Monday, December 11, 2006

Bali: A Suspicious Paradise?




A couple of friends just came back from their one-week stay in Bali. The husband, who is a colleague at my research group, attended a conference in Nusa Dua. Never having been to Bali before, and upon recognizing the reputation of Bali as a Paradise on Earth, he took his wife along to spend some relaxing days in the Island of Gods. Naturally, they asked my recommendations to everything; where to eat, what to see, where to visit, things to do, etc. (to which I provide, thanks also to my cousin and friends' suggestions and blogs about their recent visits to Bali). All things set; Oguzhan and Emine brought a list of recommendations from me, departed to Bali and came back a couple of weeks ago.

I didn't get the chance to talk with Oguzhan about his adventures in Bali until a couple of days ago, when we had lunch at the school's cafetaria. Surely he expressed their pleasure of the island; the food and the culture, the scenery and the people. But there are also some unpleasant happenings..

The first evening
They spent two days in Hong Kong (also for fun) before entering Bali. As soon as they reached their hotel in Nusa Dua, they wanted to go out for dinner. They called a taxi and (without using my list) told the driver to take them to a decent eating place. That means nice place, good food and reasonable price - but what they get was the opposite. In the end, they had to spend around 60 Euro(!) for their lousy food, an even worse service, and an unpleasant eating place. Disappointed, but very wary from the trip, they didn't want to make this predictable scam a case and decided to use my list from then on.

Transportation
I gave Oguzhan a telephone number of Putu (as recommended by a cousin), who offers his car and his service to drive visitors around Bali for a very reasonable price. Another phone number is of Putu's brother, Surya, just in case Putu is not available. So the next day Oguzhan dialed Putu's number and asked if his transportation service is available.
Putu said he's fully occupied, but he'll ask someone else. 'Is it your brother Surya?' Oguzhan asked. No, another person', Putu said, 'He'll call you immediately'. Oguzhan waited for five, ten minutes.. half an hour.. then a full hour passed. He dialed again, 'Where is the person who's supposed to call us?' At the other side of the line, Putu replied hastily, 'OK, now he's calling you'.

Indeed, a person called and told Oguzhan that he would drop by soon. As soon as they met, Oguzhan explained to him (perhaps his name is Karna or Kurnia or something like that - let's just call him Karna) about places he wanted to go to. 'But Karna has an attitude', Oguzhan explained to me, 'Everytime I pointed out that I would like to go to Menega, for example, he rightaway argued: Nooo, no, I know a better place, don't go to Menega, it's no good, believe me!' 'But I want you to take us here and nowhere else!' Oguzhan exclaimed - and still Karna insisted that he would take them somewhere else. Oguzhan was taken aback by this attitude and started to despise Karna, but still asking the price of his service. It's twice the price of Putu's. 'That's it', Oguzhan continued telling me, 'Even if he asked for half of what Putu offered, I wouldn't use his service; he's such a jacka$$ and I wanted to rid him off my face immediately! Please say sorry to your cousin.'

The next day, Oguzhan just used his luck. He called a random taxi in front of his hotel and told the driver, 'Listen, we are going to need your service to take us around where we want to. If you do your job well and if we are happy, we are going to hire you again tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after, and the next, and the next.'
Oguzhan said, the more he mentioned 'the next day', the brighter the taxi driver's eyes seemed to sparkle. It turned out that Yoga, the driver, did his job well and Oguzhan and Emine were happy with his service. So happy that on the last day, before departing back to The Netherlands, they left him a huge sum of money, with a jokingly-serious message, 'Please take this and use it for your children. Promise, don't spend it on yourself but use it for your kids. If you use it for yourself, we're taking the money back!'

Menu vs Menu
Oguzhan was surprised that wherever they went to eat, they were always given the 'tourist menu' - as opposed to 'local menu'. He thought it's just the language that's different, but a little later he found that the prices are also different (one with IDR, another with USD). In their last few days in Bali, he always asked for the 'local menu'.
On one hand, I understand that there can be a diversion of prices for local and foreign tourists in the case of hotel rooms. But - never having had a similar experience in a restaurant anywhere I went - on the other hand I was also wondering if this is normal.

