In Reply to: safety in Bali posted by sarahc on Monday, 1. May 2006 at 00:47 Bali Time:
We are returning to Bali in June with our son. We were there last June, so the bombings have happened in between of course, but have not put us off. Initially they did, I'll admit, and we looked into Vietnam - but the lure of Bali is strong and the risks (in my opinion) minimal. We will however choose to largely stay away from the obvious tourist hot spots which might be considered targets. I don't believe anything bad will happen if you go straight from airport to quiet villa or hotel location - especially if it is away from Kuta, eg in Northern Seminyak or better still right out of town, & venture out to the less crowded shopping areas and restaurants. Take lots of trips with driver (make sure you sort out child seat & insist on seatbelts - far more risk there!) through the beautiful areas outside of Kuta/Legian. Better still stay over in some of them. Amed for example is just a string of bungalows over a few kilometres of coastline so I'd have zero security concerns staying there. I do know what you mean, when you are entrusted with a precious baby's life you think twice about these things, but even 2 weeks by a pool in a resort in the middle of nowhere is bliss & I'd suggest you just go for it. I come from Belfast and grew up with regular bombings, so I've weighed this up carefully and I'm still prepared to take the risk because I consider it to be miniscule. Once you're there, just relax and enjoy it all!