Bali

[thanatorn-old]

Hi guys - looking for assistance once again!! I am wanting to do a side trip with the BS to either/both Bali and Phillipines ( Manila and Baracay). (I am in LOS in June). I have been doing a bit of homework and am a little paranoid/ concerned about Bali. Apparently it went through a bit of a dodgy period with Police traps/setups on gay people or drug traps, for a bit of extra pocket money.

Is this still the case, or is it very much overated bad luck experience of a few individuals? I obviously will not be indulging in anything questionable but do not wish to have any hassle to ruin a trip.

Secondly am pricing flights on Air Asia - any experience from others regarding timekeeping or reliability. I also tried to find flights from Bali to Manilla or Boracay direct but can only find Air Phillipine or Garuda, both of which I am not willing to trust in terms of safety.

Many thanks

Hi guys - looking for assistance once again!! I am wanting to do a side trip with the BS to either/both Bali and Phillipines ( Manila and Baracay). (I am in LOS in June). I have been doing a bit of homework and am a little paranoid/ concerned about Bali. Apparently it went through a bit of a dodgy period with Police traps/setups on gay people or drug traps, for a bit of extra pocket money.
This is common in many countries that are poor. I was in Bali a few months ago and did not see or hear of any dodgy traps or setups. I should think you would be more apt to encounter that in the Philippines, than in Bali, Indonesia.


Secondly am pricing flights on Air Asia - any experience from others regarding timekeeping or reliability. I also tried to find flights from Bali to Manilla or Boracay direct but can only find Air Phillipine or Garuda, both of which I am not willing to trust in terms of safety. Many thanks
I had no problem with Air Asia. They were professional, friendly, on-time and reliable and all for a very fair price. I believe that you could go Air Asia but would have to add Kuala Lumpur to your schedule. They fly from Clark (about an hour and a half or two outside of Manila) to KL. You would then fly from KL to Bali. Might be hard to do without a stay in KL because they are a point to point airline and the connections do not always workout.

[pong]

have been there some 5 times-in the distant past. That fear seems to be a special Australian thing-seems there was once a movie or so-or some one busted in Melbourne or the likes-a smuggling ring targetting break-in luggage toward Ozzieland. Here in Europe noone cares or worries or even knows about it.
Bali-Phills is not a popular route-with very low demand-so dont expect too much on offer. In fact surpirsed me they even seem to have some-but guess its simply codeshare between GA and PH.
AirAsia is effectively 4 different-Thai, the old Malay, the newer Indonesian and the XL=big+far. The Thai (they fly to DPS, but both they and Indon fly on BKk-JKT) has always been on time-even early on arr and good to me-if you are able to accept the low-cost standard. Often smart+nice male crew too.

I have been to Bali for the last seven years and frankly don't know what you are referring to. Are you sure what you heard was about Bali and not about some place else in Indonesia?

I stay in a mid-size tourist hotel and take boys [of legal age] to the hotel in the afternoon and at night. The guard always keeps an eye on the boy's motor bike for him and the guy at the tourist desks always tries to hook me up with some of his gay friends. I have a number of friends who sell things on the beach and they too always try to point out boy for me.

The area I stay has several gay night clubs and restaurants. In the evenings, after 9:00 or 10:00 the area fills with local boys and boys from other Indonesia islands waiting to see if they can find someone for fun.

The only negative things I have seen in Bali were done by tourist, mostly from one near by continent.

Francis, where in Bali is this?

[thrillbill]

... will go to Bali in April '10. What are some decent gay hotels/guest houses to stay at? I've seen Spartusus' websight.

With regards to your flights to Phillipines or Bali, if I want a stop-off, I would if I were you use one airline and have a stop off with it, such as Thai, Malaysia, it works out cheaper and you can generally make changes to the itinerary.

[danny99]

Approx 2.5 million tourists visit Bali in 1 year, and yes 20, or 30 do get arrested for drugs, but as far as we local expats are concerned they can stay in prison for life. We just get sick and tired of all the 'whinging from home' about poor little so-and-so, who took the risk and got caught!

I also get sick of hearing about 'crime' in Bali. I have lived here for 11 years and have only ever experienced being robbed once, leaving an obvious looking camera case on the back seat of an unlocked car for 1 hour, my fault 100%, probably would not have lasted 2 minutes in Sydney, or 1 in London. In spite of that I still rarely lock my car unless I have something valuable in it. Bali must be about the most crime-free place I have ever lived in. Then I live in classy Ubud, not the dirty unkempt Kuta [made so mostly by the trash who stay there] the young and not-so-young from many different countries but all mostly into drugs, booze and sluts of every kind].

The stories I hear from expat friends in Bangkok about knife-point muggings after meeting in chat rooms or at Soi 2 after disco, on my 2 monthly visits make me very glad that I live in Bali and only visit Bangkok.

Here we can have a real massage from a young cute straight boy for $10, in a real massage room, correct table [no following spinal problems] good shower in room, etc., who just may or may not be tempted to play a little [the uncertainty increases the turn-on]. Sure we do not have the open sex shows [instead we have naked boys showering openly at every roadside river at dusk every day], away from the couple of gay bars picking up is by the old fashioned method, talking! Chatting up in other words, and no race of boys anywhere in the world are more interested in, or relaxed about 'going somewhere for drink' than the young village Balinese, and amazingly your age has no bearing on that decision at all, as they all mix freely with all ages in their own villages. In fact most consider it an honour to be asked. Very open and honest, which sadly is not something you can say about Thai boys, even though I love them very much.

Of course in 'Kuta and the bars of Seminyak' and the like it is very hard to even find a Balinese, most are from elsewhere in Indonesia, Muslims on the take. But even from them money for sex is all they are after, muggings and physical attacks are unheard of.

I spent three days in Bali and got robbed.