Fred C. Wilson III’s account of his Bali trip

American tourist Fred C. Wilson III, always dreamed of visiting Bali. In 2005 he did and staying the Kuta area, was enchanted by the place, the people and the culture.

Its always cool to read people’s accounts of their first Bali, even the most rational people gets affected. I had a very logical European guy once tell me that after sitting at Balinese temple dance one evening, he knew he wanted to move here, and he did!

I remember my first trip to Bali. Landing at Ngurah Rai, on a steamy October night, I was immediately aware of the brown faces and the ‘glong glong’ music that was chimming away in the arrivals hall…trippy! Lawrence Blair the filmmaker, said that after travelling all over Indonesia, he was captivated by how the Balinese people, seem to effortlessly blend into their environment. One only has to glance at Walter Spies painting to get and idea of what he meant.

There is a certain naivety to some of these Bali travel accounts. The gullible westerner, willing to believe anything he is told, but in there too are good memories and honest interractions. I
remember one guy I met from New York, his dad came out with him to help him relocate. His dad said ‘You know the Balinese ladies are so nice and so charming.’ He really meant it, and was a genuine fellow. Whenever I go to a warung in Kuta, and see the young school girls, standing there in their school uniform, training to be a waitress, shy and polite, its obvious they come from good family environments, where people have treated them well.

Getting back to Fred C. Wilson III, his trip gave him much more than a week in Vegas, and that part of Bali tourism is worth a lot.