Foreign Tourist Numbers Down: Indonesia

I will never visit Bali, i wouldn’t give you the pleasure of having my money. Karma is a bitch.

I’m with Andy. My memories of Bali used to be of sun, surf, relaxed lifestyle and an interesting and different culture. Now when I think of Bali I think of Bali police trashing evidence and laughing as they arrested Schapelle for an offence carrying the death penalty. I think of Balinese people marching, or writing to their local papers, demanding the death penalty (over a bag of pot for chrissake). I think of Bali people cheering while Schapelle was sentenced to a preposterous 20 years for nuthin much. I think of a supreme court that took less than 24 hours to review her case before increasing the sentence back to 24 hours.

In short I think of a people that don’t seem to like Australians very much. Fortunately, they seem quite fond of us at Phuket and Fiji. That’ll do me.

Whoops. Make that 20 years instead of 24 hours. Although 24 hours would be far closer to a reasonable sentence.

A drop in Bali viisitor numbers? Nope, there are still lots of first timers on group tours from east Asian countries, but will probably holiday elsewhere whenever a good travel deal comes up. The usual crowd (been to Bali once or twice every year or more) certainly have other options that are looking mighty tempting in terms of scenery, culture, food, shopping, value for money, travel experiences etc. resulting in high and very high tourist seasons in places like Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

Your comment is awaiting moderation. | August 15th, 2006 at 8:59 am

Whilst watching the late news last night I was intrigued to see a story about Schapelle Corby and her new look. Off came the long hair and now she is sporting what I call a very sexy look.

The convicted drug trafficker recently cut her own hair using a scissors and a razor before burying it at the base of a tree in Bali’s Kerobokan prison.

Her hair did not stay buried for long, however. Corby suddenly decided to dig up the shorn locks after Bali Nine drug mule and fellow inmate Renae Lawrence told her she should try to sell them on eBay.

As Corby buried the hair she uttered some words that sounded like she was delivering her hair back to nature. That was very kind of her!. Apparently Lawrence then told Corby she should offer the locks on eBay. “It should fetch a lot of money” Lawrence reportedly said. “You’ll get offers from men and women all over Australia.”

Corby, who doesn’t like getting her hands dirty paid an Indonesian inmate to wash the cropped hair free of the mud clinging to it after it was buried. Then she spent hours combing it out and making it all lovely and shiny again according to a fellow inmate. The source also revealed that while Corby tries to stay in shape, she has a weakness for food and especially Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Under a prisoner exchange agreement currently being drafted, Corby could be entitled to serve out her sentence in Australia. There have been some reports that she would prefer to stay in her Bali cell.