Visitors arriving in Bali often get met at the airport by their hotel representative and given a garland of flowers. Nothing wrong with that, its just good PR. The funny thing is I see people who are staying in big hotels on Jl. Oberoi or Jl. Dhyana Pura walking around town with these.
The other thing new arrivals love is to stroll around wearing either a sarong or a single flower behind their ear. The spirit of Bali and the tropics sweeps them up and they want to enjoy themselves. Nothing wrong with that either. To a Balinese local you might as well hold up a sign that says I JUST ARRIVED. I just arrived, can be translated into, I have plenty of money and I do not know what anything is worth.
On many occasions the friendly street vendors will casually chat with you and the 3 questions you can expect to hear are, When did you come to Bali? Where are you from? Where are you staying? Your happy go lucky tourist will often reply, I just got here and I am from America. They want to gauge how rich you are by asking what country you come from and where you are staying. Your knowledge of local prices will be gauged by how long you have been here. Do not go around telling everyone you have just arrived, even though you may be totally thrilled to be here. Tell them you are from Czech Republic, you are staying in a guest house and you have been in Bali for 6 months.
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I like to say Saya asli Bali (I’m pure Balinese) which gets them to do a double take in disbelief.
Whenever im asked my name i reply : nama saya Sangyang Widi Wasa.it nearly always recieves great fits of laughter.
…and when they see my local face sometimes they’ll just ignore me…. damn….! hehehe…
G’Day Nick,
Nice one mate!. Yeah, I hate those questions too, and after a while it tends to give you the shits.
My favourite reply to any Indonesian asking me where I’m from is: “Saya dari bulan” (”I’m from the moon!”). They tend to give me a weird look and sudenly change the subject!.