Bali Warnings

This is a new thread of Bali warnings. It is to be used for Bali specific warnings only. Warnings include instances of robbery in a certain part of a city, bad hostel experiences, etc. As a content-rich thread, we do not want any back-and-forth or questions. Please direct all questions via Private Messages (Click on "Go" in the left hand corner, select "My Space" and then "Private Messages") to the poster. You can also issue a PM by clicker on the poster's name and selecting "Private Message". Any post that does not contribute relevant information will be deleted. Examples include: responses to previous posts in the thread and questions. The information can be on any city or region in Bali. When reading these experiences, please remember that there are two sides to every story and warnings should be issued sparingly.

Hi,

Well I got back to Australia 2 days ago and recovering from all the drinks and good times. I will make a few posts in the general areas about all the things I did and recommend for others.

Just saw this thread and thought I would make a fast post that is relevant to the topic in case anyone is heading to Bali soon.

I was over Bali for a wedding and was a week early with 2 mates and awaiting 90 Australians to turn up for the wedding.

Myself and my 2 mates were in a bar just next door to club "double 6".
We had not drunk too much and it was only 1am and left the bar and double 6 was still not to busy so we were walking up the street to get a taxi to go to bounty club or somewhere.
Anyways we are 3 large built guys as in football players and were walking up the street when a small motor scooter with a guy driving and a women on the back slowly was hovering behind us. Anyways the women jumped off and was walking behind us saying hey boys you want gigy gig (sex) for 200 000 rp and we were pissing ourselves laughing and kept on walking in the dark forward. She then runs up behind me and is saying come on you want you want gigy gig and slapped me on the backside and tried to reach for my nuts lol
I blocked the hand down and thought nothing of it all and was still laughing and sped up forward as did one of my other mates leaving the other 4 meters behind us. All you could hear was us laughing at the fact that this was happening. Also when the women had tried to grab my nuts I saw a glimpse of the face and sort of thought maybe it was a guy as I heard of this type thing over there.

Well we are laughing and I look back to laugh at my mate and the women/man ? had a firm hold of his nuts and was saying come on gigy gig. He was so busy with his hands trying to push her off his nuts and us laughing so much was a crack up. Then she let go and the bike was right there with the driver on it in seconds and she jumped on the back ready to take off. In the blink of an eye my mate reached and grabbed her by the coat and said where is my f**ken wallet. Next in the flick of the wrist it’s on the ground beside her on the bike and she is saying there you dropped it. So he let go and she and driver took off. We saw them drive up and down that area for awhile and we warned a few other people that were walking around. My mate she grabbed is a police officer in Australia and lucky for us we were not to drunk and he had his senses still working. So I am guessing when she/he slapped my backside she was checking for a wallet and as I did not use one that night she moved on. She/he grabs your nuts and distracts you from the fact she/he is checking your pockets for cash.

So from then on we left all credit cards in the safe and just carried cash on us only in our back pocket in our board shorts. The board shorts you buy there for about $5.00 have a great heavy velcro which no one could pick your pocket without you knowing.

So watch out for these sorts of things if you are walking around after drinking. As I said I thought it was a bit game of them as there was 3 of us and all big build guys but they were expecting us to be drunk I guess.

That’s the only main warning I have I came across. But just remember the people are so nice over there but so many are so poor they will try anything. Keep checking your pockets every 30 seconds if you are in a small shop with 5 blokes all over you pushing cloths in your face. Keep on your toes and you will be fine.

Oh one more thing two of my mates lost there visa cards in there machines over there near the hotel. It seams that they do not spit your card back out as fast as in Australia and if you are in a rush it’s forgotten very easily as happened twice. They are waiting to here if they were used before they found out they were gone.

Have fun and if anyone has a question for now send me a pm or email at targetq3 at hotmail dot com
I will post up some general fun and stories in the next day or so.
Azz

Watch out for money changers with quick hands, particularly in Legian and Kuta!
I thought i was careful and it wouldn't happen to me etc...
Happened on JL Melasti, a little booth on the left walking towards the beach, just opposite the clothes markets. Two guys seemed really friendly, turned out they were just distracting me... Counted out a large sum in 20,000rp notes and didn't notice when 500,000rp went missing after I counted it! About 2hrs later when I did notice, went back there and got most of my money after half hr of arguing. Not a pleasant experience!

Go to the big money changers or banks. There is one on JL Legian up seminyak way, there is also one down past Kartika Plaza in Tuban. Don't be tempted by the seemingly higher exchange rates of the street vendors as this often doesn't include commission and runs the risk of fraud.

Renting a motorbike in Bali is a great way to see the island. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see more of Bali then just the popular villages.

But be careful though, if you rent a bike you will need to go to the petrol station time to time. When it's your turn to fill up keep your eyes on the Rupiah and liter display. Sometimes (happened to me twice in Kuta and Lovina) they do not reset the counter. So instead of starting at ZERO the counter continues from the last person who was there. At the end you pay your share plus the one that was in front of you.

So to avoid any uncomfortable situations make sure that all the displays are reset on ZERO before letting them put fuel in your bike.

I think you should never change your money in Bali unless it is a bank or a legal bureau because I have heard several stories about literally robbing people with their rates. So this is my fairest advice for you all! Otherwise, your holiday could be a dream come true if you are careful of course!