In Reply to: First Visit Any advise welcomed posted by OAP on Saturday, 3. December 2005 at 22:58 Bali Time:
Health and Hygiene
Common sense is the best way. Wash your hands with clean water and soap before eating food, or use the antiseptic hand gels from your chemist. Treat any cuts or skin breaks with antiseptic wipes etc, and cover them. Avoid scratching insect bites (antihistamine can help with the itchiness) so they don't get infected. Use sunblock even if it is an overcast day and re-apply after swimming. Wear a hat. 'When in Rome' do as the locals do, and seek shade in the heat of the day. Alternate busy agenda days with quiet laze-by-the-pool days.
Many people get looser bowel motions over in Bali and assume they have picked up something. Believe me, you will know if it really is food poisoning! Looser motions are often because, all of a sudden, your digestive system is getting a healthier range of foods with good fibre content, especially fresh fruits, and it takes a while for it to adjust to the sudden change in eating habits. Eat more fruit and vegetables in the weeks leading up to your travel. Move away from only refined white flour breads to brown breads, and use more brown rice, barley, lentils, vegetables etc in your meals. Up your fruit intake gradually. Then when you are eating the healthier foods in Bali your system will not get such a shock. (Have a few meals with indonesian spices too before you go, so your digestive system is accustomed to those too - or eat Thai, which is similar spices).
And some more tips...
1)In the hotel bathroom I tie a cloth over the handle of the cold tap so we don't forget to brush teeth with the bottled water we have in there, no matter how tired we are.
2) Drink bottles..I use little stretchy hair ties around each bottle..different colours...so we know whose drinking bottle is whose (great is one of you has, or is coming down with, bali belly)
3) My small purse is attached on a chain to a bulldog clip that I clip to my bigger bag slung diagonally over my shoulder..that way I never accidently put my purse down unattended while looking at merchandise.
4)I make sure we have a change of clothes, wet wipes, toilet paper, hand gel, plastic bag, sunblock, sticking plasters in a little kit that goes on each outing with us.
5)Every time I buy something in a supermarket I pay with big money and save all the smaller money I get as change for taxi drivers. Taxi drivers will often try to tell you they have no change for a 20,000 or 50,000 note, hoping you will just say 'keep the change'
6) When in a group, staying in more than one room at a hotel (for us it means a family trip) we buy a set of cheap small wooden animals. Each of us has a different colour one, but you could write your name on them. Then if we go off on a shopping trip etc i.e. leave the hotel room, we leave it out on the table on the verandah. That way others in the group who come to find you are not left wondering if they should knock and possibly wake you, but know that you are 'out and about.' You just take it back into the room when you arrive back.
7) Take a few good books to read each, and swap them around, then sell them to a secondhand book seller (or give them to room staff who will be able to do that and make a few extra rupiah for themselves).
Do not decide on the first day, when you are out of your comfort zone, that Bali is not for you. Sometimes it takes a day or two to adjust and find the special magic.
Try not to bargain for goods on your first shopping trip, but save shopping for later when you have adjusted. Lists in the archives here will give you reasonable prices you should be paying for goods (search using the words Price list). We have always been astonished at how well the stallholders can 'read' us - and they do this with our clothing, pre-tanned skin, body language (how we look at things and interact with each other when we see something we like, how we store and handle our money etc) and our tone of voice when we speak to each other, and of course, how we interact with them. They also have the ability to remember our names and faces from a year or more ago and even what we bought. They can instantly convert rupiah into a variety of currencies, at the current rate, in their heads. Many experienced drivers have a basic conversational fluency in four or more languages. A university degree is not the only indication of an intelligent mind!
How not to offend
Pointing with the feet at objects or sitting displaying the soles of the feet is 'not done' - briefly the head is the holiest part of the body, the feet the least holy, though it is all more intricate than that of course. Point with whole hand (in relaxed position) not just first finger to indicate what you want.
I like to do 'shoes off at door' as they do, though they will often tell you not to bother. I think the gesture is appreciated, though.
Visiting temples wear demure clothing. One would think that just means covering up arms and chests etc, but the thighs should be covered too - a sarong is par for the course and a temple sash in many places (hire at venue). Walking streets, shops etc it is polite to dress as one would shopping at home - save the bikini tops (women) and bare chests(men) for by the pool or on the beach.
Raising the voice and showing anger is frowned on - kind of a show of loss of self control. If someone is angry they tend to lose expression on the face and withdraw into silence. (We have seen this with the odd driver we have got on our first trips in Bali when we said we did not want to go to the shops where they obviously got commissions). If you need to raise something at the hotel desk, or whatever, stay calm.
Try not to stand on the offerings on the street, but don't worry if you accidently do as their 'potency' has gone once the offering has been made.
Use the hotel safes, and keep your passports there. Keep photocopies of passports and all travel documents and bank details in a separate place. Leave your contact details with family and/or register travel plans with your country's embassy if you wish. As in any country be sensible with possessions. There are opportunists everywhere in the world, so don't relax your normal common sense precautions. Leave valuable jewellery at home and you won't worry about losing it. Wear a bag that slings diagonally over your shoulder as there are motor-bike riders who have grabbed bags before. I do not mean to scare you with the above comments - I feel safer walking the streets of Bali at night alone than I ever would at home!
Copy the name of your hotel and address onto a bit of paper for all members of your party - handy to show to taxi drivers as our pronunciation can be a bit wonky! A phrase book is also useful if you want to ask where the nearest pharmacy or toilet is- Di mana apotik? (pronounced Dee mahnah up-oh-teak) Where is the pharmacy? Toilet is kamar kecil (pronounced kah-mah ketch-eel), literally 'room little'.
Have some fun learning the lingo - not too difficult and they really appreciate that you bother to try!
Have a wonderful time!