B10[mg]

Ten years ago, I first went to the wonderful Republik Indonesia and loved the beautiful flora and fauna, nice weather, friendly people and awesome food. I visited Lombok and Bali and was most certainly not the only tourist who enjoyed staying at the islands. Streets were full of vendors, little markets and a lot of tourists.

Bad things hit the archipelago since then, leading to a decrease in the number of visitors.

This year, I visited the same islands again (and included Java in the trip), and was really shocked to see the drastic decrease of tourists.

Bars, restaurants and hotels. All were close to empty. Streets were deserted and within two days, you'd recognize the tourist that were there by face.

Of course that's not a real big problem for me. I'd rather see crowded streets, bars, beaches and restaurants, but I can live without and can enjoy the serene environment. It is -of course- a really big problem for the Indonesian people. No tourists means no money coming in the country; means no money circulates in the country; means basically: bad.

So, support the fine Indonesian people by paying them a visit. The plane ticket to fly there might be expensive, but realize that life over there doesn't cost much if you're used to the extreme high European costs of living. I assume that three weeks vacation in Spain cost the same, if not more, than three weeks in Indonesia. And you can see the wonders of the Prambanan Temple Compounds, the Borobudur Temple Compounds, Mount Rinjani and Agung, and of course many other sights.