Finally I have decided to post about an incident that occurred on my recent holiday in Bali which unfortunately had a huge impact on my time in Bali which then impacted on my companions time in Bali ....
Some of you may have read some posts that my sister posted at the time of the unfortunate incident as I was in constant contact with her around this time ... My friend and I checked into Kumala Pantai after spending 4 nights in Ubud and another 3 in Seminyak, although during this time I had been ill so we were really looking forward to finally getting out and about. We arrived around lunch time and decided to head down to the pool. Looked around and noticed that every lounge chair had belongings or a towel on them although the number of people in the pool did not seem to match the number of chairs not currently being used. Sat down at a table and monitored the situation, noting that one group of chairs sat empty for some 3 hours with the 'owners' returning from what appeared to be a shopping trip. We noted on the following days that a certain family would do this, arrive early in the morning save the chairs, use them after breakfast, go shopping thought the middle of the day and then return late afternoon. Each morning I would get up before 6am and do my usual walk on the beach, I noticed as I walked past the pool that the majority of the chairs (well those in the sun) were reserved and this was at 6am. Some appeared to be reserved from the night before. As I do not believe in engaging in this kind of selfish behaviour I would wait until I was ready to use the pool before looking for a chair. Most days there were none available in the sun so one day (having grown tired of this behaviour), I noted 2 chairs that were reserved when I went on my early walk and here it was 8am and they were still reserved. Only a few chairs remained free (in the shade) and so I went and sat on one of these, at this stage keep in mind I am the only person at the pool and nearly every chair is reserved. I sent my sister a message asking if she had experienced this at KP previously and she said that if no one was using the chairs, I should consider removing their belongings. I sat and watched these same two chairs for another hour, which meant by this stage it was nearly 3 hours they had been reserved and not used. I removed the belongings, placed them on the chairs in the shade and proceeded to sit on one of the chairs. About 30 minutes later a lady approached and made a comment about how all the chairs were reserved, I told her my story and said she was welcome to sit on the other chair. We chatted, her daughter and a friend came over also complaining about the reserved chairs and agreed I had done the right thing. Her husband also dropped by and expressed that if there wasn't someone on the chair it is for anyone's use. Anyway, about 10 minutes later this woman walks over and says to me "thanks for minding my chairs", I said "no one was using them and so after waiting for over 3 hours I decided to use one of them and that's what I am doing". She then stated that she had in fact paid for the chairs (I had recalled the pool man being very upset that I had removed their belongings and I had thought it odd at the time and now I knew why). I said that it was not my understanding that people paid for chairs and that they were for the use of all guests and that it was unfair to reserve them for lengthy periods of time which stopped others from enjoying their use. Now meanwhile the lady and family who had seemingly agreed with me were suddenly very silent, it turns out they were all friends. I also noted that others around me who would have heard the way this woman was speaking to me, did nothing and said nothing (perhaps because most of them had also reserved chairs). To cut a long story short, this woman called me names, sat on me, threw my book aside, and when that did not work she then took my float that I had recently purchased and had not used and said "if the chair is for everyone's use then so is your float". I said very little, I was in shock and felt really intimidated by this woman, I was alone at the pool and I can tell you I felt very alone that day. The woman sat down where I had placed her belongings (the chairs near the pool bar), her husband said nothing, the friends that had spent time with me went over as well saying "sorry but they are friends". For the rest of the morning this woman glared at me, stuck her finger up at me and mumbled unrepeatable comments to me. She left the pool for a time and so I grabbed the float, only to have it removed again on her return. When I did finally get it back it had been ripped with her finger nails and was unusable. The rest of the time I was at KP this woman went out of her way to continually harass me with glares, laughing at me, whispering comments as she walked past me and so on and so forth. This may all seem trivial to many but it was not to me, it had a huge impact on me and my time in Bali. It brought back unfortunate past experiences of harassment, I was not the same for the rest of my time there which was hugely disappointing as the purpose of the holiday was to bring hope and happiness to a companion who was dealing with a major health issue. To say I am disappointed in the behaviour of this woman and many others at KP in September as well as Desi's response to this situation is to minimise how I feel. It is beyond my understanding how people can be so selfish and so rude to another human being. I sincerely hope this kind of behaviour does not continue and that KP and others enforce rules that prohibit reserving lounges for more than 1 hour.
There is much we can learn from the gentle spirit and kind hearts of the Balinese...