The bad with the good

I guess we have done well up until now to never have experienced a real problem here. Not just on this trip, but in many years of coming here. Our health has been good, and we have not experienced any other difficulties at all.

I have been thinking for a while about writing a post about the practicalities of living here. And I will. Soon. One, of course, is money. We have a weekly budget for this cash economy, withdrawn each Monday morning from the ATM, and even with exchange rates and bank fees, the system has worked for us. Until this morning.

Because of limits, two equal transactions are needed. The first went well. The second timed out. Why did I try again? The third also timed out and now on the bank statement are three withdrawals and in our hand, one lot of cash.

Hiccup? Skimming? Who knows. The first call back to the bank in Australia chewed up all the mobile credit quick smart and dropped out before we could explain properly.

While topping up at Bintang Supermarket, the ever-helpful Balinese man who has been doing this for us all year, gave us the dial out code that makes international calls cheaper. For our provider, Telkomsel, it's 01017 followed by the country code, then the number. How did we not know this? But we do now, and the second call cost about 70 cents.

Now we have a waiting game. But we have also learned something else that will be useful in future.