My husband and I have just returned from our eighth trip to Bali in four years.
The first three days were as wonderful as always as we settled into all of our familiar and favorite places and soaked up the beauty that is Bali.
Unfortunately that was shattered when my bag was snatched and I was injured last Saturday evening.
I now believe we were targeted either inside or as we were leaving a popular live music venue/bar in Eat St, Seminyak and followed in the Bluebird taxi we'd insisted on waiting for while being bombarded with offers of transport.
Our accomodation is a short distance down a gang near Cafe Mokka and as we left the taxi at the entrance to the lane, two men on a motor bike drove down just ahead of us which is quite a common occurrence as there are quite a few villas there.
We were about 30 metres down the gang, half way to our hotel when they suddenly turned around and came charging towards us. We stepped back to give them room to pass but suddenly they were almost on us and the guy on the back scooped up my bag and me with it.
My mistake was having a bag over one shoulder even though it was a small one and I always held it against the front of my body.
As I was holding onto it so tightly I was dragged some distance behind the bike until the strap broke so am still quite bruised, cut, burnt and sore.
My husband is quite fit and took off after them and was inches away from grabbing the guy on the back before they shot off across JL Seminyak and into another gang.
The owner of our hotel took us to the Police but there's nothing they could do as 'two guys with motor bike helmets on' isn't much of a description.
So fellow travelers , a word of warning.
Only use bags that go over your had and one shoulder and sit in front of your body, take all of the usual precautions of not carrying too many valuables and trust your instinct.
If a situation feels uncomfortable, get out of there fast and protect yourself .
We have travelled extensively and lived in Europe and South East Asia but are now thinking about whether we'll even return to Bali as the glass is definitely gone.