FFS, another tourist in Bali has been arrested after they posed naked on a 700-year-old sacred tree a year.
Ahhh fuck. Here we go again.
Even though there’s probably 50 billion travel vloggers and probably an infinite amount of articles on how to be respectful when travelling, we still have people openly being dickheads while abroad.
Balinese social media activist and entrepreneur Niluh Djelantik posted a gallery of Russian Instagrammer Luzia Kosyhk who posed in the nude on a sacred tree, which is located in a temple in Bayan Village Bali.
Niluh Djelantik wrote a lengthy caption expressing her anger towards Kosyhk and warned any other tourist to “Go back to your country if you can’t respect our tradition and culture!”
“TO ALL FOREIGNER WHO DISRESPECT OUR LAND, BALI IS OUR HOME, NOT YOURS !!!!,” she wrote in her caption which was translated from Indonesia to English.
“Bali is our home. Not yours. Do you think you’ll look cool taking naked pictures on our holy trees?”
Local news outlet Coconut Bali reported that Kosykh claimed that she “didn’t know that the tree was sacred.”
Head of the Immigration Division of the Bali Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Barron Ichsan: “She said that she took the picture with her friend because [she wanted to] be at one with nature.”
Umm babes, you can literally do that without getting naked.
Ichsan also claimed that she was wearing underwear and that her friend had edited the photos to make it look like she was nude.
“If we look at her picture, this is not nude photography that is arousing. Could be different for dirty-minded people. I look at the photo, I see it as art, and not erotic. But yes, [it was taken] at the wrong place. That is a sacred place,” he added.
Balinese officials arrested Kosykh in her villa on Wednesday after the picture emerged online.
What’s even cooked is that the pic was originally snapped and uploaded two years ago!
It is reported that the Russian Instagrammer will be deported from Indonesia imminently.
Now, you’re probably thinking “hmmmm this case sounds super familiar”. Well that’s because this literally happened already.
In May 2022, Russian influencer Alina Fazleeva and her husband were deported from Bali after she posed naked alongside the same sacred tree.
Alina deleted the photos after receiving an immense amount of backlash and after she was deported, she posted ~a very influencer~ apology on her IG.
“I love Bali with all my heart and once again I apologise to all residents of Bali and ask for forgiveness!,” Alina wrote.
It’s no secret that Bali authorities have been cracking down on tourists visiting their country.
News.com.au reported that there was a proposed ban on tourists renting motorbikes and hotel workers being instructed to educate visitors on the do’s and don’ts of the country.
And TBH I don’t blame them. Remember when Western tourists were reportedly jacking it under sacred waterfalls? The behaviour is sooo ‘ucked.
It’s literally the reason why we can’t have (and don’t deserve) nice things at all.
