bali:"notty" peddlers of kintamani

Kintamani was breathtaking.

We stood at the edge of the viewing spot in Penelokan, breathing in the fresh air. In the distance, Gunung Batur, an active volcano, stood majestic in green. Along the hill side, we saw remnants of the previous volcanic eruptions in the forms of burnt lava fields.

The whole view was indeed spectacular. Clear, blue skies and temperate weather. Danau Batur, the crater lake, looked calm and serene from where we stood.

I read somewhere that Penelokan means "a place for viewing" in the Indonesian language. From where we stood, everything looked picture-perfect. And being the tourists that we were, no scene was left without a photo shoot or two. Dhana, our driver, doubled as the photographer.

The peddlers started moving in on us after a few minutes. Dhana called them notty peddlers. In the car, before we got down, he said, "Be careful of the notty peddlers..." I guess "notty" here meant "naughty".

There were easily 5 or 6 of them surrounding us at the same time. They offered fruits, souvenirs, postcards, bangles, sandals, etc. Most of them were adults.

Then, a girl walked to us with her merchandise. She was possibly about 10 years old or so. She was pretty and camera-shy, or maybe she just didn't want a bunch of tourists taking her picture.

My friend was interested to get some postcards from the girl, but her sign of interest only brought more peddlers to us. Looking back, we would have bought some postcards and bangles from the little peddler girl, if it weren't for the rest of them who kept harassing us, to the point that we had to run back to the rented car, just to get away...

Nonetheless, Kintamani was breathtaking.