Borborigmus in Bali

	How I was Ripped Off by Chantel Sim

WHY YOUR CHOICE NOT TO WEAR A HELMET IS MY BUSINESS

“I never wear a helmet”, brags the expat on one of the more combative Bali forums. Let’s call him Bazza. “Nobody can tell me what to do. It’s my bloody choice if I wear one or not.” Some Indonesian participants agree. “We only wear helmets on long trips. No need around town in
Bali.” Others, perhaps of a more practical bent, chime in with warnings about the huge cost of medical treatment, the fact that insurance won’t pay, the police stings, the enormous risk to him, and … well, you’ve heard all those reasons before.

But Bazza is intractable. “If I get hurt, that’s my business. I’ll pay for my own hospital treatment.” He admits that he has no medical insurance. And he forcefully says that, no, he doesn’t expect  … [READ FULL POST]

[28 Jul 2014]

 

28 Jul 2014: Why Your Choice Not To Wear A Helmet Is My Business
24 Mar 2014: Judgement – With An Ironic Twist
6 Aug 2013: Watering The Seeds Of Religious Intolerance
19 Jul 2013: Why Do Parents Insist On Killing Their Kids In Bali?
15 Jun 2013: The Problem With High-Mileage Bodies
9 Jun 2013: Your Call Is Important To Me
8 May 2013: How Hot Should The Fire Be To Burn Witches?
5 May 2013: More Phallic Language Pitfalls
4 May 2013: On Being A Cat In Bali
1 May 2013: The Marquee Job – A Metaphor For The Planning Process In Bali?
29 Apr 2013: The Great Nyepi Escape
24 Apr 2013: Insensitivity, Victimisation and Compassion
20 Apr 2013: More Than A Pat On The Head
18 Apr 2013: The Changing Of Lovina
16 Apr 2013: The Collateral Damage From The Van Der Speck Sting
12 Apr 2013: The Tangled Skein of Bali’s Rubber Time
11 Apr 2013: Does ‘OHS’ in Bali Mean ‘Ostrich Heads In Sand’ ?
6 Apr 2013: The Anxiety Of Being Untethered
12 Oct 2012: Is Sari Site Sacred – Or Just Another Shakedown?
10 Oct 2012: How To Upset A Bali Taxi Thug
12 Jul 2012: Lies, Lies, Lies – The Devalued Currency Of Politics
12 Jul 2012: Attracting The Elderly Tourist
28 Jun 2012: Solve Bali’s Problems By Changing A Deeply Flawed System
22 Jun 2012: A Nasty ‘Win A Car’ Scam That Breaks Hearts
19 Jun 2012: Do Smart Phones Make You Smarter?
17 Jun 2012: Installing Democracy Is Never Bug-Free
10 Jun 2012: Gaga Saga Is Over, But Reverberations Continue
20 May 2012: The ‘Express’ KITAS Renewal Process
6 May 2012: A Bali Urchin’s Early Start To Unreal Expectations
29 Apr 2012: Stingy Tourists? Or Stingy Government?
14 April 2012: When Security Sanctions Sabotage Smooth Sending
26 Mar 202: Suffering In Silence Behind The Smile
25 Mar 2012: Some Post-Nyepi Reflections
18 Mar 2012: One Day, Will We Commemorate Nyepi Day With A Minute’s Silence?
12 Mar 2012: Cruise Customers Climb, But Venal VOA Vexes Visitors
2 Mar 2012: Security Strictly By The Book At Denpasar Departures
22 Feb 2012: Crooked Money-Changers In The Island Of Temples
19 Feb 2012: It’s Official – I Have Acclimatised To Bali’s Officialdom
13 Feb 2012: A Staff Profit-Sharing Scheme – Bali Style
7 Feb 2012: Tap, Sniff, Shake And Squeeze – The Durian Ritual
30 Jan 2012: Tradisi – Women Working Without Weeping
21 Jan 2012: How My e-Cigarette Made Me Wet My Pants
