In Reply to: Software titiles Bali or Hong Kong posted by Lorri on Wednesday, 11. August 1999 at 01:41 Bali Time:
Plenty of English, but if you don't watch carefully you can pick up a Chinese disk - if the cover is all Chinese, don't pick that one! HK$ 20 per CD. There seems to have been some crackdown so Golden Mall doesn't have s/w stores as of a week ago, but some fellows there were showing a map to non-police-looking tourists, I suppose (don't wear your BillG disguise) to a store a block away marked "A". I suppose there are others to be found. Someone said "Mongkok" and I got off the MRT there and had a look around one evening but didn't find the shops. I posted in one of the hk newsgroups about all this and the only reply was "go to the flea market". If you have plenty of time before leaving, post some more questions in rec.travel.air or .asia or the .hk ng's and see what kind of replies you can scare up.
Bali is NOT the place for CDROMs, unless I haven't found the right shop yet and someone can set me straight. They want rps50000 or more per CD, and the collection is very limited, although you can get some basic stuff. It seems like there's been some kind of crackdown here, too - the fellows with cases of watches have been chased off the streets, now a fellow comes up empty handed and invites you into his watch kiosk. I suspect there business is way down since it's so easy to say "no" when they're not in your face. I don't want yet another cheap watch, but I'm sorry for them. Also all the VCD's (well, almost) are legal. You can find the odd copy of Star Wars, but you have to search and they're not crowing about it.
Playstation games are only Rps10000 in Kuta, which seems cheap. I don't remember the HK price, nor am I any expert on selection.
Perhaps the best place for CD-ROM right now is Singapore. Many shops in Sim Lim, usually S$5, but some shops with games at $3, some newer offerings at $8. Vast selection, but of course not everything you've dreamed of, of course.
Hardware still cheaper at home (in Los Angeles) of course.
John