2nd February 09
Bali struck my pleasure chords more harmoniously than Jojga. I decided to add another 5 days to the Bali stay. I had booked a round flight from Jogja to Denpasar on Mandala Air. Cost about 760 000 IR. When I phoned the Mandala Air Denpasar office to change the return flight date I was surprised how easy it was. I could hear the Mandala travel clerk and she could hear me. She could understand my English and I could understand hers. It was no trouble getting the flight changed. I was so pleased that it was simple and straightforward that the significance of the final sentences of the conversation only struck home when I walked away from the phone booth. I was now booked onto a Monday morning flight instead of one the preceeding Wednesday. All I would have to do is pay the penalty fee of 560 000 IR. I’d even asked if I could pay that when I arrived for the flight on the Monday morning. Yes, that would be fine; the assistant told me. I reflected on the conversation and properly registered the penalty against the cost of the return flight itself. It was over 75% of the original cost of the round trip. As I thought about it the cost became more crazy. In addition, I was led to believe throughout the conversation that this was a simple flight adjustment. Jeeeeez. I estimated that there was cause for complaint. The following day I phoned again and managed to speak to Daisy, a very pleasant lady ….. another one (!), who listened carefully to my story. I told her I found it difficult to accept that I would have to pay an additional sum that is 75% of the original return trip cost just to get on a flight five days later than the original schedule. A sum that was sprung on me at the end of a conversation that never hinted at any penalty charge until I could not turn back. She was sympathetic but unwavering, possibly because she could not be anything but unwavering within the guidelines of her work. She said that she would consult with her manager. I told her that I would be taking my friend to the airport the next day and that I would try to come to the office to see her. It turns out that her office was not at the airport but the staff at the airport office were kind enough to connect me to the Denpasar office and I spoke to Daisy again. I apologised for the confusion about the office location. Daisy had some news for me. Unfortunately the office manager had not been forthcoming of a solution to my concerns. So the two ladies, Daisy and the lady that had made the original change to my flight schedule, had got together and decided that they would help me by paying the balance of the penalty between them if I paid 200 000 IR. I felt overawed by their kindness.
During this visit to Indonesia and Jogja I have spent most of my relaxing time in the area of Jalan Prawirotaman and Jalan Perengtritis. I regularly frequented the Banana Cafe. It is an odd place! The staff consist of two gay guys Peter and Krishna. Krishna’s gay drama is sickly humorous. There are two female staff Julie and her neice. There is much encouragement to drink beer against a running tab. With large bottles of Bintang at 22 000 IR a throw its not such a bad deal.. until you get to the end of the evening. On receipt of the bill I have never once NOT had the thought…’OMG have I drunk that much?’. My nature is to assign a little uncertainty to accounting after a couple of bottles of Bintang and hence take the inferior position in any suspected billing error and just pay up. It’s usually gone from my mind after not more than the first couple of giddy paces up the street toward my hotel.
However when it happened a third(!)time I began to re asses.
My friend, Barry at Rumah Eyang laughed when I mentioned it. Are you naive, stupid or both? He asked. he had worked out a long time ago that this happened at many places where you could drink on a running bill. He won’t drink on a running bill and asks to pay for each bottle as it is brought to his table.
Last night I was a little bored and ended up walking the five minutes to Banana Cafe for a late evening beer. They were pleased to see me! Of course they were …..Grahams back! I sat at the bar and made a little regular conversation about my drinking progess. This is my first bottle. Gosh I am still drinking my first bottle. Look I have this much still left in my FIRST BOTTLE! I only did one more bottle and remarked several times that I was enjoying a second bottle. I felt it was quite fun. A little like a party game! How could they catch me out tonight. Two thirds of the way through the second bottle and I was well into my fourth card trick. Peter is behind the bar paying an increasing interest in my entertainment as his incredulity at my magic grows. Then it happens. He just walked over to the refrigerator, pulled a small Bintang and announced that I was buying it for him. It was my turn to feel astounded. Before you could say ‘grab that cobra’ the top was off and the bottle was at his mouth. I shook my head. There it was! No room for an underhand swindle so he went for the public announcement. I put the cards away and sulked a little. Jeeez. I didn’t argue. I was speechless. I’m still speechless now when I re read this text. An opportunity to swindle was more important than a happy customer at the Banana Cafe.
