Yesterday I was having a mani pedi on the beach in Kuta and chatting with the lady doing the hand bit while another lady did the feet bit (lucky her eh?) Then out of the blue hand lady said "Hillary you are very clean".
I thought about this for a minute and wondered whether she was using bersih in some obscure double meaning that I do not know so I checked with her and yes she meant it literally.
When I looked puzzled she said that some tourists are not clean and holding her nose, screwed up her face and held her nose and said they stank rotten! She then went on to tell me which races stank up the beach on a regular basis. They weren't Poms or Aussies so I'll tell you who they are shall I?..........
No! Don't want to use one of those sentences that begin "I'm not racist BUT..." do I?
I also wonder if it's a bit like the taxi drivers swearing eternal love for whatever the nationality the passenger is and maybe she says to the unmentioned other people "Oh you smell really good but those Aussies/Poms really stink".
Still I'll take any compliments that may come my way even if "You smell clean for a tourist" is as compliments go, a little bit of a back hander.