On way back from hill resort and sea side resort dinner from Uluwatu we went to shopping center at Kuta for buying some gifts for our son’s newly married wife .Rozy was impressed watching the elegant ballian girls in traditional Indonesian attires.

The shopping arcades were full of tourists busy buying gifts for their near ones. There was variety of gifts items at much competitive prices. Kuta Shopping area which houses hundreds of retail shops. This gave us opportunity to have a look at the night club where that infamous incident of terrorist attack took place in 2002.

Our guide explained that the 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 .The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 27 Britons, 7 Americans, 6 Swedish citizens and 3 Danish citizens).A further 240 people were injured. Various members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent Islamist group, were convicted in relation to the bombings, including three individuals who were sentenced to death. The attack involved the detonation of three bombs: a backpack-mounted device carried by a suicide bomber; a large car bomb, both of which were detonated in or near popular nightclubs in Kuta; and a third much smaller device detonated outside the United States consulate in Denpasar, causing only minor damage. An audio-cassette purportedly carrying a recorded voice message from Osama Bin Laden stated that the Bali bombings were in direct retaliation for support of the United States' war on terror and Australia's role in the liberation of East Timor.

Rozy bought few traditional boutique shirts for the sons and some Islamic attire for others .We got back to hotel earlier as Rozy wanted to sleep earlier as we had prearranged exclusive southern coast visit next day. Though Rozy retired early I watched two important matches of the FIFA World Cup in the lounge with many other soccer loving hotel residents of the hotel. Few South Americans kept on singing and dancing through the match. It was nothing less than watching the match lives at the stadium.

18 th June was the last day of our visit of Bali. The sponsor sent luxury limousine to drive us on the South Coast exclusive tour. There was a well-trained guide. We were taken through small cluster of villages especially dedicated to skilled crafts.

Government only provided all services – gas,power, communication facilities and created opportunity to sale their products directly to local users and visitors from abroad. We thought it as very well thought strategy of sponsoring local skills and encouraging them to stay where they are from and contribute massively to economic development. The strategy is not only alleviating poverty through keeping the people engaged in skills which they learn as heredity but also it retards migration from small communities in rural areas to the cities. We thought Bangladesh could replicate what Indonesian Government has done with Bali craftsmen in supporting the strategic community business units.

We fist stopped at the Boutique village. Rozy has fascination for it as she learned it from a Japanese training center at Dhaka in late 1980s. She talked with the ladies engaged in boutique works and took lot of photographs. Then we visited the exclusive boutique shops having very rich collection of excellent boutique products. It is needless to mention that we purchased some special boutique attires.  Rozy got few sarongs and I bought two special full sleeve shirts.

From boutique shops we visited goldsmiths’ village making ornaments applying local skills. Though it was very special and was admired but I could not make Rozy interested buy any. We went to a place where carpenters were making various wooden crafts. Wood quality and skills of craftsmen were excellent. Rozy bought few wooden utensils for her kitchen. The next stop was the place of the artists and painters. We were amazed to view the excellent skills of the artists and painters.

We know that Bangladeshi villagers have similar skills.  Bangladesh has serious problems of urbanizations. Huge population is migrating to some large cities Dhaka, Chittagong creating enormous stress on utilities. If local skills could be supported through arranging smooth supplies of utilities and marketing scopes of end products people from villages would have been encouraged in staying where they are and the opportunist middle men would have been cut out.

After moving through the special villages (Strategic Business Units) we visited one of the largest temples. The sculptures and architecture of the temple were attractive .Every visitor was given special attire to wrap around for identification. It was hot and humid. We got a bit tired and started getting hungry.

The guide then drove us through picturesque green villages towards the hills and ocean of the south. On the way we stopped at a very exclusive way side restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed the delicious Indonesian cuisine served in buffet. Spicy fish curries cooked with coconut oil were sumptuous. Drive from the restaurant to Nusa Dua Resort in the hilly path was memorable. It is like the roads of Rangamati and Bandarban but much better built and better landscapes around.

The visit to the alluring Nusa Dua beach resort in the afternoon gave us heavenly bliss. The exciting tourists were boating, young boys and girls were flying kites, young couples were honeymooning in the area. It suddenly started raining forcing us forcing us go under cover. We had to start our return journey towards hotel as we were to avail the mid night flight back to Melbourne the same evening.

We were given a farewell dinner and some exclusive gift by the hotel owner as in three days we became very friendly. Rozy made few friends among the stewardess and Hotel Manager provided me lots of information about the history and culture of Bali.

The sweet memories of Bali for its exquisite natural beauty (alluring sea beaches, lovely hills), excellent food, very friendly and hospitable people, very special inexpensive gift items and not too hostile weather makes Bali one of the preferred tourist destination. Indonesian Government has created extensive tourist friendly facilities. I will suggest if anyone wants to make a 4-5 days family escape to a safe and friendly resort of oriental culture they can choose Bali. To tell me honestly Bali impressed me more than Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia for its diverse tourist attraction.

BDST: 1538 HRS, AUG 19, 2014