In Reply to: Poor posted by hotone on Wednesday, 12. May 2010 at 17:13 Bali Time:
The locals you see in the main tourist areas may be "rich" compared with those who eke out a very meagre living in the mountains, in barely accessible villages. But to deal with tourists they have to maintain a standard of attire etc & they need mobile phones. Everything is much more expensive even for the locals in tourist areas. Often it's difficult for them to buy rice each day. And BTW mobile phones are so prevalent there because the land lines are unrelaible and mobile phones & charges are very cheap.
Even if you get off the beaten track with a sturdy 4WD you'll find it difficult to reach the poorest villages. Smudge & others do wonderful work in those areas. Go to S&S one evening when Smudge & Made are there with one or 2 extremely ill kids from the mountains & ask if we are being conned.