Lisa's Balinese Adventure

In August I went to the Asia TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) conference in Bali. The last conference I went to was in Syracuse, so I was pretty excited about the change of venue.

Unfortunately, I had issues with my camera's battery charger (don't ask) so I don't have photos of this truly beautiful island. But I do still have a memory, at least sometimes. So, here are a few observations and recollections.

There were a lot of Russian tourists, and even signs in Russian advertising local businesses and restaurants. Also a lot of French.

There was a Hare Krishna vegetarian restaurant, which I didn't visit.

I don't think the vehicles there have shock absorbers. At least, the public buses don't.

On the subject of transportation, I thought there were motorcycle (small bikes, not Harleys) clubs in town my first day there, as most of the traffic coming through the intersection outside of the hotel was two-wheeled. Then I realized that's how many, if not most, people get around there. Despite all the tourist cash, Bali is still poor and I imagine private cars are a luxury. Often there would be as many as four people on one motorcycle, usually without helmets. Everybody drives on the "wrong" (i.e., left) side of the road.

There were also dozens and dozens of street dogs everywhere. I even saw an adoption and rehabilitation center for them. I did, of course, want to adopt some but had to admit the impracticality of that idea. I meant to donate some money to that center, but somehow didn't manage to do so.

There are little shrines everywhere, with offerings of flowers and incense in front of them. People put these in front of their businesses and in their homes in honor of Hindu gods. This made the air sweet and the sidewalks and storefronts colorful. It was a welcome change from all of the red neon crosses in Korea.

I went into all the bookstores I could find in the artsy town of Ubud, of course. One of them, a used bookstore, had a small green lizard relaxing on the wall.

The road to Ubud was a tourist sight of its own. There were lots of galleries and craft shops, many selling kind of kitschy lookalike paintings and sculpture. Reproductions of the Mona Lisa were common.

The driver who picked me up at the airport and took me to the hotel that was hosting the conference was genuinely surprised to learn that there are poor people in America. He's never been off the island, as it's too expensive to travel.

Most of the conference attendees were Indonesian and, therefore, Muslim. On the first day I was wearing a v-neck sleeveless top but felt half naked around all those women whose bodies were covered so thoroughly that I went back to my room and changed clothes at lunchtime. There were midday calls to prayer at the mosque next door.

A young woman was carrying a Strand bookstore bag, so I went up to her and asked if she'd gotten it in NY. She said no, but her friend was studying there and brought it as a gift.

In the evening, I listened to mediocre local musicians perform Western pop songs at the hotel lounge. Van Morrison, Dylan, The Eagles, all with a Balinese accent. They were very friendly and took requests. An Australian woman sang with them, even more poorly, but a good time was had by all. A bit surreal nonetheless.

The next conference taking place at my hotel was Amway Indonesia.