In Reply to: Nice one! & question re cancellations.. posted by majik on Wednesday, 10. August 2005 at 07:37 Bali Time:
Cancellations: we'd pre-booked hotels by e-mail, and given them our credit card number for confirmation. At Bali Spirit we told them the day we arrived we were only going to stay one night, despite having booked 4, and they were quite OK about it (probably helped that they were very busy). I'd have been willing to pay another night to smooth things over but the issue was never raised. For Ulun Ubud I just rang them, 4 days before we were due to turn up, and told them our plans had changed and we wouldn't be coming. Again they were cool with it. I think that as long as you haven't actually paid up front (in other words all you have is a reservation) you're probably OK unless there's something clearly stated that there is a cancellation charge (there wasn't for these two, but I think there was for the Hard Rock, for instance).
Dogs: if you're doing lots of walking maybe you should consider hiring a local guide e.g. Lonely Planet mentions Keep Walking Tours just off Jl Hanoman in Ubud, which apparently organise walks from 1 to 7 hour duration. Or get a big stick (gave me a lot of comfort) or of course invent the Dog-E-Zapper pretty quickly!