The Good the Bad and the Ugly

[Gruff]

Hey guys, just got back from 5 weeks in Bali here are my reflections!

First impression, honestly! oh my gosh what a shithole!
Touched down in Denpasar tired hungry and grumpy, the bali hassling dosen't take long to begin "i carry your bags, i carry your bags" after 2 million polite but firm no thanks i can carry, on i go. I get past the numerous offers off hotels and transport and reach a legit looking taxi booth and end up with bali's very own race driver/taxi the fastest swerving near death experience of my life as we race to my hotel! fuck this place is nuts i so don't want to drive but it's too late the car was booked on the internet and it will be here any minute...

The hotel is rather crappy compared to the usual standards my silver spoon fed childhood allowed me, but hey i'll leave my snobbery at home and decide the bukit inn will just about be ok. So all is well the jeep has arrived, it's early afternoon and i decide to go for a little exploration.

I'm so busy avoiding killing all those fucking idiots swerving round my car on their stupid smokey noisy pop pop motorbikes that i get completely lost. A traffic cop spots my ineptitude to cope with whats going on so he decides to come over and help (sarcasm) he asks to see my licence and registration which i give him and he just walks off with them! He won't give them back until i grease his palms with 100,000 rupiahs... fuck you cunt, fine i think and hand over some cash. On i go, after 2 hours of driving around i am in a place called Kuta. I pull over i'm totally sick of driving and decide to get a bottle of **** and abandon my 2 year break from smoking. The pavements are being remade and there's wooden slats across the holes, guess what? yep a few slats break under my weight and i end up plummeting 6 feet into shit and litter.

After another couple of hours of driving around lost i give up and pay a kid on a motorbike 50,000 rupiahs to ride his bike to my hotel whilst i follow in the jeep. He says ok, smiles, rides 50 metres forward and stops, i'm at the hotel!

Im off to my room to cry when everything changes, i make friends with a really great guy from America and the next 30 odd days are filled with sunshine, happiness, making lots of new friends and bonking a truly stunning girl from NZ. Wow what a trip!

Ok some of it was crappy, like the damn Australians in Kuta, in fact Kuta itself is a nasty place, only mistake the bombers made was not using enough cemtex. Ok Aussies aren't that bad, but heck what have they turned Kuta into? They think they have some kind of birth right on Bali, that it is in fact part of Australia and what are you doing in their country?

O.k i'm rambling on a bit here, Bali is a beautiful island but it so wasn't what i expected. The people are thick as fuck and interacting with them is nigh on impossible on anything more than a transactional level. Yeah i can see you expats reaching for your mouse muttons to jump in and argue with me but hell let's face it and be honest, the balinese people do not understand logic, trying to make them understand something is pointless due to sociological reasons they have all been ingrained with retardation that will take many generations of education to overturn. It dosent matter where you travel in the western world languages will be different but the common language is logic. Bali has no logic. Interacting with the locals is their way of trying to get money out of you. Those smiles are false and anyone who thinks different is deluding themselves.

Gees i sound negative, i don't mean to be i had a wonderfull time, in fact it was more than just a holiday it was a life changing experience for me, i've handed my notice in at work and in a months time i'm off to travel the world.

Roy don't worry about the driving it's fine once you get used to it (and it only takes a day or two) so stop being such a big girl :-)

Traffic cops are bastards, never make eye contact and never stop when they blow their whistles and stick their hand up. I drove casually past on about 5 occasions pretending not to notice them and they never gave chase, all they want is easy money. A balinese person will never make themself sweat in order to get cash.

Oh gosh i'm at it again, i must be nice about the locals, your all probably cursing me right now, anyways i'm a sleepy boy so goodnight all for now,

Gruff

:roll:

[Tracey]

Gruff...
:evil: I guess we all have our own opinion, this is yours.. I for one do not agree with the negativeness that you have written...
As DrIvEr says these people you have slagged off about are my family, husband, daughter & many, many best friends...

[Bert Vierstra]

Hi Gruff,

Welcome to Bali !

Ain't it a great place !

I now how you feel. I sometimes feel the same, and I guess many feel the same too.

Fortunately there is more to Bali then this. Especially when you get to know the place a bit better.....

the balinese people do not understand logic, trying to make them understand something is pointless due to sociological reasons

The Balinese value Harmony over Truth (or logic), so this gives us Westerners some "problems"....

