Bali Newsflash!!!

I know it’s not funny, but I couldn’t help to laugh at your friend’s misfortune. You see, just yesterday I was driving next to my place and talking about getting some wood storage in the garage for next winter, and guess what… one dude had about 10 tons of “ready to burn” aches outside his house!
I bet if it was Bali he would have the space in the morning!
Just one thing troubles me though, if steeling is so common on the island, how come do they leave the statues outside when shops close in Ubud (I bet in other places to)?!

They probably take the light stuff inside and leave the really heavy stuff outside.

Want to hear a funny story about Ubud? A friend of mine was telling me about Ubud recently and I said “I love Ubud, its so peaceful.” He said “Yeah well everytime I go there I have a problem.” I asked what kind of problem and he said the stuff that goes on there. I asked him to tell me what had happened to him and he said he once went there and had heard rumors about guys using a long pole with a hook on the end to steal your stuff. When you are sleeping they try to hook your pants thinking your wallet might be inside.

He said he checked into a guest house and as he was checking in saw a long pole with a hook on the end in the guy’s office! Late that night he stayed awake and sure enough the pole comes through the slits in the window, fishing for his clothes. He had a big rock and smashed the guy’s stick. He then ran over to the window, looked through and it was the guy who worked behind the desk, smiling and laughing ‘oh well I got caught, he he.’ Pretty funny when he told it to me.

The worst of it is, in my opinion, when these trees are cut to build “ceremony” sites–huts, offering stands, pyre towers and the like, costing millions of rupiah, resulting in the destruction of priceless landscapes, the mortgaging of family savings and fortunes–to appease the Gods and bring “luck”. Not to mention show off to the neighbours.

The worst of it is, in my opinion, when these trees are cut to build “ceremony” sites–huts, offering stands, pyre towers and the like, costing millions of rupiah, resulting in the destruction of priceless landscapes, the mortgaging of family savings and fortunes–to appease the Gods and bring “luck”. Not to mention show off to the neighbours.

Unfortunately, dishonesty is everywhere, not just Ubud.

I stayed at a hotel on Jalan Padma. I will not mention the name because the owner did the right thing and corrected the wrong. I picked this hotel due to recommendations and the fact it had IDD phones so I could get internet from my room. I stayed one night and checked out the next day to catch a plane to Jakarta.

I made a lot of calls and was given 3 small slips of computerised printouts of my calls. Each page had a subtotal at the bottom. Thinking they were seperate bills, I added up the three sub totals on the pages and asked the guy if the figure I came up with was correct. He said “If you did it, then it must be correct.”

I said “Fine, just add it to my hotel room and I’ll pay it all together on my Visa.” But he insisted that I pay cash for the phone portion of the bill. Immediately alarm bells rang in my head. But I was in too much of hurry so I paid him cash, but asked for the slips to be stamped paid with the hotel stamp and I kept them, fearing that I would be charged again on my Visa long after I left.

It wasn’t until I was on the plane and suspicious of the guy, that I looked at the receipts closely. It turns out the third page already had page 1 and page 2 added in the final total. I essentially paid for page 1 and 2 twice.

I sent a bitching email to the owner, requesting a credit on my Visa because the clerk should know what the correct figure is and not lead me down the garden path, and she promised to investigate, but that the man inquestion was on “holidays”. A few weeks passed and I figured it was a lost cause, when I received an email from the owner, an apology and a credit was issued on my credit card for the amount.