Family Holiday Camp at Payangan, Bali - July 6th - 7th '2013

Wheuww...it's been one year that I didn't make a new post for my blog. There are supposed many new topics that I want to write about. But...the recent situation makes me kind of feeling reluctant to manage this blog: SPAM! Although Blogger has very sophisticated spam filter, but there are still more spam comments to come.
Anyway, I have to post something for this blog, otherwise it will be out of date. Let's start with something informative. A camping event on July 6th - 7th '2013. It's a family event, conducted by a Rotary Club in Bali. Hopefully Google has indexed this post well before those dates...otherwise this post will not be relevant.

Cargo and Delivery Service in Bali

I just heard recently that a colleague of my friend has experienced scam regarding cargo service he used in Bali. He intended to deliver some stones for flooring from Bali to Singapore. He has picked up a certain type of stones ( a good one), paid it and also paid the fee for delivering the stones (obviously to someone who then became the scammer). Then he went back to Singapore and waited for the delivery. A few weeks later he received the stones, but he did not receive the same type as he ordered. He received the totally different type and the ugly ones. He has made a complaint to the person (company) who delivered the stones, but he did not get a good solution (in fact no solution at all). Now my friend is working to help him, to handle all his complaint. But without knowing the order from the beginning (even if we have a receipt), it will be so difficult because in my opinion, this man works like mafia.
So, if you plan to buy goods from Bali, it's better if you have had trusted partner to ship your order to your origin, especially if you order a lot of quantity or heavy and valuable materials like stones, statues, paintings, etc. For small quantity, you can use PT. POS Indonesia. This company will not cheat on you as it belongs to Indonesian government, but well, your goods might go through a sensor (they will peek at your package). If you don't deliver illegal things, it won't matter. Alternatively, you can use xpslink. My office (the place where I work for) subscribes to its service and we have sent goods to Singapore, France and US. So far its service is good and the cost is not quite reasonable.
If you have a lot of quantity of goods such as stones, furniture and statues, you may want to find cargo service. Some of my clients use Limajari Cargo. The owner is from France, so I guess this company has good network to ship to France and other European countries. Other cargo (a local company) you can trust is Khrisna Cargo. I have never used its service, but I have some friends working there and I know its office. So I guess it is safe and can be trusted.
But of course, if you have extra money, you'd better to use some reputable companies such DHL or FedEx, which are undoubtedly have worldwide networks.

Die Hard in Bali (Indonesia?)

Are you planning to visit Bali? You will rent a motorbike or drive a car by yourself? Please make sure that you have insurance and your insurance covers yourself while traveling abroad (both life and medical aspects). Well, I am not trying to scare you, but that's the facts. It's dangerous traffic here. With all the people here drive so fast, the condition of the roads and above them all is people are not discipline here! Motorbikes take the pedestrian way, vehicles go through the red light and when there is two way street, they simply ignore other vehicles from opposite direction. Well, not all people here are disobedient drivers. There is even worse traffic in other area of Indonesia (I went to Lombok recently and I think it's more chaotic there!).
Well, after Ubud attracts movies producer to film "Eat, Pray, Love", I think Bali (or maybe Lombok?) is also suitable to film action movies such as Die Hard, Fast and Furious or Speed! I should take an "ojek" then. Really.

Karena Nila Setitik Rusak Susu Sebelanga

There is an Indonesian wise word says "Karena nila setitik, rusak susu sebelanga". Well, I don't know how to translate it literally, but it means more or less: because something or someone behaves incorrect or not appropriate, then other things or other people will receive the inappropriate image as well. Confused? Me too :) Anyway, I am talking life here in Bali. I met a man one day; he is an expatriate, has been living in Bali for 10 years (wow, more than I've been!). He said he can speak 5 foreign languages, except Bahasa (the language spoken here). I asked him why he doesn't learn about it. He replied: "Why should I? I don't need it, even I live here. I don't read local newspaper." Ok, it's all up to him. But it seemed from the way he talked, he is really sarcastic about the life here. Not only him actually, I met some other expatriates and new comers from other cities outside Bali, some of them are skeptical. For example, my ex-boss once said that she used to be nice. But because of her experiences with people here, she becomes like her profile nowadays. She was quite nice to me, but there were the days that she had perceptions of underestimating locals. I recalled one day she talked about her land-lord, whom she thought is lazy, asked for her money often times for (undefined) personal use, not planning with his life, didn't have a job, etc. Then my ex-boss asked me,"Have you known someone here that manages his/her financial in a good way?" I replied,"Yes, boss, I do have many friends with that criteria." And then she stood in a silence for a while looking at me. So I don't know whether you also think that local people (most people in Bali and Indonesia) are lazy, always trying to rip-off your money, always trying to take advantage from you, but please think this way, the good and the bad are always two-side of this world. When you meet one bad person, there is probably one good person somewhere. If you find a bad person here, just don't make a friend with him/her. Just avoid him/her. So all you have to do is just try to find a good person here, because normally a good person makes friendship/relationship with good people.Just like an old saying says "Birds of a feather flock together".

Dentist and Dental Clinic in Bali

If you're managed to have toothache while in Bali (hopefully not), I know there must be quite good dentists here, but to find them in the right time is quite difficult. And of course, for me, their fees are my big concern. I used to get my tooth done at Bali Dental Clinic 911 by dr. Indra Guizot many years ago. While it was quite expensive for me since it took twice of my salary to have my tooth crowned, now it becomes unreachable for me.

So last month when my toothache got worse and I could not find a reliable dentist with reasonable price ( I went to a general clinic, but I had to go back and forth there only to know that the dentist was not available), I found a small dental clinic in Jalan Imam Bonjol. At first I was interested to its logo, cute tooth figure in blue color - it's just like a drawing in comic book. I still had one big concern - the price, but I walked in there anyway.

At a glance I checked the price list, it's quite reasonable for me. So on that day I decided one of my teeth got to be fixed so I could eat and sleep well. When I entered the dentist room, I saw a man with stylish hair cut. If only he didn't wear white uniform, I wouldn't know if he was the dentist. He looks so young like he just graduated from college. Anyway, I have made my decision, so I just sat down, answered all his questions and let him did whatever he wanted with my teeth, gum, etc. Finally after I visited the clinic twice, I could eat and slept well, and also I still got much money left from my salary.

So if you have toothache in Bali (hopefully not), please look for Dentes Clinic on Jalan Imam Bonjol, ask for dokter gigi (dentist) Andhika Masno. For filling my teeth, I just needed to pay IDR 300,000. Dental x-ray costs IDR 40,000. Total my two visits cost me about IDR 700,000.