'The new Bali '

Bad_azz

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Interesting article about the government's tourism plans for Indonesia...
This bit made me laugh lots: Borobudur is a two-hour drive from the closest airport in Jakarta, a city where the traffic has been described as a "nightmare,"
 
You have doubtless seen the news that Victoria, Australia's second most populous state has gone into lockdown for another seven days and other states are shutting the gates to keep Victorians out. In relative terms the numbers of infections with a couple of new clusters are small and they hope the lockdown will keep it that way despite the economic impacts and dislocations.

As new Covid variations keep popping up and creating chaos it is difficult to accept the notion of travel bubbles being an achievable objective. Clearly Jokowi can't throw his hands in the air and say, "We give up. It's all to difficult". But it would seem whatever plans are developed it is going to take a long while before things settle enough for international travel to begin to create new employment and income. These new locations for development will require investment in resorts and accommodation but with the hospitality industry struggling worldwide who is going to suddenly want to put out large wads of cash for new multi million dollar resort hotels? China perhaps. It may see this as an opportunity to expand it's influence.

More than ever, international travellers are going to want good internet connection. At least this is an area where immediate attention would be good for the nation overall. Increasing numbers of Indonesians see on line business start up as a way to go for new ventures without massive expenditure. At the moment the limitations on available internet access is a serious disadvantage for Indonesia.
 

This BBC article mentioned another "new Bali", called Mandalika. They managed to write a long article without ever saying where it is (it's on the South coast of Lombok).

Considering the first round of vaccines is going so slowly, even in a very optimistic scenario I don't see how full international tourism without quarantine will start before the end of 2022. Possibly they could open up a travel bubble to Bali from low risk countries (as the Thais want to do with Phuket), but it would be very difficult indeed to police it. As for Jogja .. forget it, that will take several years. Probably better to focus on domestic tourism at this point.
 

This BBC article mentioned another "new Bali", called Mandalika. They managed to write a long article without ever saying where it is (it's on the South coast of Lombok).

Considering the first round of vaccines is going so slowly, even in a very optimistic scenario I don't see how full international tourism without quarantine will start before the end of 2022. Possibly they could open up a travel bubble to Bali from low risk countries (as the Thais want to do with Phuket), but it would be very difficult indeed to police it. As for Jogja .. forget it, that will take several years. Probably better to focus on domestic tourism at this point.
Yes, Mandalika is mentioned in the article I posted. all part of the plan along with other destinations.
I think this 'plan' predates covid, so I don't think the vaccines & bubbles were a factor initially.
 
Interesting article about the government's tourism plans for Indonesia...
This bit made me laugh lots: Borobudur is a two-hour drive from the closest airport in Jakarta, a city where the traffic has been described as a "nightmare,"
Yeah, that little bit there told me all this reporting was coming from a place of zero firsthand knowledge...

They mentioned in the article that there is more to Bali than sun and sky. Namely, the culture (inc. religion) of Bali is a bit more friendly to the western concept of a holiday than most places in Indonesia would be (summer styles for the ladies and drinks for everyone). I mean, you could come into the village I live in and spend the next five years building an artificial Ubud with beautiful landscapes and crafty shops, but the citizens wouldn't change. They would still want razia for alcohol sellers and loud calls to prayer.

I just don't know that the places that the gov wants to become "the next Bali" actually want to become as tourist-friendly as Bali. There is this deeply ingrained (or at least often repeated) concept here that whatever the majority religion/ethnic group is holds sway, and most people don't head to the tropics to experience more restrictions of their personal freedoms.
 
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Indonesia is not the country it was 15 to 20 years ago , I felt it was a friendly place when I was working down here , around java and sumatra .
Not now with the rise of radicalism.
Ya there is lots of interesting historical locations to explore and some areas of natural beauty , but without a tourist friendly population it wont work ,imho . Never mind the ever increasing density of noise ,who wants that on holiday beginning around 430 am ,when you should be dreaming , a rude awakening .
Bali on the other hand is like another country ,its not perfect for sure ,but the people are generally welcoming and peaceful , quite a unique culture which is appreciated by the traveling public .
 
Not to worry. Tourist Minister Sandiaga has it all covered for Bali. After making Bali his personal and professional playground, now he gets many government employees to come on with him.


OK, so you ad these people's cash to Bali. So, what do you do about the cash you are taking from other places to do this? This is one of the stupidest ideas out there. Just one of many from this self serving minister.
 
I'm just happy that Bali is no longer enamored by "influencers" and their ilk mocking the culture and its people (even in this economy).

Hopefully this mentality remains when their GDP picks back up.
 
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Personally I couldn't give a single toss about Bali, not a place I like nor a topic that interests me.
It was the alternative locations that the article was actually about. The titling of the article was perhaps unfortunate as it seems to be just the one word that has caught attention.

I can most honestly state that had Bali been the place I stayed in my 1st visit here to Indonesia, I doubt I would have returned.
There is something about the place that is just icky.
 
Interesting article about the government's tourism plans for Indonesia...
This bit made me laugh lots: Borobudur is a two-hour drive from the closest airport in Jakarta, a city where the traffic has been described as a "nightmare,"
The countries already a festing cess pit of rubbish . The authorities put on a big face with there clean ups then dump the rubbish in valley's rivers in the mountains . 12 tonnes of shit washed up on Kuta /Legion a few years back . All the shit they'd dumped in the mountains washed down with the rains . I live in a fishing village in south east Java ,these people would be locked up in any other country for they way they pollute the environment , what doesn't get thrown into the street for the feral dog's ,cat's ,rat's etc to spread from arsehole to breakfast gets dumped just out of town along the road or in the river . Crop growers still use ROUND-UP by the 44 gallon drum full , no waiting ,crops go in a soon as the vegetation is dead and the empty bottles go in the irrigation channels or streams/rivers with all the other fertilizer ,insectide ,fungicide packaging . If they bring more tourist into these areas the place will be one big shit hole within a very short time . It's not the tourist that cause the pollution problem it's the people themselves ,they don't give a F!!! about the environment that 95% of them rely on to survive . RANT OVER !!
 
