Don't ge t too uptight about constantly being asked where you're going. Think up some zany answers, or use the standard ones like exactly where you're going, if you know, or just ja/an ja/an lout walking). Or try the Malay response, Saya makan an gin, 'I'm eating the wind.' The custom is carried on from the time when you called out who you were and where you were going as you walked through a strange village just to assure people everything was alright, maybe you could do something for them on the way. On Bali people ask you repeatedly, 'How are youT or the same old questions they asked the day before.

To them just reply, Pakai rata, which describes the usual position during sexual intercourse (flat). In other words, 'Same as usual, man!' It deserves a reply such as this because so often this greeting is not sincere but only used as an opening line to get you to buy something. If people join' you on the path or road, make conversation; they're not latching on to you forever (not usually). When you hear Belanda! behind you and turn around and come back with Bukan Belandal Says orang Selandia Baru!, or some such reply, the fixed look of suspicion turns to a smile or a look of surprise at being spoken to in roughly recognizable Indonesian, and the information seems to travel on far ahead of you.