TRAVEL
August 11, 1985
I have been twice to Bali, 20 years ago when it was perfect, and 10 years ago when tourism had changed it greatly. I am scheduled to go back this fall, but that fine article on Lombok Island near Bali, by Jack Hanley (July 14), convinced me that I should cut Bali short and go over to Lombok. Thanks, Hanley, for the good advice. DON SMITH Hermosa Beach
TRAVEL
November 8, 1998
I returned from a trip to Bali the day after Susan Spano's ("Bali Low," Oct. 11) article was published. Like Spano, I stayed in Sanur, traveled to Ubud, and relished the insanely low cost of vacation life in Bali. Readers should be aware, however, of the high incidence of corruption and crooked behavior that my group encountered. In a span of less than a week, we were the target of more attempts at graft than I've experienced in all my travels in Latin America put together. Particularly crooked were virtually all money-changers, who blatantly miscounted or diverted currency, and taxi drivers, who attempted to jack up fares, make unwanted detours, or tamper with their meters.
NEWS
January 4, 2012 | By Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger
Researchers have been studying orangutans, proboscis monkeys, gibbons and other Indonesian wildlife for more than four decades at Camp Leakey in the Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo. Now an eight-day trip combines a luxury stay in Bali with wildlife viewing and a visit to the camp. The trip starts with three nights in Bali at the Pita Maha Resort and Spa in Ubud and then takes off to Yogyakarta on the island of Java for two nights at the Rimba Lodge inside the national park.
TRAVEL
August 8, 2010 | By Kevin Brass, Special to the Los Angeles Times
On a steamy, drizzly morning, my friend Alejandra Cisneros leads us on a narrow dirt path through the flooded rice fields. A few yards away, a dozen ducks march single file across a dirt berm, tails twitching, looking very businesslike. Local farmers hire the trained ducks to eat pests and clean the recently harvested fields, Cisneros explains, as we settle on the bamboo deck of Sari Organik, an organic restaurant. These carefully terraced rice fields and the surrounding rivers are sacred grounds for the Balinese, an integral part of the spiritual soup that attracts mystics, seekers and legions of yoga teachers to Ubud.
WORLD
July 1, 2010 | By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
Amit Virmani was vacationing at Bali's famous Kuta Beach when he met a 12-year-old boy who told him of his unlikely goal: to grow up fast, so he could be a gigolo. The boy said his heroes were the young bronzed Indonesian surfers who provided erotic services to Japanese women and other female tourists who flock to the island for discreet sex vacations. The young men's apparent sexual prowess and serial romances have earned them the nickname "Kuta cowboys." "It begged the question: 'Who are these young cowboys?
NEWS
July 10, 2011
On her first trip to Bali in April, Clodagh Smith visited a Hindu temple in the village of Tampaksiring. Inside, she came across a group of boys and men bathing in a sacred pool. Intrigued by this glimpse of everyday life, Smith took this photo. "What made this special for me was the opportunity to witness a ritual that was not designed for tourists but was an authentic expression of village religious life in contemporary Bali," the Sacramento resident said. View past photos we've featured . To upload your own, visit our reader travel photo gallery . When you upload your photo, tell us where it was taken and when.