Life in small Bali

This weekend we left what I will call the "large" island of Bali, and set sail for a much smaller set of islands. If you disagree with my distinction of big and small islands, you can debate me on it later if want to. But for my purposes of distinction, big Bali is capable of being completely self-sustained. You could cut off all access to the outside world and I think that the Balinese would be just fine. They grow lots of rice, which is a staple of their diet. There are farms that grow other fruits and vegetables. They have pigs, chickens, and cows. And there are still plenty of craftspeople who know traditional ways of doing things. If for some reason there was never another foreigner or foreign product that entered Bali, I don't think they would need us at all. (This is all just my opinion - you can debate me on anything you disagree with).

The island where we stayed this weekend is called Nusa Lembongan and you could probably walk the entire island in about a day. And unlike Big Bali, this island seems a little too small to be self-sustained.

We left on Friday on this boat:

And about 90 minutes later, we arrived in Nusa Lembongan. You can easily see Bali from this island (there is Mount Agung, the large volcano in the background). And without daily trips to Bali for supplies, I think it would be much harder for these people to survive, or at least to live comfortably. The internet tells me that about 5,000 people live on Nusa Lembongan. The majority of them are seaweed farmers, and we definitely saw plenty of seaweed sitting out on tarps to dry. They have plenty of fresh fish here, and coconuts. And there are chickens and cows on the island that have been brought in. But the boats bring in a variety of fruits, vegetables, rice, and other supplies every day. We saw what essentially seemed to be market when the boat came in with supplies.

After our first day of walking, biking, exploring, and swimming, we got to see a great sunset. I'll post more pictures tomorrow from our other 2 days on the small islands.