Bali, Indonesia
When offering the services of his restaurant,
the waiter or owner will write
down the negotiated discount on a card
of the restaurant. You should keep
this card, because if you’re happy
with this discount, you don’t need to
haggle again later. When you present
this card, you’ll normally get the
discount offered before.
The
restaurants of the
Sendok chain are to be
recommended. After the
50 % discount, the prices
are roughly the same as
in Germany, but the
portions are perhaps a
bit smaller. This applies
to the Galleria area at
Nusa Dua, the island’s
interior is cheaper. If
you’ve only booked
flight plus accommodation,
without any transfers, you
should, after having passed through
passport control and customs, go to the
bank directly opposite the customs
check post to get your rupiahs. Next to the
bank there are also money changers,
but you should avoid them since the
exchange rate is always worse than
the bank’s rates, and tourists are sometimes
ripped off quite badly. When comparing
the exchange rates, don’t forget to include
fees and commissions in your calculations.
Incidentally, it’s better to carry
your suitcases yourself rather than getting help.
As
the luggage carriers here
wear the same uniform-like
shirts as the customs
officers, they are quick to
grab the luggage trolley of
the newly arrived, for whom
it takes a little while to figure
out that this is not a customs
inspection. The “help” that I
got was as cheeky and
impertinent as I’d never
encountered before. When I
changed money at the bank
he was standing behind me,
kept interrupting and demanded 100,000.00
rupiahs (for about 30 metres of
trolley-pushing), claiming it was equivalent
to 1 US dollar (it’s really about 14 €).
When I explained to him that this wasn’t
going to happen and that I had no
change on me, he disappeared. If you
encounter the situation that people are
unhappy with your tip or unfriendly,
you shouldn’t tip them at all. If the tip is
considered inadequate, the reaction
is as unfriendly as when you don’t tip at
all.
more page 4
© Copyright Dieter Klinkhammer
webmaster: Dieter Klinkhammer
Last Date Modified of german page: March 30th 2002 ,
english translation published: June 28th 2003
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