I had booked a tour with Peggy’s friend Made who has his own private driver business. It was a pretty standard tourist tour with everything that entails these days – lots of tourists fighting for the one Instagram photo that everyone wants! I would not want to be here in high season. I do get that to the Balinese this is serious business but I do wonder whether they are “wearing out” what they have. Maybe the time will come when they will actually have to limit visitors in the same way that other places are talking about – even in Norway which has seemingly limitless space.
I guess I am very spoilt traveller and the reason I always go somewhere I have friends is that I get to have the local experience rather than the tourist one. I also realise that it’s much more important to me now to just be here without rushing round to see everything. Made was a lovely guy and I highly recommend him – see his link. I enjoyed chatting to him about his life here and when he worked on a cruise ship travelling the world.
The best thing about the tour was in fact the most surprising. I was moved to tears by the purification ritual at Tirta Tempul. I wished for Julia’s pain to go away and realised how tough the last couple of years have been for both of us.
Anna's Travels 