Bali, Indonesia (Day 33, 4211 km)

I'm glad I got to Bali – and find it a pity that I only had 4 days there – it was a very interesting time. The traffic was heavy, but reasonably ordered, and overall I found it fairly clean, at least compared to China. The Bali people are... enterprising... especially in Kuta, one of the main tourist areas. I was repeatedly offered everything from “transport”, accommodation, “Oakley” sunglasses, Quiksilver, Nike, Rolex, caps, T-shirts, shoes, etc through to facials, foot massages, full body massages, manicures, pedicures, haircuts, women (more quietly) and (whispered) marijauna. I'm not sure they did their market research on all of those, but logic didn't seem to matter in a lot of these cases.

“Hello my friend, hello boss!” (I would like to do you the kindness of helping to lighten your excessive monetary load which all foreigners suffer from)

First will come the quick sell attempt - “T-shirt?” Then the slight encouragement “Morning/afternoon price, for good luck!” If that is brushed off then the conversation will run something like this:

“Where are you from?/What is your name?/My name is Jackson” (You can trust that my motives are entirely friendship and interest in your continued holiday enjoyment and well-being.)

“How long you been in Bali?/First time Bali?” (It would do me a great service if you could please tell me how much I am likely to get away with in your case?)

Usually they will agree to you “just looking” but it is an empty promise, as once you are in the shop you are ready for round 2... If you don't want to go in, occasionally they will try to pull you in gently...

“You buy T-shirt/sunglasses/etc?”

“Thank you, but I am travelling on a motorcycle and I have no room – I have enough T-shirts/I already have sunglasses – look!”

“Ah, but it's very cheap!”
(I don't care if you throw it away, just buy it from me, ok?”)
“Yes, but I really don't need them, thank you.”

“Ah but what about your girlfriend/mother/father/sister/brother/friend?” (I don't think you are hearing me here)

“No thank you” (I don't think you are hearing me here)

“Please, you help me/my family...?” (What if I make you feel some justifiable guilt as to the injustice of life that you should be a loaded Westerner and I should have to scrape by to support my family?)

or

“Would you like a hotel?”

“Thank you, but I already have a hotel, and I am leaving this town today”

“Ah, but it's very cheap/nice...”

Later on, I noticed that there were both “morning price for good luck” and “afternoon price for good luck”, so I asked which was cheaper... well, when I asked in the morning they said the morning price, and in the afternoon... you know the rest.

But the bonus is that within the realms of life here everything is possible, for a price. You can get somebody to drop everything to do something for you, or take you somewhere or network with someone... it works well, because worthwhile for them is usually still economical once you've bargained it.

I heard rumours that depending on your skill of bargaining, they will give you a different colour shopping bag so that the stallholders down the road will know how soft a target you are – so red or white are usually for the Japanese, who just accept the first asking price, green for the people who try a little bit, and black for the hard bargainers.

Yet, despite all that, the feeling around all the places I went was one of peace and safety – everybody, especially in the tourist areas, is out to relieve you of your cash, but mostly voluntarily. I have heard of pickpocketing, although didn't see any problems, except for the dodgy moneychangers (I never changed more than US$20 at a time, so, although the rate wasn't as good, it was a lot easier to keep track of the notes). However, I really don't think violent crime is a big problem here.

The best story I have from Bali is one that I'll probably never have all the answers to – was it a super-elaborate multi-stage con, or just a family of friendly people trying to make a bit of cash on the side? You decide – I don't want to misanalysed their motives.

“Hello, where you from?” This guy was just on the street, no shop, nothing to sell. From New Zealand? Ah, but that is wonderful! It turns out that his sister has just finished studying to be a nurse and she is going to go and work in Auckland soon – could I tell him where she should go/cost of living/etc? Well after a few minutes of very cordial (and disarming?) conversation, his nephew and other sister arrived to pick him up – Was I busy? Would I like to come back with them to meet his sister and give her some advice?

