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Clash of cultures:
I am in Amed a village on the Eastern shore of Bali, Indonesia. I have a lap top with a modem that is the size of a memory stick and gives a good connection via the mobile phone network.
I have had a bank problem created by my native guide, driver, good man Friday who abused a debit card I gave him to get cash as there is no ATM closer that a hour away. The bank canceled the card when I reported the unauthorized use. The bank in California sent a new card to my ex-wife in Florida who sent it to me FedEx. I can track it from USA to China, to Singapore to Jakarta, to Bali. The remaining issue is getting it from the FedEx office near the airport or in Ubud to Amed.
I used Skype to call the offices to use a courier to bring it here and failed to communicate, our housekeeper no better luck with a cell phone. We could not exchange e-mails. Thus the clash of cultures with technology having different power depending on the local conditions. The local management does not understand FedEx, PayPal, banking credits and debits, but are very deft with cell phones and the internet.
The bank debit card is my only way to cash as I can not get a local bank because of immigration rules. You have to become a resident to open a bank account and it is almost impossible to become a resident.
My parents were tourist in Spain for over 30 years and no problems and I had a bank account as a visitor.
So bureaucracy is different in less developed and less democratic places.
This is the real clash of cultures not religion but organizational capacity. Low efficiency and poor educational systems goes with low pay (here $100 a month going wage) low productivity ecology.