In Reply to: Beach Sellers Rich ??? posted by malu on Sunday, 31. December 2006 at 05:48 Bali Time:
vacant land itself is basically worthless unless you sell it and of course you then no longer have it,so why wouldnt people who own land work on the beach to get an income?.Yes many balinese,inc beach sellers, do own land,as do many australians who dont consider themselves rich,but the majority of land owning balinese who work the beach would own the land back in their village which is only worth a fraction of the land in kuta etc,and because there is no or very little work available round their village area they have to come to kuta etc to make a living from tourism and of course this costs them more money as they have to have a place to live in (rent) reasonably close to where they are working,as well as having somewhere to live in their village and then they need transport back and forwards for the many ceromonies they have to attend in the village all of which adds to their costs,so all in all if you see any hawker etc apparently "doing well" it is not all that it seems.
Ted