In Reply to: please read properly posted by dazza_a on Tuesday, 21. June 2005 at 13:51 Bali Time:
I have stayed in clean comfortable accomodation in Bali, with aircon, fridge, TV, H&C, pool and breakfast for as little as AU$20 per day for two people. I have been driven all over the island in good vehicles by pleasant, knowledgeable, honest men, who took me nowhere that I did not want to go, but took me to interesting places I would not even have known to ask about, all for about AU$35 for a very full day.
I have eaten good, tasty, healthy meals which cost only 2 or 3 dollars. I've many a time had my fill of cheap fruit juice, Coke, arak, Bintang etc. I've bought cheap watches, t-shirts, sarongs, CDs, DVDs and had shoes and clothes made at bargain prices.
And I've made more good friends than I can count. I don't call this being constantly ripped off, or having to constantly watch my back.
We get ripped off in Australia too. We get ripped off everytime we go to fill up. It's called fuel tax. We get ripped off everytime we buy almost anything. It's called GST. We even got ripped off on the republican referendum. Most Australians [including English born ones like me] want Australia to be a republic. Our very own Honest John carefully phrased the referendum question to get the result he wanted. If something like this had happened in a country which it suited our government to criticise, then it would have been labelled as corrupt.
Maybe people who go to Bali get pretty much what they expect to get. Most people on this Forum, despite the sometimes negative experiences which many of us sometimes acknowledge, generally have a great time and that's why we keep on going back and encourage others to do likewise. We're not blind, we're not gullible, maybe we just learn from experience how to handle various situations.