World leading travel writer says Bali is safe
One of the world’s leading travel writers has emerged from trips to Australia and Bali bemused at the huge difference between the fears about Bali often generated in this country and the exquisitely rich and tranquil experiences of those who actually visit there.
Pico Iyer, author of eight books whose articles are published worldwide in magazines such as Time, the New York Times and the Financial Times. says he encountered superb security, among the best in Asia, and “Aussies who couldn’t believe that so many of their friends and neighbors were staying at home”.
He also found the island was bustling and crowded with visitors from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and other parts of Asia while many Australians missed out on the attractions of one of the top destinations in the world.
Asian millionaires were flying in hundreds of guests for weddings while the Japanese (among the world’s most security conscious people) were coming in record numbers because it is one of the places where they feel most able to relax, he says.
“The island struck me as far safer than Los Angeles, where I maintain a home, or Delhi, which I visited soon afterwards, or New York, or carjack-filled London, or most of the places I visit.
The murder rate in American cities has long been higher than even in cities in the midst of civil war, and since the September 11 attacks it is even more the case that places like New York, Paris, Madrid or London are less safe than less high-profile places.
Certainly, I felt much safer in Ubud, say, or Nusa Dua, in Bali, than I do in Southern California or in London.
John Alwyn-Jones
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