December 24, 2009 at 7:00 am
The only thing this guy hates is the vertical portrait.
by Mike
The people in small towns are, for the most part, excited to see us driving through. Most smile and wave and shout, “Hello!” And while I’m a huge proponent of using the local language, I know these people get a kick out of using English, so we usually return a “Hello!” with a wave and a smile.
The second question they ask is always, “Where you going?” To an American this is a question that requires some kind of exact answer, like, “to Lovina” or “the cafe” or whatever. I don’t think they expect an exact answer, since people often shout it out the window of a passing vehicle. I think “Where you going?” is more like our, “How’s it going?” to which we wouldn’t be offended by a vague answer, nor would we care if there were no answer at all.
There’re only two groups of people who don’t seem warm toward us at all. (read more)
The first is universal: young men, 14-20 years old. A young man (and especially a group of young men) is more likely to make fun of us than to smile, wave or say hello. This is the way it is all over the world, but Bali seems to have its young men in check pretty well with its very rigid expectations regarding social inclusion. As annoying as they might be to us, they don’t seem destructive, and there are plenty of really nice young men.
The other group is surprising: old women, over 60. Ninety percent of the time an old woman will not only refuse to smile at us, but will look away in disgust. I have no idea whether it’s because we’re white, I’m male or because I’m a white male, or if it’s something else from their own lives that is causing some bitterness, but they’re just cold toward us most of the time.
Everyone else – kids, young women, middle-aged men & women, and old men – is enthusiastic to see us driving down the road or stopping in at their shop.
We’re loving riding through the smaller villages in the mountains which seem to never get Western visitors. They smell like burn piles and fruit, the kids are usually running around barefoot, the people are relaxing in the shade or working on small projects in their courtyard. Even the poorest people here seems to have land that supports rice paddies or fruit trees. There’s no lack of food here, which I imagine could actually keep a place from developing since there’s no benefit to locking it up and forcing others to pay for it.
