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Bali Hai

The island of Bali is a Hindu enclave in the Muslim nation of Indonesia, It is populated by simple, peaceful people who generally are quite artistic and industrious. It is likely the island alluded to in that song "Bali Hai" in the famous Rogers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific." I have never been to Bali but my daughter spent three months there many years ago and her stories of her time there painted this island as both exotic and mysterious ... albeit quite hot and humid. In fact my daughter said that the standard greeting there was (in Indonesian) "have you bathed yet"? Interestingly, she also indicated that it was a favorite sex stop for Australian female tourists.

Since her time there, Bali has suffered a very serious terrorist attack where 202 people (mostly tourists) were killed ... see: Wikipedia Entry ... as well as other more recent terrorist threats. Now this erstwhile paradise is again threatened ... this rime with a volcano, Mount Agung, which is spewing ash over the island and has closed down the airport ... see: CNN Story.

It seems that paradises, like Bali and beautiful, idyllic St. Barths (which was recently devastated by two hurricanes) somehow attract both natural and man-made disasters ... as though too much of a good thing, like at Eden, is just unacceptable to the gods and man. Nature doesn't just abhor a vacuum, she also doesn't like paradises very much.