk to surfers, but take a step back from that scene and chances are, not much is going on. Empty beaches, white sand, clear water and locals willing to take you in, what’s not to like?


At the moment our next destination is the jungles of Sumatra, where even more empty line-ups await, malaria runs rampant and the dollar stretches into the distance…