In Reply to: Is Bali as terrifying as Filo suggests? posted by scaredycat on Friday, 22. June 2007 at 21:03 Bali Time:
If you take Filo's guide as gospel, then you're looking at the worst possible case scenario for the unluckiest person on the planet.
As others have said, what is mentioned in Filo's guide has been composed over years from his own experiences and bits of info he's amassed from other's reports on their experiences etc. All the cons there can and do happen, but not to each and every person.
As for the gifts to take over, you'd find it's generally only return visitors that have connections to schools, orphanages, or locals and their families that take gifts for them on their next trips over. There is no expectation, or even any need for a first time visitor to take any gifts with them for strangers.