Since my last update I had a glorious 10 day holiday in Bali. My friend John came over from the UK and he had never been to Asia before, which makes you look at a place with a fresh pair of eyes. We certainly did Bali, after a couple of nights in Sanur with some crazy hard drinking New Zealanders for company; we hired a car and toured the island, after the compulsory shopping trip to Marks and Spencer’s of course! First stop was Lovina to go dolphin watching at dawn, then onto hot springs and massage. Next stop Lake Batur visiting some temples en-route and sometimes almost having to physically fight your way back to the car; it’s hard to close the car door when there is an arm stuck in it wielding a fistful of postcards! God some of those souvenir ladies can be very insistent.
After watching the sunrise over the lake from the hotel, we moved on to Ubud, which bears no resemblance to the Ubud I visited 20 years ago. It’s charming, and the hotel we found was also charming with carved 4 poster beds, lush greenery around the swimming pool which backed on to bright green rice fields. Incredible at only $30 per night. In Ubud we went to see traditional Balinese dancing which was more like an opera, followed by fire dancing. The next night we watched live jazz at the Jazz cafe. Then on to Amed for the amazing rice terraces and a night in Candidasa. Templed out and weary we returned to Sanur to have our spirits a little dampened by the unscrupulous money changers. If you see a really good rate, beware; always make sure that you are last person to count the money as the good ones count the money again and suddenly you walk away 200,000rp short (about $22). If you insist on counting it again they suddenly come up with a story about commission and a lower rate as they know they are not going to get away with the fast hand trick. Another thing you have to watch is mixing up the 5,000 note with the 50,000; John bought some tobacco for 55,000 which the guy behind the counter was happily counting. Luckily I noticed that John had in fact given him 550,000, if I hadn’t spotted it, that transaction would have cost him $60.
I know cheating and corruption goes on all around the world, but in Indonesia it seems rife. When the police pull you over, even if you have done nothing wrong, you know it’s going to cost you 50,000 and you get the money ready, the sooner you pay them, the sooner you can be on your way. East Timor is not perfect either; at the border you should pay $30 for a 30 day visa, but many tourists are told that they can only have a 15 day visa. Correct me if I’m wrong but if a 30 day visa is $30, shouldn’t a 15 day visa be $15, but they are still charged $30 for it. So what happens to the extra $15?
Talking of visas, whenever I get my passport photos taken in the Fuji shop, they always come out washed out and over exposed. I worked out that this is done on purpose as the Timorese consider light skin beautiful, so the cameraman makes his clients paler and attractive. Unfortunately, he doesn’t change the settings so all the Malai come out looking like ghosts.
Having visitors from Europe means you can request the odd items you can’t get in East Timor. Between John and Kasia (a recent visitor from Poland), I received shampoo and a DVD, other people received Cheesy Wotsits , Slivovitz, beef suet, guitar strings and flea collars (the collars were not a personal present, obviously!). I sometimes get puzzled responses when I reply to the question, ‘Is there anything you want me to bring?’
Nearly every day since I returned from Bali we have had one or more electricity cuts per day and the place is so hot! It seems much hotter than last year, but it’s just the humidity is greater. Stand outside for a couple of minutes and you have sweat trickling down you, not pleasant. Days are judged by the number of T-shirts you wear and just recently they have all been 3 t-shirt days. It’s not good when you find your own smell offensive. On the plus side though, on one dive the water temperature registered 30 degrees.
The electricity cuts are so frequent that none of the traffic lights are working as it would be too tedious to try and reset them every time the power goes off. Guess what? There is no major chaos, the traffic is still moving just like it did before the traffic lights were installed six months ago. The taxis and horrendous one-way system around Dili ensure that nothing moves too fast, allowing traffic to merge when it needs to. That was the only good thing that happened at the beginning of the crisis, the one-way system was scrapped, only to be reinstated by the Ozzy troops when they arrived.
One bargain I have found to help in the dark is a Timor Leste lighter at 50 cents. It has 3 light sources; the flame itself, a set of disco lights which are set off as soon as you click the lighter (much to my amusement), and a small built in torch with a great beam that you can use to light your way to the generator.
On November the 12th it was Remembrance Day for the Santa Cruz massacre. Candles were lit and lined the street and beach, our local village made a bonfire on the beach, played guitars and set off fireworks, except some of the fireworks were actually flares. The poor dogs were petrified. The trial of the guys that shot the policemen last May was held last week, sentences ranged from 10 to 12 years with 7 acquittals. 12 years doesn’t seem a long sentence for murder.
We are seeing more and more turtle shells for sale. Usually out in the sticks at the side of the road. Turtles, coral and some shells are protected species in East Timor, carry a $50,000 fine or up to 5 years in jail for anyone caught buying or selling them. Not that would make any difference to the Timorese because they couldn’t imagine $50,000 in their wildest dreams. They just know that the Malai will pay $20-$30 per turtle shell and they and their family can eat well. The stupid thing is that both flights out of East Timor go to countries where these products are illegal also, so whoever is buying them stands a great chance of getting them confiscated anyway.
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