French expat in Bali introduction + question about people making fires

pisangkudedek

HelloMid 2019 I realised I ran out of visa options to stay long term in Chiang mai Thailand, after living there for 5 years so I decided to give Bali a shot. I started taking surf lessons and fell in love right away with the sport.Because of an emergency I had to go back to my home country France in July 2020 (at the time Bali had announced reopening in 11 september) So I got stuck there for a few months before re-entering in november .. Now my mindset is : I'm here and I'm not leaving anytime soon. I'll only leave if I'm 100% sure I can come back easily and hassle free which could take a really long time given what's going on right now with that virus.Creating this account was motivated mainly by a question I want to ask an expat community. Maybe I should create a separate thread for this ? Let me know.I've lived in 2 different places so far in Bali and in both places there are people making fires almost daily which makes the air really awful and nauseating to breath. I think most of the time it's peolple burning their trash because they don't know what else to do with those ? I'm not sure. The waste management in this country is so dysfunctional that it's what makes the most sense to me but really I don't know. It sucks because coming from Chiang mai a city that has a big air pollution problem I was happy to move to a place that has clean air.Anyway I talked about this to my landlord and she said I quote : "people here are animals (she is a local) If they want to burn their trash they will burn their trash and if you complain about it then you are the problem. There is nothing you can do, you can't even get the authorities on your side. Other people have tried before you. Most of them lack the cognitive abilities to even understand they are harming their own health and the health of the neighbourhood and their children and even if they understand they don't care anyway.So my questions are :Is it the same everywhere in Bali ? Or are there some places where people don't make fires everyday ? Maybe I just got unlucky twice with my locations.Is there really nothing to be at least tried ? The answer of my landlord sounds so emotionally charged...

Balifrog

What are the 2 locations you're speaking about ?

pisangkudedek

Jimbaran and now Kerobokan

PERtoDPS

Welcome. I have lived in Denpasar, and a few locations in Sanur (where I am now). Yes this is basically and issue everywhere, yes they burn trash/plastic etc. The education isn't there about what they are breathing in, just look how many smokers live here. My dad said years ago, well you have to remember, before westerners brought plastic etc to these places, everything was biodegradable. That rings true to me.Yeah I also think you will offend, if you say anything and how to know unless you move in somewhere? Where I am now this is only 1x-2x a week where I catch the wind from it, where I was before in Denpasar it was much, much more. Are you renting month to month or you already signed up for a year or something? The answer to that really depends, if you are month to month renting, I'd try staking out some expat areas as they are much less likely to be burning trash IMO. Happy to give you my rough location via PM, but no idea if you can move.These types of rules, I really don't think bule can change.

Markit

sakumabali

Welcome to the forum. Of course you can do something about it (theoretically). First it is OFFICIALLY forbidden to burn plastic trash. OFFICIALLY at least in the south there is a fine of some million on it. People don't care. So what can you do about it? Buy them trash bins & pay for the rubbish truck. Talk to the Banjar and inform them about the health risk of burning plastic. Smile & be VERY patient!I did this in Nusa Dua & Kerobokan. It's a pain in the ass but the smell was too bad.It took seriously weeks to make pembantus understand that they don't have to clean the street every morning (because dogs & cats take out the rubbish out of the open low concrete tubes & spread it all over) IF you put it in the waste bins with a lid on it. PLUS there is less noise nuisance....IF for some reasons it's not possible because it's too expensive or due to ego problems, donate money to the Banjar that these people burn it in the night! so at least during the daytime it ain't too unhealthy

PERtoDPS

JohnnyCool

Here's a little map to help you orient yourself and the abhorrent behavior many, if not most, people living down south tend to run into that mystifies those of us lucky enough not to live in "Not Bali". Guide your actions accordingly. [ATTACH type="full" alt="3444"]3444[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]Your 'diagram' is nonsese.This whole island has been (and still is) populated with Balinese people for many centuries.Since foreign tourism first began (c100 years ago), it's surged dramatically. To where we are these days - some 60-70% of Bali's economy has become dependent upon tourism. No tourism? What then?Your "Not Bali" red rectangle is full of Balinese people.Are you seriously suggesting they're not real Balinese?

Markit

Your 'diagram' is nonsese.This whole island has been (and still is) populated with Balinese people for many centuries.Since foreign tourism first began (c100 years ago), it's surged dramatically. To where we are these days - some 60-70% of Bali's economy has become dependent upon tourism. No tourism? What then?Your "Not Bali" red rectangle is full of Balinese people.Are you seriously suggesting they're not real Balinese?[/QUOTE]Got some new meds Johnny?The maps is actually not from of National Geographic or any known or recognized factual source but only to be seen, in the light of a mild sense of humor, as solely metaphorical. Jeez Johnny you aught to know not to take anything I write factually or even seriously.

pisangkudedek

@ PERtoDPS : I'm renting month by month so I can leave anytime but I love this place too much for now. The burning issue is the only negative really.It used to be 1x-2x a week as well here but since recently it has become a lot more frequent I guess after it stopped raining every single day.Really people smoke unaware of the consequences ?? That sounds crazy. I understand the problem with education but still despite the poverty somehow everyone owns a smartphone these days... smartphone = internet = access to all the knowledge in the worldI thought the reason was because smoking is cheap and they don't care because they culturally live day by day and don't think or plan too far ahead into the future.But that would explain something I witnessed on holiday in Sumatra with a man literally smoking to the face of a toddler and no one except me looked shocked, not even the mother of the toddler.About the map I never experienced much difference between the different parts of Bali but always experienced other Indonesian places (Lombok, Bandung, North Sumatra, Surabaya) as completely different from Bali@ sakumabali : The fires come from not just one specific locations but many around my place. If I have to buy a trash bin for everyone it could be already too late for my lungs by the time that project is completed.I'm also concerned about coming accros as offensive being a bule wanting to influence locals behaviour...I have no clue how much I should donate to the Banjar to be taken seriously ?

