something about bali

1) their cars. the people there either use motorbikes or big cars. they use motorbikes because the roads are narrow. they use big cars because cars are cheap (Toyota-about RM50000, avanza less). what about the medium sized? the only medium sized car that they use is Toyota vios, seriously! and they only use it for taxi!

2) their business. tourists business, obviously.

tour guide, drivers, hotels, shops, restaurant, tourist spots......

other than tourists business, they also carve idols. all kinds of idols can be found every roads, every shops, every corners, every houses.....everywhere! bali is about tourism and religion.

3) their names. balinese has got no surname, like the indians. there are a ton of people in Bali called Made ( Ma day ), Nyoman and Putu. There's a good reason for this. In Balinese culture if you are the first born ( male or female ) you will be called either Putu, Wayan or Nengah. Second born will be called Made or Kadek, third born Nyoman, Ika or Kamang, fourth born Ketut. If you are #5 you go back to 1. when someone says ‘Made called for you’ I really don’t know who they’re talking about. The advantage to this system is that if you forget someone’s name you have a shot at guessing it.

4) balinese's crime rates- near zero. why? because crimes are not good for tourism. because they depend on tourism to earn money. because they don't need extra cash, they are happy living simple lives. because even though they have extra cash, where can they spend? on cars? their cars are cheap. on houses? their houses can never be built higher than their doors( according to their beliefs). expensive stuffs? they rather have homemade traditional stuff.

5) poverty? those poor poeple in bali are mostly javanese.

6) religion? kind of like hinduism and buddism. so expect pork to be sold in mc donald!

7) geographical factors. in a small island like bali,....wait, bali is no small island to me. from one place to another, is like travelling from state to state. so it's a suitable place for tourism. one island can offer you nature, town, kampung, beaches, mountains, historical places, cultural spots, places to shop, highlands, water activities......

8) their tv channels. since bali is part of indonesia, indonesian channels. since it is also as near to australia as malaysia, we can also watch australian channels. for kuta townhouse, the place i stayed, i can watch about 24 channels.

9) shoppings. remember to bargain until it's at least 50% cheaper. remember to buy in rupiah, not ringgit.

10) chinese that speak indonesians are indonesians, chinese that speak malay are nyonya. fair looking good fashion sense chinese are chinese from china, taiwan or hong kong. yeah. balinese that sell stuffs like chinese better than nyonya, because they can sell at greater price. we nyonya can really bargain!

11) language. balinese speak balinese among themselves, they speak indonesian with other indonesians, they speak english with tourists, but when they sell things, they can speak chinese, japanese, korean.....

12) no mosquitoes, hardly any flies at the beach.