In Reply to: my bali experience posted by rossw on Thursday, 24. December 2009 at 18:07 Bali Time:
I was 19 & backpacking up from Australia...cheap flight Darwin to Kupang, Timor using Wheeler's book S.E. Asia on a Shoestring...cam to Bali and loved it! Stayed at Losman Bodi...no longer there but it was in central Kuta area. Remember that there wasn't much electricity to light things up at night...mostly candlelight and very beautiful/magical! Not many cars or motorcycles so it was peaceful and walking down the center of the street was safe. Fast-forward 30-plus years to 2006 and when I stepped off the plane it was very disorienting...the pace of things was much faster and only the beach looked more-or-less the same. It took a while to settle in and a little venturing further a field to discover that the magic and beauty of Bali still exists. Stayed at the lovely Puri Damai this last trip and am planning to take my wife this April for her first ever trip to Bali.