May 26, 2026

May 26, 2026

Surprisingly Bali has a century-long tourist history. While neighboring Java was full of Dutch plantations, Bali was relatively undisturbed. The Dutch started marketing it as an unspoiled exotic cultural paradise. The allure of topless natives surely helped. Its name even got incorporated into that mythical island of Bali-Hai in the movie South Pacific. After independence Sukarno, the first president (with a Balinese mother) continued the promotion and built a presidential palace here. During the 60’s Bali was a stop on the Hippie Trail. David Bowie’s ashes were scattered here. This morning we drove west across Bali to the epicenter at Kuta Beach. A large colorful statue of Lord Baruna, the Hindu god of the sea greets us on arrival.

Not surprisingly Australia sends the most visitors here. They keep coming despite the many obstacles. 1963 saw a major volcanic eruption. 1966 saw a bloody revolution, the 2020 Covid pandemic, and in 2002 Al Qaeda detonated a huge car bomb outside a Kuta night club. We walked down the street to see the memorial. It has an inscription listing all 202 victims, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

Back at the beach, I follow Aimee around the market but she finds it uninteresting. So we make the drive back to our Sanur hotel. We walk the beach boardwalk north. While the hippies went to Kuta, the rich favored Sanur beach. Mick Jagger came many times and got married next door to our hotel. We ended our walk at the Bali Mall which is shaped like a coconut. On the walk back I found a vendor selling that pirate ship kite.

We switched into bathing suits and relaxed at our hotel pool facing the sea. We munched on a Peanut Satay snack. I dipped my toes into the Indian Ocean. It was full of sea grass and plastic garbage. Most of the plastic polluting the oceans comes from these island communities. While I tried to stay in the shade, I ended up getting redder than I planned.