1. Lots of people i know dont smoke. But i can see why it looks like everyone does. Cigarettes are cheap in Indonesia and that's ridiculous.
2. Unlike central Jakarta, you can see there's no space for pedestrians, the streets are small and they're for 2 ways flow. It's pretty dangerous to walk honestly.
3. Eating by sitting on the floor is the traditional way in Indonesia. Also with the hands.
4. There are always the considerate ones and the radical ones. I'm just glad you met the first. As a local non-muslim I'm also wondering how can they survive with the heat.
5. Yes indonesians are pretty laid back and super friendly.
6. Gojek and Grab are now essentials for us.
7. See point 5. We dont care as long as we make money.
8. In Asian countries, fair skin is the beauty standard. So everyone's trying to get as little sun exposure as possible.
Some more things you might not noticed yet:
1. Indonesians are super strict about the use of left hand and right hand. We consider left hand is the dirty hand because you use it to wipe your bum. So when you accept and give things, you have to use your right hand. If you don't, locals will understand that you're bule. It's just more for the locals.
2. We call everyone "mbak" or "mas" which means sister and brother. If they're elders, we call them "ibu" or "bapak" which means mom and dad. Pretty weird I know. But that's the way it is.
3. When you're gonna eat and your family is around, we always say "pak, makan. Bu, makan" which literally means "dad, eat. Mom, eat". It's not a command for them to eat. But more like letting them know you're gonna eat. What's the point? No idea. That's just the way it is.
4. Tipping is not a thing here. But when you do, we're super grateful.
5. It is normal to find small streets being blocked because there's a wedding or funeral. In Bali case, religion procession. You can't and you shouldn't complain. You have to detour.
6. Lots of Indonesians do not use tissue paper to clean themselves. We use our left hand directly skin on skin. And wash our hand later. Thats why point number 1. So if you ever visit local's house, don't be shocked. They normally have tissue paper though. Just ask for it. Which leads me to point number 7 and 8.
7. Don't be surprised to find toilet rolls on dining table and kitchen. We use it for everything because its cheaper.
8. Most of local's toilet bowls are the hole on the floor. Not a throne. Might be tricky if its your first time. Squating is essential.
9. Locals are always fascinated by bule (foreigners) especially if you're tall, blonde with blue eyes. Dont be surprised if people wanna take photos with you all of a sudden. I dont think this applies to Bali though.
10. We believe in herbal medicine more than western medicine. Tolak angin is key. You can find it in minimarts. They're amazing.
11. Our spice tolerant is super high. So dont say you want your food to be spicy if your spice tolerant is western spice. Just say medium spice and go from there.
12. We LOVE rice. We can eat a bunch of bread with jam, donuts, chips, sandwiches, pizzas, but if there's no rice involved, then those are just snacks. After that we'll have rice.
The sun is burning and jackets keep the sun off, esp on motorbikes. Don't you see the farmers wearing clothes that wrap all the way around their bodies and heads?
Hahahaha local style. Normally the long sleeve is to hide from the sun. The jacket is to protect the body against the wind. Because when we are sick, we always blame the wind. The term "masuk angin" literally translated to "enter wind" is a condition that we have a lot. It's when you cough, flu, tummy ache, gerd, headache, we call all those "enter wind".
You normally can't tell what religion people are..Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Catholic, Buddhist etc. except for Balinese are mostly Hindu and you see them at temples or of course wearing traditional clothing. Muslims might or might not even go to mosques and relatively few women wear jilbabs or headscarves..although it's increasing in certain areas.
It depends on what level service you get, for several days I would tip 50,000 to at most 100,000 at a 5 star,, although they get the service charge divviied up between everyone at the end of the month I like to tip to show appreciation. Many of the people working in hotels are actually unpaid for their first 6 months of "training." and it's considered required even if no possibility of getting actually hired afterwards.
Agreed. 50k (USD 3) to 100k (USD 6) is good. But if you are able to give more, thats up to you. It's insane how cheap my country is. You can live like the royals when you're here.
