Blogs from Indonesia, Asia - page 604

Bali is one of beautiful islands in Indonesia. One of my sisters lives in Bali and I have many times went to there. ... read more

Already by the time I arrived in Bangkok I had thought about trying to reach Australia overland, meening to get there without flying. Partly because of getting a better feeling for the distance and partly because overland travel is cheaper and more interesting. My first real attempt to find a boat going to Australia was in Port Klang. But all the shipping agencies did not offer any kind of passenger service. The next possibility I had heared about was from Bali. People told me, that Australian cruise ships go there and sometime take additional passengers on their way back. But when I reached Bali no Australian cruise ship could be seen anywhere... I think it just was the wrong season. So I traveld from one Indonesian Island to the next, getting closer and closer to Australia ... read more

Dreamland is on the way to Uluwatu, south of Bali. It started as a big project in real estate from the son of the former president. After the elections the new president claimed the land back for the people of Bali. There are only big roads who are already in a very poor condition becaus nobody takes care of them. At the end there are beautiful big clifs with white sandy beaches. Small restaurants and losmen are build al the way up the clifs. During the day many tourists from Kuta visit Dreamland. At night the visitors are gone and the place is even more beautiful. At night you can have dinner in front of the beach, I had fresh grilled squit with french fries, mmmmmm !!!! A good night sleep was not easy because of ... read more

During my days in Ende I got to know a bit more about the religious conflict between the islamic majority and other religious groups. About 88% of the Indonesian people are muslims. About 8% are christian and 3% are buddhist or hindu. The center of the islamic society is Java where most of the Indonesian people live. Flores in contrast is 95% catholic with only a small islamic minority. In Ende I visited the local church during a christening procedure for 69! children. Afterwards I had the opportunity to talk to a local journalist. He said that the christian community was very affraid of a bomb attack on the upcoming christmas, the church full of people being an easy target. There had not been any problems with the local islamic minority but for several years already ... read more

After a very long bus ride right into Jarkarta I found myself with little motivation of exploring this big city. So I took another very long bus ride right across all of Java and with the ferry to Bali. The touristic centre of Bali is Kuta, a beach town on a peninsular south of the capital Denpasar. Between the main street and the beach a maze of alleys offers every kind of accomodation, food, and souveniers a backpacker might think of, a bit like Bangkoks Khao Sarn Road relocated at a beach. But most of the places were pretty deserted. A local shop owner told me that several bombings, the last one in October 2005, scared away the masses of beach bums and surfers that are generally heading for the place. On the last incident two ... read more