In Reply to: have you been to bali posted by elite on Sunday, 21. August 2005 at 17:20 Bali Time:
Have any of this mysterious "anyone whose been to Bali" group been to Java?
You are believing a myth spread by the Balinese in order to keep tourists (and their money) in Bali.
You rarely get the correct change in Bali. It's rare that you get short changed in Jogja or Jakarta.
Haggling is a lot fairer in Java. They don't start with ridiculous prices as their opening offers (like one million for a hat and four pairs of socks).
You can say no in Java. Usually once is enough. Sometimes a few times. But you never have someone hanging off your arm and following you for a hundred meters. That's a Bali thing.
Javans are the Balinese Boogeyman. They use them to scare small children and dopey tourists. According to Balinese, no Balinese has ever committed a crime or done anything wrong in their entire history. Everything bad was done by the Javanese.
Stuck-up hippies like me call that racism.