Here's my first post on this forum, I hope it's helpful to someone...
I live on Koh Samui, Thailand and recently spent a week in Bali at the suggestion of friends here who have lived in Bali. I just wanted to give praise to my guide and to one of the 4 hotels I stayed at during my time there.
1) The HOTEL: I was on a working holiday so I needed Internet access. Not many places in Bali offer it in the room but I found a new place with beautiful comfortable rooms just a 5-10 minute walk to Legian Beach on Jalan Padma Utara. I got a pool-side suite for under $40 USD. The wireless Internet was available in the restaurant but I was close enough to get it in my room. While other places charged 30,000 for 2.5 hours or 50,000 for 1 hour, at this place it was only 20,000 for the ENTIRE DAY (about what it costs for an hour at an Internet cafe). So for comfort, location, Internet, decent cable TV if you want to stay in one night, price and a friendly staff I recommend ADIKA SARI Bungalows. (If using the name is too much of an advert, then please feel free to delete it).
2. The GUIDE: One of my friends here on Samui suggested I contact his local friend who works as a tour guide & driver. I followed his advice and I'm glad I did because it made the trip much better than if I had done it all myself. He met me at the airport in his clean, new mini-van. He is 35 yrs old and used to work in Okinawa near the US base so his English is very good. One day he drove me up around Mt. Batur and back (over 2 hours one way). Along the way we had good discussions about Balinese culture, history, politics, religion, etc and he took me to good local places to eat. On Friday & Saturday night we went on a pub crawl around Kuta which of course was more interesting than just doing it myself. In the end, he became more than just a guide & driver, and I will certainly contact again my next visit to Bali. Mods, I'll give his name and contact info but, again, if it's considered too much of an advert, please delete it and people can just send me a private message if they want it. His name is Wayan Sukerta, wayansukerta@yahoo.com, 081-239-69333.