You're Very Nice, I Give You Special Price!
Kuta, 1st to 6th March 2002
Over the next few days, we roamed around Kuta hunting for bargains
and soaking up the atmosphere. A lot of people told us that Kuta was
a dump, the worst place in Bali, but personally, I don't think it's
that bad. It's got its own charm, a little something that grows on
you. Once you've learned to take the hassling and haggling in your
stride and not get annoyed, it really does become a fun place to
hang about in.
We started by going into a few of the stalls to have a look, and
boy, they don't give you any breathing space. As soon as you put
half a foot inside, they're on you. "You want this?", "You like this
one? I give you special price!" If you say you're just looking, they
reply, "No worry, just looking." But they linger next to you and if
you look at something for longer than 2 seconds, they instantly say,
"You like? It's very nice, I give you very good price!" If you don't
want it, you've got to quickly move on, of the haggling begins.
Most westerners don't encounter haggling, unless they're an avid
jumble sale fan. Haggling is all part of the way of life here. It's
like a game, or a script, that's very similar every time. Here's how
it works:
ME: How much is this?
VENDOR: Oh, I give you special price, for you that is only
150,000Rp.
ME: [laughing gently] 150,000Rp? No, no! I wouldn't give
you more than 40,000Rp for that!
VENDOR: No, no! You no understand! This is very good
watch. Best quality. I cannot give for less than 100,000Rp.
ME: Hmmm, I really can't afford to go higher than
50...60,000Rp.
VENDOR: No, no! That watch over there is 50,000Rp. This
one is very best. I cannot give it for less than...[taps
calculator]...80,000Rp
ME: My friend bought one just like it for 60,000Rp, so I'm
not going any higher.
And so on, until either a price is agreed or the buyer walks off.
Usually, if the buyer does walk away (after quoting a sensible
price), the vendor will come running down the street loudly agreeing
with the last suggested price.
This haggling is expected, if you don't follow the script, the
vendor gets annoyed! You must play along, and NEVER EVER take the
first (usually extortionate) price.
A few things I bought from stalls are: A sarong for 20,000Rp (asking
price 50,000Rp); A painting for 100,000Rp (asking price 150,000Rp);
A Cambodia Rough Guide for 60,000Rp (asking price 110,000Rp); a
T-shirt for 21,000Rp (asking price 60,000Rp) and so on!
However, it's important to note that a few stalls & most standard
shops have fixed, non-negotiable prices. (How long would it take to
get served in McDonalds if everyone haggled on the prices? "14000
for that Big Mac? No, no, I'll give you..."!) It's easy to tell when
this is the case. If the price is marked, it's usually 'non-haggleble'.
The streets are full of stalls selling copied computer games, copied
CDs and copied DVDs. They're very good copies, put in proper boxes
with very realistic fake covers that have obviously had a lot of
effort put into making them. The problem is, we had no idea if the
DVDs or copied Playstation games would work at home. The DVDs are
marked as being 'Region ALL', but I'm pretty sure a standard English
DVD player couldn't play them. If I'm wrong, can someone tell me
before I leave!
Just to be sure, we only bought music CDs, which we tested
beforehand, and a few PC games that are more likely than the
Playstation games to work. At only 25,000RP (about 1 pound 80) for
copies of the latest albums & games, they aren't a bad price. All of
us bulked up our CD collections quite a lot during our time in Kuta.
Aren't there any copyright laws in Indonesia? The copying doesn't
end there. You can buy almost perfect fake labelled watches, sport
kits and fragrances. It's not like the fake 'kC one' that can be
found at home impersonating 'cK one'. The copies are much more
exact. How can this be legal? Gucci watch for 2 pounds anyone?
All of us bought at least one watch in Kuta. Nat bought half a dozen
of them! All for about 35,000Rp (2 pound 20) each!
We also found out that the people are quite willing to swap goods if
you don't want to pay cash for them. I bought a new (authentic) Nike
watch in Oz. I was going to ditch my old one, but for some reason, I
kept it in my pocket. When I showed it to the watch dealer, even
though it was old & marked, he really wanted to do a part exchange
for one of the watches he had for sale! I got a quite nice Ferrari
watch in exchange for 20,000Rp and my old bashed up watch!
Most of the vendors in Kuta are very friendly, and although they'll
bug you until the end of time, if you do say no & walk off, they
take it well & don't get annoyed or angry. They never get violent,
but some of them will grab you by the arm, or pull your shirt from
behind, so be prepared!
However, all Westerners are seen as rich, so they will take EVERY
opportunity to try to sell you something. We spent a lot of time
relaxing at our hotel, recovering from the mad hustle & bustle of
the streets and the endless propositions from vendors. However, just
because you're in a hotel room, doesn't mean you're safe from
them...
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