Now don't shoot the messenger here, just thought it might be interesting to hear what some locals were saying the other day. we were sitting in a restaurant in Pecatu when a motorbike with 2 tourists on it overtook a small car, the bike had a surfboard holder on it, which scrapped along the side of the car, making a terrible noise for all to hear, the rider managed to stay on with one very scared girlfriend on the back, they wobbled across the road and then sped off, the car stopped and started beeping at the bike but the tourists were gone. The locals all ran out on to the street and started saying it was Australians, I couldn't tell if they were from Australia and I'm originally from Australia, but that was the general consensus of all the locals grouped together on the street. The little car speed off to chase the motorbike and the magical Karma of the Island opened up the sky's and the rain came down in bucket loads for about 2 minutes, enough surely to slow the motorbike down (who knows if they caught up with them).
It was an interesting conversation that followed about Australian tourists and how they treat Bali like a playground and cause so many traffic accidents, don't wear shirts into restaurants and don't respect the culture of the Island. I kept quiet, glad that they had forgotten a long time ago that I was an Aussie.
what made me think again was yesterday I was entering the Commonwealth Bank at the same time a shirtless Aussie was arguing with a security guard who would not let him in without a shirt (a Balinese ended up lending him the one off his back). Then last night at a nice restaurant (not near a beach) another guy in board shorts and without a shirt came in to eat and the Balinese owner was sitting with us at the time made a comment "Aussie" in a derogative way. I am not sure if the guy was Australian but made me think that the Balinese aren't as tolerant as they used to be to the Aussies, in fact it sounds like some are getting a little fed up with them, I actually thought the guy looked Spanish but he was labeled "Aussie" by his attire. I asked our friend it this was acceptable attire in a Balinese standard, and his answer was "we are not at the beach, but Aussie's don't care".