Comments on: Bali Bombing

By: Mira

Mira — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 16:44:03 +0000

If we are afraid of going anywhere because there’s a terrorist attack, we let them win. Isn’t what the terrorists looking for—so people have fear of them? Nothing is safe in this world, but you have the to just keep going with precaution and a lot of common sense.

By: Seth Edenbaum

Seth Edenbaum — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 05:08:32 +0000

I’ll just assume the worst
(as if I didn’t already)

By: Fergal

Fergal — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 13:35:48 +0000

Hmm, just noticed this post. A very good one, Belle. (A couple of friends investigated cancelling their trip to Bali, but, reasoning like you, have decided to go anyway.) But your comment—and, by extension, the plight of the Balinese—doesn’t appear to have stirred CTers’ juices: only nine weak responses before this one. So, for what it may be worth, let me just echo your “fuck the bastards” sentiment.

By: Belle Waring

Belle Waring — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 03:52:03 +0000

no, seth, it’s just a joke about coup d’etat, I think…wait, maybe it’s also a pun in bahasa; I’ll ask someone.

By: Seth Edenbaum

Seth Edenbaum — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 02:44:26 +0000

I still want to know where “Ku De Ta” comes from.
Is it local dialect?

By: Slayton I. Mustgo

Slayton I. Mustgo — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:04:55 +0000

Regarding seemingly friendly people in impoverished nations: one of the things I most appreciated about Bali is that is wasn’t impoverished – Not wealthy perhaps, but most construction was solid brick or concrete (no shanties), food seemed plentiful, health care looked reasonably good, beggars were mostly from Java (according to a Javanese youth I met), etc. So, not so much liberal guilt, easier to meet the people as equals.
I would go in a heartbeat.

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:40:18 +0000

According to the Australian Financial Review (subscription only unfortunately), the news for the tourist industry in Bali so far is pretty good, considering. Some cancellations but not many, and no mass exodus among those who are already there.

A lot of people are starting to regard terror attacks in the way you suggest, as a hazard comparable to car crashes.

By: Belle Waring

Belle Waring — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 13:33:01 +0000

eric: true. take a trip to sumatra! to lombok! to sulawesi! to irian jaya! I totally want to go to irian jaya, but in addition to being super-expensive, there are meagre amenities. (cheap meagre amenities don’t phase me). on the upside: you can visit stone-age tribes where people often wear nothing more than a convenient gourd! I am very interested to go. perhaps I live in the last generation of first-world travellers who can visit stone-age people moderately untouched by the modern world. this could either be a great reason to go, or a great reason not ever to go. naked truthfulness, though, I am curious. the most interesting experience travelling I ever had was with Hmong people in NW VietNam, with whom I could not communicate at all. I helped them gather firewood, and learned (via demonstration) about spinning cloth from hemp, then indigo dying it. I would sound more high toned if I didn’t bother to tell you that I learned a lot about smoking opium, but there it is. actually, the opium smoking, second-to-oldest son was a wastrel, and widely regarded to be so by his family. (the oldest son was off serving in the army). old people in the village smoked hash, as befit their status, and younger, more responsible people were too busy making a living to get high all the time.

By: Belle Waring

Belle Waring — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 10:10:51 +0000

seth: while Paddy’s or the Sari club might have applied a more stringent bouncer-rule to local would-be attendees than to drunken Aussies, it’s not true that they flatly didn’t let them in; the Indonesian friend I’m going to Bali with (she’s Achenese, but was a college student in Bali) was supposed to be meeting friends there that night, and used to go all the time. Of course, she’s a stunningly attractive practitioner of Balinese classical dance, so that might have swayed them a little.

tom, if you want to email me for advice on where to get the tastiest babi guling (roast suckling pig) or whatever, go ahead, but maybe you’re an old Bali hand…mmmm, babi guling. either way, have a great time.

By: Tom Womack

Tom Womack — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 08:50:39 +0000

I booked the Bali leg of my round-the-world trip about ten minutes before the bomb reports started coming in. I have not cancelled.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 05:10:24 +0000

Most of your points are also valid for lots of other places in Indonesia, even though they might not have been hit directly. After the 2002 bommings, tourism throughout Indonesia suffered badly (although those places were thousands of kilometers away). So spread out from Pulau Weh to Pulau Biak and from Kuta to Bunaken!

By: Seth Edenbaum

Seth Edenbaum — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 03:15:12 +0000

“Ku De Ta”?
A friend of mine had been to the place that was bombed the first time, and he left bothered by the racial divide, and the fact that they were not letting locals in the door.
This says nothing about your other comments: there are no utopias, but economic necessity is just that.

And the Balinese have better reputations that Austrailians.