Cheap Hotels With A Few Too Many Frogs
Kuta, 1st to 6th March 2002
When relaxing at the hotel, we all sat around in the girls' room
because it was on the ground floor and it had stronger fan. While we
were sitting there, on the first evening, chatting, a guy with a big
holdall waved through the open door. Nat and Em waved back, and
said, "No thanks", almost in union. The guy started to say
something, but they just repeated, "No thanks". Eventually, on the
verge of putting his bag down, he decided to go. With a friendly
wave and smile, he disappeared.
Nat explained that they get quite a few vendors coming to their door
every day. Usually the same 2 or 3 people. One guy, an friendly old
guy, they'd bought some things off.
It wasn't long before we got to meet this old guy. He was an oldish
man, black hair, parted at the side, lively blue-grey eyes and a
green polo-shirt. He was always carrying his big, black holdall and
something a plastic bag. Initially, as we'd had enough from a day of
haggling, we didn't want anymore, and he seemed fine just sitting
and chatting. He perched on the outside steps, re-gaining his breath
and sweating a lot.
One evening, he came along, and as usual, we said "Hello, but no
thanks". But he insisted on getting some things out of his bag. As
we were sitting at a table outside the room, we couldn't run away,
and so we let him do it anyway. We weren't going to buy anything.
But then he got out this neat, little, carved, wooden box, that when
you pulled it up, then pressed it down, it makes cigarettes appear,
almost like magic! It was like a little trick, and it was actually
very entertaining! Stinge and I grinned back at him, impressed with
this little box, and asked him to do it again. Obviously loving the
audience and the fact he might make a sale, he was grinning and
laughing back.
In the end, Stinge bought the box from him, he decided it would make
a good present for his mum. The old man also showed us a magnificent
wood carving of a 'Barong' the face of a demon, hung over doors to
keep away bad spirits. I really liked it, but when he asked
300,000Rp (US$30) for it, I really wasn't interested. But, of
course, he insisted that I 'offer my best price'. It was a hard
haggle, although really nice, I wasn't sure if I really wanted it.
Eventually I offered my highest, 100,000Rp (US$10), which wasn't
good enough for him. So I got up to go inside, and he reluctantly
accepted the price. Walking away really does work!
We tell most of the people who come to our rooms to sell stuff that
we're not interested, but this old guy always has something
different and interesting, so we usually agree to see what he's
selling.
The people who come selling to the door must be very poor. They
dress quite well and carry themselves well, so it’s easy to forget
that their whole income comes from just what they can sell to
tourists at hotels. I remember reading in the Lonely Planet guide
that begging is not part of Balinese culture. Any beggars found
(quite rare) are usually from other cultures.
Therefore, the vendors are happy to swap a painting of theirs for a
T-shirt or something else that they could find useful. In fact, the
girls threw an old pair of trousers and a pair of flip-flops away.
Minutes later, one of the sellers, an old lady, tried on the flip
flops, thanked Em and Nat, then took the flip-flops and the trousers
with her. One man, when I told him I didn't want any more paintings,
kept asking if I wanted to swap my T-shirt. As I was going to bin
one of my older T-shirts which was too thick for the hot weather, I
ran inside, grabbed it, and gave it to him for free. He was highly
appreciative.
It really hits you how poor some people are and how hard some will
try to hide it.
Moving on, I know this diary entry is supposed to be about the
hotel, and I'm getting there now.
Our hotel was VERY cheap, but quite nice. The rooms were very clean
and the beds very comfortable. Plus, the cleaners tidied it every
day. We also discovered that we got a free breakfast! It was only
tea & a banana jaffal (a toasted banana sandwich) but it was yummy,
filling and free! The hotel didn't tell us that there was a free
breakfast, we found out from some other people staying there, so
always check that out!
I think I should make a point about the bathroom. The bathroom
was...well...basic. I'm sure I'm going to encounter some really bad
toilets on my travels in Asia so I guess it wasn't too bad. It'd
looked worse that it was because the lighting was very dim, giving a
very dark & dank appearance. It was clean, but the water smelt
yucky, I suppose it's a good way to ensure that you don't
accidentally swallow the water! Also, the plumbing was really basic.
The water from the sink runs down the plug hole, through a pipe into
the wall, then back out of the wall from a tap in the corner near
the floor and out a small grille. I've taken a photo to show on the
site when I get back. Overall, the bathroom was clean & acceptable.
A million miles from some of the hostels in Australia though!
We were lucky that we weren't on the ground floor like the girls.
They constantly had worms & frogs crawling from outside, through the
vent into their bathroom. One night, Nat went into the bathroom to
find it full of over 50 tiny frogs!
I'm sure that this hotel was a great find and a bargain (only US$2
each per night). The question is, can I find ones, of at least this
standard, for all my travels in Asia? I hope so!
For anyone thinking of travelling to Kuta, here are the directions
to the Hotel Bali Duta Wissata. If you're not going to travel there,
then you can stop reading now and wait for the next diary entry.
Get a taxi to one end of Poppies 2. Walk down Poppies 2 until you
reach the 'Hotel Barong' a medium-sized, brown, quite posh hotel.
Opposite the Hotel Barong is a gang (an alley), walk down this gang.
Keep walking down this and you will eventually see the Suka Beach
Inn on the left. Don't stay there, it's a complete dump. But
opposite it, is the Bali Duta Wissata!
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