15 Jan 2012: Will It Always Be Life In The Trenches, Or Do We Start Building The Future?
12 Jan 2012: In Their Own Words – The Wisdom Of The Elites: Part 3
9 Jan 2012: For Balinese, Soon There May Be No Time Left For Work
30 Dec 2011: The Downside Of Flying No-Frills – No Plane! (Part 2)
22 Dec 2011: The Downside Of Flying No-Frills – No Plane! (Part 1)
11 Dec 2011: Bali Bogans Are Not Always Foreign Imports
9 Dec 2011:  Fire – But What Happens After The Inferno?
5 Dec 2011: The Secret Language Of Survival On Bali Roads
2 Dec 2011: In Their Own Words – The Wisdom Of The Elites Part 2
2 Dec 2011: In Their Own Words – The Wisdom Of The Elites Part 1
30 Nov 2011: Draconian Anti-Smoking Law Hits Bali
26 Nov 2011: When Shockingly Shoddy Workmanship Can Kill
23 Nov 2011: Schoolies In Bali Struggle Without Safety Net
20 Nov 2011: Puzzling Packaging Of Pies And Other Palatable Products
16 Nov 2011: Lombokschwitz, Indonesia’s Ahmadi Shame
7 Nov 2011: Fighting The Fear Factor – Phobias In Paradise
3 Nov 2011: There’s Something Disturbing About Food That Looks Back At You
27 Oct 2011: The Trouble With Onions, And How Carolyn Webb’s Terrible Touts Saved The Day
23 Oct 2011: The Heat Is On, And The Animals Are Attacking
15 Oct 2011: Shaken – And A Little Bit Stirred Too
10 Oct 2011: Indonesia’s Silent Majority Silent While Country Is Hijacked
1 Oct 2011: Bali: Land Of Business Dreams And Disasters
25 Sep 2011: Please, Someone In Indonesian Politics – Take The Final Step
19 Sep 2011: Making Nutty Assumptions Can Make You Sick
16 Sep 2011: One Person’s Normal Is Another’s Neurosis
12 Sep 2011: So This Drunk Comes Into A Bar …
5 Sep 2011: The 800 Pound Gorilla Behind Bali’s Beach Warungs
29 Aug 2011: The Island Where Air Means Water
17 Aug 2011: The Inadvertent Travel Ban During Your KITAS Renewal
9 Aug 2011: Think Differently, Everyone Else Does Here
7 Aug 2011: Oleh-Oleh – Obligation Or Obsession?
30 Jul 2011: Australia Is So Like Bali Now
10 Jul 2011: Blokes Swap Bars For Bali Beauty Salons
4 Jul 2011: The Indo-Strayan Cultural Divide
29 Jun 2011: How To Stave Off Total Gridlock In Bali
22 Jun 2011: Begging in Bali By Breastfeeding Borrowed Babies
19 Jun 2011: Fire! Unity in Adversity in Bali
16 Jun 2011: Bali – The Shangri-la Of Stridency
6 Jun 2011: Let’s Keep Cycling Fun And Lycra-free In Bali!
29 May 2011: Washing My Naked Aphrodite’s Bits
22 May 2011: Coffee Spills, Hungry Dogs And Serviettes In Bali
15 May 2011: The Sate Was Flaming Good
8 May 2011: How I Escaped From The Parking Maze At Centro
27 Apr 2011: Dancing the Traffic Cop Tango in Bali
6 Mar 2011: The Post-Nyepi Breakfast Debacle
3 Feb 2011: Bali’s Snake of Greed Is Consuming Its Own Tail
15 Jan 2011: You’ve Got Mail – Well, Two-thirds Of It Anyway
13 Jan 2011: How To Go Clinically Insane Paying a Water Bill
30 Dec 2010: The Bogans Are Here Again
19 Oct 2010: The Bali Incendiary Wallet
17 Oct 2010: FISKAL: It’s on, it’s off, it’s on again …
14 Oct 2010: Up the Rear For Money
11 Oct 2010: How To Get Run Over In Bali
26 Sep 2010: Peeling Back The Layers Of The Bali Onion
18 Sep 2010: Keeping Your Eyes On Those ATM Bandits
12 Sep 2010: Round The Island – Getting Away From It All
5 Sep 2010: Bali Villa Guests – You Get All Kinds
