Bali

Hello from Bali. This is our last day of two week's holiday. Best rest I've had in years. Interesting place and people, good food, there's much to recommend. Looking forward to getting home now. Funny how on the last day of a holiday you're mindset changes and you want to get home. Our flight doesn't leave till 11.55pm.

A sign out front of a spa/massage place near our hotel at Seminyak says-
"The energy of the volano, the solace of the rainforest, and the balance of the ocean, they come together in Bali."
The Balinese population is more than 3 million, the culture reflecting the warmth and abundance of the climate, the depth of devout religion and respect for tradition, and the richness of art expressed in many forms, including wood carving, painting, jewellery, music and dance.

I'm glad I came to Bali. I came with some negative expectation, that I'd find a playground for Australian tourists; boozy, commercial, exploiting. That is here, but so is genuine peace and beauty and friendly people adjusting to a modern world that brings jumbo after jumbo of tourists every day from Asia and Europe and a surging economy. Without coming I would have no grasp of it.