The police in Bali, called Polici, wear brown uniforms, peaked hats, are sometimes armed and don't have radio's. The deal with the polici is they don't get paid a lot and use their position to boost their income. This is done by traffic roadblocks, with on the spot fines being demanded. One guy told me he just wanted money for beer, then let me go.
At major intersections and roundabouts you will see a police post and in tourist areas, such as Jl. Pantai Kuta on Kuta Beach you will see a Tourist Police booth. People have told me the Tourist Police were helpful in dealing with lost or stolen belongings so you might keep this in mind if you loose something.
Police over here don't have the macho attitude like back in the US and you can talk to them. The term 'Ba Pak' is a good way of prefacing any question and as a rule its good not to let your emotions show. A small fine will often get you further with these guys than a lot of bad energy.
Calling the police into a situation often only makes things worse as they will undoubtably ask for money, so in the situation of a fender-bender, your best bet is to pay up a leave.
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atleast they are not like the police in the arab countires. in those countires the police are very violent, however they are good at settling disputes. for example in egypt we had an argument over a taxi fare. we called over a police man and he settled the dispute. we paid him about 1 us dollar and he was happy.
cheers
I’ve had way too many fender benders in Bali–those narrow roads!! I used to try to get too much driving/distance done in a day (like Candi to Lovina in one go; don’t do it, it’s not worth it, and there’s plenty of places to spend the night on the way–and keep in mind that while it looks real close, the roads wend and wind, the trucks you will end up behind are super slow going uphill, and there are mountains!) and finally learned to take it easy, drive slow, and limit myself to about 2 hours per day maximum.
I’ve paid on the spot, and also suggested calling the police in to settle matters, which led to an immediate reduction in the amount claimed…so both methods have worked for me.
A couple I know drive only late night, to avoid the jams. Good strategy if you are in a hurry, but you’ll miss the wonderful views….
So what good are your approachable “non-macho” cops when “calling the police into a situation often only makes things worse.” Also, I love your sweeping generalizations Nick; referring to when you say that you can’t talk to cops in the US. Way to go buddy.
I honestly dont understand why these blogs have turned into complaining ones. Nick has a point that police in 3rd would countries often get low wages and have to recieve their livilhood from bribes and hand-outs.
From what i gather the bali police force is pretty strict on some matters and others it is very leanient. As you can see the drug problem is very rampant and you get busted for little amounts. However what the ironic part is that walking down the streets you have men in leather jackets saying ‘hello boss you want extacy’.
This situation of the police in all countires is like this. It may also work to the advantage of you at times when they always take the tourists side.
Thank you for your time
Dear Tony,
You are not aware of the social injustices of the indoneian government. marked by corruption and incomptopance. Civil servats in all 3rd world countries recieve horibly low wages. If they were recieveing high wages why would they always ask for bribes.
I dont believe i am reading this, ‘the simpler life’?… this isnt a b-grade Paris Hilton reality tv show. money in bali is what its all about. Not happiness because to them money is happiness.
Tony, why do u think people enjoy to go to bali?…for the culture or the scenery…I THINK NOT…its for the cheap quality dvds, watches and clothing. Perhaps there may be a few european toursists who enjoy going there for the weather. I know for sure that many Australians see the prospect of cheap items to go to bali aswell as the close proxmitity.
thank you for your time
To my Dearest Tony,
I believe you are sad about my comments in the blog…face it im true. its not robbery its a form of begging not robbery..fool.
You’re THE idiot
Jesus Ryan, I’ve read some shit on the internet but your last post is just about the biggest load oif crap i’ve ever read.
Anyway as a little anecdote a guy I know was building a house in Bali and one evening theives broke in and stole some of the power tools left there. Well in the morning one of the builders called the police, the police duly arrived and proceeded to take all the tools that the theives had not taken the previous night. They later returned to the house when the owner was there and told him he would have to pay the police to have his tools returned.
I guess thats alrigt though the police are only begging and really deserve much more money than they get. Incedently the thieves were never found, probably not unsurprising infact the surprising thing would have been if they had actually been looked.
Back to the topic…
Yes, getting a car/driver to do all the work is nice too. Back when Bali was really busy with turistos that was my preference. The downside: sob stories about the drivers’ poor village, his mortgage payments for the car, maybe he’s a smoker and you are not, lack of privacy, etc. etc.
