Hi all,
Just wanted to post my observations about the people of Bali.
We have been back for a week now and already planning (if money permits!) for next years holiday...
This was our first time back in Bali since 1994, although we have
been on many trips to other asian countries since ( including our
soft spot for Thailand, many times).
So they call it the Land of the Gods, well it should be called the land of the Smile.... It's just never to hard for them NOT to smile at you and of course,for us to smile back !. They were always willing to help out, give advice and never "in yer face".
I remember being here in 1994 and having all the hassle of the street
sellers back then, constantly hounding you with all sorts of goodies.
well this is no more, i've been lead to believe that all sellers of watches, sunglasses,wood carvings etc have to be "licenced/registered
and are now confined to the beachfront and the tendency to hassle you
certainly dropped off nowadays. Sure one or two of 'em are a little
more persistant, but a polite No/Tidak or Sudah usually took care of that.
Also, with having 2 (blonde) sons 4 and 3 years old, the Balinese, well, went weak at the knees !, they just couldn't get enough of them,
although the boys found it a bit confronting with all the attention
being dished out to them ;-) They soon got used to it.
I also had the unfortunate thing of losing my wallet, I reckon i lost it when i was in a Taxi, or at the supermarket i had just caught the
taxi from. when i realized i had lost it, after turning my hotel room
upside down, i went and caught a Taxi, from the same company, Wihana,
or something like that, back to supermarket, apon telling the taxi driver my predicament, he immediately radiod back to base, who put out
a broadcast and asked me for my hotel number, in case it turned up later in the day. he showed genuine concern for me and was of great,although fruitless help..... oh well, luck i had very little cash in it, although going through the task of cancelling the CC cards and now having to sort out my drivers licence etc is something
i could do without...
Talking of taxi's, we took the Bluebird Taxi's at first, as advised by
the BTF clan, but by the end of 17days were taking the first available
as ALL taxi companies had meters, not once did they NOT have a meter and the standard flagfall was 5000rp. In all the trips we made over 17
days we had, maybe two trips where we took the "long way" to get to our destination, but that probably added up to an extra 5000rp or so
to the fare, so no need to worry on that front either...
Last, but not least, Go to Bali, smile, relax, expect to get ripped off once or twice on your holiday, laugh at it and remind yourself how
tough it is for these people of earn a decent buck and get on with
enjoying your holiday.
Cheers S