Bali, Indonesia: As I write this we're sailing into the harbor at Bali, the one non-Muslim-majority island of any consequence in Indonesia. We wrote about how this came about earlier in the voyage.
There is considerable flat land in Bali, unlike many of the islands hereabouts. And, as you'd imagine, it has developed a lot in the nearly 30 years since we were here last. I'm not going ashore as my hip is still sore, making walking difficult.
We were scheduled to arrive at 7-8 a.m. but had to postpone arrival because of a low tide at that time. It is now 9:30 and we're entering verrrrry slowly, the captain has said there is a risk of grounding which we're obviously being oh-so-careful not to do.
Australians go to Bali (which they call 'barley') like people on the east coast of the U.S. go to the Caribbean. When Muslim extremists (Indonesia has a few) wanted to murder westerners a few years back, they brought their bombs to Bali. It was where large numbers of "crusaders" (their term, not mine) could be found and targeted. Most of the dead were from Oz, which hasn't kept Australians from coming.
Interesting factoid: Many of our "hotel" crew are Indonesian, and within that group people from Bali are over-represented. Whether this is because of the Balinese' increased familiarity with westerners or some other factor is unclear.
We understand the families of quite a number of our crew will be onboard today as visitors. Some will have traveled here from another island to see a husband or father who has been at sea for months.
As is true in the Philippines, remittances by someone working on a ship likely support an extended family at home. It is a useful way to get first world beds made and meals served while enabling third world persons to earn their family out of poverty and into the home country's middle class. It's a win-win solution that builds a work ethic where handouts destroy it.
