Post made from: IP=198.175.151.194, User Agent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705)
Posted by - Roger Rabbit on March 28, 2006 at 12:47 pm:
Just returned from a 10 day trip to Kuta and Ubud.
I do not record anything, and go a lot on "gut feel", so for those needing hard data, I'm afraid that this post will be a bit of a ramble.
The idea was to go flights only, and stay at our new townhouse....guess what...not ready.
We departed Perth at 8am, Garuda, and had an uneventful and OK flight of 3 1/2 hrs, with the plane full.
I have come to the conclusion that Garuda are advertising "ghost flights" at brilliant times, and then shunting committed passengers onto unearthly times flights (IE 3am landing on return instead of midday!)
The wife was very naughty and smuggled a couple of individual packs of red and white wine (2 glasses per pack), and as suspected they were unable to pick up the shape of these packs on the X ray...no cross on suitcase and no bribery required.
Got airport taxi to Bali Sorgawi hotel, on Legian where the road goes split one way..north - south.
Chinese Java family owned, and very good if you like quiet, and diverse nationality among other guests. Negotiated a good rate for 8 days, and advised that we would be away to Ubud for the balance. (No probs with leaving stuff in our room, a real bonus!)
Got the usual slightly dodgy Jimny from Uri rentals off Pantai Kuta, and off to madhouse Denpasar.
Usual shopping and Bintang, as you do.
I will not bore forumites with details of trip to Ubud, except to say that it was most enjoyable, and will respond to any queries if needed.
Now the really obscure part, and I know that Mark will look closely here?
How was "everything"?.
OK, its quiet on the streets, and certainly not many Ausies. Seem to be more Euros, Japanese and domestics at the moment.
At no time did we feel threatened at all, but I accept that this is subjective, and in no way is an indicator of any future event that may happen.
The Java post reported daily on the intro of legislation (proposed) dubbed the "porn" laws.
There is clearly recognition among the legislators that concessions need to be made for those islands / communities that have different standards than that required by strict interpretation of Sharia law. I am even more firmly convinced that this legislation will not affect Bali in any way.
On the "hunt the terrorist" front there have been further successes with Nordin Topps associates, but they have not got the man (Aussie Police boss Keelty says he has gone to ground...stating the obvious?)
There is a concentrated effort, and plans in place for a big promotional drive, to try and address perceptions that Bali is not doing enough to make the place safer.
On finacial matters the Rupe is stronger, and since Oct '05 I have seen 15% depreciation against the $Aus, and business pages report healthy forecasts.
The down side is the goods become more expensive for visitors, and the small traders will struggle even more perhaps. On the begging front, it seems more prevalent now, the lady with baby, and suitable dirty look....but I do not believe that most of these cases are genuine cases of true hardship (comparative)I saw kids begging with ice cream in hand, seems to be a danger of becoming something of an accepted way of making a Rupe.
I still have a genuine sympathy for the endless plastic and rubbish collectors out early in the morning, many only kids, but at least working to try and assist at home. I try to help these people wherever I can.
Dogs....in spite of the "help the dog??" foundation, still plenty of mangy ones around (heaps in Ubud?), but no aggression, plenty of bark though. Maybe my imagination, but I though there were more "proper" dogs now, some even with collars on, and even saw some locals walking dogs, and they were not doing it for ex pats.
In summary, I believe that many initiatives, both local and otherwise are being implimented to address the risk factors, but regulars will know that I am the eternal Bali optimist!!
The trip back with Garuda was "interesting". 9.30 pm rescheduled flight, now delayed 1 hr due to "operational reasons" (Turns out the plane was overbooked, and Garuda had been asking some passengers to extend hols by a day at their cost) This happens when you have ghost flights, and then try to divide two into one!!
Then upon landing in Perth in the middle of the night, we are advised that the plane was overweight, and 40 bags offloaded....great!!
Anyway, we will return in September, via Australian Airlines this time, and will be able to move into our Kuta townhouse, which will also be a base for further Indo explorations I hope.
For those interested, I purchased some stone statues and a fountain from Bali stones in Jalan Sunset Rd. (For Perth shipment), checked out roman blinds at AWA, and also sourced a supplier for some stainless steel balustrading for a house I am building in Perth. I am yet tomake a decision on the SS, but the material looks OK, I have brought some samples back for a closer look here in Aus.
Apologies again for the lack of detail, I will try and clarify if needed.
[ ] [ ]