There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in
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Tanah Lot Temple Bali @ sunset

Tanah Lot is merely a rock formation with a temple on top.

And some of the rock is not even original. In fact, around one third of it is artificial. It was placed there when restoration of the site was undertaken in the early 1980’s.

For the Balinese, the temple is undeniably of great importance – many come here to make a pilgrimage.

Even so, the Tanah Lot complex is also a prime example of how a religious site has been denigrated by commercial exploitation. To get to the site, for example, unhelpful and arrogant complex guards make sure you walk through a complex of carefully placed souvenir shops that cover either side of the path down to the sea. It doesn’t get much more crass than that.

But why do so many tourists come here though? After all, there are thousands of temples spread across Bali. And in many cases, they are much more aesthetically impressive than Tanah Lot. Well, perhaps it’s because of the incredible sunset views that can be seen here on the cliff ridge just behind the temple.

Tanah Lot sunset Bali Indonesia

So enjoy the sunset if you can. But just remember that you don’t have to pay an exorbitant price for a can of coke from one of the cafes that hog the cliff edge. Because you can always stand!

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