MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

Balinese temple (photo LP 2010) I have returned in the past few days from a holiday in Bali, Indonesia, with my sister.  Unlike my trip in 2010 when I stayed more remotely in the north west at Pemuteran  and  the north east at Amed, this visit was to a five star resort in Legian. What a difference!  The streets of Legian were very busy, the locals almost outnumbered by the Australian tourists.  I heard very few languages other than “Aussie” spoken and it reminded me that when I travelled with my French boyfriend to the northern part of Bali, I was told by the Europeans I met that they tended to avoid the tourist hubs of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak because of the loud, rude and crude Australians…yes a generalisation about the Aussies, but unfortunately, as I was to learn, a correct one. A friendly local trying to sell us a toy (photo LP 2012) It is difficult to write this post without appearing a “snob”.  But having canvassed my ideas wit...

The  Balinese temple of Tahna Lot (Photo L Percy November 2010) From the time I was a child, my late father, a retired Royal Australian Navy Commodore, instilled in me a respect for people . I didn’t ever see anyone as being “different”. In the early ‘60s my father was at an officer training college for the member countries of the Commonwealth. He was joined at the college by officers  from countries as diverse as India and Pakistan, Colombo (Sri Lanka)  Malaysia, Singapore and England. My parents were great hosts and so our home became a “drop in centre” on Friday nights for many of these officers who were unable to bring their spouses with them to Australia during their training. These same gentlemen taught me to eat curry, even for breakfast, taught me to play the piano and immediately after lessons learn to correctly and politely eat rice in my fingers in banana leaves. And to never be judgemental. These same men went on through the later...