Indo...is it worth it

[JET01]

Seal rocks is rubbish, don't go there, you're better off at snapper...

[Beanpole]

Except for the right. It's really epic but a bit heavy. Never crowded with kids learning to surf either.

[Trev]

Except for the right. It's really epic but a bit heavy. Never crowded with kids learning to surf either.

I think Jets trying to keep it that way.

[steve shearer]

Hey Beany are you in Indo right now?
Could you grab us a pack of gudam's please if so.

[Bobby Dazzler]

steve is surely right, it was undoubtedly a bit of a missed opportunity. folly of youth and all that, aka stupid.

i'm in the water most days now, but am still damn lazy when it comes to travelling. the surf is better a 20-minute drive away. but i just walk down the end of the street for a wave.

i'll grab you a few packs of gudam's. clove cigarettes used to be vaguely popular in australia. but i haven't seen them for years. maybe i'm not hanging with the right crowd.

i've never read stendahl...looks like i've got somethnging to look forward to there.

[Beanpole]

Salamat Pagi, Steve. I'll ask the Dutch Guy who insists on smoking incessantly at breakfast if he can get some. Meanwhile we will entertain ourselves with the noisy cat that has decided to make friends. Anyone seen a cat in Indonesia that doesn't have a docked or seriously bent tail?

[The Mighty Sunbird]

I reckon most people on this site organise their life around getting into the water as much as possible, I'm pretty sure quite a few have given up other opportunities in life to allow water time, but each is to their own and it's interesting to see others take on things.

I reckon most of the regulars barely surf at all and sacrifice water time for all manner of other priorities.

How can you tell?

I surf 3x a week with an overseas surf trip yearly. I don't think it's obvious from my posts because I have very little to say about surfing apart from I like it.
Katy Perry, on the other hand...

[Cranked]

OK Beany, where are you? Just the name of the island and E, S, N or W will do if you want to keep the lid on your actual location.
This will at least give us some vicarious satisfaction, and particularly for me as I just spent the morning riding 12"-18" waves on a 60's replica log; 20 odd waves, but Jesus, all I can say is its better than swimming or paddling my racing mal in the Swan.

[Beerfan]

Schitt just got real in this thread.

[Bobby Dazzler]

... i guess i should admit the real reason i don't surf maroubra. it isn't sheer and utter laziness. it's moral. i don't want a cheap holiday is someone else's misery.

[el rancho]

Indo is a ****. It's hard to think of another country on Earth that is getting so brutally butt fcuked by unrestrained tourist development, You go there, you're part of the problem.

You also run the risk of having your tourist dollars go to a government that has a history of massive human rights abuses.

And whether the surfers know it or not, the view of Indonesia as an unqualified tropical paradise is one that the authorities there favour; for as long as the country is regarded - first and foremost - as a desirable holiday destination, attention is diverted from the human rights atrocities being committed by representatives of the Indonesian Government in West Papua.

are you against people traveling to the USA? admittedly most of their human rights abuses are committed offshore.

[Cranked]

Indo is a ****. It's hard to think of another country on Earth that is getting so brutally butt fcuked by unrestrained tourist development, You go there, you're part of the problem.

Hey Bali is a very small island and only one small part of it is effected by rampant tourist development, most of that island is relatively untouched (by tourist development) as is the rest of Indo. Tourism is an important foreign income generator only because they export fcuk all. Indonesia has about 8 million tourists annually about a quarter from the west and the rest from Asia; by contrast, the USA, the next most populous country, has about 60 million tourists per year.

You also run the risk of having your tourist dollars go to a government that has a history of massive human rights abuses.
And whether the surfers know it or not, the view of Indonesia as an unqualified tropical paradise is one that the authorities there favour; for as long as the country is regarded - first and foremost - as a desirable holiday destination, attention is diverted from the human rights atrocities being committed by representatives of the Indonesian Government in West Papua.

A bad history, absolutely, but things have been improving rapidly over the years, with the exception of West Papua as you noted.

The view of Indonesia as an unqualified tropical paradise is marred not by tourism but by poverty, most importantly, the prayer of every Indonesian is that tourism will come to their village and improve their health, well being and opportunities as it has done in the rest of Indonesia.

Tourism is a selfish problem for us tourists, not the locals, they love it, the proceeds enable them to buy a a scooter, maybe even a people mover and send their kids to universitas

[steve shearer]

Depends where u go and who you talk to.


First thing I would do as PM would be to liberalize trade and work arrangements between Aus and Indo

[steve shearer]

The food?

[Beanpole]

Insert hand wringing about the death penalty here. Indonesia is a diverse country struggling to hold itself together in many ways.unless I want to stand outside Keroboken Prison with a sign my opinion is largely irrelevant. I don't see the Balinese people as representatives of the Jakarta Government.

If you think coming here is a problem then I'm part of it I suppose. If you don't then I'm not. I just advise you not to come if its an issue you feel that strongly about.

We haven't actually done that good a job at home you know......or with East Timor.

[Beanpole]

Okay, it's totally crap, the foods no good, there is no surf in Indo either. Go to Seal rocks. Happy?


.........or .........nothing.....is that better?

Has any of this made a difference?

[Skipper]

The food?

of course. their cheese is sensational.

[bomboraa]

Try going to Bali and talking about the slaughter of communists, and even their most remotely connected sympathisers, on the island in the 60s. A lot of your older "average Joe Balis" were responsible.
Rampant tourist development is actually straining the whole island not just the south in the form of an increasing water crisis.
And many Balinese have no problem with the death penalty for drug smuggling.
Lots of em realise the price they are paying for tourist development. One older fella said to me: "I've got a car, my kids go to school, my oldest son to university, but I miss the rice paddies which used to surround my home."
What really gets them angry is the rampant corruption. From the highest level which sees Javanese moguls steal their land to to the petty payoffs they have to deal with at the most local levels.