Sure, no problem. So off we went to their home, about a 10 minute drive away. Everybody in the car was very friendly, asking many questions about my life (occupation, parents jobs, siblings) – not unusual in this part of the world. Upon reaching their home their uncle told us that his sister and their mother had gone to the doctor, but they would hopefully return soon. Would I have a drink and some lunch while we were waiting?

Well that sounds mighty fine, so I got talking to the uncle about the usual stuff, and eventually asked him what his occupation is. Turns out that he has been at the local casino for the past 17 years. He deals the cards, and oversees the games – unlike casinos I know, it seems like two customers will play each other – in blackjack for example, a rich customer will be the “bank”, and another will be the “player”. At the end, whoever has made a profit needs to pay 10% of their winnings as commission to the casino. This is easily enforced, as of course everybody must cash in their chips after playing. So the casino makes a profit, no matter who wins, and thus doesn't need to have 100 million cameras everywhere, but just relies on people like this guy to maintain order and fairness in the games.

Lunch was ready very promptly, and conversation continued – hopefully the sister and mother would be back from hospital soon. Hospital? Yes, she has heart problems and they are quite worried – in Indonesia there is no way of having health insurance, as people are too poor – so if one needs medical care, one must pay cash up front. Where will they get all this money?

Well, thankfully, many of the foreigners, especially, Chinese, who come to his casino (Indonesians are not permitted to gamble, at least not at casinos) want to play Mahjongg. So he quietly directs them around to his home during the day, and they sit and play Mahjongg, and also dominoes, because Mahjongg takes a couple of hours to play... Then he takes a cut on the winner's winnings. Well, right now his heart is sore, because at the last meeting he arranged with everybody to be paid 2% of their winnings (because they are playing at his house, etc) and one guy, a Mr Li, won US$40000, and he was excited, because he was expecting US$800, which would help pay for their mother's medicine, but he only got a $20 tip. He doesn't like Mr Li, but he cannot say anything, or Mr Li will tell the casino about his activities, and he will lose his job. But at least the $20 went straight to their mother.

Well, mother still wasn't back, so I asked if he could show me how to play Mahjongg, as I've only ever seen it in passing. He didn't have a set on him, but took me to his little back room, and showed me dominoes, and afterwards started showing me the tricks of blackjack – when to bid high, when to bluff and when to fold. He told me that once or twice a year, he meets up with a foreigner and arranges a secret code with them before he plays at his casino, so they always know what card he is going to deal next. He taught me his hand-signals, and we played a few hands with his chips, and I'm starting to rake them in, of course, because I know all the cards.

Ok, Anton – starting to get a little wary now – I've heard about people who are altogether too friendly, and who teach you card games you can't help but win, and then you lose all your money – I'm not taking anything out of my wallet!

He tells me if I want to come to his casino one night, then I should let him know, but I should only stay at his table for 10-15 minutes maximum, otherwise people will get suspicious. If I don't want to use my own money, it's ok – I can get an advance from the casino, but then they will take 5% of my earnings. They wouldn't normally give me an advance, but he will tell the manager we are “partners” and he will be happy to take 1/3rd of my winnings, because the manager knows his little scheme too... !

Lovely. I tell him that I will not be doing this – thank you for explaining the rules to me; I have found the conversation very interesting... He says it is not dishonest, because he will only do it to rich people who are not nice, like Mr Li – if they are good people, he will never do it. But he also says he has to be careful picking a “partner” because of course he cannot get the cash on the spot, so must meet them the next morning – the last time that happened, the guy flew away without paying him – now that was dishonest! Please could I help – it will be to help my family, and especially my sick mother!

Actually he was meant to be having another gambling meeting around now – Mr Li should be here any moment – but the other guy called this morning and said he could not come, so Mr Li will have nobody to play dominoes against – he should have called Mr Li, but he wants to waste his time, because he doesn't like him...

Actually, since I will not help his mother, maybe he has got an idea to get some money for medicine – he has got US$200 in his pocket, which we can say belongs to me – we can tell Mr Li that I have been playing him this morning, and have had very bad luck, and see if Mr Li will play me at blackjack – then with the signals, we can make lots of money! Um, no thank you – I will not be involved. ok – my nephew can play for you but we must still tell Mr Li that he is playing with your money, because he will never believe that my nephew has US$200.