JackStraw

sakumabali

@ Pisangkudedek: It's true that if you're just renting it'd be too expensive. But if you find a place you want to live "permanently" I'd talk to the Klian / Banjar first. They're much more aware of the risk of burning plastic than you might think. But they can't (wouldn't) pay their own (village) money to make a change.I lived a couple of years in west Bali and I would say that the villages in the south AKA "Not Bali" (according to Markit) are a bit more modern.Behind my place in Kerobokan I have a bunch of Sulawesi guys (I hope "had" soon as the area getting more & more expensive; gentrification hello), they gave literally a ****. They tried to get monthly a ridiculous amount to not burn trash. I tried to persuade them but they said they're poor and gonna die young anyway. Sigh...So it's possible if you work together with the Banjar (re above: the Klian went there a lot of time to the Sulawesi guys but they weren't too impressed by the Bali Klian either) and put money on the table (better monthly than once). If monthly they will pick up your call at least....We left Bali 3 years ago. You can get used to the noise of dogs, motorbike & roosters. Even possible to get used to the traffic (mmmhhh) but It's hard to live with water & air quality. Be probably back in a couple of years when kids are done with school...P.S: Air & water is great in Bedugul for example. With a better infrastructure I'd move there. But....

Balifrog

Sure plenty places in South Bali where this doesn't happen.Where I live, since 3 years, I never saw this. Trash collection is working.And living at the end of a dead end street, dog and motorcycles are inexistant.Sanur area, near the beach.

SamD

HelloAnyway I talked about this to my landlord and she said I quote : "people here are animals (she is a local) If they want to burn their trash they will burn their trash and if you complain about it then you are the problem. There is nothing you can do, Is there really nothing to be at least tried ? The answer of my landlord sounds so emotionally charged...[/QUOTE]I have never heard a Balinese (local ) referring to a fellow Balinese as an "animal". I suspect your landlord is not local but from some other part of Indonesia. Maybe it is the other way around and the "people" she is referring to are not local but I doubt it.The short answer to your question if anything can be done is "no". You could try raising this with the Banjar but you will get nowhere. All you will do is succeed in turning yourself into a perceived troublemaker. Move somewhere else. I have never had a problem like this even living in a Balinese village. Regards

JackStraw

I have never heard a Balinese (local ) referring to a fellow Balinese as an "animal". I suspect your landlord is not local but from some other part of Indonesia. Maybe it is the other way around and the "people" she is referring to are not local but I doubt it.The short answer to your question if anything can be done is "no". You could try raising this with the Banjar but you will get nowhere. All you will do is succeed in turning yourself into a perceived troublemaker.Move somewhere else. I have never had a problem like this even living in a Balinese village.Regards[/QUOTE]Yeah the "animals" thing seems a bit suspect. Balinese and other Indonesians in general are very capable and have the cognitive ability to learn and adapt to new information. Your landlord sounds like a racist piece of shit. My future home village in Gianyar has public trash bins (both for recycling and normal trash) all over the place. This was a program initiated by the Banjar and every time I go up there, I see the locals using it. and guess what? the place is relatively spotless (as long as you don't look down in the river ravines..but all that trash comes from java anyway ;))

mugwump

Got some new meds Johnny?The maps is actually not from of National Geographic or any known or recognized factual source but only to be seen, in the light of a mild sense of humor, as solely metaphorical. Jeez Johnny you aught to know not to take anything I write factually or even seriously.[/QUOTE]

mugwump

Much as I hate to be critical can't help but think Johnny may be on to something. After all we can't help but wonder how all the numerous banjars that would be slighted by this exclusion. ( BTW hasn't this latest attempt at cartography changed from your previous offering?)

pisangkudedek

JackStraw

Yes my landlord is not Balinese. She is also Christian and everytime I travel out of Bali she tells me to be careful because those other parts of Indonesia are full of muslims and theyr are a lot more strict and it can be dangerous to go to those places...From the trash burning discussions it really felt to me it's a problem she's been bothered by for a long time but gave up trying to do anything because she came to the conclusion that "there is nothing to be done about this "Moving to villages in Gianyar, Bedugul or even Sanur would isolate me a lot from the surf spots I enjoy... So I guess the fires are the price I have to pay to enjoy the surfing lifestyle and I definitely think it's worth it.Also Bedugul is freezing cold and it rains every single time I go there, not sure if I got unlucky everytime or if it really rains a ton more but I'm not sure I'd enjoy living there even tho it really is beautiful and I love strawberries[/QUOTE]She sounds like a Batak girl haha....but yeah she is definitely not wrong about being careful whilst traveling outside of Bali. A little common sense will do you good but I saw a bule chick get physically harassed for wearing a bikini on a beach in Lombok and essentially run out of town by the locals. There's a reason all the other islands haven't taken off in popularity as Bali has with the tourists.And honestly mate, I live in Jimbaran now and have had like 2 instances of smelling trash. It's really not a problem in my opinion. Just move to a new area of Bali. There are plenty of amazing places near the beach. I'm sure you can find one that isn't close to a trash burning neighbor.