The idea seemed good to them: he would take an image of her with little clothing before a tree that is more than 700 years old. They would upload it to their Instagram profile and they would surely get many likes. They did not expect, however, that the tree was sacred. This is exactly what happened to the Russian influencer, Alina Fazleeva , and her husband during a trip to Bali, an island in Indonesia that offers paradisiacal beaches, volcanic mountains and coral reefs.
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The woman, who has 28,700 followers on her Instagram account , uploaded the image taken by her husband, Andrey Fazleev, to the social network and it immediately went viral and began to arouse the anger of the people of Bali. The mountains, trees, rivers and other elements of nature are sacred on the island and considered to be the place where the gods dwell.
As reported by the France 24 site, Jamaruli Manihuruk, the island’s immigration chief, commented at a press conference: “It has been shown that both carried out activities that endanger public order and do not respect local regulations. Therefore , they will be sanctioned with deportation.”
The couple will be banned from entering Indonesia for at least six months and had to apologize and participate in a purification ceremony at the scene, as local tradition dictates. Alina commented through a post (which can no longer be seen since her account is no longer public): “There are many sacred places in Bali and not all of them have informative signs about it, as in my case. And it is very important treat these places and traditions with respect.”
The island of Bali takes great care of its traditions and tourists often end up being deported from the place. Last month the same thing happened to a Canadian tourist and influencer who uploaded a naked video to his networks doing a haka (the ritual dance of the Maori in New Zealand), on Mount Batur, one of the active volcanoes on the island that it is also considered sacred.
If you are an influencer and post content during your travels, always make sure you respect local traditions.