meremortal wrote
hi shadrach, i lived in south africa under apatheid regime in the early 70s. i will never ever partake in such discriminative conditions again (as i didn't during the skam although i got into trouble a few times!). i thought i'd be retiring to a harmonious lifestyle where all people have equal rights (i've been visiting bali since the seventies and surfing there every off-season at the beginning of the century, spending sometimes 9 months at a time, at a few different surf locations throughout bali/lombok and sumbawa. altho i've been told some hair-raising stories i never ever expected myself to be part of these as i get a long very well with asians (eg i speak more asian languages than i do european). being asked to pay money for a written 'building regulation' that doesn't apply to me (eg i'm detracting from the traditional lifestyle of the village when i haven't built anything!) and being told my property will be blocked before i've received any notification of this payment is rather rough. and why wasn't the payment requested when property was purchased in 2020? i've decided to put the property on the market rather than pay the banjar (hopefully this is possible ....) as i've since found out there are only 5 bule living in this district and none own their own property (I WONDER WHY???) when on the other side of the river there must be hundreds of bule owning their own homes. i still don't agree with paying the fee as they can come up with something else for me to pay again later as the building regulation they have presented in writing (since my asking) doesn't apply to me or my property. i'm very generous (having purchased two balinese land for their own use over the years); but paying for something that doesn't apply to me is a bit odd. my property doesn't have a separate road. it is on the main drag up through the village so i'm unsure it is the same situation as the markit manouvre ;). thanks for your comment.
For sure they will come up with a way for you to pay more later! It's always shocked me that a person is forced to pay baksheesh to live in a Banjar area. Once I went to a friend's birthday party above Ubud, and she was forced to hire two locals to maintain parking for twenty motorbikes only! and her house was full of locals eating the food she had bought for her friends. I felt it was rude and overbearing! I was told if you don't participate in all the events at the Banjar, a foreigner has to pay for the privilege of living near the Banjar! This kinda takes away the idea of living your dream life in peace with privacy!
Yesterday I asked two local girls to put some leftover food in my fridge, so I could eat it today, and they was shocked that I would do this and said OH, we don't do this, we cook fresh daily. It was like she was saying everyone here does the the same as everyone else like programed robots. And if I ask for a noodle dish they ask me if I want a pile of white rice with that. I say when I eat noodles I don't eat rice, and they looked at me strange that I don't eat rice with every dish. This way of everyone following the same habits is unusual to me! By the way, where I stay meals are included in my rent! But they are very boring as they only eat the same dishes everyday. It I don't want white rice they look at me strange. You can forget anything like western food. It took ten times to get them not to put sugar and chiles in every dish!
