GENERAL INFORMATION
 Bali is a tiny island of nearly three million Hindus, surrounded by more than 200 million Indonesian muslims and lies just two kilometres from the far eastern tip of Java.
Enchanting, Bali is a paradise, sunlight cherishing a land of fertile, green rice terraces. Bali is one big sculpture as every earthen step is manicured and polished, every field and corner carved by hand. A geographic extension of Java, Bali resembles it, mountains and all, sharing much the same climate, flora and fauna as the mother land.
The Balinese are handsome, small people with round delicate features, long sweeping eyelashes, and heart-shaped lips.
Their customs, cults and worship of god and nature are animist, their music warm-blooded and their art as extravagant as their nature.
Outside of India, Bali has the largest Hindu population in the world.
Bali is so picturesque that you could believe it was a painted backdrop: rice paddies flow down hillsides like giant steps, volcanoes pierce the clouds, the forests are lush and tropical, and the beaches are blessed by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.
 But much of the paradise has been manufactured and polished by the international tourist industry rather than by the Balinese themselves - who strangely don't even have a word for paradise in their language - and it pays scant regard to the political and economic reality of everyday life on Bali.
In spite of many changes caused by the rapid development of Bali's economy, local and international tourism, and communications (television, fax, pagers, GSM hand phones, Internet), the influx of people from other Indonesian islands, and the strong influence of the government and "big business" in Jakarta, the island of Bali in Indonesia is year after year voted by the readers of all major travel magazines the most enchanting travel and holiday destination in the whole world. |