I like driving. Now that Bali is pretty quiet, it’s a good time to self-drive. A Suzuki Jimny/Katana is about US$10/day and while it’s a rough ride, it’s also a tough car and car take a good beating and has a narrow wheelbase which suits the narrow roads. The bigger Feroza is good too. Both of these can’t accomodate more than two people and baggage though.
My preference is not to rent in Kuta, simply because driving out of there is a hassle. I usually work a deal where the renter agrees to drive me to my last destination himself; last time, I picked up the car in Sanur, for example, and part of the deal was I’d get drive to Kuta, my last destination before leaving the island.
Renting your own transport, whether a car or motorbike is te way to go in my opinion. Sure if you’ve only got a few days and don’t want the hassle of navigating you can hire a driver. I love the freedom of being able to explore and driving off of the main road I often see great sights.
As mentioned the Suzuki will do the job although it is a rough ride. Feroza’s are okay too. Kijangs are the most comfortable, but have no power uphill.
There are many rental places in Kuta, on Poppies I & II, Jl. Legian, Jl. Padma, Jl. Seminyak, Jl. Dhyana Pura.
I always photo the whole car before leaving, otherwise a ding might get attributed to me.
Yep, the photo before you go idea is a good one.
Bali is too hot for me to do the motorcyle thing (not to mention the bug assault in the evenings when the headlights are on). Check to see if the aircon works before you rent!!
I wouldn’t rent a Kijang without a driver, or unless I was travelling with a group of 4 or more, especially on the smaller roads. It’s really easy to get side swiped with a bigger vehicle like that.
ryan, so you seriously think that someone would spend a thousand dollars on a ticket to bali in order to save a few dollars on clothes and cds?
Actually over the years I’ve met several people travelling to places like Bali with an empty suitcase they fill up with pirated goods (DVDs, clothes, software, you name it) to sell back home. Pays for the holiday.
If you got caught bringing pirated goods into the US and got caught I’m sure you would me looking at some time in the growler.
We avoid driving at night there because of the piles of building material dumped onto the roadway, like the black sand or rocks, impossible to see at night. Their idea of safety signage is a little piece leafy bamboo stuck into the pile. A hazard even in the daylight.
The thing about signage, at least that’s improved a lot over the past couple of years. I travel using the Periplus road atlas (best English language road guide available, pricey, confusing index, but really worth it) but have found that many more road signs have been added. Of course, many are hidden by trees and the like, but like I said, I drive slow now….
Rich-where did you buy the Periplus road atlas? In Bali or your home country? We have the “Insight” map, works OK as long as we are open to “being” wherever we are, and in no hurry to get to our final destination.
CATHLEEN: I bought mine at Bali airport, but I have seen it around the island. Ubud has a Periplus store on Monkey Forest Rd. and it’s there. There is a new 2005 edition just out. The inside blurb lists distributors in Indo, Japan, N America, and Asia Pacific. You could probably get it online. It’s remarkably detailed (170 pages!), shows distances between destinations and also shows a lot of tourist attractions, hotels, bars, shopping, etc. If you do any serious driving in Bali, I’d really recommend it (I have the Insight map too and stuck it up on a wall).
Back a few years ago, my girlfriend and I were in Bali on a tight backpacking budget ($20US a day) so we rented a motor-scooter for touring around the island, sight-seeing. We were leaving the airport and arrived at the first big intersection (my friend driving and me riding passenger) to a yellow light so my friend slowed down and made a stop, which happened to be in a cross walk. The polici in the little booth came out and motioned us over to them. They pulled out a drawing of stick figures in a cross walk and told us we’d have to pay one of their “fines”. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered a tourist but we were on strict budgets and the rupi amount they wanted was our whole day’s budget. We’re pretty tough persistant girls to we asked where we go to pay the fine, which they replied: there’s a court a few miles away or you can pay it to us:) (snickering to themselves) So when we said we’ll find the court (just to see what they’d say), they said they’d have to hold my friend’s international driving license until it was paid (obviously so if she went driving off without it, they could fine her again for driving without a license). that’s when I cleverly explained that in my country, we have WAR-NINGS…”1st time, no pay–WAR-NING” I think they thought we were pretty funny and realized we were too dumb to take the bait, so they let us go…with no fine paid! We were stopped on the bike 2 more times that day for stupid things and each time we got out of it without bribing. The last time, we even said “call your friends and tell them to leave us alone because we’re poor!” and that was that. Ah, the memories.
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