More Bali Impressions

Rice Terraces in Central Bali

Certainly an island of many faces, of immense contrasts, clean and pristine with breathtaking views, perfect environment to relax in, to switch off, to just lie back and enjoy that, which we call life.

Exotic Flowers at the side of the road

Quite obviously, the general population is hurting from low tourist numbers and it appears that income for many of the small businesses or hole-in-the-wall shops has already been severely curtailed.

Today, Jo and I took a Taxi to Sanur Beach which is much more up-market than Kuta or Legian. As I have not been there for many years myself, it was really nice to see how much the beach front has been improved with lots of trees providing virtually endless shade along the waterfront.

Beach Promenade at Sanur

Many restaurants have their tables set out under the trees, so its wonderful to sit in the shade and enjoy the view along the coastline with a line of mountains in the background. Several street vendors though are deperately trying to get our attention and coax us to go to their shop for a purchase of whatever it is, that they happen to sell there. There are some tourists also sitting outside, mostly from european countries, but we also see the odd Australian, whereas in Legian, the vast majority of visitors are Australian.

Sanur is quite peacefull though, the beaches clean and freshly raked, a sight, I am yet to experience at Kuta, Legian or the Seminyak Beaches. After some heavy rain we experienced in the past week, lots and lots of rubbish has been washed up on Legian Beach, most of it Plastic articles, but also lots of wood and trees that now cover the foreshore along the beachfront. There is some sort of cleanup underway, but haphazard at best, with a lot of the trash simply being dumped along the beach promenade and not a vehicle in sight for days that might take it away.

Washed-up debris on Legian Beach

Last weekend saw some auspicious days where many Temples performed ceremonies accompanied by large Gamelan Orchestras with drums and large Gongs. Everyone is dressed in colourful outfits, so it's nice, for me, the tourist to see some of the more esoteric traditions and customs of this island again.