Bali, Oh Bali

Ok. I'm gonna start this blog by quickly stating that the views expressed here, are by someone who probably hasn't done enough investigation to warrant writing them. Still, all I'm doing is giving my immediate informed opinion on a nation, which, once again is rich, coming from someone that has only been here for a month. Just quickly, overall, I'm loving this place and I hope that nobody (especially the Balinese People) gets me wrong. From the wonderful climate to the massive snails on the road. The variety of animals, smiling people and the besotting landscape. This place is truly wonderful. Sometimes it can be a bit strange though. Firstly, I've quickly learned that the Balinese people are Hindu and don't like being associated with any of the other Muslim islands in Indonesia. I've yet to visit these islands but there certainly seems to be a little chip on their shoulders about something. Every time I suggest that I might head off soon and travel to either Java, Sumatra or even neighbouring Lombok or Sumbawa, my inquisitive gaze is immediately returned on by another of disapproval. "Why you want to go there?!"... is normally the first response, which is accompanied by a severe frown. "Curiosity?", is the best answer I can give them, and I in turn accompany that with a shrug. Now, in Bali there seem to be two types of people. The nice and the not-so-nice ones. All of them greet you with the same broad smiles, but soon enough you can spot one from the other. Some don't seem to care very much if you're here or not and are generally kind folk. The others see you as dollar signs. And who can blame them? The average wage here is probably around 800'000 rupiah a month. That's £44, 58 Euros or around AUS$90 a month! Tourists come here and spend that in a night. Some hotels can cost up to 3 million rupiah a night! When we think thats £164 to live in the sort of luxury you can only dream of, with outdoor spa's and top of the range Hollywood-style accommodation, thats not so bad. So when you get a little old lady, trying to sell you a bracelet for 5'000 Rupiah and you say no, you can pretty much empathize with her disgruntlement. After all, all she's asking you for is 20 pence. But of course you can't always say yes to everyone and everything. In fact, you very quickly realize that you have to say no all the time. And then it becomes a matter of principle and to pile it on a little more, when you say no and they start uttering Balinese obscenities at you, you definitely want to start standing your ground. So it becomes a difficult ball to juggle. The thing that's getting me right now, however, is the level of corruption. Here, everything is done on the sly. When it comes down to official paperwork, you can forget about anything going smoothly unless you're willing to cough up a little bit of cash. And this happens with both the nice and not-so-nice people. For example, the maximum time they give for tourists to stay in the country is 30 days. When I was in Sydney, they weren't very clear about this and I bought a ticket to leave here in two months. So now I was going to have to leave the country and then come back in again... or so I thought! I emailed the British consulate and they quickly put me in touch with their representative here in Bali. I called the man and explained to him my situation. I could visualize his demeanor on the other side of phone as that of one that was looking over his shoulders to check if someone was listening in on what he was about to say. "Well..." he said, "You can't actually get an extension as such... but I can help you". And here's where it all starts. You see, to leave the country and come back in, it costs you around 3 million Rupiah. So the immigration office start your stay by placing a sticker in your passport as opposed to stamping it. Then, if you want to stay some more time, they meet you half way and for 1.5 million, they take the old entrance sticker out of your passport and put a new one back in again. This one will state that you came into the country a month after the time you got here. If my passport was to be used, to ever trace my traveling steps through time, that one month would have mysteriously disappeared. For all accounts... I wasn't on this planet between January 4th and February the 3rd. And what gets me is that this contact was given to me by the British Consulate themselves. A 30 day visa cost me US$25 upon entry. That's 230'000 Indonesia Rupiah. To take the sticker out and put a new one in costs 1.5 million. Where does the 1.3 million go? That's US$140 into somebody's pocket. And so everyone is in on it. Even the people in my hostel who are absolutely lovely. Everybody "has a friend" in immigration "who can help you" and then it's time for you to do the haggling. And haggling really is a part of this island. I can't speak for the rest of Indonesia but in Bali, that's the way it goes. I mean, if you're 10 years old, you can ride a motorcycle here, no problem. Children come out of school with their uniforms and big square ruck-sacs on their backs and ride around with no helmets on like they own the place. Of course, for them, there is no problem. If a tourist, however, gets stopped by a police officer, the rule is: You pay! No if's, no but's. That's the way it goes. Someone told me that a friend of his got stopped so he pulled over, took his helmet off to speak to the officer and the cop fined him for not having his helmet on. They'll get you for anything. They makes out like you're in big, big trouble but then you shrug your shoulders, plead your ignorance (or innocence, whichever seems most suited to the situation) and ask the officer what can be done without having to go to the police station. At this point, the answer is simple. Just open you're wallet and give the cop 50'000 Rupiah. If you're cheeky enough, you can probably get away with 20'000. You give him the money and he gives you directions down a one way street the wrong way so that you can get home faster. Everything has it's price here and if you're willing, that price can be very low indeed. The Balinese will try everything and will come down to practically nothing to get you're business. You just have to accept that there's one price for the locals and one price for the tourists. I went to put petrol in my bike and the guy put 14'300 IDP in. I gave him a 20'000 note and he gave me 5'000 change. I pushed my bike away and as I did, I saw that the next guy didn't get the pump reset. He pushed it up to 20'000, giving him 5'700 and only charged him 5'000. So I paid 700 of one of the locals petrol. I mean, it's only 4p, so why should I get pissed off about it? That they're playing me for a fool maybe? So I turned round to the guy after he'd filled up and said "Hey, cheap Bensin (petrol in Balinese), huh? Good price, good price". One of them smiled but the other wasn't very amused. I know I don't live here so I should probably just bow down a little and accept their rules. It's just a little irritating sometimes, that's all. So right now I just try to stay away from it all as much as possible. If you meet someone, you have to be just a little cautious about their intentions and about what they're trying to sell you. I'd like to think that even I have developed a slight sense for opportunism though. If they're willing to come down in price with a lot of what they have to give you, why not play their game? They actually seem to respect you more if you do so and you're more likely to forge friendships with the locals if you doubt their original offerings. Bizarre? Tell me about it!