In Reply to: That's a Balinese point of view posted by Charliebalibear on Tuesday, 10. July 2012 at 20:08 Bali Time:
I'll never forget an email that made me sad. I ordered 126 uniforms from a Balinese tailor and we picked up half and a driver picked up the other half. Upon counting 5 were missing so I emailed her to ask her to check her shop. She immediately blamed the driver and gave me a big long winded email about not being so trusting of Balinese (she is Balinese). Turned out 5 were packed inside 5 others but I emailed her a long winded email back as to how sorry I felt for her and I'd pray for her. She emailed me back thanking me and told me to be careful of the Balinese as they always took advantage of kind hearted people. That's always stuck with me as to how sad it is to live like that. I have many many more stories of Balinese having their belongings stolen by their own family members, houses being gambled away in cock fights, land being sold and future generations left with nothing. The Balinese are Opportunists, that's just what they are, and they never had anything of value before now, it's a changing world here in Bali. They don't single out tourists, it's also the Balinese that have to be careful now.