Bali

I’m in Ubud, a city on the island of Bali that’s known for its culture - temples, galleries, museums, music, dance, and so on. I arrived yesterday after a couple of days spent in the madness of Kuta, the tourism centre of Bali, a crazy place crowded with tourists and surfers and locals trying to sell them stuff. I’m constantly asked if I want a taxi, a massage, or to buy some trinket. The hawkers even bother people at breakfast in hotel restaurants. A hotel porter even came into my room one time, barely knocking first, offering me paintings he’d done. I’ve hit upon an amusing solution to the hawkers though - giving them some of their own treatment. I have a few DVDs with me that I’ve watched and want to get rid of but I couldn’t find any used DVD shops either here or in Darwin. So whenever someone asks me if I want to buy something, I say ‘no thanks, but would you like to buy these DVDs?’ I even get quite insistent, saying ‘come on, these are very good. I give you a special price, just for you’ and so on. After that, they leave me alone.

My travel guidebook says that the Balinese are naturally very friendly people and will smile at you and ask ‘where are you from?’ The book says that this is only sometimes a prelude to selling you something. Well, I’ve yet to find any friendliness that isn’t connected with trade. Once I make it clear that I’m not interested in buying, the smiling and courtesy disappear. This was most evident in a guide that I had yesterday who took me from Kuta to see some of the sights of Bali, including Mt Batur volcano, a temple, and rice terraces at Tegalalong. At first he was jovial and pleasant but after he took me to a snorkeling place and I said I didn’t want to do it, he became grumpy, no doubt because he didn’t get his kickback from the company that he’d taken me to. He lightened up a bit later on when I bought a sarong (to wear in temples) from the shop he took me to. (Wearing sarongs seem to be mandatory in order to enter temples. Anyone know whether this is really required by some religious text or is it just a scam to sell westerners sarongs?)

Arriving yesterday in Ubud I was taken by my guide to a hotel (probably one from which he also gets a kickback) where the world’s most annoying hotel concierge worked. After I checked in he said the key was in the door. I went there and it wasn’t so went back and he gave me the key. Once in the room, I couldn’t get the air-conditioner working and so I went back again to ask about it and he nonchalantly hands me a remote control without seeming to think that this could’ve been given to me at the start. I go back to the room and soon realise that there is no towel, so it’s off to the reception again for me, because I want to take a shower or a swim in the pool since this was the end of a very hot day. Barely looking up from the desk, he says ‘I’ll bring a towel to your room.’ I took this as meaning sometime in the next few minutes but after waiting a while there was no sign of him so again I returned to the reception. He was standing chatting to someone, and by this time I was ready to strangle the guy. But in my most sarcastic voice I asked ‘how’s it going with that towel?’ He then said he’d get me one and I said, even more sarcastically, ‘sorry to put you to so much trouble.’ I’m not sure if Balinese pick up on sarcasm but it felt good saying it. I did finally get a towel but I’m considering stealing some of the artwork in my room in retaliation.

I guess that’s quite a bit of moaning by me. I am, however, enjoying it here despite the annoyances I’ve listed. Lunch yesterday at a restaurant with a view of Mt Batur was great, and so was being driven through the streets to see some of the real Bali. Hopefully once I get used to things I can start to enjoy it more.

Okay, enough writing. I’m off to the Monkey Forest.