855. KINDLE STORIES - Travel Stories - Bali, Jan 30, 2012. Perseverance in sales

Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012. Last day in Bali


Jan 30, 2012. Pushpapuri Villa
Drizzling. No more beautiful blue sunrise as yesterday. Can't see Mount Agung due to fog on mountain.

Morning. Visited Mt Batur and Lake Batur. An active volcano 1700 metres above sea level. Perseverance is the key to success as I noted that the little girls of around 7 years old do get some sales if they persevere. The roadside vendors do not bother and their sales will be low since there are so many proactive roadside sellers. Usually ladies including a mother carrying a child.

Many roadside stalls sell various types of fruits as I approach Mt Batur. I bought from an aged woman, some bananas and mangosteens as they were sweet. The rambutans and tangerines were not sweet and I did not buy them. A little girl from the stall further up persevered in asking me to buy her wooden spoons or flowers. Since she persevered, I bought three spoons.

Visited a nursery nearby where coffee plants are labelled for tourism. The best coffee is the one from the stools of a wild cat-like creature but I do not want to drink such coffee.

Religious rituals. Many villagers are preparing for "Galungan", a major Hindu holiday on Wednesday when Balinese Hindus celebrate victory of virtues over vices. Not seen in Singapore.

Offerings are made with Pacar Cina flowers and coconut leaves which soared in prices. The coconut leaves are made into square containers to keep the offerings. Also cakes, incense, fruits to make 18 small offerings, 3 large fruit offerings of gebogan. What cannot be missed during my travel to Mt Batur passing the villages, is the making of the "penjor" which is a decorated bamboo pole to be placed in front of the house.
(Pictures).

A researcher of 405 households in all 9 regency-level regions in Bai reported in The Jakarta Post, Jan 30, 2012, Pg 6 - Balinese Edition that Balinese Hindus spend 10.5% of the household revcenue per year to finance routine religious festivals. Around 108 routine religious festivals per year excluding events like the rites of passage (e.g baby's first tooth drops off, adulthood) and "Ngaben" cremation.

Afternoon
While the others went shopping at the Sogo etc, I asked the driver to bring me to see the 2002 Bali Bombing site. Over 200 party-goers had died in this blast. There is a memorial on this site. Amongst the names, 88 were from Australia. The first bomb site is a car park lot. The second blast is a memorial with the names of the dead from various countries. None from Singapore. It is very sad as these must be young adults if what I saw in this famous road is representative. Over 99% of the tourists are Caucasians and young adults. Bars and pubs are numerous. The sun and surf in Bali attracts many young people.

A little girl of around 7 years suddenly dashed in front of our moving car travelling back to the Villa along Legen beach where the surfers and hotels are packed. My 23-year-old driver braked in time. I saw one adult Balinese put a hand on his heart area as he witnessed this scene. It is really hard to grow into adults when little children are left alone to wander. Another little girl came to our car to beg for money at a traffic junction crossing the busy road.

Three thin ponies in their carriage waited in between small yellow orange buses for the tourists to go home after surfing or a day at this beach.

From this trip and from limited observations of 2 days in Bali, I learnt that perseverance is the key to successful sales and that the female gender is better at sales, being highly motivated to earn as I don't see the boys doing any sales at the tourist spots. Maybe they are somewhere working.