In Reply to: Beach Sellers/Legian posted by BazzaC on Sunday, 1. August 1999 at 09:44 Bali Time:
The situation in Bali at the moment is this !
I have been to Bali 16 times and a hell of a lot in the past two years. Your comments are right on the mark. Having been back two days after a month in Seminyak (where I have a house) I can tell you that there is no hawkers anymore in Kuta/Legian/Seminyak.
I needed to buy a watch for a friends wife and in that whole month 24/6 to 28/7 there was absolutely NO HAWKERS.
They are still on the beach but in limited numbers.
Remember when there used to be 40 watch sellers sitting on the parapet outside the Mandira opposite the Padma entrance ?.....Now there are none.
Not one to be seen in Jalan Melasti, even of a nightime. Could not find one in Jalan Legian to save myself
My sources tell me that the main reason was the huge build up carts that feed the hawkers that were causing such an enormous congestion with traffic in the aforementioned streets was the main reason and also the attempt by the Lura of Kuta to try and make Bali better.
As for the beach sellers,......well what you have been told is right. All of the "shanty town" type shops are going. At the northern end of Jalan Melasti they are wiped out and they are now building "REAL" shops (concrete, painted white....hello!!!!!!).
The Lura has decided now that all merchants in Kuta Legian must now be born and raised in Kuta Legian........BIT OVER THE TOP !!!!
But then again why should we stop progress and at the end of the day I am sure Bali will be a better place in a years time than it was10 months ago..when every single Tom Dick & Harry came to the island of the gods from everywhere else in the archipelago to make their fortune...........for god's sake it was so bad with so many carts feeding the hordes that you could seriously not walk down Jalan Legian/Melasti without stepping onto the road.
Anyway I am sure BALI will eventually be better for it. !
All the best
PAUL