Bali & Bangkok

"Chris Blunt" kirjoitti
om...
On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:03:57 +0200, "Frank" wrote:

steer clear of most of the dudes hanging out in front
of the resorts, looking for a quick buck and ripping
you off.

That's normally good advice, and I would usually do the same, but I
just came back from Bali and had a very different experience there.

This guy had his own minibus and used to hang out in front of the
resort I was staying in (Bali Tropic Hotel in Nusa Dua). I used to get
a metered taxi from there into Kuta most evenings, and the metered
fare was always around 75,000 Rupiah. One evening there didn't seem to
be any taxis around so I asked him how much he would charge and he
quoted 70,000 Rupiah. He got my business that evening, and I used him
every day from then on. I would never have expected a private
transport operator to match a metered taxi fare, so in fairness to
this guy I just wanted to go on record and mention it here.

Once I arrived in a Surabaya bus terminal a way out from town. When the taxi
drivers saw me they instantly established a price cartel and asked 50.000
rupiah for a ride to downtown. I found the fare ridiculous. Soon a taxi
driver at the rear end of the queue broke it down and was willing to drive
me to town the meter on. The ride cost me 8.500 rupiah.........