Posted by Liz on Wednesday, 17. February 1999 at 18:11 Bali Time:
In Reply to: Getting around, Eating out and Bali Bel posted by Diane on Tuesday, 16. February 1999 at 20:47 Bali Time:
We were concerned about the same things as you before our first trip to Bali, but most of them turned out to be completely groundless. The doctor in particular had gone on about Bali Belly, saying don't drink water unless it's bottled and you undo the seal yourself, don't touch fruit juice or fruit unless you can peel it yourself, and he generally suggested that the only safe food was stuff that was actually cooked. This turned out to be completely over the top; if you are staying in a good hotel, you are likely to find that their water and ice is totally safe, and that all their food is prepared in perfectly hygeinic conditions. After all, it is not good business to poison your guests. We drank the hotel water and brushed our teeth in the water in the bathroom for two weeks with no problems at all.
Initially, when eating outside the hotel we avoided ice, salads and fruit juice, but we soon stopped bothering about this and neither of us had any problems at all. My husband got diarrhoea once, but it was a very short-lived bout and didn't cause him much trouble at all. Its probably a good idea to take an anti-diarrhoea medicine of some sort with you though. We both had far worse problems with stomach upsets in India and Egypt than we had in Bali.
As far as personal safety goes, we both felt safer in Bali than in most Western cities - the roads in towns are pretty scary, but the Balinese themselves are very peaceful and non-aggressive, and they love children, so unless you behave in an aggressive way towards them, you are extremely unlikely to encounter any trouble at all.
Always agree on a price beforehand if you are arranging transport, unless you are using a metered taxi in which case just make sure the driver turns the meter on. If you use a metered taxi the first time you do a particular journey, you will have some idea what you should expect to pay in the future. If you are concerned about finding a driver, ask your hotel to organise a driver for you the first time, and then try to negotiate a price with the driver yourself for future trips - you can usually save quite a bit. But even overpriced hotel transport is very cheap compared to the West, so don't get concerned about it.
Good luck - I hope you have a really good time.