Seminyak

Time to revive the blog with our Indonesian holiday stories and snaps.  We're spending 5 weeks in Bali and Lombok over December and January.

First stop Seminyak where we have a nice Villa with our own pool.  

Labor is very cheap here. Our room comes with breakfast. Each morning 3 people arrive to cook (within our villa) set the table and serve us. Today 5 came to clean the room! Needless to say, it is all done very quickly. Some shops employ someone to stop the traffic so people can back out or drive into the tiny car parking spots. It is a bit like having people fill your car with petrol like they did in Australia in the 80s and in South America in 2019.

Walking around the streets we got quickly back into the swing of saying no to the taxi drivers, touts and various entrepreneurs trying to sell something or other.  However, the people seem to not be pushy, they leave off immediately when you say no thank you and just keep walking. 

Overall, the Balinese people seem very kind and lovely. They are always friendly and helpful.  

The Balinese also seem to be very religious. There are little offerings left along the streets everywhere. They are bamboo leaves bent into a little basket, inside they are full of flowers, rice, sweets, biscuits, sometimes mentos and sometimes cigarettes. I assume they are for luck and the blessing of the gods for the shop they lie in front of. There are lots of these both outside shops and near the little alters which are built along the streets. The alters have incense burned on them regularly. And appear to have new offerings made on them throughout the day. Today when I purchased a dress, the stall owner said I was her first customer and wish her luck. Then she took the receipt and brushed it on a number of garments that remained on the rack. This is not an isolated occurrence. 

After today I have decided I prefer to buy in the shops or boutiques. I do not like to haggle or bargain. At the flea market I haggled for a skirt and top. Lovely light things. The skirt says it is 'silk', but I suspect it means man-made silk or ‘rayon’. It was not fun. The haggling I mean. We did not haggle for long. 

Samuel is sick. He said he didn’t want to come and walk with us to the beach. I thought it was that he preferred to play video games, but when we came back from our walk he was crying and saying that his head ached, he had earache, his stomach ached, and he obviously had a fever.  The cursed Bali belly. Lucky we are in such a lovely villa. The air con is worth it when you are sick if nothing else.