In Reply to: Newspaper report regarding tatoos posted by bogden on Friday, 23. December 2011 at 18:13 Bali Time:
I once had a guy at the hotel I was staying at tell me I was paying too much for my tattoo I had booked in, and that he could get me a much cheaper deal at one of the back alley places in Denpasar that he frequented. One look at his ugly tattoos convinced me I was doing the right thing with my original booking!
I have watched them open a fresh needle every time I've had a tattoo done in Bali. Fresh inks into pots, spotless clean premises, autoclaves etc. No different to the very first tattoo I had done at home, only less expensive.
I have no doubt that you could contract HIV from getting a tattoo in Bali, if you went somewhere shonky. You could probably also get it from hookers too.