Okay, so I've been home for nearly a week now and that feeling that I should still be in Bali hasn't left me yet. When can I expect it disappear, it's causing me sleepless nights and long, long depressing days. Maybe I'm exaggerating a touch, but I'm just back from my first trip to Bali (first trip overseas as well, traveled most of Australia) and I'm still missing it very much after having what can only be described as the time of my life.
Flew Broome - Port Hedland - Bali on the 26th of December flying Southwest. After rocking up to the Airport and our tickets not having made it from Perth we were a little concerned. I assumed there had to be an electronic record of our booking on the system, but we could not even be assured we would be allowed to board the plane from Port Hedland to Bali. This was not the ideal start to our holiday, but everything sorted its self out and we made it there with little hassle.
My friend and I stayed at Bounty hotel and despite being relatively young (24/25 year olds) and very sociable people found the atmosphere a little bit cliquey to begin with in part, I assume, to large groups of friends often going to Bounty together. This didn't deter us though and we had an awesome time.
Too much alcohol was consumed as we went to the usual places (Bounty, Paddys, Mbargo, Engine room). The place I had most fun this night however was Second bar in between Bounty hotel and JL Legian on Poppies lane 2. Great music, great people. Waking up in the hotel lobby wasn't the best place to wake up on the first day of a holiday. But no body seemed to think it was very strange, must happen a lot there.
Next few nights contained similar shenanningans and rowdyness. Now, don't get me wrong, we were out to have a lot of fun and blow off a lot of steam after not having time off in two years, but, we are not the drunken Australians you see out and about that make you embarrassed for your country. I had heard of talk on this forum and just put it down to the usual idiots you see out at every club and pub in Australia and expected roughly the same percentage, which is very low in most circumstances. This seems to be far from the case in Bali however, while I did meet many great people from Australia and many different countries it seems that somebody or some travel agent in Australia is handing out cheap or free fares to people with the only pre-requisite of being an a/hole. It's the only way I could justify the noticeable ratio increase of decent people:idiots. On the scooters I saw things I struggled to believe. My friends and I rented scooters as well and adapted our driving style to suit, which is crazy enough, but some of the things we saw just blew my mind. That's enough whinging anyway, most of the people we met were very friendly and I am still keeping in contact with most of them.
Now for an experience I wasn't ready for. While walking up Poppies lane 2 from Bounty to JL Legian I was stopped by one of the market stall ladies who was on the left hand side of the road. She tried persuading me to go with her into her shop to which I politely replied that I did not wish to. She was standing in front of me not letting me walk down the street being very insistent when I explained I was with my friends who were walking ahead without me and that I did not wish to be seperated from them. She then offered me a bracelet which I also politely declined but she said it was for free and it would make me remember her shop. I of course did not want the bracelet but could hardly say no this. After she put it on my wrist she grabbed me by the arm and told me she had to cut off the excess. I told her it was fine and that I would remember her shop, but she gripped my arm very tightly and pretty much dragged me into her shop.
Now, I'm not a small guy, 6ft 100+kg, but she was not going to take no for an answer. She made me sit down and cut off the excess and then quicker than lightning had some kind of cream out and started applying it to my nails. I tried to explain that I did not want this done and that I would like to leave, but every time I stood up she pretty much forced me back in my chair. I said that I had lost my friends and would like to leave but was she just replied with "don't worry, you're a big boy" or "you can just go back to hotel, meet friends later" or "you're having a good holiday, don't worry". Another lady then joined in with her and did one nail. They then tried doing my feet but I was fed up by this point and started to assert myself in not such a friendly way. They then told me I owed her 450,000 and they bot
Looking back on this moment has given my friends and I a lot of laughs but at the time it was quite intimidating and when talking to one of my friends back home she said the same lady had done the same thing to her and even chased her all the way back to her hotel on her scooter demanding more money. She's a 50kg girly girl. I can only imagine how she felt, she said she was even crying in her shop and they just kept up with the act.
Has anyone else had this experience or something similar?