On the road !

On Wednesday afternoon, I received an SMS from the VSO office in Bali (this is how most communications take place in Indonesia) to tell me that my motorbike had left Bajawa (another town on Flores) that morning strapped to the back of a bus and that it would be with me on Friday of this week. I was therefore rather surprised to get a phone call that same night to tell me that a motorbike had been delivered to the UGD (A&E Department) in the hospital - just eight hours after leaving Bajawa ! I went up to claim it and eventually got it started (it's some time since it has been used).
Yesterday, I took it to a local bengkel (motorbike repair place) with a pre-translated list and had the following jobs carried out :

• Tyres pumped
• Rear brake pads replaced
• Electric starter switch replaced
• Battery topped up
• Clutch adjusted
• Horn fixed
• Oil changed

Total time involved : about an hour and a half - total cost (including parts and labour) Rp72,500 (less than €5). On the way home I purchased two new rear view mirrors for a total of Rp40,000 for the pair.

I am used to the idea of labour being cheap but it is hard to understand how a pair of rear view mirrors can be made, packaged, shipped, wholesaled and retailed for less than €3 and still allow a margin to be made at each stage ! How much would they cost at home, anybody ?