Bali Bali Bali

For the past 10 days I have been living tropical in Bali Bali Bali. I thought I might discuss the networking types of things that i observed while roaming, and how they differ to what I know here in Melbourne. The first thing i noticed was the alot of Balinese people own phones, despite the average wage only being $40 a fortnight, meaning that the mobile phone plans must be quite affordable. It is quite a contrast to what i initially thought when I arrived. Most of the towns contain buildings that are either traditional or abandoned, which is evidently accompanied by advanced technologies like wifi at almost every shop or restaurant. I don’t think that these technological appearances are directed for the locals but more so for the tourists which makes sense, I was just surprised with the amount of wifi hotspots they had compared to Melbourne in such an undeveloped setting.

I also found out the hard way that Balinese people have an amazing memory, remembering who you are by your face name…). It was the hard way because I told a shop owner that I would come back the next day to purchase something that I didn’t really want. Sure enough the next day, without even recognising what I had done, the shop owner attacked me with verbal accusations and powerful gestures. Due to the large population in such a small space, I think that the Balinese have been moulded to learn and remember in this way which in my opinion differs quite a lot to the society of Melbourne.

In terms of ‘networking’, Bali has a very different stance or conventions that live within it’s society. Not for the worst though, just different! I like this difference and I am looking forward to exploring other cultures and the way the operate in the future!