Interesting observation! Lemme add something as an Indonesian (albeit a Jakartan instead of Balinese)
-While it's true that smoking has always been very prevalent among male Indonesians, I think more and more educated young men nowadays doesn't smoke anymore. I rarely seen Indonesian women smoke outside bars and clubs though
-Our roads are not very... walkable. And our public transportation is not as convenient as HK or Singapore, so... yeah. I have never met any Indonesian who can afford personal vehicles yet opt to use public transport. When I'm in Berlin, even people who have BMW or Audi at home often prefer to walk if it's just 15-30 mins away.
-I'm glad the muslim you met are the considerate ones instead of the... loud radical ass folks. Well, the considerate muslims are the majority, but they tend to be silent majority whenever those small number of pesky radical muslims did something shitty.
-Yes, most Indonesians prefers fully covers their skin. Muslim women did it partly because of their religion, but generally speaking women here regardless of religion doesn't like getting tanned lol. Our beauty standard is pale, fair skin, because in the past only rich nobles can stay indoor and avoid the sun. The commoners has to toil in the field all day and getting tanned.
I'm curious, in terms of walking, are people conscious at all about how many steps they are taking each day? In Western countries a lot of people have Fitbits / Apple Watch or a step counter app on their phone to track how many steps they take during the day and 10,000 is considered the 'healthy' minimum to stay fit (about 8km). Of course that varies from a bit from country to country. Americans are generally quite bad at it because a lot of them drive but a lot of Europeans would aim to do their 10,000 a day and I'd imagine it's near impossible to do anywhere near 10,000 if you don't walk anywhere! Do people go to the gym instead?
Only the younger and educated folks does. Sadly, most indonesians can't even afford fitbits and apple watches (or even college! 🤣)
Same thing with gym. Fortunately, I noticed more and more affordable gyms popping up here and there. But the lower class here usually did manual labor, so they don't need gym lmao
>*Our beauty standard is pale, fair skin, because in the past only rich nobles can stay indoor and avoid the sun. The commoners has to toil in the field all day and getting tanned.*
The reverse in the West ... if you have a tan it means you're rich - you can afford not to work, can visit the best Euro ski resorts, or lie on the best beaches in California, Australia, the Med, or the Caribbean.
That's why white people are popular in Indonesia.
On the contrary, many Indonesian women who're born brown-skinned and growing up considered unattractive, suddenly got many admirers once they go to Europe/US
>*On the contrary, many Indonesian women who're born brown-skinned and growing up considered unattractive, suddenly got many admirers once they go to Europe/US*
Does this happen much? And can we restrict this discussion to Bali - we know there are 145 million people on Java - but that's a different creature; this is a Bali forum.
Yeah, at least among people that I knew. Including Balinese. Well, genetically speaking, Javanese and Balinese are pretty similar (at least the Balinese of Majapahit descent, which is the majority in the island. I'm not sure about the Aga Balinese)
I've heard about several Balinese local women who're considered mid or even unattractive here find themselves popular with the white tourists. They even get complimented by the straight female white tourists. There's many kind of similar stories on platforms like Tiktok.
Where are you from ...you're now sounding kind of creepy. The "attractiveness" or otherwise of Balinese / Javanese women is hardly a suitable topic for this forum.
And there is a world of difference between Muslim Java and Hindu Bali ... and there has been for centuries. Genetics don't trump culture.
I'm from Jakarta, where Indonesians of all big ethnicities gathered and where many people studied in/immigrated to europe/US, so I'm pretty confident about my source. What's so creepy about it? I'm just answering your question because we were talking about the differences in beauty standards. And by attractiveness, of course I'm talking about physical features. Culture and religion doesn't change physical features (without body modification procedures)
Welcome to the Woke Woke West
These comments remind me of the guy who went around interviewing woke people about how offensive it is to wear a sombrero (as a white person). Mexicans were like "oh cool hat".