Yes - in our Java kampung there is only two ways of disposing of rubbish. 1) throw it in the river 2) burn it. There is also 3) pay someone to take it away, but he will then a) throw it in the river or b) burn it.
Yeah. Some years ago, I was really disappointed when I saw the man I was paying to take away the rubbish just toss it into the river on the other side of my driveway. He was moving it less than six meters. I felt cheated twice over. I had never told him what to do with it, but the official bloody tip was just on the other side of the block. He must have known I could have tossed it in the river from my front balcony if I was inclined to be a scumbag. When things like this happen I never know if people: are too stupid to understand what I want, think I am stupid enough to pay them for a non-job, or are just assholes who don't care what the person paying them wants (or have the misfortune of being stymied by my poor communication skills).
 
Growing up in Australia and into the '50s and early '60s Australian attitudes to waste was not dissimilar to that described as Indonesian mindlessness. Driving anywhere, rubbish was tossed out the car window. Going on a picnic out of the city, as things were consumed, the leftovers were just thrown out of the car. Finishing the picnic meant packing up and leaving the rubbish in the bush or the park.

Beauty spots were often used by locals as tips for old mattresses, dumped cars and any rubbish at all. The Department of Shipping and Transport responsible for lighthouses had a policy of simply dumping rubbish in the sea or over the cliff where lighthouses were on cliff tops.

It has taken some decades of education for people to be more generally responsible but dumping of rubbish still continues. The problems here now are compounded by commercial use of plastic packaging to a point of insanity. And of course the blame is sheeted home to the consumers while the manufacturers of plastics and plastic packagers of consumer goods are not required to pay a percentage of profit towards dealing with the problem. I am afraid that responsible management of waste disposal here is not going to improve any time soon. Things will probably get worse before necessity and education takes hold.
 
Growing up in Australia and into the '50s and early '60s Australian attitudes to waste was not dissimilar to that described as Indonesian mindlessness. Driving anywhere, rubbish was tossed out the car window. Going on a picnic out of the city, as things were consumed, the leftovers were just thrown out of the car. Finishing the picnic meant packing up and leaving the rubbish in the bush or the park.

Beauty spots were often used by locals as tips for old mattresses, dumped cars and any rubbish at all. The Department of Shipping and Transport responsible for lighthouses had a policy of simply dumping rubbish in the sea or over the cliff where lighthouses were on cliff tops.

It has taken some decades of education for people to be more generally responsible but dumping of rubbish still continues. The problems here now are compounded by commercial use of plastic packaging to a point of insanity. And of course the blame is sheeted home to the consumers while the manufacturers of plastics and plastic packagers of consumer goods are not required to pay a percentage of profit towards dealing with the problem. I am afraid that responsible management of waste disposal here is not going to improve any time soon. Things will probably get worse before necessity and education takes hold.
there is quite a simple way to stop plastic packaging- ban it. Ban the manufacture of it, ban the import of it. BUT that will not happen.
Same as there is a way to cut pollution & traffic in Jakarta- ban vehicles. Go back to the way it was before the combustion engines kicked in- would it be seen as progressive or prehistoric- well , who am I to say, but it would be an immediate & effective solution.
 
I'm just happy that Bali is no longer enamored by "influencers" and their ilk mocking the culture and its people (even in this economy).
Sorry to tell you but I just looked at the Bali sub reddit and they seem as active as ever. They are all talking about coming to Bali on business visas which apparently are very easy to get from some websites. A lot of them also seem to be very anti vaccine (Bali does attract a lot of the yoga/hippy/natural crowd) and think Bali as a place to avoid vaccines.
 
Someone mentioned Roundup. I was in Depot Bangunan the other day and in the middle of the insecticides I sen roundup. I asked the guy working that section why Roundup is in with the insecticides and was kindly told that because roundup is an insecticide. I explained that is was not and is a herbicide used for killing vegetation. I was told they do not carry grass and weed killers and again, Roundup is an insecticide. There was no arguing with him so I just shrugged my shoulders and walked away. Walked away wondering how many people will buy it as an insecticide and then wonder why they killed everything in their yards except the insects.
 
Sorry to tell you but I just looked at the Bali sub reddit and they seem as active as ever. They are all talking about coming to Bali on business visas which apparently are very easy to get from some websites. A lot of them also seem to be very anti vaccine (Bali does attract a lot of the yoga/hippy/natural crowd) and think Bali as a place to avoid vaccines.
Looks like somebody is jealous of people enjoying their life and having fun.
 
Someone mentioned Roundup. I was in Depot Bangunan the other day and in the middle of the insecticides I sen roundup. I asked the guy working that section why Roundup is in with the insecticides and was kindly told that because roundup is an insecticide. I explained that is was not and is a herbicide used for killing vegetation. I was told they do not carry grass and weed killers and again, Roundup is an insecticide. There was no arguing with him so I just shrugged my shoulders and walked away. Walked away wondering how many people will buy it as an insecticide and then wonder why they killed everything in their yards except the insects.

Glyphosate used in Roundup and other Monsanto weed-killing products is a known carcinogen. In 2018, Monsanto was ordered to pay a record $289 million to Mr. Dewayne Johnson, a groundskeeper in California, among 5000 other claimants, due to failing to warn consumers of the dangers of Glyphosate. Did you see warning notices in Depot Bangunan? I suspect not.
 

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