I read the other day that Bali’s very own Kintamani dog has been declared a recognised breed by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the world body that decides such things. I would imagine it now means the price of buying a Kintamani dog will go up and breeders will vie to exhibit the breed in dog shows.
Benny Kwok, chairman of the Indonesia Kennel Klub (sic) is pleased by the development and confirms what I say about price. He says it should be good for the economy and lift the price of these dogs, now sold at around Rp 200,000 (US$14.20). A recognized breed with -a good lineage and a certificate, like a Golden Retriever, can fetch Rp 5 million for a male pup and Rp 3 million for a female pup, he says
But as Benny points out, not all Kintamani dogs are sold cheap, he cites a well-treated Kintamani dog which was sold for Rp 20 million.
That’s good to know… and maybe it will encourage people to treat their doggies well too?
The FCI in its assessment of the Kintamani says it is watchful, intelligent, alert, gentle, loyal and easy to train.
The Kintamani is a lovely dog to be sure, and it’s nice I guess that it is recognised as such. The FCI assessment would be broadly right. I’m not so sure about gentle and easy to train though.
My wife and I owned one once. We called him Neo and we loved him dearly. But he was a cat killer and if he didn’t like someone sooner or later he’d go for them and bite them, and it would mean stitches. In the end, in a time of rabies, there was nothing for it and we were forced to have him put down. It broke our hearts.
Keep them Honest!
The days when we were given boiled sweets in lieu of legal tender by large supermarkets seems a thing of the past. It was nice of them to make the gesture I suppose, but when you consider what a high traffic store would rake in monthly from all the customers denied payment of all change in the smaller denominated coins, it must have amounted to a nice chunk of change. Nice enough one suspects the bean counter somewhere had it all nicely figured out.
So I’m sorry to see a modern variation of the practice resurrected by a major pharmacy, with branches all over the island and a name that does not begin with the letter “G”, who has adopted the practice of not providing a receipt or paying out the small change it owes on a purchase, all without bothering to mention it – let alone offer you a boiled sweet.
I go regularly to one of this pharmacy’s outlets in the Renon area to buy an over-the-counter medication for my wife. In this particular outlet I have noticed that they never pay the chump change or offer a receipt. On the occasion I insist on being given a receipt (the only way you are going to know the exact price) from which it becomes clear they simply keep the change.
With my most recent purchase they asked for Rp20,000, which I gave them. Just to keep them honest and in case they had raised the price to Rp20K I asked for the receipt. It took a while, more than it should if sales till configured was correctly, but it was eventually forthcoming with some manual adjustment. The amount was for Rp19,250. There was no explanation or effort to pay me the balance and I left without comment.
I don’t know how widespread the practice is within this company or if it is just one store. Given the unusual time it took to spit out a receipt one has to wonder. If this is just one store and its staff indulging in private enterprise, that’s one thing – but, if it’s more general or nationwide that’s something else.
Whatever the case, I think it flat wrong for senior sales staff in a shop anywhere to make it a practice to ask for payment higher than the actual cost, not provide a receipt and to pocket the difference.
Unless you tip for service in pharmacies I urge you all to insist on a payment receipt and the change due with in Rp100 and to reward the belatedly honest service with the coins that are forthcoming, that is if you’re in a giving mood.
How Much & how Pure is your Virgin?
Twice a year or so I take it upon myself to comment on the state of the market for half decent olive oil, in the hope that consumers take note and the who people import and sell the stuff are a lot more forthcoming on provenance. The news is not so good but there is a bright spot.
First off, I’m only talking about what claims to be Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). There really is no point in buying anything else since you pay the same for a lesser product. The normal supermarket brands of EVOO, invariably blends from Italian or Spanish labels, sell from Rp190K to Rp230K a litre. The problem with the big labels is they are master blenders, who have been in the game often for over a century and who, in that time have been caught pulling some pretty low tricks, tarting up some greasy harlot and passing her off as pure virgin EVOO. Now I don’t say these guys are still at it, because they sell so much EVOO in the major markets, where there are strict rules to keep them honest (and some eye watering fines if they’re not) they’d be mad to risk it.
But that’s not the case here in Indonesia. In this country the regulatory authority requires very little disclosure other than the scientific name of the ingredients of the imported fluid. The bottler here is not required to provide any authentication that the olive oil is Extra Virgin in the way it must in say the US or the EU, nor do they need to state where the olives came from. Until a year or so back these labels did include a little of this kind of information, but nothing like enough. Today they give no information as to provenance at all.
Now, given the less than stellar records of these organisations, why do you suppose that is?
Given that in the US, the EU and Australia and most other serious importing countries of EVOO they provide detailed information on their product, you might have thought it would be simple thing and much to their advantage, to include that infomation on their product in Indonesia, mightn’t you?
Sorry guys, I’d like to be able to trust you, but I don’t. And nor should anyone, not until you’re a lot more upfront about your product.
Here’s the good news…all the way from Australia!
I was able to buy a 3-litre can of Cobrams Estate EVOO for Rp380K which works out at Rp.126K per litre, which is going on for RP.100K cheaper than the usual supermarket brands from Europe. Not only is it a lot cheaper, like 40% cheaper, but you can be 99% certain you are buying the real thing but best of all it tastes so much better.
ParacelsusAsia
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