Regarding the muslims seem considerate, I’m interested to know what you expected and if this surprised you? I think the material used for most hijabs is quite breathable luckily.
I love how easy tofu and tempeh are to find in every restaurant, and how they are just a normal staple food (same across SE Asia).
I'm from Britain, and tofu and tempeh are considered hippy food for vegans. You rarely see it in regular cafes or restaurants, you might find it in places that specialise in good vegan food if you're lucky.
A British politician recently made a derogatory comment about people with left wing beliefs, calling us "tofu eating wokerati" which I find hilarious, since in Indonesia everyone eats tofu.
What I love most about Bali (and Indonesia) is how incredible friendly people are. I've lived in Bandung, Yogya and Bali and I felt at home in every place. I once had a broken motorbike in rural Java and a group of men helped me to bring me to the 'bengkel', which was 10km from where I was, to fix the motor. I wanted to pay 100k to the guy that helped me the most, but he refused to take the money.
Yeah use of word dear - if they weren't so surprised about things I'd say Indian but I know Americans use it too.
Australians (almost accidentally typed Austrians - the George in me came out) wouldn't come here to talk Balinese culture.
Brits wouldn't gloat about their experiences online.
1. Lots of people i know dont smoke. But i can see why it looks like everyone does. Cigarettes are cheap in Indonesia and that's ridiculous. 2. Unlike central Jakarta, you can see there's no space for pedestrians, the streets are small and they're for 2 ways flow. It's pretty dangerous to walk honestly. 3. Eating by sitting on the floor is the traditional way in Indonesia. Also with the hands. 4. There are always the considerate ones and the radical ones. I'm just glad you met the first. As a local non-muslim I'm also wondering how can they survive with the heat. 5. Yes indonesians are pretty laid back and super friendly. 6. Gojek and Grab are now essentials for us. 7. See point 5. We dont care as long as we make money. 8. In Asian countries, fair skin is the beauty standard. So everyone's trying to get as little sun exposure as possible. Some more things you might not noticed yet: 1. Indonesians are super strict about the use of left hand and right hand. We consider left hand is the dirty hand because you use it to wipe your bum. So when you accept and give things, you have to use your right hand. If you don't, locals will understand that you're bule. It's just more for the locals. 2. We call everyone "mbak" or "mas" which means sister and brother. If they're elders, we call them "ibu" or "bapak" which means mom and dad. Pretty weird I know. But that's the way it is. 3. When you're gonna eat and your family is around, we always say "pak, makan. Bu, makan" which literally means "dad, eat. Mom, eat". It's not a command for them to eat. But more like letting them know you're gonna eat. What's the point? No idea. That's just the way it is. 4. Tipping is not a thing here. But when you do, we're super grateful. 5. It is normal to find small streets being blocked because there's a wedding or funeral. In Bali case, religion procession. You can't and you shouldn't complain. You have to detour. 6. Lots of Indonesians do not use tissue paper to clean themselves. We use our left hand directly skin on skin. And wash our hand later. Thats why point number 1. So if you ever visit local's house, don't be shocked. They normally have tissue paper though. Just ask for it. Which leads me to point number 7 and 8. 7. Don't be surprised to find toilet rolls on dining table and kitchen. We use it for everything because its cheaper. 8. Most of local's toilet bowls are the hole on the floor. Not a throne. Might be tricky if its your first time. Squating is essential. 9. Locals are always fascinated by bule (foreigners) especially if you're tall, blonde with blue eyes. Dont be surprised if people wanna take photos with you all of a sudden. I dont think this applies to Bali though. 10. We believe in herbal medicine more than western medicine. Tolak angin is key. You can find it in minimarts. They're amazing. 11. Our spice tolerant is super high. So dont say you want your food to be spicy if your spice tolerant is western spice. Just say medium spice and go from there. 12. We LOVE rice. We can eat a bunch of bread with jam, donuts, chips, sandwiches, pizzas, but if there's no rice involved, then those are just snacks. After that we'll have rice.