Besakih 'Priest'
One of the days, they went to Besakih Temple. There was hardly any other tourist around, and they were accompanied by a man wearing an outfit that gave an impression that he was a priest of the temple. After walking around for about 15 minutes, my friends were ready to leave. Naturally, the 'priest' asked for some money. At the moment, all they had was one bill of 100.000 IDR. Oguzhan told the man, 'This is all I have with me, so please don't take it all, because I still have to pay our driver'. The 'priest' started to haggle, whined, acted upset, then begged.. but was finally subdued and gave 50.000 IDR back to Oguzhan. That was still way too much for what he did! But, as said before, my friends didn't let these things ruin their holiday and disregard this unpleasant scene.

Perhaps Oguzhan could sense my embarrassment, which I couldn't help feeling, eventhough I know he's telling these stories not to discredit Balinese or Indonesian people. He said it himself, 'Please don't take this as a scorn to your fellow countrymen. These tourist rip-offs are everywhere. I mean, you can also find it in Turkey, even twice as bad. But really, I thought being a Turkish made me street-wise enough to deal with these things. Apparently not. I'm really an alien in Bali!'

Still, their experiences (which, most likely, were also experienced by thousands of foreigners) in Bali lead me to think about the lack of Indonesia's competitiveness in tourism business compared to our neighbouring countries. We are not capable yet to provide trust and safety, and the fact that the majority of our people are still hungry (and greedy) does not help improve the situation either. I don't know how else to close this journal entry except by asking, 'What can we do now?' to prevent further embarrassment..




47 comments:

  1. haduh memalukan banget seh, walopun kejadian yg dialamin temen jij itu emang bisa kejadian dimana². banyak orang yang nyoba untuk take advantage dari turis². gw aja paling stress klo liburan di endonesa bareng laki gw, walopun laki gw dah pinter supaya ga kecele tapi gw-nya yang tetep kena "mulut jelek" orang² endonesa itu. huh!

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  2. bener lho mbak Tita, aku kan punya temen yg indo gitu (mukanya banyak bule-nya), malah males ke bali karena ngerasa dibedain sama turis lokal. apa-apa charge-nya pake' dollar, padahal dia orang indonesia, ktp juga indonesia.
    ini keknya perlu disosialisasikan deh, katanya bangsa yg ramah tapi kadang perlakuan beberapa tempat makan/orang gak mencerminkan seperti itu.
    tapi turis lokal seperti kami ini kadang juga diperlakukan kurang ramah, kesannya karena kami bayarnya lebih murah *sigh*
    sekarang siy agak mendingan, setelah bom bali, turis asing kan banyak berkurang, turis lokalpun mulai bisa menikmati liburan di bali dengan lebih nyaman.

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  3. Hummm ... jadi berpikir ulang untuk pergi ke bali ...

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  4. kalo jaman kita msh kecil, kita yg ngerasa gak disambut ramah di bali, nanya tshirt dicuekin, kyknya kita gak bisa beli, mereka lbh welcome ama turis manca negara. Sekarang kyknya kebalik, turis manca negara malah "dikerjain", harga dibedain bisa ampe 4x lipet!

    pengalaman temen lo emang bikin nama bali jd jelek, pdhl gak semua seperti itu, msh banyak orang jujur dan ramah. tp kalo pertama kali udh dpt pengalaman gini, pastinya bikin kapok ya :(

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  5. mungkin harus lebih banyak nanya dr awal berapa harganya, biarin deh dibilang bawel juga yg penting ngak berasa dikerjain harganya.

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  6. hehehe terakhir gw ke Bali kemaren tuh, hari2 awal nyoba nyari angkutan umum buat ke denpasar. ternyata mereka punya rate yang berbeda untuk turis, kalo diitung2 sih biaya transport kita sehari di denpasar (nggak pake taksi) kira2 sama dengan sewa mobil :)

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  7. aduh hal ini bener-bener bikin malu aja !
    aku udah kasih tau alex tentang kelakuan putu, terutama kelakuan si karna/kurnia itu.

    kalo masalah beda harga, kayanya nggak cuma ada di bali. pas ke hongkong juga sempet dapet perlakuan seperti ini. menu yang pake bahasa inggris harganya lebih mahal dari menu yang pake bahasa cina.

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  8. satu lagi yang lagi nyebelin soal bali (paling gak daerah kuta dan sekitar); banyak banget orang-orang yang ngasih "voucher" hadiah, dari resort gak jelas, yang hadiahnya harus diambil ditempat yang nun jauh antah berantah... si pembawa "berita gembira" sampe niat mo ngejemput ke hotel segala. Sampe sana biasanya musti beli sesuatu dulu biar bisa bawa hadiahnya (model2 AOWA dll yang ada di pusat2 perbelanjaan).

