In Reply to: How safe is Bali at the moment posted by AdamB on Tuesday, 17. January 2006 at 10:03 Bali Time:
Wife and I just arrived back last week and she is going again on Saturday with her sister.
It was the first time I have ever looked down Legian street and not seen a single tourist! (2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon).
6:00 am walks along the beach provides more smiles than you can poke a stick at. We even got 'jumped' by tourists from Java wanting to have their photos taken with us. This has happened to my wife before but never me!!
As others have said elsewhere on this forum, the Balinese are doing it really tough at the moment. Staff are even working in some bars and restaurants without pay - just living off tips which must be pretty few and far between.
We managed to give away about AUD $100 a day. Didn't even think of haggling over prices - even gave street vendors money because we didn't get to buy anything from them. It doesn't take much to put a smile on peoples faces.
Go and have fun - it all helps.