In Reply to: hello tara posted by annieangel on Wednesday, 22. November 2006 at 19:10 Bali Time:
lmao!
you are freaking out over nothing. im friends w/ the balinese ppl & they consider me as their own. the only person here assuming things is u. they get supported fine by tourism so what they actually need is more tourists. i'm telling everybody i know to go there coz its just SO freakin beautiful. i dont diss them. i diss the approach. the same could be said about any place. there are certain places in rajasthan where the sellers r agressive, too.
nobody should be forced to buy things of inferior quality just because you pity the seller. id rather pay a bit more for quality stuff. so long as it fits & the batik isnt runny & machine pressed. ya feel me?
but the crowds arent what they used to be, i am told by several food servers that lamented. in a way its a blessing to have less crowds but when the shops close early, u kinda feel sad for the toirism ppl.
so we help out by tipping even tho theres already a service charge. im not stingy on anything except for matters like skirts that i can but here at a swap meet open market on sundays. we were at the lotus cafe in ubud & it was dead save for a few tourists here & there. the japanese are the ones breathing life into bali's tourism, as of late.
as for hawkers, i think everybody should hustle. i mean im in retail & i make a living selling so i know what its like. but i think its never okay to grab ppl by their arms & breath down their face. calm down, miss annie. its really no big deal. lets just agree to disagree. end of. :)