Hi All, just got back from Bali on Saturday, we were there for 9 days. We had a great time, felt very safe the entire time. Well, we got a little worried when Bali all of a sudden became completely packed, all of the roads in Kuta jammed up and there were people everywhere (Muhammad's birthday apparently, so LOTS of Javanese came to holiday for a couple of days). A couple from Java were actually staying in the room next door to us (Santika Hotel) and we went over and had a drink with them, great people, had a good chat about the bombings, local culture, tourism, among other things.
We went on the Quad bike tour (pADdy-VENTURE) and had a great time, my girlfriend actually got bruised hands from holding on too tight! :-) She's glad she did it though and I would highly recommend it - it cost us $USD69 per person.
Shopping - we both did a lot - came home with some excellent wood carvings (now trying to figure out how to prevent them from splitting in our perth climate, hope they survive!).
This was my second trip to bali, but I now have an entirely new respect for scooters - Going to look at a second hand one this afternoon actually, just to buzz around the local back streets :-)
DVD's - We came back with quite a few dvd's/games (100 or so) and had no trouble, the sellers were all open and no trouble with customs. - leaving bali security was tight - frisks, several bag searches, but all performed with respect and friendliness.
For most of the market sellers, we were their first sale of the day, sometimes at 9pm (perhaps even first sale for a few days?) - it was pretty quiet. It was sad talking to the sellers and seeing the ritual (touching other items in the shop with the received money) when they were clearly so desperate. Nearly every seller told us the same story "I give you good price, because very quiet, no sale for long-time". I hope things get better soon. Needless to say, we didn't bargain too hard - except when the prices were just way too high.
The hotel room had a rat which kept us awake most nights, rummaging amongst our bags of shopping, and darting into the cupboard and vanishing when we turned on the lights - I only realised we had company on the first day when I noticed some of my chocolate had been partly eaten.. I figured my girlfriend must have had a bite and not liked it... so I ate it. Needless to say, when I got around to asking her, she hadn't touched it *yuk*. The food got locked in the case after that ;-)
Needless to say the entire trip was excellent, the people were still all friendly and great company, obviously struggling but always smiling.
We hired a dvd player for the week, and an x-box for a couple of nights, spent a few days just relaxing in the hotel when we both got sick so it was well worth the hire-price.
Wow this turned out longer than intended, any questions don't hesitate to ask, happy to help if I can.
If you are thinking about booking but are worried about safety etc (As we were) it is your call - but honestly we found it great and are extremely glad we went. Plenty of non-Australian tourists, they didn't seem too woried. Perhaps the news/warnings aren't as publicised overseas?
Thanks for reading,
Steve.