Snoopy is right...

[DutchDown]

I just arrived back home this morning after three weeks on Bali. My wife and I felt perfectly safe. During our visit we encountered no anti-Western behavior at all. As a matter of fact, my only critiscism about the trip has nothing at all to do with Indonesians...they are suffering terribly from the after-effects of the October bombing and now from the near absence of tourists. I would criticise Westerners who allow themselves to be intimidated into remaining at home. No, I'm certainly not suggesting reckless behavior. Only that terrorists win when their adversaries are in terror. I sort of feel obliged to oppose their efforts to restrict my activities and force me to live in a smaller world.

 

[RSdiver]

How was the diving?
i had heard that Tulamben had degraded due to recent monsoon runoff.
Thank you.

 

[beserker_77]

I totally agree with you dutchdown, i myself have been there last Feb. The Indonesian over there are suffering from the lack of tourism to support their families. As for the security over at Bali, i personnelly felt safe even as i walk along the breaches in the night.

 

[DutchDown]

Not sure how the conditions were earlier, though I had also read that the monsoons had affected visibility. Our arrival seemed to coincide with the end of the rain...literally. It was raining as we arrived, stopped while we were in the airport, and didn't rain again except for a rief shower a couple of days before we left. Visability at Tulamben was 15-20 meters. Padangbai was a little worse, but still good. Very few divers at either site. I wanted to go to a couple of other places, but my wife is not a diver so we traveled around Bali most of the time. I might add that I saw several small anti-war demonstrations. But they were just that: anti-war, not anti-West. I wouold not hesitate to return.