I have done my best to keep a balance by relaying the Mandala Air story but unexpected disappointment makes more of a mark than expected pleasure.
Art promoted in some of the outlets in Bali displayed a primitive and often tribal character. It attracted me immensely. Owning any of the pieces would be impractical during this nomadic period of life. I would photograph some of the work though. My thoughts evolved through stages of wanting to share this art with people to the less artistic and more commercial thoughts of… would people for which this art had some attraction be willing to pay more than I could purchase these pieces for? I had the internet at my disposal after all! I knew that most of these operations were not promoting their goods on the internet at all. So I took a step forward and visited the shops that had the most attractive pieces and the most friendly of assistants and explained to them what I would like to do. In every case in Bali the outlets were pleased I was helping them to achieve improved sales. Considerable help was offered in the undertaking of my task. The initial results of my experiment can be seen at http://www.diversah.com/art.htm
Then I came to Jogja. Jogja appears to be less of a showcase for the primitive art that attracted me so much and has a greater leaning towards antiques of not only Indonesian heritage but also of European heritage. For a reason that I still don’t understand red pvc and chrome barbers chairs appeared to figure strongly in the offerings. The outlets frequently hosted a mish mash of goods that hung precariously one rung above throw on the throw or stow assessment ladder that I would have applied. I have been known to stow some real junk in my time too! The outlets showed little creativity in their organisation or flair in their presentation, putting one in mind of a cross between a pawn shop and, what during my youth was called a second hand shop. One example of the glorified junk shop that I describe was an outlet called Moesson Antik. I found a couple of items in amongst the hilarious line up of barbers chairs and wanky mid 20th century Pathe News cinema projectors that got close to my interest in primitive and/or tribal art. Moesson Antik in Jalan Prawirotaman was just twenty yards from my accomodation and on my second visit into this outlet I explained my intentions to the shop assistant who seemed happy to work with me in an effort to increase sales of her extensive collection of items that have appear to have been the subject of the discard button in others objective assessments. Cool.
Later social chit chat led me to believe that there were outlets of lesser tourist dress located in other parts of the city that may serve my interests more effectively. West Imogiri? I decided to employ the help of Alice, a graduate from the Rumah Eyang school of tour guides to help me winkle out these less touristy and potentially more(?) ‘discard button’ oriented operations. More of Alice later! West Imogiri didn’t have a great deal to offer me. There was a heavy bias toward furniture. After a couple of hours around the West Imogiri region of Jogja we chose to head back in toward the city for the purpose of taking a bite to eat and a review of status on my art exploration day. We had just headed back in from the South end of the outer circular road into Jalan Parangtritis and what should appear on the nearside of the road but a Moesson Antik shop. I asked Alice to pull over and I wandered into the shop to meet one of the assistants that I had met in my first visit to Moesson Antik in Jalan Prawirotaman. Her name was Famah. A pleasant and attractive young lady. I wandered round the shop noticing a couple of items that interested me. I explained that I would like to take some photo’s and proposed to meet her asking price on the items if I could find a buyer. At this point Famah became heated! It was clear that there had been some Moesson internal debate on my ideas and something of a turnaround in their thinking and resulting policy. She would allow me to take photos but forbade me any action beyond that to find a buyer. Mmmm… a photos is ok but the rest is out of order…an odd approach that reflects the flawed Moesson thinking rather perfectly I thought. In her fluster and at my suggestion that it was irrational of her to make such a suggestion, Famah described my proposed action as cheating. As I conducted some of my own internal debate on that topic a colleague of Famah’s appeared from behind a nearby wanky Pathe News cinema projector to explain that they were just messengers and that this was the decision of her boss. Of course he didn’t then appear from behind the wanky Pathe News cinema projector and I was deprived of a character of substance with whom I could debate the rationale for such a suggestion. How could this be anything but positive based on the increased potential for the shop to sell at their asking price. However I could see that Famah felt that she was more than just a messenger and had taken the sentiment of the manager and his message to heart, believing with some sincerity that this was in fact cheating! I didn’t want to upset her further and left. I liked Famah. She was responsible and passionate about her work, evident from the great show of upholding company policy made in the face of my daunting presence! Maybe I should have explained that I didn’t think I would get much of a result from my efforts… it was more of something to do than anything else. Famah..you are sweet! Mr Moesson..I describe the Pathe News cinema projectors in your shops and your thinking by the same adjective.
Down The Road 