PADANG BAY, BALI

Steve, Helen, Nikolas and Danika
February 21, 2005
12:26 AM

 Hey Folks,

 Just to let you know we missed Exmouth due to rough seas. Bali has also been cancelled due to Terrorist concerns. Otherwise we are all doing great and on our way to the Philipines.

 Steve, Helen, Nikolas and Danika

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Info retrieved from http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/south_east_asia/bali/

Bali is so picturesque that you could be fooled into thinking it was a painted backdrop: rice paddies trip down hillsides like giant steps, volcanoes soar through the clouds, the forests are lush and tropical, and the beaches are lapped by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.

But the paradise gloss has been manufactured and polished by the international tourist industry rather than by the Balinese themselves - who don't even have a word for paradise in their language - and it pays scant regard to the political and economic reality of life on Bali.

The 2002 Kuta bombing marred Bali's tropical loveland image, and for some time the island, heavily dependant on the tourist dollar, fell into decline. But these days it's undergoing a cautious renaissance, with travellers reimmersing themselves in the island's sublime beach and village life and the aura of its magnificent temples. Bali is just too delicious a destination for the crowds to stay away for long.

The tourism-dependent Balinese economy has suffered since, but the Balinese are picking up the pieces. There have been no further terrorist attacks on the island, but there is always a remote possibility, as there'll always be non-Balinese extremists who look on the island as a den of iniquity. Consult your foreign affairs department for more information prior to venturing anywhere in Indonesia.

Area: 5,620 sq km
Population: 3 million
People: 95% ethnic Balinese, plus Javanese minority
Language: English, Indonesian
Religion: 95% Balinese Hindu, plus Muslim and Christian