    Pas kemaren ke bali, ngobrol sama mbok-mbok yang jualan di pantai, katanya sejak bom pendapatan mereka masih belum balik seperti dulu n pekerjaan lagi susah dibali... tapi ketika ngobrol sama supir hotel, tingkat pembelian motor dan mobil baru di Bali tinggi sekali. Kalau sudah bosen atau ada model baru, yang lama mereka jual ke Jawa.......

    mengutip seorang teman... Bali is Paradise itu cuman marketing scheme.. kalo dah tinggal disana, apalagi dengan status pendatang, Bali akan sangat menyebalkan

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  9. Tergantung sih Di, pengalaman gue sebagai Penduduk Musiman selama 6 bulan cukup menyenangkan, bis amelihat Bali dr kacamata "orang setempat" bukan sbg Tukang Risol

    Hidup Baliiiii

    Jogja Rese, pake ada Konperensi gede segala, gue ga dapet Hotel nehhhh, HUH

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  10. Wahhh, ternyata Bali ada cerita kelamnya juga ya. Kemarin sih gua abis dari Bali. Dan mulai dari sewa mobil, hotel, sampe urusan tawar menawar serta makan memakan semuanya berjalan ok...
    Satu2nya yang bikin bete di Bali adalah semua internet banking error, bikin urang aring laki gua aja.
    Tita, setelah baca cerita temen loe, wah gua jadi merasa beruntung sekali, karena tadinya gua takut bakal merasa jadi alien di negeri sendiri gitu loh.

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  11. ohh gitu yaa chic, gua baru tau, tepatnya gak nyadar, hehehehe ...
    kalao gitu laen kali gua asal nunjuk dari menu mandarin aja kali yaa ... yang keluar gak tau deh apaa :)) hahaha

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  12. oh perkara ini sih nggak ada abisnya. gue bareng suami, di sini lebih diterima dengan wajar ketimbang di indonesia, di mana banyak orang bermulut dan berotak usil :(

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  13. wah.. utk kasus oguzhan ini, aku pikir kuncinya adalah ngerti bahasa lokal (indonesia). tapi ternyata tampang masih memegang peranan utama ya. bangsa kita perlu diubah cara pikirnya supaya nggak terus2an superficial!

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  14. kalau mau pergi sih pergi aja roel, tp harus pintar2 menyiasati tipuan2 orang maruk gini. gue sendiri nggak akan kapok ke bali, sebab layanan yg bermutu dan menyenangkan juga banyak :D

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  15. he's been warned, lita.. gue udah bilangin jg banyak oknum2 busuk di bidang pariwisata, dan dia ngerti juga wong di negaranya juga sama.. hehe..

    pengalaman 'jelek' gue di bali biasanya ketika gue ke sana bareng keluarga belanda gue. ama keluarga indonesia - apalagi ama temen2 backpacking - sih seneng2 aja. bener deh, kesannya mentang2 turis asing terus jadi 'wajar' kalo diporotin *hiks*

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  16. harga apa del, transportasi atau makanan? hihi iya sih, tapi namanya jg mau seneng2 dan santai2 aja, orang mana mau jadi ekstra repot begini..

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  17. oh yaaa? gue dulu naik kendaraan umum jg kerasa banget bedanya (lebih murah) dibanding nyewa mobil.. tp mungkin krn itu 15-an th yg lalu ya :D

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  18. aku malunya terutama krn udah merekomendasikan layanannya. bilangin, rejekinya jauh kl maunya morotin orang mulu :P

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  19. jadi sebenernya lapisan masyarakat tertentu sudah jadi makmur lagi ya?

    bagusnya gue belom fully losing faith in bali, secara masih banyak orang di sana yg masih punya harga diri dan bisa berbisnis dengan jujur.

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  20. emm kalo baca sejarah bali, cerita kelam sih banyak el.. hehe..
    atau utk kasus2 temporer seputar turisme, coba aja browse di situs2 atau forum2 ttg perjalanan.

    elu mah emang beruntung ngerti bahasa indonesia, lha temen gue kan gak ngerti apa2 - pasrah nyerahin diri ke supir taksi - tau2 ditembak 600rebu buat makan malem gak jelas gitu :P

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  21. mbak tita...emang memalukan sekali..udah denger sih ceritanya sebagian pas kita makan siang, tapi tetep aja kesel gitu baca cerita lengkapnya. Kemaren terakhir pas eke ke bali juga ngalemin hal yang ampir2 sama gara2 bawa bule. Padahal bulenya udah dibawa ama orang2 indo asli, tetep aja,,,klo di restoran ato toko gitu, mereka nawar2in barang/makanan dengan harga mahal ke si bule ini, gak peduli ada eke disitu dan eke ngomong apa juga gak dipeduliin. Heran juga saya jadinya sekaligus malu ama si bule...kenapa bisa jadi begitu ya bangsa indonesia yang katanya ramah tamah...

