Stamped visa on arrival, Indonesia

Its that time of year in Bali when the powers that be try to fill the time writing and passing ‘ideas’ that have the result in changing the goal posts…

There is talk about finally changing the land ownership laws, there is talk about making the business application for westerners easier, but the big(ish) news today is that as of January 26, 2010 there are new visa on arrival regulations!

while floating around cyber space i stumbled across a blog called traders hub, a forex blog about life etc,

what follows is copied from that page, please read it until the conclusion its a real douzy!

hopefully this post will be a mild sedative for all of those ‘gili is the new ibiza’ posts that have been springing up since the guardian published a post on them.

The gilis imho have all ready become polluted by the greed and corruption of the local inhabitants, where there was once a peaceful atmosphere, sparkling white beaches and still night air there is now; stress, rubbish burning locals, money sick western investors, diesel generators, more rubbish, a serious lack of electrical power and only lip service paid to sustainable, renewable eco friendly, tourist enticing ways and means of getting more money.

PLN received Rp 4.8 trillion (US$ 506 million), that was one of the headlines i woke up to this week. A number of questions went through my mind,

1. what the hell happened to the $658 something million that the world bank ‘donated’ to supposedly this very same project?
2. why are the 4 largest banks in Indonesia effectively bailing out PLN, and not taking advantage of this to privatize the power industry in Indonesia?
3. How much does it cost to make a power station?
4. where’s the cat!

the following is a extract from bali discovery…

In an effort to reduce the carnage on Bali’s roadways, the Bali Traffic Police are requiring that motorcycles travel at all times with their headlights on.

November has come and gone, and New years eve is fast approaching, which means a couple of things; Firstly Most of the seasonal jet set have wondered back to the slopes of Europe or Canada, secondly its time to earn some money and finally the rain is due.