I’m not normally much of a beach person, but I figured that while I’m here in Bali I may as well see how the beaches are compared to in Phuket. Jimbaran is located south of Kuta and has a small beach that, as far as I could tell, not many people bother to visit.

The beach at Jimbaran is cozy and clean, with nothing much to see or do except mooch around. Being a small fishing community there are lots of fishing boats and fishermen here and there. Unfortunately there is also a rather strong smell of fish, which may be part of the reason why not many people make it this far south.

Swimming is possible at Jimbaran, although the water isn’t perfect. It’s certainly not suited to surfing, either. As far as sunbathing goes, if you don’t mind sharing the beach with a few dead fish then Jimbaran is pretty good. We didn’t spend long at Jimbaran because the area wasn’t all that exciting and the smell of fish became a bit too much.

There are lots of seafood restaurants around Jimbaran, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend eating at most of them. These are the restaurants that touts take tourists to in order to make a hefty commission on the overpriced seafood on offer. As a general rule of thumb, I’d advise against eating at any of the restaurants around Jimbaran that have signs written in English. This is just my preference because during my stay in Bali I preferred not to be such a big spender at meal times.

Having said that, the food is pretty good, but I have had much better seafood at much cheaper prices elsewhere.

Overall, Jimbaran isn’t Bali’s most exciting beach, but it’s worth making the journey to escape the tourists and to see a slice of local Bali life not far from the chaos of Kuta.

Although I’ve spent the majority of the past week lazing about on Bali’s beaches, I’ve been following the events in Thailand loosely. From an outsider’s point of view, it just looks like chaos. All I can see is a group of radicals trying to overthrow an elected government. The economy, tourism, the wellbeing of the people of Thailand – how is this for the benefit of the country?

I have no qualms with people protesting the legitimacy of the government – if people have gripes then they should be free to voice their concerns – but threatening to bring the country to a standstill (water, power, transport, strikes) is something else entirely. By taking over television stations and airports, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has not only stood in opposition of Thailand’s government, but of the foundations of Thai society.

Law and order? It’s gone out the window as the PAD makes its bid to ruin the country. People have a right to protest; they don’t have a right to do what the PAD has done. Where will it end? The need to do what PAD is doing should come from a collective desire to improve the lives of the people of Thailand, but in the 21st century, when people’s lives benefit from a stable economy and political climate, this kind of action is self-defeating.

You have to look at how the public will benefit. What will people gain from the PAD taking to the streets? By PAD’s logic, anything goes and all is fair in the name of achieving political goals, so what’s to give the average guy in the street any incentive to support the PAD over the government that was voted in?

And what about those who oppose the PAD? They’ve seen that there is no order to contain what is happening. Their own uprisings against the PAD are thus legitimatized by the new rules that the PAD has brought to the table. This isn’t about what’s fair and what’s just anymore; it comes down to brute force muscling into politics because the basic framework of the country doesn’t fulfill the needs of the PAD.

People need to wake up and stop supporting the PAD because if the current situation worsens, it’s going to cause damage that will be very difficult to repair.

From listening to the conversations of foreigners in Indonesia, it’s as if people think that this kind of state is the norm for Thailand. “They do this every three or four years,” was one comment I overheard.

For anyone concerned about traveling to Thailand, despite the State of Emergency, the country is not engaged in all-out civil war. Thailand is still safe.

We woke up fresh after touching down late in Bali the night before. Unsure of exactly what the time was, we left the hotel sometime around midday to hunt out a flower shop, where we were to meet a local kid to borrow his motorbike. We walked for about an hour along Raya Seminyak Road before we found the shop. Armed with a motorbike, we filled up the tank (15,000 rupiah) and decided to check out Bali’s most popular beach: Kuta Beach.

Kuta Beach is enormous. It stretches for about five kilometers, but it’s the depth of the beach that makes it stand out compared with the beaches on a similar island, such as Phuket. Like Patong Beach, the road running along Kuta is lined with Pizza Huts and outlets of Starbucks and McDonald’s. If the beach weren’t so huge, the place would be a dump.

The best place I found to eat around Kuta Beach was the seafood food center. Bali has a few of these food centers and food courts dotted around the island. The seafood food center is like a small courtyard with restaurants lined around the perimeter. You walk in and have about 50 people screaming at you and trying to get you to take a look at their menus. You can have a decent meal for about 20,000 to 30,000 rupiah. There are cheaper places to eat, but for Kuta this isn’t bad.

The beach itself is clean and well kept, although the sand is tinged black thanks to volcanic activity. Most people seem to come to Kuta Beach to go surfing or bodyboarding and there are more than enough places to rent boards. One of the plus points of Kuta Beach is the lack of sun loungers. However, there are only a few shady areas, mostly located at the back of the beach near the road. Set foot in those spots and you will be hounded by all manner of touts.

The waves at Kuta Beach are fairly big, so swimming isn’t ideal and is only permitted in certain zones. There are lifeguards keeping watch over the area. To make the most of Kuta, head north along the beach road to the Legian area, where there are less people. You can grab a beer and sit under a parasol at one of the makeshift bars for about 15,000 rupiah. You’ll still be pestered by touts, but there are less of them.

The road along the beach is one-way and is hectic to drive on. If you want to park a motorbike anywhere it might cost you 1,000 rupiah, although the parking “attendants” sometimes play the up-to-you card, which adds a bit of confusion into the equation.

I was impressed by the size of Kuta Beach and how clean it is, but I have found other beaches in Bali that I would rather go to. Like many place in Bali, Kuta seems to have been taken over by the Aussies and the Japanese. If you want to surf, however, this is the place to do it. Lessons cost about US$30.