Imagine an island paradise where the shopping is endless, the food is plentiful and the people exotic. Then drop nineteen of my friends and family in the middle of it. Poor, poor Bali.
Before I go too far I need to mention I own a travel agency. I won't mention the name of it nor will I plug it in anyway but my views and some of what I say will be anti-low cost airline and there may even be a bit of 'More fool you for not booking with a travel agent'. Let the arrows fly.....
However, I'd like to contribute to this forum because despite all the snide comments and sledging, it has been the source of great information over the years. I think the silent majority who are happy to sit back, like me, have a snigger and watch you mob melt down every time someone asks a question that has been asked 100 times before or doesn't quite fit into your view of things, actually gain a great insight into Bali and the little surprises it can hold.
So here we go.
I quite like Bali. In fact I've been going there ever since I was 13 and this last trip was my 10th visit, at least that's what I tell everyone. I think this was actually my eleventh but I can only count up to ten in Indonesian so it's always my tenth trip if someone asks. After I learnt how to say eleven I changed my answer accordingly.
I even saw David BOWIE on my first ever trip to Bali. Back then there were pretty much three hotels and one restaurant. Seminyak was a chook farm (I might have made that up) and the Denpasar Markets actually smelt worse than they do now.
You could bring back a Barong mask made with matted horse hair back into Australia wrapped in newspaper without much chance of being searched and even give it a name like, Ralph. You could even keep Ralph in your house for let's say 10 or 15 years until you meet your wife who makes you put him in the shed and after another 5 or 6 years suddenly Ralph has lost favour with the wife who you've known for half as long but looks much the same as Ralph when she wakes up. So Ralph one day disappears and he is no longer Ralph the shed God. He's just 'Where's Ralph'?
Over the last couple of years I've been teaching myself Indonesian using free stuff from the net and I bought a program called BYKI (Before You Know It). There is a free version but when you buy it you get a disk and you can change and edit the lists, unlike the free version. It was only about $30.00 I think.
I now know enough Indonesian to understand the lady behind the counter at a kitchenware shop when she refers to me, in Indonesian, as "Tinggi orang" the "Tall person" or to tell the young guys at the Ubud Art Markets that they are not all that funny, "Anda tidak lucu" for offering our friends 10 year old son a cigarette.
I chose about 250 basic day to day words and phrases that could be used individually or when mixed together make short sentences and then learnt them parrot fashion. Then when I arrive and our mate Raceng picks us up I hit him with a hundred and one questions. He's a great teacher and a very, very patient man. I learnt 'bukan' pretty quick, which means 'Cannot' because many of the things I wanted to say or thought I could say I couldn't. I even had a giggle this trip when I was told I speak with an Indonesian accent not a Balinese Indonesian accent. BYKI has an intonation program so my inflections are apparently similar to the way people in Jakarta speak.
Now speaking of Raceng and stuff. I will give you mob as much information as I can and tried to collect business cards from just about everywhere we went. So if I mention someone or somewhere I will give you the contact details if I have them.
So Raceng. Great guy. Very family oriented. Three kids, eldest is studying to be a doctor and the second eldest is also heading in that direction. His youngest is a boy named Diva who is a mirror image of his dad. I told Raceng he should draw a little moustache on Diva and he could pass himself off as his twin brother. They're both about the same height. Did I mention Raceng was 3ft 4' (I might have made that up) but he's not far off.
Raceng
Bali Dynasty Resort
Kartika Plaza Kuta
MB 0811380299
Email: raceng@telkom.net
We've used Raceng for a few years now and I know a few people on this forum know him and have used him for other things such as translating and shipping. When we went to visit him at his home, this trip, he was shipping some big @rse boxes to someone in Australia full of tin jewellery boxes.
We never discuss a price for his services and in fact never have from the very first time we met him. We were staying at the Dynasty one trip and needed a driver. He was out the front and didn't even approach us. I asked him how much for the day, he replied 'Pay me what you think'. I did and have been ever since. He's gone from having one old car with ordinary aircon to one small MPV and two large people movers. All new and all with great aircon.
He employs one full time driver, Gede, and three part time drivers. Gede is his nephew and a character. Gede speaks great English and when he's not on the phone talking to a girl, he's grinning at my dad or me denying he has a girlfriend. My father gave him some great advice last year and Gede remembers it well, 'Check out the Mother'.
If you are ever lucky enough to get Agung, don't worry, he won't drive you down a limestone track and slit your throat, he just doesn't speak English. He does however, understand Indonesian and after I send Raceng a text from the front passenger seat of the car that Agung is driving, Agung receives a phone call from Raceng asking him to go to the Roxy Girl Factory Outlet near Bali Bakery. Agung only gets off the bench when Raceng is fully booked.
Next Laminated notes and the grand plan.