Spring Break Bali Lows

Oh Bali!  So many high points, and yet quite a few frustrations as well. 

Bali is a beautiful country that offers a wide range of activities and cultural appeals.  We had a quite a lot of fun and I already have an itinerary planned for when we return. 

However, I must say that there were some frustrations that were fairly persistent throughout our stay here.  The airport for Myron and I was just a nightmare- both on arrival and on departure.  On arrival, we discovered that we needed to pay 25 US Dollars for a 30 day visa.  This was fine with us, and we were ready to pay, but they only accept either US Dollars or the Indonesian Rupiah. Still fine with us- but having neither on us at the time (though we did have Malaysian Ringgit and Taiwan Dollars)- we needed an ATM.  However,  in the airport, they put the ATM after immigration- which basically means that you can’t get the money to pay for the visa until you go through immigration and show that you have said visa.  I am sure that you can see the problem here. 

So after a period of confusion, we finally figured out that you can wait to go through immigration, and leave them with your passport, then go to the ATM, then go back to immigration and get your passport back, then go back to the visa line and wait in line again to pay them, and then go back through the immigration line to show them that you have your visa. 

We had a similar experience leaving, when we arrived at the airport to discover that our flight had been moved to an earlier departure time.  We were feeling harried, so we were even more frustrated when we walked up to the second floor of the airport and discovered that we needed to pay a departure tax.  Having tried to plan it just right so that we didn’t have any money left over, we once again did not have the appropriate amount of money.  And once again, the ATM was located not on the second floor where said departure tax needed to be paid, nor even on first floor after you go through security, but in fact outside of the airport.   So, yes, we had to head back outside the airport, go the ATM, go back through the security line again, and back up to the pay the departure tax.  We just made it in time to board the plane- though then the plane needed to be refueled so we sat on the plane for an extra 30- 45 minutes anyway, and it was hard to see why they changed the departure time in the first place, since we ended up leaving later than the initial departure time. 

Other frustrations included traffic jams, rainy weather , and just the general pervasive feeling that many of the Balinese people wanted to take advantage of you and your money at every possibly opportunity.  Constant calls of “Transport”, “Taxi”, “Sir”, “Massage”, “Boss, boss, over here”, “Tickets”, “Jewelry”, “Miss Come Look” - they get old.  And actual prices aren’t listed on much of anything, and bargaining seems to be the norm, so it is hard to know if you are getting a reasonable deal.  In fact, one taxi driver told me that prices are jacked up by 70 percent because “I am a tourist and therefore have a lot of money”.  And I guess if you like bargaining, then maybe you would enjoy it, but I found it to be grating and I was constantly wondering  if our taxi driver, our wait staff, our guide, our hotel staff could be trusted- were they genuinely looking out for our best interests or were they just trying to make more money.   

Anyway, here I have gone off on quite a tirade, but I feel like Eat, Pray, Love romanticized Bali and I did not find that it fully lived up to the hype.  But perhaps it is also in part because of  Eat, Pray, Love that tourism has exploded on Bali to such a degree that some of the charms of the island are being lost.  And perhaps, some of the blame must go to us, for choosing to visit the most touristy areas of the island.  Anyway, next post, I’ll get to the fun stuff.