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  22. Wah itu sih emang udah umum di Indo, kalo udah kelihatan bule seperti kelihatan diamond, apalagi tempat kayak Bali, masyarakat masih tergantung banget ama turism, jadi kalo ngga bisa meresin lokal yah sasarannya pasti turis asing, emang sebel kalo mudik bawa bule waduh dikerubungin kayak tawon, ditawarin ini itu, bikin Bt malu maluin aja yah, tapi org Indo yang begitu ngga cuman di Bali doang tapi dimana mana, termasuk konsulat Indo yg di Singapore

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  23. Things are the same in Malaysia, I'm afraid. If you are 'foreign-looking', they either quote you a different, higher price or treat you extra nice. I mean, if you go to restaurants, the service people will be all smiles and attend to you hand and foot. But if you are local, they will pull a sour face or ignore when you call for service. How ironic....Maybe because most M'sians don't leave a tip....hehe

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  24. You know Tita, I had planned to go to Bali on 3 separate occassions but all somehow did not materialize for various reasons....it was first the financial/political crisis, then the bombing..then the bombing again! It always seems that the island is elusively, magically out of my reach...an maybe Bali for me should remain that way...distant, mythical, obscured in legends in an aquamarine sea....

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  25. waduh! sumpe deh, beta blm perna ke bali! Kayaknya ko mahalan ongkos plesir ke bali daripada ke amsterdam ya? :p

    Bu... disitu masi ujan terus ya? apa udah salju malah?

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  26. kalo di lokasi2 yg pamornya wisata gini, biasanya 'ramah'nya jenis 'ramah pasar' deh.. susah cari yg tulus!

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  27. heheh.. sampai banyak yg masih silau ya. yg begini ini biasanya gak bisa lepas dari mental budak dan minderan.

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  28. Similar to our case, indeed: service discriminations based on the amount of tips.. hehe..

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  29. Befriend local inhabitants and ask them to invite you and take you around. I think that's the safest way so far for all of us. Or even better: direct your holiday plan to some other island (I would), since more and more (touristic) areas in Bali are getting artificial.

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  30. woy, verveelen kamu ya, belom pernah ngicipi bali! sana berangkat!

    di sini sedang sering ujan angin dan mulai dingin (makanya headshot-nya disesuaikan), tp belum ada salju karena masih terlalu 'hangat'!

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  31. someone can write a book for tourists about avoiding scans in bali, maybe can use this story as a start.. seriously..:). Since I dont think we can change the penipus :(. Mungkin lama2 penipunya bisa berkurang sih kalo orang2nya tau utk menghindar mereka :D.
    Tapi ngga usah terlalu malu deh, memang bener penipu dimana2 banyak di seluruh dunia. Di new york city baru turun bandara saja sudah bisa jadi target penipuan. Orang tuaku pernah ketipu sama taksi gelap, sampe hapir diturunin di jalan tol segala.. serem .. nah padahal sudah kita wanti2 juga supaya cegat taksinya di tempat khusus dan kita tau ini dari ngebaca buku2 turis :).

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  32. bener banget, harus ada buku khusus! kompilasi "kumpulan tipu2 dan jebakan turis di bali"! "how to avoid scams" atau "guideline for handling rip-offs" edisi khusus wisatawan :D ide bagus!

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  33. setuju....kan jadi lebih berasa 'adventure' nya tuh buat turis...:D

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  34. Iya ta, mungkin pengalaman tiap orang beda-beda. Gua kesana dulu dan tinggal setaon sering disangka orang jepang/korea.. hahah... tapi mereka ramah banget dan gak pernah rip off. Yang norak malah temen-temen sekantor yang sirik soalnya kita dianggep orang asing, ngambil jobnya. Go back to jawa! (gitu kata mereka, sampe semua supir taxi mau dari sumatra juga tetep dimusuhin & dianggep orang jawa yang mengambil chance supir-supir lokal). Yang annoying itu gigolo-gigolo deket pantai...hahaha...udah diusir tetep aja diem disebelah kita..

