We returned to Los Angeles yesterday, having survived our Bali vacation and the dire warnings of our friends and families.
We arrived in Bali on Sunday 13 October. It was only a fluke that we heard about the Kuta bombing while we were between planes in Taipei because Judy stopped to check for new info about the Washingon sniper on the Internet. We decided to continue on to Bali, since our gear was going to go there anyway. Nobody else getting on the plane seemed to have heard about it, and while the airline personel know, they weren't talking.
Enroute from Taipei, we mulled our options, burnign the maps in the airline magazine into our brains. The viable options seemed to be: a) sticking to our Bali plan; b) Phuket, c) somewhere in Australia; and d) Rome (don't ask). Other destinations - Tahiti, Micronesia, Japan - came up, but they didn't make logistical (or financial) sense.
At DPS, we stopped for a chat with the China Airlines chief of station, Alex Cheu, who offered any assistance that we would need to reroute. We decided that we would spend at least the night in Bali to further assess our plans in light of the facts on the ground. We got an inkling of the true situation in the eyes of the customs official, an older gentleman who clearly looked on the verge of breaking down. Coming out of the airport, a cameraman stuck his lense about six inches (okay, 16 cm) from my face as someone asked "why are you going TO Bali". We couldn't see the huge queue upstairs trying to get out of Bali.
We had selected our hotel, The Villas in Seminyak, for its combination of privacy and quiet with easy access to shopping. Those qualities were well suited to or needs in light of the situation.
Excepting a small crowd of Australian expats at the Bottle Shop, there were no Westerners on the street and no shoppers in the stores. Everyone we talked to appeared to be in shock. Apros pos of this and a conversation with Andy Barski, an executive at The Villas who had spent the night at the hospital in Denpasar, helping to identify victims, and a call to the U.S. Consul, we decided that we would stay in Bali, absent any continuing threat, but we would move up our schedule to go to the North side of the island.
Tuesday morning, we set out with our driver to go across Bali to Singaraja then west to Mimpi Menjangan in Buleleng. We visited a Hindu temple, hiked to a waterfall and did tourinst stuff. Our driver was great but clearly disconsolate at the prospect of having to go to work in the rice fields as his job was about to evaporate.
Because of massive cancelations at Mimpi Mejangen we were able to change our room to a "Grand Villa", which featured not only it's own pool, but a private mineral hot tub as well.
I did six dives at Menjangan Island and Judy did three. While we did see a Black Tip Reef Shark, we concentrated on small stuff in protected waters. The visibility was great, ranging between 20 and 30 meters.
As some of you know, I tried for over a month to get ahold of Wally Siagen, coauthor of the wonderful "Diving Bali" (Periplus
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/9625933239). I finally got through to him from Tulamben where we dove together on six of my ten dives.
We also got to meet Erwin on Sunday morning, however briefly.
While the Liberty and the Tulamben Dropoff were great, my favorite dives of the trip were in "the River" and at Batu Kelebit. I consider diving to be like going to outer space, and, in that light, Batu Kelebit is like a visit to a far away galaxy. Several of the creatures that I saw down there (at 40 meters) don't appear in any book. The jukung ride from Tulamben (see picture) is a bonus
It is sad to note that, when we checked out of Mimpi Menjangen and Tulamben, respectively, both hotels were empty.
After leaving Tulamben, we had a great lunch on the nearly deserted beach at Sanur and went on to Ubud.
We had dinner at the Jazz Cafe (great music and atmosphere - okay food) where Judy approached a well turned out expat woman for shopping advice. She proceeded to launch into a tirade on how we muyst be insane to be thinking about shopping and not leaving as fast as possible. We are lucky that we didn't encounter her on our first night.
The next day was a gallery and artisan coop crawl back to Seminyak and The Villas.
Expressing massive confidence in me, Judy agreed to my renting a motorcycle and riding out to Jimbaran for lunch on Friday. Nowhere more than here were the results of the bombing more obvious. The entire stretch of the normally crowded beach from Jimbaran to the airport seemed deserted. There were a total of 5 customers, ourselves included, for the 30 or so restaurants along the beach. In spite of this, the food was wonderful - the best we had on Bali.
That afternoon, we made our way into Kuta. There were a few more people on the streets, but it was still pretty much empty of westerners. The massive Hard Rock complex was empty.
We left on Saturday after another productive shopping round and a meeting with our freight agent.
It is heartbreaking to see how devastated the tourist industry - eighty percent of the Balinese economy - is, and to know that this will not turn around quickly. Our experience of the people of Bali was wonderful. I really feel that Bali is safe and will remain so, as the bombing was not the result of indigenous activity, being, more than anything else, a calculated attack on Bali itself.
Bali is not paradise, but it is wonderful, beautiful and a bargain to boot. I know that it is a tough sell, but consider going...
Cary