A knock on the door – a visitor is waiting outside. I say no – I will not sit here. They plead with me to help their mother. I say if he has a guest now, then thank you very much for the lunch, but I should leave. Please can I stay another 20 minutes in case his sister turns up? No, I really would like to go now.

Ok, no problem – they will take you back to where we picked you up (the uncle stayed behind to talk to his visitor). On the way back all was very friendly and nice – talking about this and that. Maybe you can meet my sister tonight at 7pm at McDonalds? I say I don't think so... Do I have any Kiwi coins to show them? no, but I have a 50c and 10c Australian that I hand over – ah, very nice – can I keep it? Ok, if you can give me some Indonesian coins (not used by me until this point, as they are pretty worthless, at least for tourists).

Then the other sister sitting next to me at the back started working on me – please can you help me, my mother and my family – please can you give me some money for my mother's medicine – it is very expensive. I tell her no – I say I am now feeling uncomfortable, and I don't know what to do, so I will not be giving any money. Eventually she gives up, and we are nearly at our destination – is it possible I might be able to give them some money to help with the petrol?

Well, I have had an (mostly) entertaining couple of hours, and a good feed, and I am not ungrateful, so I give them Rp50000 (about NZ$8) and they send me on my way.

So was it partly true, all true, or all con? Was it worth it for 4-5 people to spend 2 hours to get Rp50000? Did I get out just in time? Who knows? But in case I give a false impression, I really did meet 2 or 3 people who were just happy to talk with me, find out about me, have a photo taken with me, even give me a ride back to my bungalow, and not ask for anything.

Wandering around is great with a GPS - all I need to do is store the location of my hostel, then turn it off and wander around for hours - if I should happen to get disoriented, all I need to do is turn it on, and I straight away know which direction to head. Anybody heading for a country with crazy, narrow, windy streets, let me know, and I'll hook you up when I get back!

After a couple of nights in Kuta (room simple, but nice and clean), I went with my friends Rick and Janet (met in Darwin) to Ubud (room half the price but just as good) - also touristy, but in a much less intrusive way, and thus far more enjoyable. Inland, so no beach, and a lot smaller, but still picturesque – especially the Monkey Forest (where many of the pictures in this edition were taken), where there is of course a temple and shrines and the works, but I mainly was after seeing the scenery, and the very bold monkeys.

My last full day I went to Bedugul, which is in the centre of the island, up on the inside rim of an extinct volcano, where there is a crater lake, and of course more temples, etc. Unfortunately, despite the location, the accommodation options were not nearly as competitive, picturesque or tidy (read 15W light bulb, dented walls with peeling paint, instead of really artistic gardens and walkways) – but for one night, I weathered it and had a great time.

For dinner I went to the local KFC (no, it's King Fried Chicken – why just have a colonel?) where you can get all the usual Indonesian food, including a few oddball ones, like “Fungy Chicken” and “Tuna God Blesh”... The really nice thing is that although I was low on Indonesian Rupiah, and the local money changer was closed, after chatting to the proprietor for a while, he let me eat for free, and told me to come back and pay in the morning. Which I did, about $3 including my curry and rice, a freshly pureed strawberry juice, and a pancake dessert – a fairly typical price around there. Another sign of the “enterprisingness” of the locals was the art and crafts, all for sale, decorating his shop – most were being sold on behalf, although I'm sure he makes a cut – the most out-of-place were some fairly well-made castings of the Last Supper, which he, a Muslim, was selling on behalf of the local church.

Well, I could talk about my Bali experience at far more length, but ultimately, with over 26000 islands in Indonesia, I have a bit more exploring to do. And there's still a few more countries to go on this particular trip. I caught a bus back to the airport, was happy to find that Garuda Indonesia really does have planes, and flew safely and comfortably to Singapore. Nonetheless, I shall attempt never to fly with them ever again!