Well, we made it. I am writing to you from an internet cafe that is in the 'inn' where we are staying. It is a dial up connection, so, sorry, no pictures today. I don't have the patience. And yes, I'm sweating. A lot. It's 7:00 pm here and while it is quite pleasant outside, it is hot and muggy in this little room. We are on the island of Bali (not to be insulting, but for those of you who don't have a handle on world geography - I am equally guilty - Indonesia is a mass of islands, and Bali is one of them. Bali is not the city where all the bombings happen. It is actually quite a large island, and the southern part is the beach town of Kuta, where the bombings happened both times). Anyway, we flew into Densapar without any difficulties and hardly a glance from the customs agent, and made our way outside where we were bombarded constantly by taxi drivers. We tried dutifully to save money and find the bemo (minivan/public transport), but failed, and ended up paying 100,000 rupiah ($10) to get to a town where we were supposed to then be able to easily find a Bemo to our desired destination of Padangbai (on the eastern side of Bali). Problem was it was late, and the official bemos were not running, but they were happy to hire one out to us for a much increased price. We were out of options, so we took it, and showed up to Padangbai after dark, which is a newly realized travel no-no. We had no sense of orientation, and even though it is a small town, we couldn't even figure out which side the water was on! This coupled with the fact that we were being approached from all sides to buy tickets to Lombok, nights in a hotel, etc. And they are relentless. Keith almost reached a breaking point, but luckily I convinced him to just walk a little further, because we ended up finding a very quaint, clean and pleasant bungalow style place to stay, off the main drag (if you can call it a main drag) of town.
So we checked in for a mere $4 US a night! And we have a private bathroom. And the burning question on everyone's mind....the toilet. Yes, it is a sit-down toilet. No, it does not flush - you have to scoop water into it to move the stuff along. No TP provided, so we're glad we had bought some ahead of time in Sydney. And cold showers only, which is just fine - I can't imagine taking a hot one.
Today, we spent a relaxing day around town, getting a feel for what the next three months of our travels are going to be like (or at least the next 30 days here in Indonesia). The biggest adjustment will be the sellers of the crafts....or peddlars, I guess you could call them. They are relentless. You learn very quickly some tricks.
Number 1 - As soon as you show interest in a product, you are toast - not only will the person not leave until you cave in, but 5 others will join in the fun with their own goods.
Number 2 - Don't tell anyone, you'll come back later. They remember you and what you said.
Number 3 - It is best to just say No, thank you (Tidak, Terima kasih). Yes, you have to say it about 10 times before they will actually leave, but that's the only way to not purchase something.
That being said, we did make a handful of purchases today. Some intended, some not. We both bought sarongs - a must have here, Keith got a nice light shirt, and then we inadvertently bought a Balinese calendar and a 15 minute massage. And yes, everything is inexpensive here, so it's really not a big deal. We will be able to get nicely back on budget here soon after overspending in NZ. Right now we figure we'll be spending about $30 a day on average - it was closer to $100 a day in NZ.
Language is going OK. We're trying to learn as many phrases as possible, but most folks here speak enough English to get the necessities taken care of. We will continue to learn, and hopefully use it more. The saddest thing about the constant solicitations is that it makes you not want to talk to the locals. You do all you can to avoid someone coming at you - one of these days it will be someone genuinely wanting to talk and not trying to sell something, but we won't know. Even when they're not carrying things in their hands, they want to sell you tickets somewhere, anywhere.
It is a totally different culture here, and I think we will enjoy learning more about it. It is sad to see such a poor country, and we've had more than one person tell us how hard it is when no tourists come. They say this year has been quite bad for them. Very sad.
There is also a huge opportunity to open a recycling plant here! Keith and I went through about 5 liters of water today (4 separate plastic jug containers) - and it just kills me to think where all that plastic is going to end up - and how much we are contributing to that by staying healthily hydrated.
On a happier note, we spent the rest of the day lounging on a very small, hidden away beach. Played in some waves and played some frisbee. The water is a nice refreshing temperature. We're going to have to get used to being "bored" for a while. Poor us. The scenery here is gorgeous. Random temples everywhere, and this little harbor is chock full of colorful outrigger fishing/rice moving boats. Will try to get some pictures up one of these days.
We take a 4 hour ferry ride tomorrow to the next island east of here which is Lombok. Then off to an even smaller island off of Lombok, where we may chill for about 5 days.
1 comment:
When I first started traveling to Asia I followed some of the same rules as a means to deal with street vendors. But one thing I learned, and one thing you might try is ditching that rule number 3. What I found was that 99% of the people on the street ignore them completely. So if you say, "No, thank you" you at least spoke to them and they will take that as an opportunity that you are willing to talk and be courteous. So now I just ignore them altogether or shake my head with a disaproving 'no' - but the key is NO WORDS ARE SPOKEN. :)
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