We spent a week in Bali between Christmas and New Year.\u00a0 A couple of things have changed back here but it is worth commenting on some of the noticable differences between Dili and Bali.<\/p>\n
It was only days before we left that an Australian government advisory came out warning about potential trouble in Bali and advising against non-essential travel.\u00a0 We didn’t even bat an eyelid over that one.\u00a0 Arrived in Bali and had the fastest airport movement (through immigration, I meant !) I have ever had in Bali.\u00a0 Later it became clear that the tourist numbers were well down.<\/p>\n
I am not a Hawaian shirt wearing, zoom lens toting tourist with a bag of souvenirs under my arm so I don’t have a lot of time for kazillions of souvenir shops and the buying of another “I’ve been to Bali” t-shirt.\u00a0 But I was gobsmacked at the staggering number of souvenir\/art shops and not a tourist in sight.\u00a0 It turns out they are hurting really bad.<\/p>\n
At the remote hotel we stayed at for part of the time, there were acceptable numbers when we were there but no bookings after 8 January.\u00a0 And they had spent 3 months during last year without a single guest.\u00a0 As for the staff, they just went back to tending the family rice paddy or whatever.<\/p>\n
We spent New Year in Ubud and again, I was gobsmacked.\u00a0 Hardly a single tourist on the streets after dark.\u00a0 3\/4 of all restaurants empty.\u00a0 Restaurants who had decorated themselves with balloons etc. for New Year and not a single customer.<\/p>\n
Only the flash trendy upmarket foreigner restaurants seemed to making any headway.\u00a0 Definitely no backpacker types looking for the best cheap eats in town. But it did mean eating a wonderful meal at New Year at 2\/3 of Dili prices (and infinitely more exquisite) and not having to book.<\/p>\n
A lot of Balinese are doing it really hard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We spent a week in Bali between Christmas and New Year.\u00a0 A couple of things have changed back here but it is worth commenting on some of the noticable differences between Dili and Bali. It was only days before we … Continue reading