In Reply to: Do you wear you Jewellery posted by princessdd on Tuesday, 17. July 2007 at 20:50 Bali Time:
am I allowed?
Wearing jewellery will not offend the locals :)
Alot of people from poor backgrounds you will find have some sort of jewellery hidden away for times of emergency to sell and get the money as a backup. This is a very common practise in Indonesia.
Wearing gold for one thing is a way to show their "status" such as other places in Indonesia, you show how wealthy you are by wearing as much gold jewellary as possible, or by how many cows/cars/houses/children/rice paddies/ etc you might have or own.
Some families put gold jewellery on two day old babies, ear-rings or a gold braclet.. especially the Javanese..
Depends on what area you orginate from.
Also gold is used in wedding ceremonys in most places in Indonesia as a dowry..
I've worn a gold necklace, a gold bangle, two gold rings (which are all pretty valuable) and have never had any problems since I got them as gifts way back in the 90's have never taken them off, for fear of them being stolen anywhere in Indonesia, be it Bali, Jakarta (which is far worse than bali) swimming or any activity.
If you feel unsafe about it, dont wear it or leave it home in Australia.