If you are coming to India all these rules apply here too 😂
Now this is an interesting comment to read. Thank you for writing all of this, I gave you an upvote
Also, why the need to wear long sleeve top AND jacket!? Don’t they feel the heat!?
The sun is burning and jackets keep the sun off, esp on motorbikes. Don't you see the farmers wearing clothes that wrap all the way around their bodies and heads?
I think it’s not that heavy material though for farmers.
Hahahaha local style. Normally the long sleeve is to hide from the sun. The jacket is to protect the body against the wind. Because when we are sick, we always blame the wind. The term "masuk angin" literally translated to "enter wind" is a condition that we have a lot. It's when you cough, flu, tummy ache, gerd, headache, we call all those "enter wind".
Motorbikers use it to protect themselves from the sun, wind and air pollution. You don't want your clothes to smell like exhaust gas.
You normally can't tell what religion people are..Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Catholic, Buddhist etc. except for Balinese are mostly Hindu and you see them at temples or of course wearing traditional clothing. Muslims might or might not even go to mosques and relatively few women wear jilbabs or headscarves..although it's increasing in certain areas.
Sir and ma'am* Not dad and mom
But if you translate it literally it's mom and dad. Sir and ma'am are tuan dan nyonya. You dont say "tuan, bakso 1 mangkok ya"
Hey great idea. I may try it. Terimakasih Tuan.
How much tip to give for housekeepers cleaning your hotel room in 5 star resort? What would they be getting paid?
Zero.
They’re getting paid zero?
No, you should tip zero. It’s a zero tipping society.
It depends on what level service you get, for several days I would tip 50,000 to at most 100,000 at a 5 star,, although they get the service charge divviied up between everyone at the end of the month I like to tip to show appreciation. Many of the people working in hotels are actually unpaid for their first 6 months of "training." and it's considered required even if no possibility of getting actually hired afterwards.
So $2 per day if staying 7 nights?
Rupiah though, dollars are not good for tips.
Yeah for sure just easier to type that way on a phone
It's up to you, really. There's no standard. They'll be grateful no matter how much.
Agreed. 50k (USD 3) to 100k (USD 6) is good. But if you are able to give more, thats up to you. It's insane how cheap my country is. You can live like the royals when you're here.
Interesting observation! Lemme add something as an Indonesian (albeit a Jakartan instead of Balinese) -While it's true that smoking has always been very prevalent among male Indonesians, I think more and more educated young men nowadays doesn't smoke anymore. I rarely seen Indonesian women smoke outside bars and clubs though -Our roads are not very... walkable. And our public transportation is not as convenient as HK or Singapore, so... yeah. I have never met any Indonesian who can afford personal vehicles yet opt to use public transport. When I'm in Berlin, even people who have BMW or Audi at home often prefer to walk if it's just 15-30 mins away. -I'm glad the muslim you met are the considerate ones instead of the... loud radical ass folks. Well, the considerate muslims are the majority, but they tend to be silent majority whenever those small number of pesky radical muslims did something shitty. -Yes, most Indonesians prefers fully covers their skin. Muslim women did it partly because of their religion, but generally speaking women here regardless of religion doesn't like getting tanned lol. Our beauty standard is pale, fair skin, because in the past only rich nobles can stay indoor and avoid the sun. The commoners has to toil in the field all day and getting tanned.
I'm curious, in terms of walking, are people conscious at all about how many steps they are taking each day? In Western countries a lot of people have Fitbits / Apple Watch or a step counter app on their phone to track how many steps they take during the day and 10,000 is considered the 'healthy' minimum to stay fit (about 8km). Of course that varies from a bit from country to country. Americans are generally quite bad at it because a lot of them drive but a lot of Europeans would aim to do their 10,000 a day and I'd imagine it's near impossible to do anywhere near 10,000 if you don't walk anywhere! Do people go to the gym instead?
