We have heard from our friends in the States about the sky high gas prices, and we feel your pain. My dad drives a diesel, so he is especially not enjoying the current state of prices. Here is what the gas price situation looks like in Bali:
This was the scene around almost every gas station in Bali about two months ago. There were problems with an oil processing plant here and there was just a big shortage. Huge lines everywhere, motorbikes and cars stranded on the side of the road because they ran out of gas, etc. Our car sat for four days because there was no gas in it and no gas available. There were signs up at most gas stations that said Bensin Habis (gas has run out). The worst of it lasted about a week.
Here we are in May and again we are bracing for some possible problems. The government announced it is raising gas prices by over 30% at the beginning of June. The price of rice here has already gone way up in the past several months, and so a gas price hike will not be welcome (the government controls the price of gas here with subsidies). Most of the people on this island have no disposable income as it is, and my friends say there will be big protesting. There have already been some protests in other places, click here to read about that. We really have no idea what will happen over the next couple of weeks. It's going to be an adventure...
