In Reply to: Going Bali Solo posted by Bonnie on Saturday, 21. August 1999 at 06:28 Bali Time:
The up side of travelling on your own is that you can choose if you want to have company (it certainly is there for the taking). The only downside is the rather unashamed desire for local males to want to marry a rich foreigner (all tourismos are rich to them - even if you are slumming it your airfare is more than many of them dream of) This desire to leave the island for greener pastures magnetises them to you and even though they are clearly not conversational in English, they will nevertheless show off their confidence in getting to first base. Of course there is the non-verbal. Many solo travellers I met chose to invent partners which mostly does the trip. If asked where you are staying - something vague like "at the beach" does the trick and never give your cottage/room number unless of course you desire visitation hem hem. The degree of unsoliticed attention is no more than other tourist destinations and at least they are refreshingly upfront about their intentions.
Enjoy your solo sojourn.