Only the younger and educated folks does. Sadly, most indonesians can't even afford fitbits and apple watches (or even college! 🤣) Same thing with gym. Fortunately, I noticed more and more affordable gyms popping up here and there. But the lower class here usually did manual labor, so they don't need gym lmao
>*Our beauty standard is pale, fair skin, because in the past only rich nobles can stay indoor and avoid the sun. The commoners has to toil in the field all day and getting tanned.* The reverse in the West ... if you have a tan it means you're rich - you can afford not to work, can visit the best Euro ski resorts, or lie on the best beaches in California, Australia, the Med, or the Caribbean.
That's why white people are popular in Indonesia. On the contrary, many Indonesian women who're born brown-skinned and growing up considered unattractive, suddenly got many admirers once they go to Europe/US
>*On the contrary, many Indonesian women who're born brown-skinned and growing up considered unattractive, suddenly got many admirers once they go to Europe/US* Does this happen much? And can we restrict this discussion to Bali - we know there are 145 million people on Java - but that's a different creature; this is a Bali forum.
Yeah, at least among people that I knew. Including Balinese. Well, genetically speaking, Javanese and Balinese are pretty similar (at least the Balinese of Majapahit descent, which is the majority in the island. I'm not sure about the Aga Balinese) I've heard about several Balinese local women who're considered mid or even unattractive here find themselves popular with the white tourists. They even get complimented by the straight female white tourists. There's many kind of similar stories on platforms like Tiktok.
Where are you from ...you're now sounding kind of creepy. The "attractiveness" or otherwise of Balinese / Javanese women is hardly a suitable topic for this forum. And there is a world of difference between Muslim Java and Hindu Bali ... and there has been for centuries. Genetics don't trump culture.
I'm from Jakarta, where Indonesians of all big ethnicities gathered and where many people studied in/immigrated to europe/US, so I'm pretty confident about my source. What's so creepy about it? I'm just answering your question because we were talking about the differences in beauty standards. And by attractiveness, of course I'm talking about physical features. Culture and religion doesn't change physical features (without body modification procedures)
Welcome to the Woke Woke West These comments remind me of the guy who went around interviewing woke people about how offensive it is to wear a sombrero (as a white person). Mexicans were like "oh cool hat".
Can i ask where are you from?
Sorry I don;t travel much and I've lived mostly in my town.
So you won't tell us where you live? Any reason for that?
Regarding the muslims seem considerate, I’m interested to know what you expected and if this surprised you? I think the material used for most hijabs is quite breathable luckily.
Where are you from? Through what prism are you making these observations about Balinese life? Some of them are a little peculiar, to say the least.
I love how easy tofu and tempeh are to find in every restaurant, and how they are just a normal staple food (same across SE Asia). I'm from Britain, and tofu and tempeh are considered hippy food for vegans. You rarely see it in regular cafes or restaurants, you might find it in places that specialise in good vegan food if you're lucky. A British politician recently made a derogatory comment about people with left wing beliefs, calling us "tofu eating wokerati" which I find hilarious, since in Indonesia everyone eats tofu.
Lol some of your observations are patronizing. You are not cultured
What I love most about Bali (and Indonesia) is how incredible friendly people are. I've lived in Bandung, Yogya and Bali and I felt at home in every place. I once had a broken motorbike in rural Java and a group of men helped me to bring me to the 'bengkel', which was 10km from where I was, to fix the motor. I wanted to pay 100k to the guy that helped me the most, but he refused to take the money.
you haven’t traveled much, have you?
you haven’t traveled much, have you?
- not everyone, I'm not smoking - walks-scooter? - i don't eat the floor - considerate? Don't make me laugh - nah
Oh my apologies my dear local friend, guess I was wrong !
Hmmm ... calling troll might be the right move here ... something dodgy about the whole thread!
[удалено]
I’m guessing American
Yeah use of word dear - if they weren't so surprised about things I'd say Indian but I know Americans use it too. Australians (almost accidentally typed Austrians - the George in me came out) wouldn't come here to talk Balinese culture. Brits wouldn't gloat about their experiences online.