They are our fianceés, wifes, husbands, children, families and friends.

Yes, and sometimes they can be irrational pains in the asses, but retarded only in the eyes of superficial observers.

Gruff, where have you been in Bali?

Seen anything more them smiles for money?

I can't believe that you can make a very arrogant jugdement on my country, Indonesia. You were there only 5 weeks and can make that kind of statement????? How arrogant! Well, firstly, If you have lived there for all your life then you will understand how things are here in Indonesia.
What I want to ask you is that did you realized that you were going to the third world country before you decided to go to Bali? Or you think it would be like your country where everyone is a snob and think they are better than anyone else??? Sorry to say this, but I am in a very pissy mood today.....
Why didn't you book a 5 star hotel , limousine and golf all day... when you came there so you didn't have to deal with the locals and the REALITY????????

Have a nice day !

[Gruff]

Wow you guys have really ripped into me! i thought that might be the case though xx

I went to Bali with a completely open and naeive mind, i became rather cynical to the locals way of thinking and behaving towards westerners quite fast, i think you have to or otherwise you will just get totally ripped off constantly. Is that a bad thing? Yes it is, but i didn't land in Denpasar with anything but an open mind, 2 days of being totally ripped off at every opportunity and i soon wisened up to the ways of Indonesia. I always took it with a smile and never got aggressive, i was just using this forum to blow off the steam of frustration!

Bali is a truly wonderfull place, words cannot describe it's beauty and the culture is certainly interesting, all i'm saying is the interaction with the local people is rather tricky. They don't see a white face and another culture, they see $$$ signs! oh gosh that sounds nasty but hell it is so true! It's a huge shame, but none of the locals i ever met could ever cross the wealth divide and interact with me on a level basis. I was always seen as a possible source of income and in all honesty it saddened me and at the same time perplexed me as i always think of myself as being somewhat poor! One guy from the hotel seemed totally genuine and said come and have a drink with me, sure i said and out of nowhere 8 more appeared and i ended up buying a huge round with none returned, sure no problem i told myself i'll make my excuse and leave in a minute, i just can't be socialising with people that are taking the piss out of me. So i put that one down to experience, and stuck to interacting only with westerners on a social and friendship basis and the balinese on a transactional basis. You may think that was unfair of me to condemn an entire nation based upon one experience! but i just sort of got the impression that was always how it would be.

I really don't want to be focusing solely on the negative aspects of being a westerner in Bali though. If you balance out the pro's and con's your left with a positive balance and a great place to visit. I just wanted to get a few things of my chest that i found frustrating. However i do wonder how some of you manage to live in Bali year round! I think that would drive me insane.

O.k time for some positive stuff! The food, oh my god Sate Ayam mmm from a little hut by the side of the road 5000 rupiahs and i get a huge bowl full of Sate Ayam sticks and a bowl of rice and a ****, mmm. Nasi Goreng is o.k but a little plain, and Nasi Campur now that's a good lunch. When drunk and walking home nothing hits the spot like a visit to a Bakso van, mmm god bless those little blue wheely things!

That's made me feel hungry so im off to find something to eat, may share more thoughts later if you all promise not to get so angry at me!


Gruff

[Bert Vierstra]

I was always seen as a possible source of income and in all honesty it saddened me and at the same time perplexed me as i always think of myself as being somewhat poor! One guy from the hotel seemed totally genuine and said come and have a drink with me, sure i said and out of nowhere 8 more appeared and i ended up buying a huge round with none returned, sure no problem i told myself i'll make my excuse

Sadly enough this was my experience, and that of others as well. It made some people leave Bali.

The inviting "Come and drink with us" usually means come and sit with us so you can buy, cause you have the money, at least with the younger guys..

But hee, this is Bali and it changed your way of thinking, wanting to see more of the world....

Now why did this happen?

[Bert Vierstra]

Sorry to say this, but I am in a very pissy mood today.....

Is it the smog in Hong Kong?

[made marko]

Hello Gruff,
I would like to offer an invitation to the western paradise we call Milwaukee wisconsin usa.
I will find accomodation in an area where the standard of living and employment oportunities far exceed that of the 'locals' you had to deal with in Kuta.
I can assure you no one will "smile" to as you turn over cash to them.
made

[Gruff]

Oh my gosh i'm shocked. Since when did the yanks learn dry humour?

Gruff