Faith in the special island of Bali

JULIE MIDDLETON, in Bali at the time of the bombings, will not let the attacks stop her from holidaying there in the future.

Yes, the Bali bomb attacks were horrible. I went to the makeshift morgues, reporting for the Herald, and trawled overwhelmed wards packed with shocked survivors.

I was on holiday, attracted to Bali by a friend's planned 40th birthday there and the need for a break. My desire to experience the things people rave about and the fact that it's one of few good-value overseas destinations against the New Zealand rouble were also compelling.

To write Bali off because of a despicable act is to deny an experience that few places can offer - as well as sun, sand, surfing, arresting landscapes and excellent food, the Balinese have a welcoming, distinctive culture that they are willing to share.

To stay away is to buy into the belief that one incident makes an entire country unsafe. Do we let one event - tragic though it is - deter us?

Stephen Pearson, who with wife Karen and their two preschool children flew to Bali two and a half weeks after the blasts, says pressure from family and friends not to go on their long-planned, seven-day break was "huge". An unemotional analysis won: "Our logic goes that Bali is not a war zone, it's not Israel or Northern Ireland ... it's a tranquil and peaceful place."

He believes, as do many others, that it was a one-off incident designed to attract maximum publicity and casualties. Staying at Jimbaran Bay, in the south of Bali, in a plush hotel, he believes the family is out of hot-spot range.

Andrew Prins, of Panmure, Auckland, has visited Bali more than 20 times and set off for another Indonesian trip four days after the attack.

As a travel agent but also a tourist, he understands people's fear. But "continuing to holiday in Bali will show the terrorists that they haven't beaten us," he says.

He also cautions about taking media coverage as the complete picture. Reports which described a deserted post-bomb Bali overstated the case.

The truth is that despite the shock of the bomb, life went on. Hawkers were back on the beach next day, flogging massages, sarongs, fake watches and sunset paintings.

The tourists shopped, switching their destination from Kuta to the more northerly Legian. We swam, ate at roadside warung (cafes), and engaged guides for trips up the island.

There's no doubt that Bali's long reputation as a safe haven has been shattered, but none are more shocked than the devoutly Hindu Balinese.

In the days immediately after the bombing, travelling to and from the mountains, we were struck by the number of times we were approached by Balinese who, after establishing that we were from Selandia Baru and not Australia, apologised in quiet and halting English for the bomb and asked us to deliver their condolences home.

These people will suffer. This developing country is more wealthy than the rest of Indonesia because of tourism, but alongside richly decorated hotel compounds squat flimsy, tin-walled shacks.

It is estimated that over 80 per cent of the island's three million people rely on tourism.

Our guides told tales of colleagues told not to come to work on the Monday after the blasts; they were on a month's unpaid leave which you suspected would become joblessness.

Already, the rules of supply and demand are kicking in: Pearson, who is on his fourth Bali visit, did what many will probably now try - he negotiated a far flasher room for no extra outlay.

"The market's now different - for my loyalty I thought I should be rewarded," he explains. "We're staying in an extremely comfortable situation I'm not sure we would otherwise be able to afford."

The day we checked out of the pleasantly isolated Hotel Intan Bali at Seminyak, occupation had slid from its normal 80 per cent for that time of year - the low season - to 30 per cent.

It's hard to judge how things for Bali visitors might change; it has been suggested that commerce will move from tourist hubs to local marketplaces, with many returning to family compounds and paddy fields.

Immediately after the bomb, we found our hearts weren't in bargaining.

Everything falls into a different perspective when you learn that a woman knotting frayed sarong ends for seven hours pre-bomb earned 250 rupiah - about 5c. If there are to be rules about travel to Bali in these uncertain times, they are: try to avoid obviously expat hangouts - you won't learn much about the locals that way.

Have good travel insurance (imagine being treated in a hospital without anaesthetic or clean needles).

And remember that although you might have every mod con in your Balinese hotel room, you are still in a developing country.

Aucklander and Asiaphile Paul Hewlett, who was three days into a week-long Bali holiday with his wife when he saw the bomb's fireball from his hotel balcony, reminds that good tourist services tend to lull visitors into a false sense of security.

"It's easy for westerners to forget that infrastructure, legal systems - all manner of institutions they take for granted - may not exist, or may operate quite differently," he says.

No matter how enchanting, poor countries "can display an altogether different character in changed circumstances". In general, he adds, every traveller needs to be cautious, and have ways of summoning help. I'll take his advice when I return to the "Island of the Gods".

Hewlett, a regular Bali visitor, will be back, too.

"It's such a wonderful place," he says. "Sadly, in the world we now live in, I doubt it's less safe than anywhere comparable."

* The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises against travel to Indonesia.

Indonesia Tourism

Bali messages and latest information on New Zealanders
New Zealanders who were in Bali, and their families and friends around the world, can exchange news via our Bali Messages page. The page also contains lists of New Zealanders who were in Bali and their condition.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade

* Latest travel advisory for Indonesia

* Bali Bombing Hotline: 0800 432 111

Full coverage: Bali bomb blast

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