    Harus tau triknya sih emang. Supir yang bagus tuh biasanya supir dari hotel. Biar mahalan dikit tapi gak rip off kaya gitu. Cari taxi juga yah standar lah blue bird.

    Dan emang bener, lu harus tau list-list tempat yang bagus sebelonnya.
    Kalo pura besakih emang terkenal sekali rip offnya, orang balinya sendiri (supir-supir/tour guidenya) aja sampe malu nyeritainnya.

    Gua punya tempat nyewa mobil ama supirnya yang murah, sopan & ga rip off. Mau?

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  35. Ikutan ya Tita, gw juga sebenarnya sudah males banget ke Bali, tp laki gw & anak2 gw demen sama pantainya. Kalo gw kapok deh, waktu terakhir kesana & jemuran dipantai sambil nunggu laki gw surfing, eh gw diputer2in sama gigolo2 bali, & diajak bahasa Jepang, mereka pikir gw Jepang, gw cuekin aja, trus pas kita ke surfing store, gw disamperin lagi & diajak2 omong Jepang, sampe laki gw sebel, & bilang "leave my wife alone, she's not Japanese, she's Indonesian!" Trus kita juga pake taksi yg dr hotel tuh utk tour satu harian, wah Rip off deh, kita kan sudah ada scheduled utk trip kemana aja, ini juga dari hotel lo, schedule-nya bukan dari kita tp kita ada pilihan gitu, eh pas sudah dalam mobil, tuh sopir ngotot perginya ketempat yg doi mau, alasannya selalu bad traffic, or tempatnya nggak bagus, atau byk monkey & pada jahat nyerang tourist, pokoknya doi yg nentuin kemana kita pergi, mana mahal lagi kita bayarnya, ini 4 thn yg lalu lo, kita bayar $100, itu sekitar 5 jam tour, heh kapok deh, asli kapok.

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  36. Tita salam kenal dari Perancis. Wah kejadian seperti ini memang sering terjadi. Dulu atie juga bekerja di salah satu pusat tourism di Bali. Memang banyak orang2 yg tidak bertanggung jawab yg menghalalkan segala cara untuk menjerat tourist, dikarenakan semakin tingginya tingkat kompetisi di bali dan minimnya jumlah tourist yg datang. Sad and Ironic banget yahhhhhhhhh. Tapi berhubung gw orang Bali, i know better how to handle this....i love Bali, always.........no matter what. :))) Satu lagi, better use all service from hotel dech.... little expensive tapi lebih memuaskan, nggak mungkin dong mereka merusak citra nama mereka and segala kegiatan di luar hotel lebih bisa dipertanggung jawabkan. Good luck for the next travel.......

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  37. Iya nih... gw norak banget!
    Baliiyyy here we kammm...

    Natalan pulkam gak?

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  38. Ternyata supir hotel kini rip off juga ya?
    wah... wah... wah... kacau balau... thanks for the info...

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  39. Maunya ke Bali bareng elu aja Lex, yg udah pernah jadi orang lokal.. hahaha.. (makasih ya, suatu hari pasti perlu - terutama utk temen2 asing yg mau ke Bali).

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  40. Kalo bosen ke Bali, keluarganya diajak nyoba pantai dan ombak/surf di pulau lain aja. Gue sendiri masih pengen banget ke pulau2 di Indonesia yg belum pernah gue kunjungi :D

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  41. Salam kenal juga. Iya sayang aja banyak orang yg memanfaatkan larisnya Bali utk kepentingan mereka sendiri, apapun caranya :( Thanks for the wish :)

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  42. hayuk hayukk..... oh iya info baru buat yang mau surfing, di batu karas pangandaran & nias itu ombaknya keren kok... salah satu pro surfer billabong kalo ga salah si dede siapa gitu, sekarang di hawaii tinggal disana asalnya dari batu karas situ...

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  43. wah, jadi serem. gue ada rencana ke bali nih, awal maret, ngundang mertua dari Mumbai. Gimandang dooooong????

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  44. Lhaa jangan jadi serem dong :D Pokoknya jangan mau aja kalo ditembak harga yg gak reasonable, sambil sebelumnya tentunya harus siap2 daftar tempat2 yg recommendable (kalo bisa yg ada contact person-nya).

    BTW, di JS baru ada yg nanya tempat2 makan yg halal di Bali.. coba disimak terus, mungkin bisa ambil info dari situ juga :)

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