Dealing with annoying ‘guides’ in Bali
Bali is a small island with 3 million people. Its is also a major tourist destination, meaning that sooner or later, people figure out their best bet is to make a living off of tourism. No worries, I’d do the same, but sometimes it can be a little bit of a hard sell.
Probably the worst example of this is Gunung Batur, where local ‘guides’ will not let you near the mountain without a hefty fee, even using threatening behaviour. I have heard Pura Besakih, Bali’s Mother temple, has a touch of this. BaliDiscovery reports that the Chairman of the Bali Guide Association (HPI), Drs. I Made Sukadana, is angry about the behaviour of guides at Besakih. Basically what happens, is that locals decide the ‘tourist object’ in their back yard, ‘belongs to them’, and you have to pay them to see it. That sounds laughable, but when there is an angry mob its not so funny.
My advice is to avoid Gunung Batur, there are many other volcanoes you can hike in Bali, for free and not even see another person. As for temples, I have had good experiences visiting Bali’s temples. Usually tour buses will ruin everything, so look for temples that are not super famous, and not on the main road, if you want to avoid crowds. Most people at the temples are polite and helpful, even if they do get a lot of visitors.
One scenario that can happen in Bali, is a local will follow you on a hiking trail, even without being invited. At some later time they could ask you for money, for ’showing you around’. In my experience this has not happened, but rather a local will tag along, hoping for a small amount of cash. If I actually have questions, such as where a trail leads, what route to take, is the route safe, etc. then I feel good about handing over some cash. On the occasions where I know I won’t need the person, and that they are hunting for money, I politely tell them I would prefer to hike alone.
If a local asks you if you need a guide and you say yes, he is expecting cash. If you don’t agree that first, you could have someone ask you for 300,000rp, a couple of hours later. This happened to a female tourist I met. The situations I most enjoy when hiking, are meeting Balinese locals, who are clearly just going on their way. In that situation its great, as we can chat, share a joke and say farewell, glad to have met. Finding a middle ground between getting followed for money, and meeting cool people can be frustrating, and is often more a question of location than personality.
By Nick | Permalink
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Comments
Stuart,
The reason I highlighted Gunung Batur as a place to avoid, is there is organized intimidation, to prevent tourists from hiking without handing over $30-$50.
If you read any major guide book to Bali, including Lonely Planet, they talk about the ‘Mountain Mafia’ who rally around 4am and block every trekking route, threatening hikers with violence unless they pay the high fees. My description of the scene there is accurate, and I personally experienced major aggression from a banjar member, screaming at me, becasue I would not hand him money for going for a stroll.
I feel it is my duty to give good advice, and by recommending Mt. Batur, I would not be doing that. The place has a history of threatening behaviour from organized group of locals. Don’t take my word for it, ask people who have hiked it before.
I’m sur you had a lovely time hiking with your Balinese family, that’s different. I had a lovely time at Besakih, but I went with 6 Balinese people. Also checking out the village of Songan, inside the crater, as well as exploring the orange groves and lava fields by motorbike, in between the inner and outer crater, on the north side, is enjoyable.
Mt. Batur differs from Kuta Beach or any other area, in that the ‘guides’ are not just offering their services, they actively harass and threaten violence to people to attempt to hike without using them.
Why do they do this? Simple, there is only one way in and out of the crater for cars, buses and motorbikes. They know people are coming into ‘their crater’, to hike ‘their mountain’. Other volcanoes are not inside a crater and can be accessed from multiple routes, the hikers not be as easy to contain. Its a nice little money machine, and they are not about to let you use it for free.
Once again, I suggest that if you want a relaxing, pleasant, good vibes, no stress, non intimidating hike, go to Gunung Catur at Bedugal, or Gunung Agung at Pura Pasar Agung. Also try Gunung Batukaru in the last true remaining section of jungle in Bali, low stress and lovely.
We had a guy get very agressive with us when we offered him $5.00 for tagging along with us through Pura Besakih. He insisted that $20.00 was the usual minimum for a guide. Once we were inside a very kind woman blessed us & made the outside hassle fade away. An unforgetable experience.
Stuart W, I don’t know what you’ve been smoking but hey, get back to the reality that the people in the region of Batur are money-hungry and don’t give a shit about the way they treat tourists to the region.
I have been to Batur several times over the last two decades (probably more times than you), and, over the last decade their greed has only worsened.
As for Nick’s advice, you couldn’t want for a better on-the-spot-guide in Bali. What Nick writes is the truth and what is happening NOW.
If the people of Batur want the tourist dollar then they should change their attitude BIG TIME and stop charging exhorberant prices to visit their sacred places.
Batur people are the nastiest in Bali. Even driving around the volcano is a chore as touts on motorcycles lie in wait and follow you as you try to take in the scenery. As long as they are around it’s very uncomfortable stopping the car, or getting out to take a photograph. Yes, it’s a beautiful area, but the locals are cutting their own throats as far as tourism goes. Nick’s advice is right on. To the folks of Batur: tourism is called a SERVICE INDUSTRY for a good reason. Kuta’s fake watchsellers et al. are the epitome of courtesy in comparison.
Besakih used to be almost as bad, but there have been so many tourist complaints that local village councils have taken steps to clean things up. I was there in 2005 and a firm “no” to the so-called “guardians of the temple” was enough to get them to lay off. Not so on my first visit, when a kid swore at me for not giving him US$25 for the privilege of pestering me non-stop for the 2 hours I was there.
I took a tour of Bali in September and we climbed up Batur. Our tour fee provided a guide so I have no idea what was paid. The guides are really quite helpful from what I gathered of them. They will help you up if you are not good at walking up mountains. The guide was telling me that they are required to be licensed and have knowledge of volconology. I would recommend this trip to anyone but I can see from Nicks point of view how the guides can be too much with their being pushy. From what I gather though is it would be wise to tell people the price and let them make their own decision about the hike as it could be worth the money to some people. In Canada we have national parks that you have to pay to get into as well as pay to park the car. Everything is not free. Gunang Auong not sure of the spelling is free but I believe the hike is twice as hard as Batur. So with that it has its price as well.
Hi Barrie, I heard about earthquake in Yogya. I hope you and family are okay.
My wife & I were disturbed continuously at Besakih temple by “guides” or “guardians of the temple” as a couple of them called themselves. Wow, a “guardian” dressed poorly and carrying a polaroid camera. The ticket seller was also rude to us. After walking up the stretch of road bothered by the guides, halfway they left and then upon arriving at the entrance steps, different guides appeared again. They bothered us totally, not a moment of peace. We left after taking a few pictures.
As our car rental driver noticed how frustrated we were by our experience in Besakih, he recommended not to visit Batur temple in Kintamani which was our next destination. We agreed.
My wife & i will never return to Besakih again. The people there need to change their behavior and learn to respect the tourists.
Hi Guys,
Just wanted to write and say i was dissapointed in Nicks advice not to bother visiting Batur, The guides and the street sellers can of course be annoying but they are also annoying at every other tourist attraction especially in Kuta which seems a favourite subject to write on for nick. We are of course the peoples source of income, and the people of bali need to compete for that income,If visiting Batur and your worried about a hussle arrangements can be made with many guest houses in the region or maybe seek some advice if a gradatude is payable. Maybe i am bias as i am married to a girl originally from Batur but i will always remember driving for 2 hours on roads with fields on each side then climbing a steep road to be hit with one of the most amazing sights. Batur with a guide or by yourself has to be visited, It is a quiet town with not much for hotels or food but excellant for a day trip and a must see.