Staring at the abyss


By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Feb 5, 2010


TEJAKULA, north Bali – As far as precious little corners of paradise in Southeast Asia go, one could hardly ask for more. An isolated octagonal house with a beautiful garden, owned by a retired couple from California, facing a volcanic rock beach to the north of the tropical island of Bali, with the only locals being fishermen who at night set out on a junkuh – the elegant, wooden predecessor of the catamaran – to scour the calm, warm waters for tuna and barracuda.

The night is mostly pitch black – courtesy of punctual power shortages from the grid in distant Java. The sound is the usual, cacophonous tropical jungle “silenceâ€