In Reply to: A thought on 1st timers to Bali posted by Hillary on Saturday, 19. February 2005 at 09:08 Bali Time:
in either Kuta or Legian and never wanted to. I'm happy to spend time there shopping, eating or whatever, then happy to get back to the comparative peace of Tuban or Seminyak. Before I first went to Bali I had experienced hawkers in North Africa and the Middle East, so it came as no surprise.
I always bear in mind that there is no social security there and if they don't earn, then they don't eat. This is what I say to people who complain about them, what would you do if you were in that situation? Having said that, I don't like over-aggresiveness, because there's no need for it and it usually gets them nowhere anyway.
To newcomers, keep smiling, treat it as a game, don't let them grab hold of you. If you do finish up with some "unwanted purchases", then they probably cost you peanuts [unless you were taken for a sucker] and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you put food on the vendor's family table. And you may even find sometime down the track that some of those "unwanted purchases" have become the source of treasured memories. If not, you can always give them to family members who you don't really like, for Christmas presents!