29 Aug 2010: The Faustian Bargain Which is Ruining Bali
22 Aug 2010: Sob Stories and Scams in Paradise
14 Aug 2010: Balloons, Broken Broadband and Bill Payments in Bali
8 Aug 2010: The Great Bali Airport Bottleneck
1 Aug 2010: A Mistake That Was Meant to Be
4 Jul 2010: The Other Bali – Life Outside Greater Kuta
2 Jul 2010: Lazy Expat Days in Bali
30 Jun 2010: Babysitting the Dog – Masuk Anjing?
29 Jun 2010: Close Encounters of the Snake Kind
27 Jun 2010: Great Balls of Fire! The Gas Bottle Regulator Scam
16 Jun 2010: How to Fix Bali’s Parking Chaos
13 Jun 2010: How to Make Tourists and Expats Disappear from Bali
3 Jun 2010: Anatomy of a Motorbike Accident in Bali
28 May 2010: How Occupational Health and Safety Works in Bali
23 May 2010: A Bule by Any Other Name is Still a Bule
16 May 2010: In Search of the Perfect Massage
9 May 2010: How To Purify Your Villa and Blow Up Your Light Fittings
2 May 2010: The Death of a Thousand Cuts
25 Apr 2010: Shopping, Memory Loss and Mice
11 Apr 2010: Why the Police Will Never Get “Safety Riding” to Work
3 Apr 2010: When Your Pool Leaks, Admit Nothing
27 Mar 2010: Why the Bluebird of Happiness is Under Attack
21 Mar 2010: When ‘Bums on Seats’ Is More Than a Theatre Term
13 Mar 2010: How to Get Rid of Hornets Without Lifting a Finger
7 Mar 2010: Life Without Consequences
27 Feb 2010: Rain, Rain – Go Away!
21 Feb 2010: Money, Money, Money
11 Feb 2010: JETPLAN – Bali’s Strange Design and Construction Philosophy
3 Feb 2010: How The Little Things in Bali Can Bug You
31 Jan 2010: The Only Watch You Will Ever Need in Bali
24 Jan 2010: Pacific Blues: Virgin on the Ridiculous in Bali
17 Jan 2010: Take a Walk on the Mild Side
10 Jan 2010: Like a Candle in the Ear
3 Jan 2010: Oh Telstra – please learn from Bali!
21 Dec 2009: Department stores blues – with tinsel
10 Dec 2009: Food – from mild to wild and back
6 Dec 2009: Fit happens, right?
29 Nov 2009: My villa is broken
23 Nov 2009: The Gap – it’s bigger than I thought
13 Nov 2009: More power to the people – please!
8 Nov 2009: A Super Natural Experience
30 Oct 2009: Bali – Contrasts, contradictions and rubbish
25 Oct 2009: The Zen chaos of Bali traffic
14 Oct 2009: Sex, money, lies and desperation
11 Oct 2009: Mind-reading, teleporting pembantus
4 Oct 2009: Bribery, opportunism, corruption – or just economics, Bali style?
27 Sep 2009: Saya lupa? I forget …
16 Sep 2009: Serendipity – meeting the Muse in Bali
12 Sep 2009: Why you shouldn’t buy a villa in Bali
7 Sep 2009: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Respect (just a little bit)
31 Aug 2009: Visitors at my Bali villa
21 Aug 2009: Strange language experiences
25 Jul 2009: Buying a motorbike in Bali
7 Jul 2009: 20 signs that you’ve become used to living in Bali
6 Jul 2009: Medical insurance in Bali
5 Jul 2009: The fauna that lives around my villa
29 Jun 2009: Going shopping on a motorbike
28 Jun 2009: Yikes! I have to pay FISKAL to leave the country!
27 Jun 2009: The joys of collecting unaccompanied baggage
27 Jun 2009: Settling into the villa
27 Jun 2009: The Bali Visa maze
26 Jun 2009: The journey begins …

29 Mar 2010: How I was ripped Off by Chantel Sim
8 Dec 2009: The bullshit about climate change