In Reply to: helping the balinese people posted by ketuts friend on Monday, 17. October 2005 at 23:42 Bali Time:
My partner and I just returned from our second trip and cemented a friendship with a lovely Balinese guy and his family, who we met on our first trip. This man, Gede and his family showed us such hospitality and generosity, it was embarrassing sometimes! We were taken to his village, dressed up in ceremonial gear, taken to a ceremony, feed all day until we burst and then taken back to his house for another feed before going home. Anything else we needed when we saw him was no problem and he would go out of his way to help us. When we got back to Australia we decided to give him and his family some money (and then heard about the next round of terrorist bombs) and so deposited some money into his bank account in Denpasar. He just emailed the details to me and I went to a Bureau de Change and did the transfer. I'm with ANZ and the transfer cost $30 but it was worth it. His thank you email nearly made me cry. I don't care if he has other Australian families helping him. These guys don't have welfare or know where their next dollar is coming from. I think people are missing the point if they think they are being ripped off by the Balinese. So what if they have a handful of friends who'll help them out. Open your hearts I say.