In Reply to: Bali - The Paradox posted by neuville on Wednesday, 30. November 2005 at 19:01 Bali Time:
I mean a journey as in life not as in holiday, This is my theory, and God knows I have a theory on most things.
When you first hit Bali you find the beautiful Balinese people to be perfect. Anyone who gives you a problem is of course from Java, or so the story goes.
On the next or subsequent trip you find that some of your friends who you really like and had assumed were from Bali are actually from, Java, Madura, Sumatera, Lombok, Flores or any other island, pick an island!!
You drift along for a couple of trips liking everyone. You have found paradise,
One day something happens that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and it wasn't the Sate. Maybe you've been "had", maybe you feel like you have ATM stamped on your forehead (quote from Badak Senting). You go through a period of disenchantment, Paradise is lost.
Gradually you fall in love with Bali again but this time it's the real thing. You love the real thing, good and bad like every other place. In fact you come to find some of their "bad" points somewhat funny or even endearing.
Maybe you stick your toe in the water and travel briefly to other islands and find the same, good and bad but in balance.
Ah Paradise found again. It was never lost at all.