Impressions of Bali

 

Rice Fields

 

Us blending in with the locals

 

Denpasar Market

After 25 years not a lot has changed in Bali. Sure it has got busier with more traffic and there are 4 lane highways now, but the essence of the country remains. It is smelly, dirty and mostly unhygienic, but quintessentially it has a charm and atmosphere only Bali can produce. The people are friendly, but pushy to the stage of begging, and will rip off the tourist if they can. They live a primarily poor existence in run down housing and it seems there is a class system, where the Javanese do menial tasks like building roads and the Balinese own the shops and businesses. Even the women carry baskets of rocks on their heads at road works. Some modernity has developed over the years but the villages are pretty much unchanged. The footpaths are death traps at night with huge holes where repairs have been done and the concrete lid has been left off the drain. OSH would have a field day. I guess it is a case of look out for yourself and don’t rely on regulations to look after you. My sentiments exactly, we are just so over regulated in the western world it is too restrictive a lifestyle. However, in saying that, some logic and common sense should tell them that these holes should be fixed. The power wires are run in bundles from post to post about 2 meters above ground. Just where anyone can reach up and grab them. They are an eyesore and dangerous, but it seems to work fine.

In most shops you can barter the prices and the rule of thumb is to halve what they offer and then meet somewhere in the middle. Cathie was more ‘aggressive’ than me and got some good prices. I reckon the prices were a bargain anyway by NZ standards and felt like I was ripping them off. We lived like millionaires with literally a million rupiah in our pocket. 30,000rp was about $4 and that bought us dinner for two at the local Warung! It felt great to say “here you are Honey, here’s a hundred thousand, get what you want”.

We really enjoyed our trip into the countryside from Ubud where you see the rice fields and the villages where the ‘real’ people live. So green and lush and peaceful, just magic. The beaches were ok but an algae was evident as brown bubbles close to shore in lots of places and no swimming was allowed there. We could see right along to Kuta where the hotels had chairs and umbrellas out for rent, but that area was full of Australians partying, nightclubbing and surfing, so we stayed away. This area is also full of pickpockets, touts, beggars and prostitutes so didn't want the hassles.

 

It was hot, humid and busy during our two week stay and we stayed in 4 different places but it was still enjoyable and recommend anyone to visit, especially Lembongon Island.

Selemat Jalan

Cathie & Gary