Bali

Just yesterday while I was driving to work, I heard some radio DJs talking about Bali. Now there aren’t many popular breakfast radio shows in Perth, so if you’re from Perth, you can probably guess which one this is. Now the female DJ was saying that she’s going to be going to Bali soon, but this time with her dad. She’s been 17 or 18 times so far but this will be the first time she’ll be travelling there with her dad. So her dad asks, what places are there to see in Bali? Her reaction to this blew me away. She fully admitted that even though she’s been there umpteen times, she only goes to Bali for the cheap alcohol, sun & hotel pool. She even had other listeners who said the same thing! The male DJ was suggesting sight seeing places, such as the temples and the mountain ranges etc but she was quite adamant about that people go to Bali only for the booze and sun. One listener had been to Bali a whopping 42 times, but hasn’t been sight seeing!

When I heard the whole exchange on the radio, needless to say I was a big agitated. I get that yes, maybe some people have preferences on how to spend their holidays overseas but the notion of going to a foreign country to booze and not even bother to learn about the culture of the people or history is just disturbing. I’ve been to Bali once, just last year and it was quite an amazing experience. I was there for 7 days with some friends but managed to squeeze in some shopping, lounging by the pool, going out, travelling through the country side for some quad biking. Yes, we did drink and take advantage of the cheap alcohol but Bali isn’t just about that. There is definitely more to a country than their cheap booze. It’ll be like saying Australia is good for kangaroo scrotum coin pouches. The people and culture mean nothing.

Having that kind of attitude while being a radio DJ is just ridiculous to me. That’s just encouraging ignorance amongst the listeners and encouraging binge drinking in the community. And you wonder why there are so many weekend drunken parties which turn violent. It all boils down to attitudes. Do you agree?