Shopping, shopping, shopping

When we are not at the beach or the pool, Lara and I go shopping. I hadn't even intended to do alot of shopping...actually, I told myself I wasn't going to buy anything. I bought way too much stuff in India and I told myself not to do it again! But it is hard to resist...the streets of Kuta are lined with little stalls that sell piles and piles of everything, and for very cheap. The stalls that catch my eye the most are the ones with the rows and rows of jewelry. Most of the jewelry is made out of shells and beads, but there is also alot of wooden jewelry that is really cool. There are shoe stores with billions of shoes, alot of them are flip flop style with shells and beads on top. There there are the stalls with the cloths. Some have western t-shirs and shorts and stuff but I generally steer clear of those. Others have more "island style" beach clothes, like halter tops, sarongs, these tie-on sort of pants, all sorts of board shorts and other stuff. There are a ton of stores selling bootlegged cds for a dollar each, and stores selling carved wood items, and ones selling home decor stuff. I loaded up on curtains, pillow covers and woven place mats for my apartment.

Lara and I usually go shopping at night since we don't want to waste the daylight on shopping. (We would rather spend the day at the beach or the pool.) Once we went shopping first thing in the morning, and that wasn't such a good idea. If you are the first person to shop at a stall, the seller won't let you leave unless you buy something. I guess the deal they make with the first shopper influences their luck for the rest of the day. It is sort of irritating, because sometimes, you just want to look at something and know how much it costs, but then they won't let you leave. When they finally sell you something, they rub the money that they make from the first sale over the rest of their merchandise, for luck I guess. Sometimes later in the day they will try to use the "good luck" thing against you, hoping to get your pity. I am sure it works sometimes. In the morning the shopkeepers put out offerings to the gods. They consist of leaves filled with insence, little pieces of food, and flowers. While Lara and I were eating breakfast we say a holy looking (well, he had robes and paint on his face...) person go around to the shops with a whole plate of these and he would make little hand motions over the offerings and then set them on the ground in front of the shop. They put these offerings on the beach, too, maybe to help the people selling things on the beach, or maybe because so much of the tourism for Bali is based on the ocean. Unfortunately, then the tide eventually comes out and the offerings get washed into the ocean to be added to all of the other trash that is in there from the resorts and the large number of tourists.

It sounds silly, but shopping here is very tiring. You have to bargain, and that can be fun but also very draining. The Balinese are very easy to bargain with as compared to the Hong Kong Chinese. I think the Balinese are alot more desperate, and the HK Chinese are used to tons of rich Hong Kongers who don't bargain at all and will pay high prices for anything. We are in Bali during a low season, although it still seems crowded, so that probably helps them be more willing to bargain.



Offerings to the Shopping Gods